One day, our Cambodian driver asked us, whether Australia was part of Europe. At first, I thought I’d misunderstood him and answered that Austria was, but Australia wasn’t.

“Oh,” he said, “that’s a shame. Then I got that one wrong on my test.”

It seemed he’d written a geography test at his university, in which he had to list European countries.

Next he wanted to know whether France and England were in Europe. “Yes,” I said. He was glad that he got these two right.

“And how about the United States?” Surely they were part of Europe?

I was stunned by the question.

“No, sorry,” I said, “the U.S. isn’t part of Europe.”

“But then what about Egypt? That’s part of Europe, right?”

“No, sorry.”

Our driver was heartbroken that he’d made so many mistakes on his geography test.

Looking at it from his point of view…

At first, I was mildly shocked by our driver’s concept of Europe and the rest of the world. But then I remembered, that not everyone knows how to read a map. Certainly not everyone in Cambodia.

Since I had the good fortune of growing up in the West, map-reading is a skill that I learned in geography class and from my parents.

But if you grow up in some remote Cambodian village, you’re pretty far removed from globes, maps and learning about other parts of the world.

And looking at it from our Cambodian driver’s point of view, most foreigners must look alike. What difference does it make to him if one of them is from the U.S. and another says he’s from Italy, Germany, France – or Australia.

All those places are so far removed from the daily lives of the average Cambodian.  His (or her) life in the Cambodian backwaters circles largely around the family, the village, and maybe the province.

He (or she) will never have a chance to visit far-away countries.

So who cares whether those foreign countries are east or west, north or south of Cambodia.

Or whether they’re part of Europe or not.

I had to buy some deodorant yesterday.

But here in Asia, a fair complexion is considered more desirable than tanned or brown skin.

So most deodorants claim they also have whitening power.

Am I now going to end up with bleached armpits?

I’m not sure whether I really want that…

I’m confused. I always thought you weren’t supposed to drink and drive.

But then what’s the message these traffic cops in Phnom Penh are sending out? Their guard house clearly displays an advertisement for beer.

It’s sponsored by Asahi breweries. The company is based in Japan and just trying to get a foot in the door in other Asian countries.

Aaccording to the company website, Asahi’s corporate philosophy is:

The Asahi Breweries Group aims to satisfy its customers with the highest levels of quality and integrity, while contributing to the promotion of healthy living and the enrichment of society worldwide.

Ah, so that’s what all this is about: not drinking and driving, but “…the promotion of healthy living“.

In that case: cheers, officer!

I’ve never been to Munich’s Oktoberfest.

Somehow the combination of binge drinking, oom-pah music and big-busted waitresses in dirndl-dresses always failed to intrigue me.

So I was unprepared for what I experienced last night, when I attended the Oktoberfest in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh – of all places.

Imagine an authentic Bavarian band playing German beer-drinking music and Alpine yodelling songs to a crowd largely made up of Asians.

The locals seemed to enjoy it, but most of them didn’t have a clue what the singer was trying to tell them when he repeatedly shouted “oans, zwoa, gsuffa!” (rough translation: drink, drink, drink!).

One thing I loved was how Asia’s Tiger brewery decked local waitresses out in very loose interpretations of Bavarian dirndl dresses.

I don’t know if the fish-net stockings are what a Bavarian matron would wear to church on Sundays…

The food was surprisingly authentic, though. The organisers must have had a tough time trying to find Sauerkraut, Weisswurst (a special kind of Bavarian sausage that is boiled, not grilled) and Apfelstrudel (an Alpine interpretation of apple pie) in Cambodia.

Overall, Phnom Penh’s Oktoberfest was bizarre, but fun. Munich on the Mekong.

And for those in Phnom Penh who can’t get enough of German Gemütlichkeit, there’s good news: the Cambodian capital is home to not one, but two Oktoberfests. One’s at the Cambodiana Hotel, the other at the Sunway.

Want to get away from it all? Come to Kep in southern Cambodia and check in to Knai Bang Chatt resort.

Knai Bang Chatt is a name that needs explaining. It means ‘rainbow around the sun’. In Buddhist symbolism, this rainbow is the halo around Buddha’s head.

But even if the name may be difficult to remember, the resort itself will not be once you’ve been there. It’s pure luxury, pure relaxation, pure paradise.

For Cambodian standards, the place is extremely expensive. But it’s worth every cent.

The resort consists of three large villas. They were originally built in the early 1960’s by a student of Cambodia’s most prominent 20th century architect, Vann Molyvann. He, in turn, had studied with Walter Gropius of the Bauhaus.

