lenggries + brauneck 1555m, BY

what a nice day skiing in the bavarian alps! brauneck 1555m, lenggries. my 4h (afternoon) ski ticktet costs 44 euro ... full day would be 49 euro ... and sun for the the full day is for free 😎

there is a cable car from the valley to the the top called brauneckbahn and a huge free of charge parking in front of it ... unlike my memories (last time in 2013 ?!?), they have meanwhile artificial snow and enough lift capacity, so there were no queues even on a sunny weekend like today

my favorite place in that beautiful ski area? it is the idealhang. you see it in the collage above in the lower part of the picture. this area is even higher than the brauneck summit itself. unfortunatell, the ski track here is just short and shallow, but the scenery is gigantic, isn't it? and similar to the steep and challenging garland, the idealhang ist most of the day in shadow, which garantees good snow conditions a little bit longer than the other tracks. you know, lenggries is one of the nearest ski areas from munich. it is just 70 km away and not really high. i guess, from the valley to the highest point at idealhang, we move in the range from 800m to 1600m above the sea level. the best up there? my summit wheet beer (in the collage in the left corner) and the view to the alps massif from the other side of the valley. btw, the food was also unexpected good. and a easy to reach trest room on top , which you definitely need after the wheet beer, my dears😇

helicopter transport ... ohhh, probably some bad injuries ...

garland

idealhang

lunch break

30 degrees celsius in the direct sun? yes ... quicksilver wouldnt lie 😇

it was abt 10-12 degrees normally , in the shadow only 3-4, here really 30⁰C

few more pictures here.

steinberg am rofan, tirol, AT

we've had real winter in steinberg am rofan ⛄. we have been already there from the other side of the guffert mountains at the gufferthütte (1475m) few years ago, but never before in this beautiful valley. it is close to the lake achensee and to the ski resort christlum in tirol, AT (österreich, austria). 

what a great work-life balance in tirol😄. most of us could work online (was it 1 day? or two?) and the remaining few days we spent all together especially with our small grandson in the beautiful alp mountains. as our children are already adult, we do not see each other on a daily base despite the fact that both of them still live in munich, you know? 

icefalls in steinberg am rofan ⛄⛇☃⛄

the rofan massif (2259 m) is a little bit higher than the guffert below (2194 m)

restaurant waldhäusl in steinberg am rofan 

local farm products self-service 'grocery'

1860 munich's fans out there 😎

our nice stay 'haus am bach' in steinberg is on the right

cross-country skiing in the early morning with my eldest daughter

guffert (2194m)

minus 10 degrees celsius during day time & minus 21 at night ⛄

the church in steinberg am rofan

good night, steinberg 🌜

lake achensee ... still good to swim? 🏊

the lake sylvenstein (bavaria, DE) is the fresh water reservoir for munich

lake sylvenstein

very few more pictures here.

Qatar, QA, January 2024

my qatar experience = 5 days off at the persian gulf after 2 weeks of our nepal round trip.

doha, qatar ~ all in one 😊

energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita in 2022

(source: german governmental statistics here)

as it worked that well for my nepal blog, lets start also here with my mobile phone notes 😇:

[ ] what could i say about that rich land (oil+gas) with the highest CO2 emissions per capita in the world after 5 days spent in its capital doha?

[ ] well, it is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than nepal, which we've visited the last 2 weeks

[ ] here in qatar (katar) is everything so new, modern, clean, 24h ctvv surveilance all over the place in doha, even at the beach. at least it is also save, even for women at night

[ ] they've huge scyscrappers, modern technology, huge cars and highways, cheap and modern autonomous operating metro trains (no driver inside) with VIP aka 1st class + family waggons. the underground is lightened also all way between the stations + the metro has a glass barrier where a door opens only if the train arrived => unlike in munich, there is no opportunity for suicide victims to jump in front of a rolling up train 🚆🚇

[ ] still much connection to the soccer world championship 2022, although the most stadiums are not used any more

[ ] exploited nepalese workers we have met in qatar and in the airplane to kathmandu. the less lucky of these workers often earn just 250€ per month net (= 272 USD = 1,000 QAR, qatari riyal) and sleep in a room with 4-5 other workers and get only 300 QAR for food on top and are transported to their work each day and have often already paid their strange agencies 1,000 - 2,000 EUR for qatari work permit in the first place and so on 😕

[ ] expensive luxury hotels (250+ USD per night) and appartment houses (5,000+ USD per month), gardening expo 2023, asian soccer cup, venetian quarter 'qanat quartier' with canals + taxi boats (no, they dont have the italian gondolieris). you can buy here an appartment (for millons of dollars?) and became a qatari resident in 1 day. out of 3m inhabitants are 80+% foreigners from egypt, tunisia, india, sri lanka, nepal, philliphines, uganda, kenia, ... who serve the qataris + the mostly european tourists and businessmen. heaven & hell beware the qataris of revolution carried out by their slave army!

[ ] the public transport, gas, food + drinks are much cheaper than in germany. only alcohol is expensive and allowed just in hotels and similar locations, which is no surprise for a muslim country. 

[ ] they consume a lot a sugar out there! there is sugar in salads, in lassi (milk), grassini like bread sticks ... well, almost everywhere ...

[ ] it was easy to move around as there are so many service employees down the road and english is spoken more often than arabic, if you asked me

[ ] we did not manage the half day camel riding & stars watching trip to the qatar - saudi arabia border in the south, where the inland (salt) seas are. why not? my wife was still not 100% fine after her lumbago issues and we decided to watch the stars next time when in egypt

[ ] my over all impression abt this former pearl diving land? it feels somehow unreal, lets call QATAR DISNEYLAND 😃⚽️🍀🚘

doha, qatar from the plane ✈

pearl island, doha

DECC (Doha Exhibition and Convention Center)

hello BMW 🚗

hotel intercontinental beach & spa, doha, qatar

DECC

old basaar (souk), doha

oryx antilopes + camels ... former times ...

... former times ...

venice aka qanat quarter and luxury @ pearl island

good-bye, qatar ... ✈

more pictures here.

of course, qatar reminds in many ways of the similar rich dubai emirate. so lets try to revive my dubai 2012 memories.