reto's blog

Category: meandering

  • A Few Days in Prague

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    The sights are beautiful and aplenty, the whole town-centre is a gigantic pedestrian zone, knick-knack shopping, sight-seeing, people watching and snack-indulgence heaven. The crowds can be overwhelming, however just step 100 meters away from the main thoroughfare and you find quiet restaurants, friendly service and good food. The pics in the gallery could lead to the…

  • Excursion to Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong

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    Father-daughter day: a very nice excursion to Cheung Chau Island, a 30+ minutes ferry trip from Hong Kong Island. After a bumpy ferry ride and a ridiculously unsuccessful try to rent a bicycle, we did some sight seeing: A nice lunch (aircon is a real gift when its 35 degrees outside) followed by a round of…

  • The 26 Summits, ctd

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    A deal is a deal is a deal… one week after the beautiful hike up the “Hinteri Egg” we scaled Mont Raimeux, the tallest mountain of Switzerland’s youngest Canton, the Jura. A well maintained trail snails up the Jura folds, a good two hours after we left Moutier, we reached the peak at 1302 meters…

  • Desert Trekking in China

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    June 2016, we trekked seventy kilometres through the Badain Jaran, which is part of the Gobi desert in China. The executive summary: phase one: Singapore –> Hong Kong –> Beijing –> Jinchang –> Alxa Youqin phase two: walk, sand, camels, sand, fun, wind, sand, tents, sand, lake, sand, watermelons, sand, yoghurts and sand phase three: the reverse…

  • Kuhltour statt Wandertour

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    Aaaaaaaaaaaalso: da kommt einer aus den Tropen, reist von weit weit her, sitzt 13 Stunden im Flugzeug und freut sich darauf, in nasskaltem Wetter mit seinen Freunden in der Schweiz outdoor-maessig etwas zu unternehmen. Schifahren in strahlendem Sonnenschein auf dem Feldberg ist genau nach seinem Geschmack (ein Danke an die SPPs), siehe HIER. Aber oh weh:…

  • Schnitzeljagd

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    Mountain biking in Singapore scheint auf den ersten Blick “not the most obvious thing to do”, aber wie so oft täuscht der anfängliche Eindruck: mit ein wenig Kreativität lassen sich 200 Kilometer XC-Trail zusammenbasteln: ein halbes Dutzend offiziell markierte Trails ergeben 50 Kilometer, ca 60 Kilometer gibt der Green Corridor her, bevor die Verlegung einer Pipeline…

  • Where Am I ?

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    Imagine being dropped blind-folded to a place, how do you find out where you are? You hear a foreign language, but cannot not identify it, no unique smells in the air and no local vibrations, pheromones or anything similarly esoteric is palpable. The blindfold is removed and you see the following three signs decorating the walls of…

  • The Annual Beijing Ritual

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    Beijing fascinates me. Choosing my journey anywhere between the ultra-ancient and the ultra-modern remains incredibly seductive to me. The icing on the cake are the good company and sumptuous meals with friends and acquaintances every time I return. This is the third trip to Beijing after we moved away from the capital city in June…

  • Walking Up Hua Shan

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    Hua Shan in Shaanxi province is one of the most prominent members on a long list of “Sacred Mountains” in China. Finally in October 2015, 21 years after I first became aware of this list, I got a chance to scale Hua Shan. This was the plan: day 1: 35 minutes bullet train from Xi’an to HuaShan,…

  • Completing Something and then NOT…

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    Ten days prior to a hike on Hua Shan in Western China, I’m gleaming with joy as I type this up: once I stand on the peak, scheduled for Friday 25. October 2015, I will have summited all nine Sacred Mountains in China, a journey that started by accident in 1994 and became an obsession ever…