A trip from Mainz to the Verdon Gorges

Dinner at our host's place with dog Smiley and the 3 cats

The kitchen at our host's place

Kite surfers on the beach near Giens

Lac de St. Croix

Camping du Fondue fortress near Giens

The mouth of the Gorges du Verdon

Gorges du Verdon

Dijon

The first stage of our trip: Mainz-Aix-des-Bains Sunday 10 August
Our holidays were approved on a very short notice. So my daughter Angela and me had to organise the trip last minute. Angela has been to the area before and she showed me an amazing part of France by driving through the area. We started in Mainz past Saarbrücken, Metz in direction Aix-les Bains. Apart from the French language along with pay stations for the use of the highway, it was clear that the European Union members have moved very closely together in terms of culture. Everything is now so familiar when you cross the border apart of the language. As we decided to get off the highway and buy petrol in a small town, we realised that it was Sunday. Petrol stations in small towns were closed and we needed to use our credit card to buy petrol.  I have never used my credit card very often and I didn't know the password. The first culture shock in our neighbouring country but luckily a nice young man helped us out with his credit card.

We decided to have an overnight break in Aix-des-Bains, stayed at Ibis Styles Hotel in the spa and hospital area of the city. They gave us one of the worst rooms with view on the car park, a common practice in the hotel business, but we were too tired to dispute for a better room. In the evening we had dinner at the lake, observed fireworks and thought that the harbour was quite big for such a small town. Just after waking up the next morning I took a walk around the garden, viewed the spa and Thalassa hospital. The sky was grey and I could only catch a glimpse of the 'Dent du chat' or 'The cat's tooth', a 1200 m high hill with the shape of a cat's tooth which is a popular area for hiking.

The second stage: Aix-des-Bains until St. Maximin La SteBaume Monday 11 August
We still had a long drive in front of us and chose the Route Napoleon instead of the highway to enjoy the scenic part of the area. August is the main holiday season in France: All the campsites were fully booked until the end of September, reasonably  priced licensed BNBs politely declined our request, even AirBnB rooms in good locations were booked out for the next two weeks. I started to become completely desperate and tried to contact a CS host in Moustiers Ste Marie.  He responded very positively. I was surprised because I actually expected to be ignored. He said that he couldn't host us on the same day but if we could wait a couple of days, he would be very happy to host us. Filled with gratitude, we thanked him but apologised as our holiday was limited. Finally Angela could find a host on AirBnB and instantly booked two rooms for us in St. Maximin La Ste Baume. It was about 30 km from the Verdon area though a scenic drive by car with unique sights along the way. Frankly we didn't expect much from this small town and I was prepared for the worst: Sharing the bathroom/toilet and kitchen with 8 people was not our idea of a relaxing holiday but we didn't have much of a choice. We had a pleasant surprise as we arrived: The majestic Ste Baume hill and gigantic view of the Ste Victoire massive mountain range greeted us as though they had been waiting for ages. The cathedral of Ste Mary Magdalene immediately caught our attention as we entered St. Maximin la Sainte Baume

Our lovely host family in St. Maximin La Sainte Baume
The house was quite far out in the sticks but because we had a car we didn't find it overly inconvenient. Our host Christophe gave us a warm welcome, showed us around the house and garden and showed us our rooms. His wife and children were already away on holidays. A brief look at the house, kitchen and garden, we instantly gained the impression that this family was eco-friendly and health-orientated. The house was well-organised, in the kitchen we could find about every type of food processor.The crockery, pots and pans were very typical to the Provence culture. We could imagine ourselves in a provincial household in the Provence, the only thing which stood out were the dishwasher and the Nespresso machine. There was no microwave. On a wall shelf, they had a large variety of spices and herbs just inviting to cook the best and healthiest dish. Spices were international, among others Asian . On the first night Christophe had dinner together with us. We cooked fish and he made a mouth-watering Ratatouille from vegetables grown in his own garden. On AirBnB we didn't quite expect to spend time and have meals with our hosts the way we did very often with Couchsurfers. We only expected a room because that was what we booked. Christophe was only home after work and away for the weekend. Anyway, he was trusting enough to give us full reign over the whole house and huge garden. The two rooms were very reasonably priced and well-equipped.


