SUPERLATIVES - Munich, Germany
Munich, Germany
Some bad experiences, many many great experiences, there´s so much that happens to you while travelling. I found a homepage of a great traveller and he had such a list with superlatives, I really loved that idea and asked him if it would be a problem for him to copy this idea. "No problem", so, here we go....and - hey - it´s just MY point of view....
Countries travelled to: Depending on the way of counting between 97 and 102
Best restaurant:
Seafood cellar restaurant, Reykjavik
Vinum, Tirana
Rust en Vrede, Stellenbosch
La Colombe, Constantia
Le Quartier Francaise, Franschhoek
Aqua, Wolfsburg
Zsazsa, Rio de Janeiro
TAKAZAWA, Tokyo
Best hotel (regarding the price)
Langham Palace, Hong Kong
Worst hotel:
Grand Hotel Praha, Slovakia,
Hotel Raha, Mary, Turkmenistan
Most tourists:
Prague, Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Manuel Antonio-NP in Costa Rica
Fewest tourists:
Mongolia, Transnistria, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Albania, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Corcovado-NP in Costa Rica, Aserbaijan
Cheapest internet:
China (0,25 € / h)
Most expensive internet:
Atlanta, Airport (60 $$ one hour), Geneve, Switzerland, Hotel Interconti (18 € / h)
Cheapest alcohol:
Transnistria (0,75 l Wodka = 0,40 €)
most unreliable post:
Nepal (postcards never arrived), Australia (6 of 106 cards did not arrive, the others took quite a long time to arrive, Portugal (postcards arrived 2 weeks later), Mexico (more than one month)
, Grenada and St. Lucia (4 weeks), Iran (up to 6 weeks after posting the cards arrived)
Fastest post:
Romania (2 days from Bukarest to Germany), Spain (1,5 days from Barcelona to Switzerland), Japan
Cheapest food:
Nepal, Iran
Most expensive dinner:
"Bagatelle" in Oslo, Norway, 200 € (1 person), "El celler de Can Roca" in Girona, 350 € for two persons, "Aqua" in Wolfsburg (660 € for a dinner for 2 persons), Update: new record: TAKAZAWA in Tokyo for 689,- € (two persons)
Favourite cities:
Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Cape Town, Lisbon, Singapore, Mera, Nice, Kashan, Isfahan, Havanna,
Strangest city:
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Cities I did not like:
Nassau (Bahamas), Belize City, Bukarest, Kuala Lumpur, Mary (Turkmenistan), Maputo (Mosambik), Colón (Panama)
Cleanest cities:
Singapore, Ashgabat
City with the most cleaning ladies:
Ashgabat/Turkmenistan (approx. 10.000)
City with the worst waste of water/energy:
Ashgabat/Turkmenistan, Dubai, Baku
City with the most fountains:
Ashgabat/Turkmenistan, Baku/Aserbaidschan
City in which you see nobody at night (except thousands of guards):
Ashgabat/Turkmenistan
City with the highest entrance fees (museums and so on):
Ashgabat/Turkmenistan
City with the fewest restaurants/bars:
Ashgabat/Turkmenistan
Bazaar where they cheat you:
Istanbul, Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh, Marrakesch
Bazaar where they do not cheat you:
Damaskus, Mary, Ashgabat, bazaars in Iran
Best airport:
Singapore, Tiflis (free W-Lan and all shops are open 24 h)
Worst airport:
Dalangzabad (Mongolia), Kathmandu, Zagreb, Rio de Janeiro
Worst delay:
Neapel (6 h), Bukarest (5 h), Mauritius (27 h - thanks, Condor)
Ugliest place in this world:
Gara Auto Nord in Chisinau, Moldowa (it is the bus station), Belize City, northern part of Rio
Most exchange offices in one city:
Chisinau, Moldowa
Fewest exchange offices in one city:
Damaskus, Syria (saw only one), Panama and Costa Rica, Cuba
Cheapest country:
Nepal, Iran
Worst day-trip:
Odessa - Tiraspol - Chisinau - Odessa and Nassau, Bahamas
Most exhausting day-trip:
Paris, Kosovo, Tiraspol, Isfahan - Teheran with stops in Kashan and Quom
Most expensive countries:
Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Aserbaidschan, NOT Japan (surprisingly)
Highest visa-fees:
Turkmenistan (appox 70 $), Mozambique (85 $), Iran (50 € + 30 USD for an invitation letter), Aserbaidschan (80 €)
Only place in the world where four countries meet:
In the Zambesi River: Botsuana, Sambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia
Country where the banknotes have (nearly) no value:
Belarus, Mongolia, Nepal, Sambia, Iran
Strangest place:
Minsk, Iceland, Tiraspol, TURKMENISTAN, Armenia, Aserbaidschan, Tokyo
Best food:
Australia, South Africa, China, Carnival Valor (cruise), Tokyo
Worst food:
Russia (Transsib Train) and Slovakia, Turkmenistan, CUBA
Longest bus trip:
Vilnius - Moscow (20 h)
Longest train trip:
Moscow - Ulan Baator (6 days)
Longest flight:
Frankfurt - Brisbane (with stop-over)
Frankfurt - San Francisco (nonstop)
Best flights:
First class:
Emirates Melbourne - Singapore
Business Class:
Air China: Shanghai - Frankfurt
Emirates: Frankfurt - Dubai
Emirates: Frankfurt - Dubai
Emirates: Dubai - Singapore
Emirates: Dubai - Frankfurt
