Good morning, Vietnam!

It is my last stop in Vietnam and ASEA: Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon. The traffic is even worse than in Hanoi, but it is full of history: Vietnam war (War Remnants Museum, Cu Chi Tunnels) as well as its rise with Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho). Spend day two in the Mekong Delta with a rather touristy day tour.
Ho Chi Minh's Traffic
War Remnants Museum


Coconut Candy Production (yummie!)
Mekong Delta Trip

The Highlands of Dalat

In order to explore the highland area around Dalat I got a so-called Easy Rider for the day in order to take me around his motorbike visiting local farms and pagodas, the elephant waterfall ect.The Crazy House

Happy Buddha

The Elephant Waterfall
Behind the Waterfall

Easy Rider Lam

Heavy rain, snake drinks and other escapades

It is nice when it rains. However, it is even nicer if you enjoy the rain from somewhere inside. I enjoyed the rain from my sleeping bus to Hue. Of course, our bus ride was again delayed, since another truck just smashed into another truck, exploded and burnt down until there was not much except its original shape left.
At one of our bus stops you could take the local snake shot (variations can also include sea horses, scorpions...). It is supposed to be some healthy medication for men comparable to Viagra.

Tailor Town Hoi An

Hoi An, the frenchy colonial town in central Vietnam, is a shopping paradise of its own kind. Within the streets of Hoi An you can find about 200 tailors selling fitted dresses, suits, skirts, whatever you are wishing for, even shoes. After trying two tailors for myself, spending about 300 USD on 2 suits, 2 skirts, 2 shirts, 2 winter coats as well as some short trousers, I decided that it is better time to leave again. It seemed the weather was thinking the same, sending heavy monsoon rain the last day in Hoi An, luckily the day of my departure as well.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is geology gone wild, with hundreds of limestone pinnacles protruding from the waters - 3000 and more islands rise from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Ha long means "where the dragon descends into the sea". Legend says that the islands of Halong Bay were created by a great dragon that lived in the mountains. As it ran towards the coast, its flailing tail gouged out valleys, as it plunged into the sea, the areas dug up by its tail became filled with water, leaving only pockets of high land visible. Nice story!
I booked the 3 day tour to visit this natural spot, staying on a junk boat with a group of 14 people. The scenery is definatelly beautiful, the spot however touristy loosing its special glamour. Thus, refused some of the standard scedule visiting some cave and went for a swim in the bay off the boat instead. Second day, our group docked Cat Ba Island, which is mostly a national park. Visited the Hospital Cave, a cave secretly used as a hospital during the war in Vietnam with rooms and tunnels spreading over three floors. Our nightstay on Monkey Island was some set up tourist beach resort at a private beach. Well, not the greatest tour ever, but I met some nice people, enjoyed a great scenery and good conversations and guitar music at the beach fire.

Not just in China they eat Dogs

Walking the streets of Hanoi, you can discover quite some special details living here. Life basically happens on the streets, seemingly vietnamese people hardly need any sleep going to bed late and getting up in the early morning. Around the Hoan Kiem Lake you can witness how the women manage to stay slim: 6 am and 8 pm at various corners of the lake there are Aerobic sessions taking place. At every corner you have these small kitchens where people sit on little red and blue plastic seats drinking coffee or tea all day long, eating rice and noodle soup. On some menus you can order rat and dog meat in all kinds of flavours. Seeing the roasted dogs and rat on the sticks over the fire somehow stopped my appetite.
In the evening, the lake is especially dominated by sweet young couples spending their evening time together on one of the various benches. Around the main attractions of the city, there are professional photo shoots for wedding dresses. They must expect quite a big hype within the coming season. Observation completed.

4 Million Motorbikes in Hanoi

Being already almost out of the Vietnam, it is time to write about my time in the grand old dame of the Orient. After about 3 weeks in Thailand it was the right time for a new country and as expected everything is "same same, but different". Arriving at Hanoi airport from our transfer over Bangkok, I was quite surprised about my positive first impression of the capital city. The city is less smelly, less chaotic, less dirty, but more lively, more asean and more authentic than Bangkok. Arrived into the old quarter after an hour ride on the local bus costing 5000 dong (30 cent). Since we were the only tourists on the bus, the locals were quite surprised as well - starring at us - luckily in an admiring and gentle way.
We checked into our hostel in the old quarter extending outwards from Hoan Kiem Lake. The Lonely planet describes it as follows: This is the Asia we dreamed of from afar. Steeped in history, pulsating with life, bubbling with commerce, bubbling with motorbikes and rich in exotic scents, the Old Quarter is Hanoi's historic heart. Hawkers pound the streets, sizzling and smoking baskets hiding a cheap meal for locals. Pho (noodle soup) stalls and bia hoi (draught beer) dens hug every corner, resonant with the sound of gossip and laughter. Modern yet medieval, there is no better way to spend some time in Hanoi than walking the streets, simply soaking up the sights, sounds and smells.
However, being part of the old quarter includes getting used and part of Hanoi's traffic. Imagine a steady stream of motorbikes and cars on the streets and your desperate wish to cross the streets. Unluckily, the motorbikes will not stop for you. Thus, the first challenge is to reach the other side of the street without getting hurt, while drivers signal you and everyone else - well, I am not really sure what they actually signal you, it is more or less their rare existence on the streets. I still believe that most people in Vietnam but be death by the end of their second year or at least resistent to the honking noise.
Walked the narrow streets with frenchy houses, visited the Water Puppet Theatre and the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius in 1070 and later established as a university for the education of mandarins and spent the evenings at the Cinematheque, a small frenchy cinema showing arthouse movies (watched a Cantonese Hong Kong Movie with English subtitles: Perhaps Love - Peter Chan) and at the Hanoi Opera House seeing the Symphony Orchestra of the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet playing Grieg and Schubert. The least was a nice and kind of unexpected experience. I was worried about my dresscode, until I saw visitors in the second row wearing jeans and bringing plastic bags along, still enjoying the wonderful music.

