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Sunday 30-8-09
Before noon, we drove into Hamburg; it
was heavy raining. From the sky poured as if
heavenly firefighters would have open their hoses
over the devils domain.
Therefore we did not stay,
rather proceeded towards Berlin, the
capital of Germany. The highways are
smooth here, the vehicles are
plenty
and adventures are none. Close
to the city, we set ourselves into a camping
ground for a cool nights sleep.
Monday 1-9-09
Calling the Brunei Embassy in the morning,
we had to advise them, of our arrival 2
weeks too early. Not sooner we turned
into the
street his Excellency the
Ambassador and staff were down to welcome
us. And what we did not know before was,
here we saw a
well-known face of Brunei, which stirred
memories up. Memories, among the best we
encountered during our long way back in
2007-
2008.
It was Pehin Datu Inderasugara Brigadier Jeneral (R) Dato
Paduka Haji Mohammad Yusof Bin Abu Bakar whom we met in Myanmar,
and who is fortunate to have the best Malay
cook in the world as his wife. On this
statement, Harun
insisted upon, remembering the
fine Rendang
we ate in Myanmar once upon our
journey. He is on assignment in
Germany now. One of the best representatives
of
our lovely Nation for sure..
JAMBO and behind
the Brunei flag
His Excellency, me and the Embassy staff
It was a short visit as it
is Ramadan, fasting month for Muslims.
His Excellency and staff consented for a few
memory photo, and
soon afterwards we were on
our way to a sightseeing tour, not too long
as we all had fasted since morning and
preferred a rest.
We all in the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam,
Berlin
How kind from them to welcome us. We are
only "private travelers" and on no official
mission. Although with the intention to
"Bring
Brunei to the World". "Come on, you
achieve the impossible" said one German,
hearing that we came all the way through
Siberia,
that maybe true, however we are
still humble "privatissimos".
A few words to Germany. It
is so much to see and write of her,
impossible to bring it in this web site.
Therefore we look a bit from a
unusual standpoint at
this great Nation. She
has been during most of history in trouble.
Sometimes I wonder, if Germany is
not the
whipping boy of our planet. Maybe
these great people are simply on a wrong
place here in Europe. No neighbor wants them
to
dominate. Would their fatherland be in
East Russia or South America or South
Africa, the German Volk could develop
perhaps more
free and without conflicts. How
many great men of humanity were of German
origin. We all know Schiller,
Goethe, Wagner Listz,
Mozart Haydn, Strauss,Stifter, Duerer,.Nietzsche,
Beethoven, to name but a few. These are
giants, hard to match. It is, as if the
German race is too competent.
Technically excellent, no wonder that the
chief thieves of the USA stole over 300.000
patents after
the war. Against all patent
rights laws, there was never a cent coming
back to the owners the intellectual
property. The justification
was "War
reparations". And the Soviets
dismantled whole factories to transport them
for reassembly in Russia.
The German are top engineers, and scientists. composers and musicians. Today, negative propaganda of
inhuman behaviors, lies,
faked pictures,
numbers and figures, twisting of historical facts, are
used, to make the Germans a Volk
without a backbone, they
are constantly reminded, what
bad people they are supposed to be.
Standing on the Brandenburg gate the
symbol of Germanys unity I looked around,
next by the American Embassy, behind the
Russian, then the French and the Brits. "Who
is in charge here?" is the
question. And then the German Bundestag. A
Glas building
designed by? No, not a German Architect. That would be maybe
too much independence. A British fellow won
the tender
The Glas building is perhaps the symbol of transparency.
Brandenburg gate the American Embassy flag
on the left The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church reminder
of the war
" ...and GOD commanded, sulphur and fire shall rain from the sky
onto Sodom and Gomorrah, to destroy all
towns and their people
and all what as
growing in the land..." (Bible)
That was what had happen in many German
cities during the last years of war. When
British Air Marshall Arthur Harris
signed on 27
May 1943 the order number
173 for the destruction of Hamburg , the
operation "Gomorrah" begun. About 1000
aircrafts flew that night
into German
airspace to bomb Hamburg. This horror befell
many German cities. 1000 dead in Bonn,
although, there was no military
target. Harries "dead machines" dropped
150.000 fire bombs over Koblenz, burning the
historical town. Take Pforzheim an old
university town and a city known for
goldsmiths and jewelry. In the bombing
terror of 24 February 1945, 20.000
people were burned to
dead. The town lay in
ashes. All of it. Wiesbaden 1000 dead a
night. Worms, Mannheim, Wurzburg, Dresden,
Berlin, Munich. Just
name a few. There are
dozens more. Every town became a symbol of
suffering and Satan's actions.
It was indiscriminate terror
bombing with
maximum destruction of life and property.