Is a GPS helpful?
It certainly is, especially when you are looking for a certain address in an unfamiliar location. But the GPS will  always try to find the shortest possible way. It is also a computer that works based on calculations, so it would probably say ' Please drive into the round-about and take the 4th exit'. A real person would have just told you 'Please drive around the whole round-about and turn into the last exit'. Many people have lost their natural sense for orientation because they blindly follow the GPS. We decided to take the scenic Route Napoleon instead of the highway and switched off the GPS. Instead we relied on the map, one is driving and the other one is reading. People have to be critical and realise that a GPS is just another computer and we still need to rely on our own sense of direction....

Getting around St. Maximin and a day on the beach: Tuesday-Thursday 12-14 August
On our first day we needed a rest from the trip and enjoyed their beautiful garden. We also bought some food at the Aldi and Hyper U supermarket.The next day we visited the old town of St. Maximin and viewed the cathedral which was famous for the biggest French historic organ. The tourist office was located in the Royal Court building where they gave us individual information for the independent traveller. In the afternoon we drove to Tourves, visited the Gorges du Caramy before we continued our scenic trip to the coastal area. We observed kite surfers and enjoyed the beautiful view of the sea fortress in La Tour Fondue near Giens. The carpark was expensive but it included sightseeing in the fortress. Once arrived in Giens, we had a lovely but expensive fish dinner in a restaurant with a gorgeous view on the water. The next day Angela's French colleague invited us to join them in Aix-en-Provence, walked through the city and had lunch in a local restaurant. We had beautiful Anchoiade, a typical dish from the Provence consisting of a salted sardine sauce and vegetables. They showed us the view on the gigantic St. Victoire and drove us to his parent's beautiful place near our village. Another unforgettable day.

Grand Canyon du Verdon Friday and Saturday 15 and 16 August
The folllowing 2 days were just the highlight of our trip and the word 'pretty awesome' was just not enough to describe the scenery that once inspired the paintings of Paul Cezanne. Lake Quinson was very beautiful but less frequented than Lake Verdon. We hired a canoe to explore the lake further. The wind was very strong, the lake was quiet at times and suddenly we found ourselves paddling against heavy stream. We needed to be very alert to the sudden change of the stream and paddling rhythm, to relax was nearly impossible. After two hours of hard work canoeing against different types of streams, we arrived at the boat quay exhausted. Anyway, we could enjoy the breathtaking scenery and have a challenging exercise at the same time. We spent two consecutive days in the Verdon area, the drive through the Grand Canyon in Verdon was something we couldn't forget in our whole life.

I have seen many national parks in the U.S. and Australia, this looked very familiar to us. And yet it was different and in fact the Verdon grand canyon is the second large grand canyon in Europe. The many tourists were a bit irritating but somehow it was a different kind of tourist than those lying around on the beaches of the Cote d'Azur like Cannes, St. Tropez or Nice. The Verdon Canyon is famous for its challenging hikes and most people had robust hiking shoes on. Apart from this breathtaking scenery we had the opportunity to enjoy several types of foods the Provence was famous for.On our way home, we had a lovely 4-course- dinner in Sillans. Unfortunately it was too dark to walk to the Cascades du Sillans(waterfall). We also drove past Barjols, a small town famous for its many fountains.

Last night in France: Dijon Sunday-Monday 17-18 August
The last station of our travels was the city of Dijon where we stayed for the night before heading home to Mainz. Dijon is Mainz' twin city. As I visited for the first time, many historic buildings were not yet completely refurbished so the city only left a so so impression on me. I was quite pleasantly surprised as I strolled through the old town and saw the historic buildings after the renovation. Mainz doesn't have as many historic buildings, such as the colourful Dom(Cathedral), Notre Dame du Dijon, Palace, many smaller buildings and half-timber houses. The atmosphere with the many students reminds a lot of Mainz.....

What we have learned from our trip
The whole trip has been very eye-opening thus far. We have been to France many times but every trip reveals a subtle cultural difference. Thanks to our host and Angela's colleague, we could experience the Provence from a very different perspective. The area is horrenduously expensive, even the so-called restaurants populaire(mostly restaurant serving every day dishes for the average person) have skyrocketing prices on their menue . But we thought the culinary specialties were so unique that we took the chance to indulge ourselves in French gourmet and popular meals . Unlike in Germany, if you order a coffee they'll give you a short black if you don't specify it. So if you want milk coffee, you have to explicitly say cafe au lait. The Frenchman in front of us said 'pain au chocolat'  when he bought a chocolate-filled croissant. Of course he was one of the many French travellers who were not a local to the area. Later I heard that people in the region would understand you but definitely know that you were not a local. The local expression for a chocolate-filled croissant is 'chocolatine' and next time we will behave like the French when in France.  In the future we will also try hard not to buy petrol on Sundays and if we have no choice at all, we'll have to carry our credit card pinword. France's roads are not sign-posted as well as in Germany, so apart from a GPS, be prepared to carry a roadmap along with special maps from local tourist offices 

