Lok Man in Germany

After several days in Mumbai we went to Pune to our friend Monty's wedding. This "shortened" version of the wedding was a real eye opener. While normally the wedding ceremonies would run for an entire week, this one only lasted four days, starting with two days of separate ceremonies for the families of the groom and the bride, before progressing to the engagement ceremony, followed by the wedding day itself. Upon the arrival in Pune of our group of fifteen or so colleagues from Germany, we were greeted by the members of Monty's close family. His grandfather even spoke good English, as did Monty's father and some aunts and uncles. The rest of them kindly pointed us in the direction of the delicious and colourful food that was prepared in a makeshift kitchen in the backyard of the apartment block. They did a great job of converting the car parking area into a ceremony hall. Carpets and cushions were laid on the ground, lighting was installed, tables with food and m...

After procrastinating for six months after the memorable trip to India in November 2008, I have finally decided to write a few words about it. The dust has settled, the small incidental details have faded away, but many memories of this remarkable city still remain. Mumbai is truly an assault on the senses, especially for somebody who has gotten used to living in the quiet isolation of a German country town. Arriving in the wee hours of a warm Indian morning, we were taken to our hotel in a squeaky Tata-built taxi, with seat belts that had more slack than one's pants after a Jenny Craig weight loss program. We were greeted by trucks and autorickshaws on the highway that were strangely quiet - I was to never again experience traffic without constant tooting of horns again. We slept from 6 to 10 a.m., waking up for the last serving of breakfast. It was different to the usual fare of museli, fried eggs, or ham and Semmel (South German for bread rolls) - it was quiet authentic Indian. ...

The Nordschleife at the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, also known as the Green Hell, is one of the most famous racetracks in the world. With 20.832 km of winding and undulating roads through some breathtaking scenery in the Eifel area of Germany, the course with 73 turns is also where many vehicle manufacturers turn to in order to test and prove the handling of their vehicles. It is also the scene of a 24 hour sport car race. The reverence for this location comes from the twisty nature of the circuit, which also contains enormous variations in altitude with some exhilarating steep sections, with almost no run-off areas on the corners. As the guide said, it is closer to a drive on a closed, one-way country road than a modern race track. For an Australian car fan living in Germany, it would be inexcusable to miss an excursion to this gem. It has taken me 3 years to take my BMW here to unleash its full potential around this circuit. Ok, perhaps more like gingerly tip-toeing around the ...

Euros 2008. The term conjures up memories of the final on 29.6.2008 where an in-form Spain defeated the German team, with Fernando Torres scoring the all important goal to win one goal to zero. But for the players in the German touch rugby national team, the performance of the German football side merely served as motivation for their own European Championship which was to take place 2 weeks later. Our Euros took place just outside Paris in Massey. While the touch rugby Euros are not at a standard comparable to the top national games in the world cup, where Australia and New Zealand dominate, the teams nevertheless take this event very seriously. The German squad consisted of three teams, playing in the open mens, open womens and the open mixed competitions respectively. This is still a relatively new novelty sport in Germany, and with the exception of the womens team, most of the players are non-Germans who have been living in Germany for long enough to qualify to play under the speci...

We managed to fly from Rome to Oslo with no problems, but at that point we found that due to an airport strike, our plane to Bergen has been canceled. We then booked a flight to Stavinger, a city 180 km or so south of Bergen, a distance that we would then cover by bus. There was a quicker ferry option, but as it was late in the day, the last one had already left by the time we arrived. At the information counter at the airport, the lady told us "hurry and get the taxi to the city, you might be able to catch the last bus". From that point we found the Norwegians to be very helpful people. The taxi driver took us to the bus depot and helped us with the luggage and bus selection. As it turned out, the bus ride was to take some 4 hours (or perhaps even more). The roads were wonderfully picturesque, but at the same time they were windy one-laned highways connecting little islands, which meant that the speed was restricted. There were also 2 ferry crossings on the way, and it becam...

In May 2008 I went on a 2 week holiday with my family. It was split into two distinct parts. The first was a short cruise in a luxury vessel, while the second part was a visit to Norway. The cruise was a 6 day long affair on the Crystal Serenity, starting in Lisbon and ending in Civitavecchia, a port near Rome. Being on a cruise ship was a new sensation for me. Unlike ferries or hydro-foils or other commuter vessels that I have been on, the ship is very stable. At the port it barely moves, and even when moving the movements can barely be felt. However, there is always a sensation that I am not quite still - and when I disembark the ship I have the funny feeling that the ground is floating. Perhaps for the other seasoned travelers on the ship, this was not a problem. Having a sea view out the window and the sound of crashing waves on demand is actually very soothing, as was the a buffet breakfast at the bow. As Dad paid for the trip, we were treated to top-notch luxury and service. Cavi...

In April 2008 I was sent to Iasi, Romania for one week, in order to work more closely together with our colleagues at that site. There is also offices of Continental there, although it is very much a developing location and as such the scale is completely different to what we had in Germany. As you can see, the office block is basically a 3 storey portable. Most of the workers are recent graduates out of the univerity in Iasi. Actually, I believe that is one of the attractions of setting up an office in Iasi - a company like Continental would attract a lot of interest from the uni graduates there, as it would be one of the few options to stay at home and have a technical engineering career. Iasi is actually quite a small city, but it appears much smaller if you only consider the airport. It is an international airport because it has ONE daily flight back to Vienna. Work aside, we had a little time on some of the weeknights to look around the city and experience a bit of Romanian cultu...

