Life goes on...

But, hey: life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.

With these words, I concluded my last blog post last year. Rarely has this proverb been truer than in 2024. Returning from a journey with valuable insights about myself, I assumed that perhaps a little stability and peace would set in. Not at all, thought my life! One by one, it took my two furry companions first, then the man was gone, and as the icing on the cake, the job disappeared too, ending in nothing less than a full-blown professional mudslinging match.

Suddenly faced with free time, I hastily started the travel thought carousel - I can't just sit at home for weeks in dreary November weather and not go away! So: where to, for how long, with whom, and in general. Mentally, I was in Iceland, Costa Rica, Panama, the Lofoten Islands, and the North Cape. Alone, with a tour group, with Tine (whom I met through a travel buddy website). Eventually, I landed in Vientiane, Laos via Shanghai. Currently, I sit on the veranda of my accommodation with an Americano and write the first post.

If I learned one thing in the past year, it was to accept situations as they are and to give them space. Not only while traveling but in life in general. Arriving overly tired last night, I planned to sleep in today and start the sightseeing trip after a quiet coffee start later in the afternoon. So!

But before today comes yesterday. True to the motto 'The journey is the goal', I once again combined my travel with a layover to tick off another item on my bucket list 'Tallest Buildings'. The layover took me to Shanghai, and thanks to the newly introduced 144-hour visa, the immigration process was relatively easy and, above all, free. However, I lost count of HOW many times my carry-on luggage was security-checked yesterday...

The first highlight was the ride into the city, namely on the Transrapid! In Shanghai, it is called Maglev and takes only 8 minutes for the nearly 30 km. “If you... from the main train station in Munich... in ten minutes, without needing to check in at the airport, then you basically start your flight at the... at the main train station in Munich. Ten minutes.” You remember the 'bahn'breaking speech. ;-) After a quick transfer, you eventually surface from underground, come into the daylight, turn around, and there behind you is actually the Oriental Pearl Tower! OMG, what a moment!!! Having looked it up online just days before, seen pictures, and now I'm actually standing in front of it. I had to collect myself and thought a coffee would be a good idea. It turned out that finding a café was not so easy... Luckily, Starbucks was still reliable.

Rejuvenated, I ventured up the tower. There wasn't much going on at the elevators - although hordes of (young) Chinese congregated in front, forming queues, all carrying a well-fed carrot cartoon figure as a plush toy. And taking pictures. The figure also sat as an inflatable, oversized model in front of the tower. Can someone explain that to me? I found nothing online...

On the first platform at 263 m, it got loud again. Chinese people are just loud. Not a stereotype, they are loud. LOUD. And somehow, I was the only Westerner on the tower. It was also an interesting experience again. But the view was sensational! Although somewhat clouded by fog-smog. After circling around, I dared to do something I didn’t manage in 2005 on the CN Tower in Toronto: I put my feet on the glass floor platform. After a great effort, hyperventilation, and suppressed sobbing - but I did it! :-) However, it took a lot of strength, especially coupled with sleep deprivation and an 11-hour flight in my bones, I headed straight back to the airport afterward. Admittedly, it doesn’t do justice to the largest city in China. This will not be my country, no. Maybe someday to the Great Wall of China. But otherwise, no.

And so I have now arrived in Laos, which so far gives a rather relaxed impression. I will now embark on a sightseeing temple tour and see what the day brings.

Whoever has made it this far is welcome to accompany me further in the coming days. :-)