Lufthansa: Beirut - Frankfurt
Worst flight company: MALEV (they cancel nearly every flight), Turkish Airlines (such a bad service), Condor, Iberia, AIREuropa, Air China (as they lost all my luggage)
Most exhausting cities:
New York, Shanghai, Teheran, Tokyo
Highest mountain I climbed:
Poon Hill, Nepal, 3802 m
Highest mountain I´ve seen:
Mount Everest, 8848 m
Most surprising trips:
Bosnia (didn´t expect it to be so nice), Cruise (expected a horrible trip and thought it´s a "once in a life-time", but surely will do it again), Lesotho, wow, such an amazing place, Armenia and Georgia (did not expect much...), Brazil (knew it would be great, but it was AMAZING), Iran (forget all prejudices and make your own experiences - I really loved country and people), Aserbaidschan, Tokyo - another world
Most souvenirs I bought:
Nepal, Southern Africa (Sambia, Zimbabwe, Mosambique, South Africa, tons of souvenirs in 3 month), Brazil, Iran (most probably nr. 1)
Most artificial city:
Dubai, Ashgabat
Best language skills:
People in Lebanon, Nepal, Albania, Armenia and Georgia (many speak German and English), Iran
Worst language skills:
Italians
I felt very unsafe in:
RUSSIA, Belize City, Zimbabwe, Johannesburg
I felt very safe in (where I did not expect to feel safe):
Turkmenistan, Albania, China, Singapore, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Aserbaidschan, Havanna, Tokyo
Country where I was cheated often:
Slovakia, Italy, Turkey, Morocco
Trips I did not like:
Slovakia, Bahamas, Mozambique
Crimes committed against me:
Naples - theft
Budapest - theft
St. Petersburg, Russia - Robbery
Nepal: blackmail
Moscow: blackmail
Transnistria: blackmail
Ulan Ude: theft (border officer stole things from our train department)
Most ****** border officials:
Russia / Transnistria
Most beautiful beaches:
Seychelles / Maldives / Australia (Whiteheaven)/Sandy Bay, Llundudno (Cape Town)/ beaches at the Garden Route, Mauritius, Costa Rica (Dominical & Corcovado-NP)
Place that seemed to be (and is) so far away from civilization:
Damla (Turkmenistan), Lesotho
Cheapest stamps and postcards:
Nepal (maybe so cheap cause they did not arrive), Moldova, Istanbul (10 cents for a really nice card), Antigua and some other islands in the Carribean..., Tokyo (= 54 Cent)
,
Most expensive postcards and stamps
Scandinavia, Roatan (Honduras, 1,25 $ for a stamp), Maputo, Mozambique (more than 2 Euro for a stamp), GEORGIA (4 Lari = 2 € for each stamp), Panama (Bocas del Toro: they told me that a stamp to Europe is 0,46 USD, but they only have stamps with 1,50 USD)
Most beautiful underwater scenery:
Maldives
Most beautiful winter landscape:
Sils Maria, Switzerland
Most interesting animals in their natural environment:
penguins, koala, shark, crocodile, parrots, rhino, ostrich, pelicanes, warthog, chamaeleon, kingfisher, parrots, cuati (Nasenbär), Tukan, Tapir, SLOTH
nicest bath:
Rudas bath, Budapest, some Turkish Bath in Tiflis, Georgia, Onsen in Tokyo
Cheapest flight:
0,01 € from Riga to Frankfurt and back for 0,01 €, too. With tax 34 € for the return flight
"Strangest" tourists:
Thailand, Dominican Republic, tourists on a cruise
Place I spent the most time:
Vilnius (4 month), Shanghai (3 month), Johannesburg (3 month)
Where did I get sick:
Lebanon, Italy, Shanghai, Singapore, Lithuania, TURKMENISTAN (!!!!!! WOW!!!!), Sambia, Johannesburg, Georgia
Most beautiful stewardess:
Yeti Airlines, Nepal
Most expensive / beautiful cars seen in:
Moscow, Beirut, Dubai, Monaco, Miami Beach, Johannesburg, Baku, Havanna (Oldtimer)
Most postcards I sent from one trip:
Australia, 18 days, 106 postcards, cruise in 2012: 112 cards within 2 weeks
Most beautiful forest:
Val de mer, Praslin, Seychelles, Vermont Nature Trail (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
Worst weather I had abroad:
Lithuania (- 22 degrees in winter), New York, Budapest and Nepal (rain), Nice (second day, first day was perfect), Baku (so much wind)
Cheapest metro:
Minsk, Tiflis (25 cent), Baku (20 Cent)
Country with the biggest cult of personality:
Turkmenistan, Belarus, Aserbaidschan
Worst air (pollution)
Shanghai, Teheran
Worst traffic jam (no rules):
Palermo, Albania, Iran
Most ridiculous sight I´ve ever seen:
biggest plastic ananas in this world, Australia
Most beautiful view:
Poon Hill, Nepal
Redentor and Sugar Loaf, Rio de Janeiro
Most beautiful starry sky:
Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Lesotho, desert in Iran
Most disgusting animals:
Leeches in Nepal
Most hospitable people:
Nepal, Singapore, ALBANIA, Brazil
Most beautiful people:
Bosnia, Lebanon, Portugal, Italy, Albania, Armenia, Brazil, Iran
Most rubbish in the landscape:
Albania, Panama
Remarkable situations:
Boy sitting at the Promenade in Baku, playing guitar and singing with such a clear and amazing voice......wow....goosebumps
to be continued soon......