The villas were abandoned during the Khmer Rouge period and were left to deteriorate. In 2003, their fate changed, when two Westerners bought them and began to return them to their original architectural splendor.

Today, the resort looks like it’s straight out of ‘Architectural Digest’ or a handbook for interior decorators. Everywhere you look, there are flowers, Asian antiques and other decorative elements.

But as a guest, you never feel like you’re staying in a design store. The owners and staff make sure that you feel welcome and right at home.

They make it easy to forget the rest of the world while you’re there. And one simple way they achieve this is by having no TV-sets in the rooms.

What a wonderful idea.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi Photo: deutsche welle / flickr

I heard the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi talk about the situation in Iran on Monday (July 13, 2009). What she said was very impressive.

Shirin Ebadi said many more people have been killed in Iran in the aftermath of the elections than we know now. “What happened in Iran is an obvious human rights violation”, she told a Deutsche Welle journalist.

Ebadi described the first day of demonstrations in Tehran after the Iranian elections: “When the Iranian people demonstrated peacefully, there were no problems – not even a window was broken. But towards the end of the demonstrations shots were fired from office buildings. Some died and many more were injured. That was the beginning to the state’s crackdown. That night at 3 a.m., a student residence was attacked, five students were shot dead and several were injured.”

Journalists attending Shirin Ebadi's press conference Photo: deutsche welle / flickr

Shirin Ebadi said the government’s actions were neither in line with the Iranian constitution, nor with Islam, nor with human rights.

Ebadi said the Iranian people would continue their demonstrations. But the protest would take on new forms because of the government crackdown on the street demonstrations. Ebadi added that this continuing protest and the criticism from within the Iranian clergy will further destabilize the government.

The Iranian human rights activist called on Germany and Europe to increase the pressure on the Iranian government.

But Ebadi made it very clear that she’s opposed to military intervention and economic sanctions. Those, she said, would only hurt the people of Iran.

Shirin Ebadi criticized the West for only concentrating on the nuclear dispute in its negotiations with Iran. “You wonder,” she said, “whether the Europeans only care about their own security and not the security of the people in Iran.”

She also criticized companies like Nokia and Siemens, saying they had delivered technology to Iran, which is now being used to monitor and control the citizens.

Ebadi is an outspoken human rights activist

I was impressed with Shirin Ebadi’s courage to speak out. Some of her co-workers in Iran have already been imprisoned by the regime. But that doesn’t deter her from fighting for human rights for the people of Iran.

Shirin Ebadi giving a radio interview Photo: deutsche welle / flickr

When asked whether giving interviews to foreign journalists in the West could cause problems for her in Iran, she replied “That’s not that important to me. I consider this a task that has to be done.”

What surprised me was that Shirin Ebadi had left Iran shortly before the elections and has not been back since then. She said that her co-workers had urged her to stay in Europe and raise awareness for her cause there. She’s in constant contact with her colleagues back home, who keep her informed about the situation in Iran.

Of course, she’s freer to talk and to take action when she’s in Europe than when she’s in Iran. But it’s risky for her, nevertheless. After all, her husband and her family are still in Iran. They might have to suffer the consequences of her actions abroad.

But despite the risks, Shirin Ebadi expressed confidence that she would be able to return home “after I have finished my job here.”

Foto: tipoyock/Flickr

In every generation, there’s one momentous event that’s etched in people’s memory.

Everybody who witnessed it remembers where they were when they found out that President Kennedy had been shot.

Everyone remembers where and how they watched Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.

All Germans who were alive twenty years ago remember exactly how they felt when they first heard the Berlin wall had come down.

A decade later, the death of Princess Diana was another such significant event. And then there was September 11th.

What were you doing when you heard the news?

Those who witnessed these events probably remember to this day what they were doing when they heard the news.

Will Michael Jackson’s death on Thursday, June 25, 2009 turn out to have the same impact?

Will we remember ten years from now how we found out that the ‘Kind of Pop’ had died?

In case I forget: I was in the kitchen having breakfast.

“The Narrows” is a hike at Utah’s Zion Canyon that follows the riverbed of the Virgin River.

At many points of this hike, the river is actually the trail, so you’ll be walking in the water. At some points, the water is so deep that you’ll get wet up to your thighs. On other parts of the trail, there’ll be a small footpath by the riverside. But you’ll be criss-crossing the river frequently.

There are so many banal facts everyone knows about the United States, but when you’re here, you’re still taken by surprise. At least I was on this trip to America.

Of course I knew that this is a gigantic country, that the people are friendly and open and that the most of them are  focused more on what’s happening in their community than on news about the rest of the world.

