Jochen Reier was born in 1945 in Hanover, northern Germany and studied architecture in the early 70's, in the Bavarian capital of Munich. His two great passions, foreign cultures and travel, took him through four continents. At first he discovered Russia, Africa and America but subsequently, he learned to know and love Asia most. About twenty times he took the adventurous route from Germany to India and Nepal, mostly as a driver of his legendary Magic Bus. Inspired by his travels to Nepal, he founded the “Association to Preserve Asian Culture” (APAC), from which three major cultural projects emerged, beginning with the hand-carved Nepalese Pagoda for the International Garden Show in Munich (IGA ’83), which is a detailed copy of Pashupathinath Temple in Kathmandu. A second Peace Pagoda was built in 1988 in Brisbane, Australia, commissioned by the Kingdom of Nepal for the World Expo ’88, followed by another for Osaka's Exhibition in Japan (1990). After years of sailing in the South Seas, Reier has now found his "Bay of peace" on the island of Phuket in Thailand.