A rendang recipe: Collection of all ideas that have inspired me in Indonesia

Ingredients:
2 kg beef diced like goulash-style
3 grated ripe coconuts or 3-4 cans of coconut milk

I. Basic paste: It can be made with an electric blender but I still use the old lumpang(Indonesian mortar and pestle)
30 shallots
10 cloves of garlic
1 piece of ginger root about a finger-length
100 g red chilis
pepper


II. Additional spices ground to a paste:
1 galanga root
3  lemon grass shoots
3 anis stars
5 keffir lime leaves
5 salam leaves(Indonesian laurels)
2 curcuma leaves

III. Other additional ingredients:
1 teaspoon grated coconut roasted until gold brown(serundeng), then crush it with a mortal and pestle until the oil separates from the rest)
1 table spoon minced boiled beef liver
1 table spoon tamarind water
salt, sugar

How to prepare and cook:
1. Make the coconut milk by hand if possible. If you can't find fresh coconuts you can take the canned ones. Soak the grated coconuts in 4 cups of water for 1 hour, then press through a strainer. The texture and thicknes depends a lot on how much water you take and how long you soak it
2..Saute the meat and the basic paste until fragrant. Add some water and continue to simmer on low heat until the water has evaporated. If the heat is too low, the meat may become to tender and fall apart. Observe the dish carefully
3.. Add the coconut milk and additional spices no II ground to a paste, add more water if necessary .
4.. Continue to stir and lower the heat, test the meat for tenderness
5.. Add additional ingredients no III
6.. Continue to simmer on low heat until it has the typical dark brown colour that is so special about rendang. The water needs to evaporate until it is dry. It is the caramelised coconut milk and grated coconut which gives the dish the natural brown colour

Of course rendang needs a lot of patience due to the slow cooking until it is tender. I just remember that I ordered a nice-looking and fragrant rendang in a renowned Padang restaurant in Jakarta but then I became so disappointed because I had a hard time to cut the tough meat with a knife. Apparently they wanted to save money on electricity or gas.

Later I met a German lady in the airplane. She has visited Indonesia many times and gave me tips about how to give the rendang the brown colour. I stayed polite as she told me that everybody praised her rendang. But I thought that the dish was given a 'shock therapy' by putting it into the oven. I have also tried it in a pressure cooker. In this case we have to cook the meat with the spices until tender in a relatively short time. However, I found that because the boiling time is cut short, the dish couldn't get that special brown black colour we can only achieve by caramelising the coconut gravy

Roti Cenai Jalan Transfer 56 Penang

Actually this place is one of my favourite breakfast places. The roti is crisp(garing) and not doughy, unlike some negative criticism on this hawker stall. The curries are delicious, beef curry RM 1,50, chicken I don't know and it is not listed, my favourite spicy mutton curry is RM 3,-. The meat is delicious and tender, so that I can nearly tear it apart with a spoon and a fork.

As seen so often in Malaysia, they have business cooperation with a drink vendor from whom I regularly order Teh Tarik. Although it is nearly obligatory to order a drink in a hawker stall, I appreciate that he simply accepts a no for no. In my opinion this violates against consumer rights, even though they write it on the wall. The staff is not quite friendly and I suspect that they are not even Malaysians. One person told me in a rude manner that I should give them one of the many small 1 RM that I had. As I told them that I needed my RMs for the bus, he repeated it again. In the meantime I know that many people look like Malaysian and speak some Malay or Englisch, but they are foreign workers from the surrounding countries.

