2000 Botswana
Gabarone, Maun, Okavango Delta
The only way to travel through the Okavango River Delta is on horse back. Days of wilderness, living in a tent – with the threat of lions and hyenas.
Author: Silke Gondolf
1999 Belize
Hopkins, Ambergis Key, San Ignazio, Blue Cave, Punta Gorda, Dangriga, Belmopan, San Antonio
The Chicleros, the bubble-gum harvesters, took me through the jungle to collect rubber from the trees. The horses ate oranges.
1999 Guatemala
Tikal
Stairs to heaven and no one there. The place was almost completely empty when I visited!
1999 United Kingdom
London
Piccadilly Circus, buses, Hyde Park, pretty grass, snobbish people, horses, rain, feeling not British.
1998 Venezuela
Caracas, Merida, Condor Valley, Puerto Columbia, Pico Bolivar, Macuto Beach
Condors cut through the air. They make sounds like moving swords.
1998 Mongolia
Ulan Bator, Dalanzadgad, Gobi Desert, Nomads, Chojin Lama Temple, Bogdkhan Monastary, Gandan Monastary, Zuunmod Manzshir Temple, Countryside Nadam, Ger, Bayanzag, Yolym Am Valley, Bactrian Camels, Morzag Sanddunes/Gobi, Terelj
Mongolia is the country of my childhood dreams. No fences, horses, wide landscapes, constant wind and you can see as far as your eyes can.
1998 Trans-Siberian Railways
Trans-Siberian Railways: Beijing – Ulan Baatar
I didn’t want to get out of the train in Ulan Bataar. The nicest train ride ever. Having your own Samovar is a good thing.
1998 China
Beijing, Hutongs, Simatai Great Wall
We were filming without permission in Beijing and I remember that I rolled myself under a parking car to not get caught by the police.
1998 USA: New York
New York City, Coney Island
This is where the NYC working class has fun. Best Russian food in Brighton Beach – and a Gypsy fortune teller.
1998 Japan
Tokyo, Great Metropolitan Region
Japan became another home away from home. A nice antidote to my life in Manhattan – people are polite and considerate.
1997 China
Beijing: Forbidden City, Lama Temple, Hutongs Beijing, Great Wall, Badaling, Simatai, Behai Park, Ritan Park, Tianzhe, Ming Tomb, Confuzius Temple, Chinese Circus, Drum Tower, Tientan
Buying an original Chinese bicycle for the 8-week production period was a smart idea. This magic China Bike, the brand was called “Flying Pidgeon”.
1997 USA: New York
Long Island
Filming amateur rocketeers. They shoot their self-build rockets into the sky, very close to JFK airport. Every time I am approaching JFK airport I have to think of them.
1997 Japan
Tokyo, Furisode & Geisha Houses, Gotokuji, Shinjuku, Asakusa
Getting a close look into the secret Japanese, including having dinner with Yakuza people and enjoying live Geisha entertainment.
1997 USA: Michigan
Detroit, Lake Michigan, Belle Isle Aquarium
Motown, empty city, empty roads, fat people, wooden houses and the nicest Aquarium I have seen.
1997 USA: New York
Coney Island
I admit, I am a total Coney Island fan
1997 USA: New Mexico
Taos, Colorado River
Native American home Country, Pueblo Indians, a very busy Colorado River.
1997 Brazil
Iguazu National Park
You get wet from the Iguazu water falls standing a kilometer away from them.
1997 Uruguay
Montevideo, Colonia
The City with the highest quality of life in South America.
1997 Argentina
Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Trelew, Palmar National Park, Gualeguy, Calafate, Punta Tombo, Puerto Madryn, Chacabuco, Gualeguaychu, Corrientes, Posadas, Puerto Iguazu
Buenos Aires has the best ice cream ever, thanks to the Italian immigrants. The traffic is a nightmare. My similarity with someone famous in Argentina made people stop and stare. I don’t know whose lookalike I have been.
1996 USA: New York
NYC, Long Island, Caribbean Carnival Brooklyn, Coney Island, Yankee Stadium
Abroad, I always felt more German than in Germany.
1996 USA: New England, Vermont, New Hampshire
New England: Boston, Salem ; Rhode Island: Glenn Farm, HWY 15, Vermont, Newport, Cape Cod, Millinocket, New Hampshire, Mt. Washington, Cog Railway
Filming the Indian Summer in New England and experiencing an international Polo tournament in Rhode Island was special.
1996 Philippines
Manila, Mindoro, Quezon City, Payatas Dump Site (Smoky Mountain), Quezon City Slums
Smoky Mountains, steaming with smells and gases from rotting compost.
