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Category Archives: China
One Hundred Years Ago, the Digging began – December 1921: Rhine-Main-Danube Canal
Zur deutschen Fassung. The whole world is making fun of Germany, because it took us over 20 years to build a new airport for Berlin. There is a podcast about this, aptly named “How to fuck up an Airport“. Malicious … Continue reading
Well, I guess I have to travel to Singapore then.
Zur deutschen Fassung dieser Träumerei. You hopefully all remember my dreamy plans of the longest possible train journey? From Portugal via Spain and France through Central Europe to Russia, then branching off to Mongolia, through China and finally to Vietnam. … Continue reading
One Hundred Years Ago, a German Baron from the Baltics established a Kingdom in Mongolia – March 1921: Roman von Ungern-Sternberg
Zur deutschen Fassung. With the spectacular opening episode of this historical series, I wanted to point out that World War I ended neither with the armistice nor with the peace treaty. Shooting, fighting, conquering, occupying and liberating continued everywhere. The … Continue reading
Posted in China, History, Military, Russia
Tagged anti-semitism, Mongolia, Nazis, Soviet Union
11 Comments
“Sovietistan” and “The Border” by Erika Fatland
Hier gibt es diese Rezension auf Deutsch. Do you also have so many travel guides at home for countries you never made it to? I still got a Lonely Planet guidebook for Central Asia, which I bought in 2007. Apparently, … Continue reading
Posted in Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Books, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Ukraine
Tagged Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, MacLehose, Mongolia, Pegasus, Soviet Union, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
11 Comments
For my Chinese readers
Writing a blog for an international audience is very complicated. People in California are never awake when I write in Europe. People in Australia and Argentina are reading it upside down. And in China, when you want to access my … Continue reading
A Chinese in Vienna
During some meeting of some committee of some sub-organization at the United Nations in Vienna, I got to know a young lady from China. Qian was doing an internship as a simultaneous interpreter for Mandarin and English. Simultaneous interpreters are … Continue reading
Random Thoughts (14)
If I am ever on a quiz show, my telephone joker will be the dude who wrote Wikipedia. Suki Kim has done impressive undercover reporting in North Korea, fooling both her employer, by pretending that she was a devout Christian, and of course the … Continue reading
Posted in Bolivia, Books, China, Colombia, Economics, Language, Life, Mexico, North Korea, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Technology, Travel, UK
Tagged children, christianity, Health, journalism, Spanish, wikipedia
19 Comments
How far can you get by train?
Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels. One of my readers wrote that he had been wondering how far he could get if he took his local commuter train and continued traveling with no other means of transport than the railway. As a train enthusiast, … Continue reading
Smoking against Mosquitoes
Whenever I walk through a mosquito- or fly-infested forest or swamp, I light up a cigar. A strong one preferably. It keeps these rowdy little animals at bay. Now I am happy to have discovered that this is no excuse … Continue reading
The Revolutions of 1989
1989, those were the times! With each broadcast of the evening news, the world changed so quickly that most people already lost track back then. Now, 25 years later, only a vague recollection of falling walls, fired shots and popping champagne … Continue reading
Posted in China, Cold War, Estonia, Europe, Germany, History, Human Rights, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Politics, Romania
Tagged Human Rights
8 Comments
The Happy Hermit 