Next door there is a good roti bakar(chargrilled Bengali bread) vendor who also sells curries and roti. He doesn't have mutton curry and normally I only buy teh tarik and roti bakar from him, sometimes with raw eggs half-boiled on the hot grilled sandwich. You can also order kaya on your roti if you don't like raw eggs. Behind this place there is a shortcut of a backstreet leading directly to Penang Road quite opposite Chulia Street

The luggage of a flashpacker

I still have the adventurous spirit of a backpacker but I loathe sleeping on floors at a couchsurfing host's place or sharing a dorm room with potential thieves or strangers in a hostel. There are three things in my traveling life that are of utmost importance to me and these are: Freedom, independence and comfort. A hotel is very likely to suit my needs and I often use Couchsurfing, virtualtourist or Meetups.com for social interaction and a kind of local touch in a culture that is not my own. I have not used AirBnB yet, especially not in South East Asia where I can get clean, decent and convenient enough hotels or family-owned guest houses for as much as maximum EUR 10,-

Some airlines charge extra money for checked-in luggage, so this is already a reason to not carry too much checked luggage. Apart from everything, it can be downright inconvenient to wait and be pushed by people at the conveyor belt until you can collect your luggage. After some experience I have decided to travel light and only carry a cabin case, laptop bag in form of a smaller cabin case that transforms into a backpack and a big handbag. We need to aware that we are only allowed to carry liquids of maximum 10 x 100 ml in a zipper bag. So any contact lenses, medicines, make-up, toileteries or other liquids need to be stored as mentioned above.ou can organise your things. You can find and organize them very quickly.
I have just bought small organizer bags with tags which can help you to find your things easily


In my small cabin suitcase I have packed:

1. Many T-shirts and figure-hugging tops, 2 bikinis
2. A pair of jeans for cold days, maybe a thinner pair of long batik pants
3. I like skirts, so I bring two, alternatively a pair of pants and an office skirt or suit will do
4. socks and stockings for cold weather or air-conditioned rooms
5. A jacket and jumper
6. flip flops
7. shoes, a pair of pumps if you combine it with business events, maybe trekking/running shoes
8. 2 dresses to go out or if you combine it with a business trip some conservative business clothing. At least one of them should be a simple black dress. The right accesories will transform it to a party dress, business attire, reception etc. My favourites are a loose batik dress for hot weather and a black dress/business suit. The business attire becomes unnecessary if you don't have business appointments
9. 1 or 2 fast-drying travel towels
10. Transparent toileteiries kit with 100 ml bottles of toileteries, make-up, tooth brush, contact lenses, comb/hairbrush etc
11. Small umbrella
12. Cutlery, formalin-free melamin  plastik plate and glass, coffee cup, washrope, pegs 
13. Smartphone and tablet with keyboard
I can also store thinner clothing such as tops, T-shirts and thin dresses in my laptop bag (see photo below) or a mid-size backpack. The laptop bag in the picture can easily transform into a medium-size backpack. Thin shirts, T-shirts and tops with jeans or skirts can be combined in such a way that you have a wider variety with relatively few items. My choice is a mixture of smart casual and leisure....

All the items mentioned above will fit very well in a 7 kg cabin case plus medium size backpack or laptop case.  It is still considered ultra-light packing. You may have to divide your things in both the cabin trolley case and backpack. Please check with your airlines about luggage allowance. Low-cost airlines are less compliant with baggage allowance than full-service airlines. Lufthansa has low compliance with everything, Air Asia is quite generous with cabin luggage but quite incompliant with checked baggage.I hope you will enjoy travelling this way, no need to drag your whole household with you.

Please remember that my list is most suitable to travel in sub- and tropical countries, for Europe we need at least one thicker pair of jeans, more socks, stockings, a thick wind- and waterproof jacket, a jumper and an umbrella. The weight and packing is still ultra-light although for colder climate you may have to reduce the amount of things to bring. Leave warm clothes and formal dresses at home when you definitely plan to travel leisurely in (sub)tropical climate

Figure-hugging tops and T-shirts can also serve as a protection to your body against wind and cold. In this case you can use them both as underwear and summer clothes. It is very important to dress in layers, as you can take off or put on more clothes as the temperature changes. Multiple layers of clothes store body heat inbetween the layers and are much more effective than one thick jumper without anything underneath.

Take 1-2 showers per day and change clothes daily, especially in tropical countries:
If you stay in people's houses, nothing is more disturbing than a penetrating smell. Clothes need to be washed regularly and dirty clothes in a separate bag which needs to get into the laundry ASAP or washed by hand.