1996 USA: Utah, Arizona
Utah & Arizona
Meeting a Polygamist and his extended family, trying to understand how the wives schedules quality time with “the man”.
1996 USA: Washington
Seattle, Space Needle
Interviewed a guy who sells licenses for sexploitation films and who had 12 guinea pigs in his office.
1996 Japan
Tokyo
Surprised by NHK and TBS – they make no contracts and they pay cash. Working for German Production companies, portraying quirky Japanese society.
1995 USA: NYC
Manhattan: The Big Snow
New Yorkers love a good challenge.
1995 USA: Florida
Florida: Keys, Everglades
Driving a hovercraft, getting really close to crocodiles and Pythons – in the most beautiful light.
1995 USA: California
California: Yosemite Park, Death Valley
Death Valley, cracked earth and endless roads. It was snowing in Yosemite Park, little foxes were making trails in the snow.
1994 Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Travelling around the country after the Khmer Rouge “left” – accompanied by armed military guards.
1994 Laos
Vientiane, Luang Prabang
I crossed the border from Nong Khai to Laos. Only a view tourists visited Laos in 1994. Americans investors started to move into Laos.
1994 Malaysia
Penang, George Town
Most fascinating town. Artsy, old colonial buildings I got my first taste of India: Roti and a Hindu Temple – catering to rats.
1994 Thailand
Bangkok, Koh Samui, Surathani, Chantaburi, Nong Kai
Seeing the changes after 10 years. Now there was a paved road all around Koh Samui and electricity and European sex tourists everywhere.
1994 Japan
Tokyo, Nikko, Kamakura
Focusing on video and electronic visual arts.
1994 USA: New York & Texas
New York City, Texas, Houston
The Space Center Houston, NASA. I was impressed by what flew into space – and came back in one piece.
1994 USA: Hawaii
Big Island, Honolulu
Walking on the lava beach, seeing two Orcas playing around in the Pacific. It was my birthday.
1994 Indonesia: Sumatra
Sumatra, Medan, Lake Toba, Samosir
Visiting the same places again becomes a concept which I will continue over the next 20 years.
1993 Malta
Valletta, Rabat, Gozo Island
Mixture of cultures in a very condensed space.
1992 USA: New York City
New York City
I arrived the first time in Manhattan after I had visited Tokyo – and I was not impressed.
1992 USA Los Angeles
Los Angeles, Hollywood
Here I decided to change to documentary film making, the advertising scene in the 90ies was a bit annoying.
1992 Japan
Tokyo, Fukui, Shinjuku, Asakusa, Akihabara
The Japanese “Economy Bubble” busted. I experienced my first earthquake inside a NHK TV studio, where every equipment rag was mounted from floor to ceiling. Everything was safely swinging back and forth.
1992 United Kingdom
London, Cornwall, Porthleven
The light is most special here, for painters and photographers.
1991 Sumatra
Brestagi, Bandang, Medan, Lake Toba
Children were all excited to see a white person in their village. Most places in the countryside had no roads, no electricity no connections to the buzzling world around them.
1991 Thailand
Bangkok, Chang Mai, Chang Rai, Kanchanaburi, Surathani, Koh Pipi, Koh Samui
Bangkok, not so busy in the 90ies. Chinatown was very interesting and I started to wish to travel through China one day.
1990 Germany
Thüringen
After the wall came down, my first contact with the former DDR in Thüringen. I was surprised to see the chaos and poverty.
1989 Egypt
Cairo
Short stop in Cairo, early morning hours at the pyramids.
1989 Malaysia
Penang
A bustling place with dilapidated, old colonial buildings.
1989 Indonesia: Sumatra
Medan, Sumatra Brestagi, Ambarita, Sinabung Volcano, Bukit Lawang, Lake Toba
Batak houses are boat-shaped with intricately carved gables and upsweeping roof ridges.
1988 France
Paris
Spontaneous decisions are the best: 6 hours drive to Paris.
1987 Sri Lanka
Colombo, Hikkaduwa, Hapatule, Ambalangoda, Wellawaya, Kandy, Gaulle
Colombo’s central bus station got blown up by LTTE. There were cows on the beach in Hikkaduwa, not tourists.
1984 Thailand
Bangkok, Surat Thani, Ko Samui, Ko Chang
Golden roofed Wat Po, monks in orange fabric, hippies and Vietnam War veterans mixed in Khao San Road. The first time for me, world history was for real, it got faces and personal stories.