Who can justify such actions before God and
Humanity?. May Satan
welcome all , who
murdered innocent life wherever er
it happen, may he tell them, they will burn
in hell into eternity. We hope his
domain is big enough for all monsters of
history including Hitler and his henchmen.
Or if you are a Buddhist, let them be reborn
as a victim in an African conflict, as a Tutsu perhaps, to be
hacked to pieces by machetes of is fellow
countrymen. Or become victim
in a future nuclear war, which by all accounts of probability is
not that far away. "Rot to death" are my
grim thoughts.
The climax of murder on innocent civilians
came with the nuclear bombs dropped in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We close with a poem of Vera Brittain which she wrote in 1944 in her book
"Seed an Chaos":
: "The bitter groan of Hamburg's streets
The weeping in Milan
death cries of children trapped and burned,
Oh, justify who can!
For they pierce like a terrible sword
through the heart of an English man"
If his heart is not of stone.
A visit in a mosque is for a
Muslim in a foreign town a must. We
went to Shaid Mosque newly build by the
Turkish community.
Entering, one starts to whisper only, is
reluctant to talk. Light
was falling through the glass stained
windows, believers were studying
the Koran,
it was an almost heavenly atmosphere inside.
The mosque entrance
black cloth from the cover of the Kabah
glass stained window
beautiful painted cupola surrounded by
prophets names
the prayer hall. Atop Allah and Mohammed in
calligraphy
On two floors, the mosque
accommodates 5000 believers for their Friday
prayers.
reciting the Koran Colors dominating harmoniously in blue and
gold
On our sightseeing
journey we passed parts of the former Berlin
wall, here in Berlin stood for many years
the communist and the
capitalist system facing each
other. Build by the communists in East
Germany to stem the flight of their own people.
Today she is a background for graffiti
artists.
Parts of the former Berlin wall
Castle Charlottenburg
The old train
station operational until first WW.
left to warn. A Reminder of terror from the
air
The afternoon was soon over
and before we travelled on, we did what we
longed for. Go into a Greek restaurant and
enjoy Suflaki,
grilled lamb meet, with Zaziki the cucumber yogurt and feta cheese.
Gosh, was the belly full. Only a few miles
further we retired in a
camping ground with
happy thoughts about Greek islands and Sirtaki music. The bouzouki was still
playing in my head, when my
thoughts faded
away for a perfect sleep.
the Greek dinner see JAMBO leaning? Because Harun is snoring
Tuesday 2-9-09
Dresden was not far away and
it took us three hours to reach this town.
Once more, here British and American bombers symbolized
the zenith of terror from the air against
German cities. Although they knew the city
was full with east German refugees.
Therefore no
one
know how many died here. But serious
historian estimate up to 200.000. Who on
earth can call such willful actions other
than
satanic? The corpses burned for weeks
on the Dresdner Altmarkt., the stench
drifting over the river.
Dresden rebuild
Our next town to see was
Weimar. the place where this genius, Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe lived.
Goethe as he was
this is a Trabbi, a few still run in former
East Germany
the gearlever up on the steering. A kind of
unique.
We had not much time again and were on route
to Frankfurt. A always we fuel in the
appropriate petrol station.
That is for us TOTAL, the company with spirit, our main sponsor.
Then settled for the night again in our
hotel de la JAMBO.
The best diesel for us
evening work, writing
Wednesday 3-9-09
From Weimar we traveled into
the Harz mountains looking for a special
place. An area where Germanic tribes had
their occult
gatherings, an area- which
according to hearsay, is still today famous,
where in full moon nights, one see witches
flying on brooms.
It is here where they meet in the first
week of May and dance in the Walburgsnight on the Hexentanzplatz..
Driving through the forest
one could already realize, what a spooky
place that is.
You could not see further than 30 meters
into it. Our imagination run wild here. Was there to
someone behind the tree.? Is there not
an
owl flying?
Down in the deep crevice is
the Ross Trappe.The story goes, that a
princess was escaping on a horse from the
very Hexentanzplatz.
Followed by a giant, both riding a horse. while heirs jumped to the
other side, he did not make it and fell in
the river far below.
If you are a
disbeliever, the horseshoe imprint is still
visible in the rock.
The crevice about 500 m wide,
over here jumped
the princess
deep dark forest
View from the Hexentanzplatz over the land
The rock of witches, I almost see them
sitting there
We were carefully
approaching the scene, ready to escape into
or vehicle at once, should anything weird
happen.
And then we saw one, the master witch right
there in that place.
She was naked. her hair bound together by a
snake. On the shoulder lured two rats. On
her backside sat a spider.
look at the big hands pushing
the 3 tons rock and the snake
in the hair
spider on the
backside
cockroaches crawled over the shoulder
Under the stone was squeezed, her favored
animal, a bat . "Rat,
see what they write about Hexentanzplatz?"