Food on Batam Island

As I visited Dr. Frans Setiawan whom I got in contact with through Couchsurfing, I got to know a little bit of the life on Batam Island. They lived in a beautiful housing compound named Bukit Sukajadi which has hills and forested parts in the background. In the morning I got to enjoy some jogging and tai chi training. Although Batam doesn't have surf beaches and outstanding tourist sites, spending some time there especially when you can join a local event would be worth the effort. It is easy to get to Singapore by ferry. Holders of Indonesian passports can get a good deal of about § 15,-. Buying ferry tickets at the terminal is usually more expensive. Cheaper tickets needed to be bought at travel agencies in a shopping mall

On days that both of my hosts needed to work the whole day and didn't have time for me, I have been dropped at Nagoya Hill shopping mall. After shopping around and trying different kinds of food, I started to make contact with some property business representatives. They drove me around the island to show their properties in areas I wanted to spend time in. This was my first impression of what was going on on Batam Island. I saw some coastal and forrested areas, among others the Panbil village and the nearby Kepri mall.

Frans drove us a bit through Batam, the food there was cheap, very tasty with excellent service. He introduced me to his friends Uwan and Sabrina. We had breakfast in Batu Aji, the more lower middle class part of Batam. After this we drove past a couple of villages onto Barelang.

There we had a beautiful seafood late lunch while I was exploring the houses on stilts in the water. It was similar to the clan jetties in Penang, the houses and stilts were a bit less sturdy and the environment more genuine rural. I was very impressed by the friendliness of the people because they didn't hesitate to invite me into their homes

The food was relatively expensive for such an area, possibly because many Singaporeans come to visit Batam for food and spa

Hiking: Sports, nature and tourism

If you hike a beautiful area with a lot of historic cultural sites along with beautiful outlooks on nature, it is hard to maintain the athletic aspects only. Sports physicians define hiking as walking through nature with different type of tracks and at a minimum speed of 5-6 km. It can range from an easy paved road to paved forest trails, rougher track area, different types of soil up to slippery extremely steep serpentines.In most cases the distance ranges between 10 and 30 km per day.

However, there will always be the touristic side of the hike. This means that we need to count sightseeing  ancient castles and other historic cultural sites, different photo stops which shouldn't be missed or just enjoying the scenery. These non-sports activities add  some extra time to the planned hike. We always have to go for compromises because if we want to enjoy nature and culture to the fullest,  the minimum cardiovascular workout cannot be maintained throughout the whole hike. A stretch of app 20 km can easily take around 6-7 hours including all breaks.

This is another part of the Rheinsteig between Braubach and Filsen, alongside the Rhine including steep ascends and descends, partly slippery, partly in forested areas and the other stretch in the hot sunny part along the Rhine

Wispertal: A piece of heaven at the doorstep

The car ride between Mainz and Lorch, where the hike starts, is already a trip on its own. It goes through winding roads along the Rhine and through beauitful hills and architecture

I have been to Wispertal a few times to buy fresh rainbow trouts. This time it was the first time that I explored the place by hiking. If you consider hiking as a good sport to boost your  cardiovascular system, you have to keep a certain pace from beginning to end. I had difficulties to make the right decision: either I had to stop and take some time to zoom the right focus and take the picture from the right angle, or I had to keep my pace from beginning till end

The trail started at the beautiful UNESCO heritage site Lorch with its beautiful buildings, churches and scenery. The hike goes through the forest, many slate trees and shrubs, the remaining wild berries and several outlooks far beyond the Rhine to the other side, the Hunsrück mountain range.

The trail was broad enough for the relatively large group and we also had the opportunities for fruitful conversations with some very interesting people. We have also been very lucky that it hadn't rained for some time and had no problems with a slippery ground. Most of the trail was soft soil and hardly any rocks on a well-formed track.

There were some ascends and descends, the one up to the ancient castle ruine Sauerburg was one of them. From the description the trail was around 18,5 km with some fairly rough stretches and a difference in altitude of about 700 m. The last stretch was along the famous Rheinsteig trail back to Lorch, a gradually descending track. The view on the Rhine, its castles, mountain range and wineries on the other side was divine, which more than often distracts a good hiker from his purpose.

Rhineside hiking tracks are sunnier and warmer for most of the time, making the stamina a lot lesser after a good hike in forested areas. Even the road was a lot smoother and slowly descending, it was the hardest part because of the heat. From a lookout point near Kaub, we could see the small castle Pfalzgrafenstein built on the island Reichenau in the middle of the Rhine. This was formerly a venue built for custom purposes and nowadays open as a museum

Going on such a hike is challenging enough for your stamina and we can all combine it with beautiful scenery, ancient castles and churches along with great social interaction. Absolutely recommendable for visitors to Germany too!