Pics have to wait for now again, this computer is not recognizing any USB device.

Elephant Nature Park

The Asian Elephant is a national as well as religious symbol of Thailand. About a century ago there were 100.000 of them, whereas their number declined by 95% down to 5.000. Due to their size and power most of them were used as working force in the logging industry. Since the end of the logg business in 1998 most of the domestic elephants are "unemployed" and are now used in tourism begging on the streets as well as in tourist riding attraction. Lots of them end up with bad wounds, broken backs due to car accidents or are treated badly due to "misbehaviour", whereas the punishment can include simple bleeding and infected wounds or the loss of their eyes leading to bad mental illnesses beneath the physical suffering. Most people are not aware of this including me until the end of last week.

The Elephant Nature Park is a santuary for domestic elephants being freed from their original owners. The park "frees" the elephants for an amount of ca. 2000 USD and gives it a new home on a 100 hectar areal about one hour away from Chiang Mai. Projects include Elephant Heaven, a huge mountain areal and playground for the currently 34 elephants in the park as well as some callable doctor ensuring the wellbeing of the at least close by held domestic elephants. Most of the projects are run by donation as well as eco tourism including daytrips, onenightstays or voluntary week at the park where you can observe these massive but genle animals and get involved in their feeding and their bathing causing huge waves in the usually smooth river. As a new project the new generation of elephants will be wildered again in a newly donated territory, such that there is and will be Hope (originally wild and energetic nine year old elephant).

Thai Boxing

After two days of silence, we decided that is is time to get to know a bit the people we have been meditating with and to have a night out and have the experience of the famous local sport of Thai boxing.

Meditating with Buddhist Monks

No longer knowing whether time existed, whether this display had lasted a second or a hundred years, whether there was a Siddhartha, or a Gotama, a Self and others [...] Govinda stood yet a while bending over Siddhartha's peaceful face which he had just kissed [...]. He smiled peacefully and gently, very graciously, perhaps very mockingly, exactly as the Illustrious One had smile.
Govinda bowed low. Incontrollable tears trickled down his old face. He was overwhelmed by a feeling of great love, the most humble veneration. He bowed low, right down to the ground, in front of the man sitting there motionless, whose smile reminded him of everything that he had ever loved in his life, of everything that had ever been of value and holy in his life.

Having never really spent time learning something about Buddhism except some small parts within Siddhartha, seeing monks every day on the streets, people praying and sharing food with the Buddha, it was time to get an introduction to meditation and Buddhism.
So Sandra and I decided to stay two days at the International Meditation Center of the Buddhist University of Wat Sun Dok (aka Mahachulalongkornrajuidayalaya University - I needed to write this name down as I am still not able to pronounce it properly), where we would learn the basics of concentration meditation and everything that is connected to is.

The day starts at 5 am and is filled with meditation and chanting - all in silence, almost no talking. I find it quite difficult to clear my mind, concentrating on breathing, on a sound, on counting beads, still it feels different being there, it feels different that there is so much silence, it feels different in a good way. My back hurts from the different positions, since I can feel muscles ache I have not felt before. In some teaching session and discussion we learn about Buddhism, which makes so far sense to me as a religion, a philosophy as well as way of living.
I hope I will practice meditation, will try to include it in everyday life and will learn more about Buddhism. I feel I wanna come back here or some other place, maybe live with monks for some time at some point later. So far, I know at least that monks are not vegetarian, are supposed to shave all their hair and eyebrow only for simplicity and have a great sense of humor.

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is the cultural - and from my point better - capital of the north. The old town is packed with temples, huge mountain chains rise up in the distance. It feels less humid, less smelly, less busy than Bankok and so we have spend here already a few days.

Loi Krathong Festival

Loi Krathong or Yi Peng - as it is called here in Chiang Mai - is a traditional Thai festival held on the full moon of the twelth luna month which is luckily the first weekend of November this year.
The temples are decorated with lights, all the shops are lighting candles just everywhere on the streets. In the evening there is a big parade with decorated cars, people in festive clothes dancing while the parade is making its way to the Ping River.
Everwhere you can buy Khom Loy, which are some sort of fire laterns that drift into the sky (some are crashing though) until you see thousands of red dots of laterns in the night sky instead of stars.