Gutsy Norhayati was brave enough to come to
her, slowly, step by step to
ask the rat for direction. And since the
witch did not oppose
it, she
went closer,
asking her for a smile on a photo together. The witch
did not like it at all and turned her head
away in disgust.
That is why Norhayati had to smile
for two.
the traveler and the disgusted witch
next by, the fellow from below
Then we saw him. Satan, Lucifer
or whatever mankind call him. The
patron of the Hexentanzplatz. Here he sat on the
stone as
if he is an innocent someone and
not responsible for all bad on the planet.
See his cloven hoof.
"How many of these
human monsters responsible for evil deeds
are with you down there?" Harun
asked. The devil screamed in
delight. "Many,
many". Good for you as you
can get their souls. "Problem, Problem " the devil shouted. " These
people have no soul." So what do you do
then? asked Harun.
I roast them in their own bad deeds. Then they feel as their
victims felt. "For how long." asked I.
"Eternity, Eternity".
"That is for ever" said Harun. "forever, forever" repeated
the devil.
"Well done devil"
said Harun, and shacked his hand which stunk
like like pitch and sulphur. Somehow, this guy was
real..
There are endless stories of witches flying
through the air on a broom. Especially on
full moon nights,they frighten
children.
We left the spook place rather
soon as we still had to go the Frankfurt,
and Konigstein. where IKARUS TOURS,
and the press was
waiting for us the next morning.
Our GPS guided us and without deviation we reached the home of
Christopher the Asia manager, and our
Marketing partner for many
years. It was a evening with plenty to talk, before we retired in
their lovely home.
Thursday 4-9-09
It was raining. By 9:00 am we drove into the parking lot. Welcomed
by the boss and staff. Stefan the
newspaperman arrived soon
after, and squeezed us for information's. We talked lengthily about
our intentions and travels, but highlighted
the cooperation between
IKARUS TOURS and our company DDLTOURS, too. "BRUNEI DARUSSALAM is
the perfect Eco tourist destination.Your
readers
should know that". said I to Stephan the senior reporter.
Cooperation. The
"Ikarus tours" Boss Ralph shaking hands with
Harun and the Asia team
In front of
their beautiful Office.
Moments, worth to remember
Dear distinguished and honorable reader. Should you ever like to
travel to the end of the world or even
beyond. Ikarus tours are the
people you must talk too first. They are experts. Check out their
web site and you have the proof. You like a
morning swim in the
Antarctica and have some ice free of charge, Ikarus will
arrange it. Or you have some mathematical
gen inherited and desire now to
count the sand corns of the Sahara desert, maybe in Tamanrasset or
In Sallah, it is Ikarus you talk too.
Is your wish "A moon close up" since the night of full moon
when your dream lady surrendered
to your unrelenting advances?.
Surely, in a dozen years they might arrange a flight to the moon.
Together with your former spouse, but that
would be eventual an
extra charge, as she, over time sized up, resembling a hypo now.
But that is life.
If rainforest, leeches and snakes , Adventure and nature
pure, is what you long for? Go to them
again. Together with us we promise
you a holiday, you will not forget. And bring your children
too. They deserve it.
The "newspaper
meeting" in the Ikarus office
Soon after we said good by and were on the
way to Munich, to stay with friends, long
not seen.
Friday 5-9-09
Can one be squeezed with questions. That
what had happen the evening in our friends
house. The night was therefore short.
We left after early breakfast, but before we made a visit at the local
newspaper to say hello. They might bring our
visit in the next
issue maybe under the headline:
The first Brunei car in Germering, ever!
newspaper office
the reporter lady with us
The remaining travel into Austria was in heavy rain. The cloud
formations had a look as if doomsday has
arrived. A kind of strange.
JAMBO run
smooth and steady, no complain whatsoever.
Thanks to our Toyota dealer NBT. We will stay here in the mountains until
Tuesday the 9-09-09 and proceed to Paris where we meet our
Embassy, as our journey continues.
Saturday and Sunday
6-9 and 7-9-09
Washing cloth, removing Siberia out of all, talking as every Sunday
morning to Rampai Pagi, life. I was standing by 3.00 am already
outside the mountain home to get the best satellite connection, yet
it cut off a few times .It was cold, quiet and
full moon. Harun slept
the long sleep of a traveler who accomplished the
task we had set before us.
Reflecting back, we believe to have succeeded 'Binging Brunei to the
world" wherever we travelled. Many
people have asked about
Brunei, in Russia and the Scandinavian countries and even in Germany. How
many passing motorist honked and showed the
thumb up.
"Great what you two are doing." It gives a kind of encouragement being
recognized, it showed us that we are on the
right track.
However, should you ask: "Traverse Siberia once more?"
We have to decline: "No Sir, not that soon again.
That is for sure."
Distinguished reader, should you like to follow us, further then
click FRANCE where
our wondrous journey continues
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