Phnom Penh - Two German aviators of advancing years but with
childhood dreams intact wrapped up a visit to Cambodia Sunday, after
making humanitarian jaunts to help the country's children.
Uwe Thomas Carstensen, 60, and co-pilot Hans Christian Albertsen,
59, first met as schoolboys in their native Schlesweig-Holstein state.
More than half a century later, the windmill engineer and the
builder decided that they had put aside their childish dreams for
long enough, and hatched a plan to fly around the world in just 80
days in a tiny Cessna 206, stopping at 30 destinations.
'We both enjoy life and love flying around Germany and Europe. We
worked out that when you break this journey up into legs of 1,200
nautical miles, it is possible to fly around the entire world,'
Carstensen said in an interview shortly after arriving from Malaysia.
'We thought it was a fantastic idea. A great chance to taste all
the different cultures and experiences the world has to offer.'
Unlike Carstensen, his wife Marie does not like flying, so to ease
the separation he named his single-engine Cessna after her and
painted the plane with red and green roses.
The pair's trip to Cambodia, which ended Sunday when they departed
for Hong Kong and later Taiwan, was 'a real eye opener,' according to
Carstensen. They traveled outside the capital to meet school children
and talk with them about the dangers of drug use and HIV/AIDS.
Cambodia still has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infections
in the region.
'When we dreamed this up, we knew we wanted to do something that
was fun and challenging for us, but also helped other people and
helped us to understand the places we were traveling through a little
bit better,' Carstensen explained.
Their landing at Phnom Penh International Airport last Friday
created much merriment amongst locals, who watched in amazement as
the pilots, both grandfathers, leapt from the tiny plane and
effortlessly pushed it across the tarmac themselves.
Although exotic destinations such as Turkey, Dubai, Pakistan,
Burma and Australia are behind them, countries including Japan,
Alaska and Greenland still lie ahead before their scheduled return to
Germany on September 13, and Carstensen will visit his 88-year-old
father in Vancouver, Canada, on the way.
'This has been a wonderful experience, but it will also be very
nice for both of us when we get home and we can be with our families
again,' Carstensen said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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