But in the past ten days of traveling through the South-West of the USA, I was still often surprised, amazed and sometimes even shocked at what I’ve seen and experienced.

The US is huge. Even though I’ve driven all across the States on previous trips, the size of the country still took me by surprise this time around.

I’d forgotten how long it takes to get from one place to another, how much open space there is in between.

Distances that look so small on the map will take hours or even days to drive. It takes twelve hours to drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas – twelve hours of deserts, small towns and a variety of nothing.

The people are friendly. Life here is pleasant because people are open and outgoing – much more so than in Europe. The constant “Hi, how are you?” and “Where are you from?” may be rhetorical questions, but they still make you feel welcome.

Other incidents, however, are better proof of how people here make life easier for one another through politeness.

On this trip, I’ve done a lot of  hiking in the national parks. Some of those hikes have been pretty strenuous, but there’s a wonderful camaraderie between the hikers.

Whenever you meet people on the trails, they’ll not only say hello, but they’ll often also start a short conversation and encourage each other. “You’ve almost made it to the top of the mountain” or “Just keep going a little further and you’ll have a great view”.

Don’t expect that kind of good natured friendliness towards strangers when you’re hiking in other parts of the world. In the Alps, hikers will almost be embarrassed by the intimacy of exchanging a quick “Grüss Gott“.

There are too many obese people in the US. The number of overweight people is shocking. I’ve seen people here, whose ankles were as big as my thighs. I’ve seen people who were so fat, they couldn’t walk anymore but had to use an electric wheelchair. I’ve seen people whom I couldn’t have gotten my arms around for a hug.

These are extremes, but there are a lot of them. In general, there are many more overweight people here than in other parts of the world. Especially young people.

Go to any jeans store and look at the sizes they offer: in the US, waist sizes of 38, 40, 42 aren’t uncommon. In Europe, the majority of the pants will have waist sizes between 28 and 36.

There’s too much junk food. It’s unbelievable what people eat at the fast food places. Such enormous portions. So many carbohydrates. So much sugar in the extra-large soft drinks.

But even in the better restaurants, the servings are huge. Don’t finish your plate, if you don’t want to gain weight.

The US is a place of contrast. One of the most fascinating things about this country still is that there is so much contrast and variety here. Variety in terms of the ethnic background of the people, of their views and ideas, of how screwed up or how well-educated some of them are.

But variety also in terms of the architecture, the natural wonders, the things you can see and do.

It’s easy to understand how the people in the US can sometimes think of this place as “God’s own country”. It’s pretentious, but it’s understandable.

No matter how much you think you know about the US, some things will undoubtedly leave you surprised, amazed, awe-struck and even shocked.

It’s a place that defies description, that has to be experienced. But since it’s so diverse, you can always just experience a little part of it and hope that the more parts you’ve seen, the better you understand how everything fits together.

It all sounds so banal, but you have to see it to believe it.

The 'Dragon of Fortune' show at the Wynn, Macau

The Wynn in Macau tries to beat the competition through style and some automated shows.

Every fifteen minutes, there’s a show at the artificial lake in front of the hotel. The fountains are synchronized to music that ranges from classical symphonic favorites to Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding out for a Hero’.

It’s all very dramatic: sound and light, fire and water. Expect to get wet, depending on where you stand beside the fountain pool and where the wind is coming from.

When you’ve seen the fountain show, stroll through the hotel shopping mall past the Gucci, Armani and Prada stores to the mall rotunda.

The rotunda is home to two shows – one always starts on the full hour, the other at the half hour.

At the full hour, you’ll see the dragon show. As the clock strikes the hour, the lights in the rotunda dim and dramatic music sets in.

Below the rotunda’s cupola, an opening in the ground opens, fake fog seeps out and the ‘Dragon of Fortune’ appears.

The dragon is at least five meters high and completely covered in gold plate. As the statue of the dragon rises from the underworld, it slowly turns and the lotus flower which it guards lights up and opens.

Then the dragon slowly descends back into its cave in the ground. The lights come back on in the rotunda and hotel employees with vacuum cleaners quickly clean the place so that everything’s ready for the next show.

They don’t have much time because the next performance starts at the half hour. But that show is different: instead of the dragon, a gold tree rises up from below the ground and turns majestically. The leaves on this 33-foot ‘Tree of Prosperity’ are 24-karat gold.

Above the tree, the rotunda’s cupola opens (again to dramatic music) and a giant chandelier appears. Liberace would have loved it.

The ‘Tree of Prosperity’ show usually moves the Asian visitors to rounds of applause when it’s over.

I don’t quite understand why, but in any case all of these fully automated shows at the Wynn are good fun – and they’re free.