There has not been much blogworthy over the last half a year - not that I haven't been kept busy though. NYE in Berlin - with Hong and Marlene we toured Munich during Christmas, went to Frankfurt to see Liang and then visited the massive NYE party in Berlin, on Unter den Linden under the Brandenburger Gate. Impressively crowded for Germany, the 1 km party had a stage at each end of its length and some pop bands provided hours of entertainment. The fireworks were good, but not up to Sydney quality. A highlight was our DIY (well, we bought and lit them) fireworks at 4 a.m. after the official fireworks at midnight. Karneval (early February) in Aachen / Cologne - my colleague Stefan lives in Aachen, which is up in Rhineland where they celebrate Karneval, generally dress up and go crazy for a few days. I went with Renat, a friend of mine from Munich, up there, and spent on night in Cologne and the rest of the time in Aachen. Captain Sparrow seems to be a popular dress-up theme these day...

Some said it was the wrong time to visit Beijing. Not the time of the year, but rather, the fact that it was one year before the Olympic games and a lot of things, even parts of the Forbidden City, would be closed for refurbishment and beautification, before China's capital opens its 'heavenly gates' for the world's atheletes and visitors. But more importantly, journalists with suspicious eyes as they inspect the details of the city to search for cracks. It would not be the full Beijing experience. In the end, it was probably a good time to go, and pity that I had not gone earlier. One does not go to Beijing to look at the adventurous designs by Sir Norman Foster - although it is interesting to hear how superstitious locals have interpreted it as a grave for the politicians, since the reflective dome is located directly behind the rear exit of the Great Hall of the People. And while I took photos in front of the almost completed Olympic stadium that looked like a birds ...

24 hour motor racing events are not at all well-known in Australia. There is the recently inaugurated Bathurst 24 hours event, but the Bathurst 1000 is much more famous and has a longer history. That starts at 10 a.m. and lasts for about a little over 6 hours, and by that time I would have usually left the TV set already. The Spa-Francorchamps race circuit is located about an hour away from the German town of Aachen, which is within walking distance of the Belgian and Dutch borders. I stayed with my colleague who conveniently owns a flat in Aachen. Driving to Spa was more or less a trip into a lush, dense forest - the race track itself is very scenic and a walk around the circuit feels like going for a hike. There are some impressive elevation changes, with the famous Eau Rouge corner rising 76 m from the lowest point of the track, over a track length of 300 m. The track then continues upwards for another 60 m to the highest point, the Les Combes corner. For me, it was very exciting to...

I promise to stop writing about touch rugby after this article, but since at the moment, work aside, it takes up a few days of my time a week, it deserves another mention. On July 21st and 22nd, in the suburbs of Paris not far from the Orly airport, directly next to a highway and under some grand power lines, an international touch footy tournament was held. Teams came from all over Europe, including some from across the channel, to compete. In some ways, this tournament is a space filler in the odd years of the bi-annual European Championships. As part of this tournament, there is also the all-important Greenstone Hook cup, which the Germans and the French compete for. The weekend started badly. Storms in Europe on Friday night meant that I arrived in Paris at 2:30 a.m.. Luckily, I met another team member on the flight, and instead of staying near the football field, he was staying with a friend in the city. That was convenient, because a taxi to my hotel that evening would have cost ...

At last, a post that is not about traveling. Well, mostly not. Earlier in the year I discovered that a bunch of English speaking people play touch footy (or touch rugby to people outside of Australia and New Zealand) in the English Gardens. On a make shift pitch in the middle of a very large patch of grass (where others play soccer or ultimate frisbee), were a bunch of people throwing around a rugby ball. Fantastic. As I have found out, it is very much a developing sports in Germany. There are about 30 players in the group in Munich, and slightly less in the cities of Berlin, Frankfurt and Cologne, which also have clubs. Every month during the summer they meet for tournaments - the first this year was in Cologne in June, more on that later - culminating in the German championships, which conveniently finishes in September just before the Oktoberfest. Most people are expats from the UK, or Aussies, or New Zealanders, or from other rugby playing nations. There are several German players ...

Another long weekend, another trip. A quick glance during the week revealed that there were cheap flights to Amsterdam, so after gathering a couple of friends, off we went. Tom, Renat and Vadik were in Amsterdam from Thursday 7th June to 10th June. As we discovered after we booked our flight, finding accomodation is extremely difficult. It seems that when someone wants to book a room on a Saturday in Amsterdam, the Sunday evening must also be paid for as well. We were prepared to overnight in the airport on Saturday night, but there is a twist. As we arrived in our hostel, we were informed that it was overbooked. We then trekked from the friendly and cultured neighbourhood of that hostel (near the concert hall and the Rijkmuseum) to the red light district, where we were told that an apartment awaits. During the day, the red light district is quite normal. We met the owner of the shop downstairs, got our keys, booked the room for Saturday night as well, and we were ready to see Amsterda...

A friend from German course, Sithira, moved to Dresden to work at the beginning of the year. It was a good chance on this long weekend to drive up there and visit him, see the beautiful city of Dresden, and not have to pay for accomodation. Actually Sithira had just moved to a nice, centrally located apartment in Neustadt, which made our stay a very convenient one. Very prominent in Dresden is the river Elbe, which divides the Neustadt and the Altstadt (new and old town). We spent a bit of time walking over to the Altstadt, checking out sights such as the recently rebuilt Frauenkirche (Lady's Church), which was destroyed during the war. The travel guides list the Frauenkirche, the Opera theatre and the Zwinger (a large palace / courtyard, now art galery) as the must see sights. They are all fantastic places to walk around and look at. While I took a tour of the opera theatre, I couldn't follow the German commentary. We travelled by car to Dresden on Thursday 17th May, which was...