21 juillet 2007
MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE, INDONESIA
MALAYSIA
After a 22 hour train ride from Bangkok, I entered Malaysia on the East coast, again quick, friendly and hassle-free (against some of the predictions I had heard form other travelers). As in the south of Thailand which is mainly muslim, women were wearing the headscarves here, and I was glad I wasn't dressed in complete beach attire.
Sharing a taxi with 2 other travelers who also wanted to get to the Perhentian Islands that same day, we only paid slightly more than by bus. By bus we would have missed the ferry to the islands anyway. But for the first time in my travels the journey to get to a place actually left me without any impression whatsoever. Was it the the fact that I took a ride in an old spacious taxi rather than public transportation, was it the fact that the roads were in good condition and the sights didn't look that different from Thailand, or was it the fact of reaching a point of exhaustion in my travels, the point where you know that you have seen too many sights and been to too many different places in too short a time? Was I ready to go back 'home', to go to a place where I could put my backpack down for a while and sleep in the same bed for a while and not having to tell my same story over and over again to different people?
Anyway, I admit, I was exhausted, and all I wanted was relaxing at a beach and getting some energy back to enjoy my last month of traveling.
So I was eager to get to Pulau Perhentian Kecil, the smaller of the two Perhentian Islands, both hailed as Malaysia's showpiece islands with white sand lined by emerald green jungle and palm trees and crystal clear water, almost Robinson Crusoe like. I needed a few days of getting away from the crowd, as traveling with different people, as exciting as it is, can also be tiring after a while. I just need the Yin and Yang of the two.
Getting off the boat at Long Beach, the longest beach with most of the cheapest accomodation, I don't know if I was disappointed or pleased. The island looked beautiful, green jungle, and the occasional palm tree piercing the blue sky, all surrounded by the promised crystal clear blue water, and inbetween the rocks here and there a bay with white sand. The white sand though was littered with ugly plastic chairs and tables, multicolored umbrellas and lots of young toned bodies working on their tan, most of them blond (lots of Scandinavians and Dutch here). Somehow this wasn't what I had expected, and my bungalow, at 20 Malaysian ringgit, was expensive, considering the comfort, or the lack of it. And lack of comfort is fine with me, but what wasn't fine was the price/product correlation
My trip is coming to an end, and I don't know if I will be able to finish the blog on the road.
But please keep coming back to it. I will finish it when I go back to Luxembourg, which will be on August 7, in 2 weeks...
I put up pictures from malaysia and singapore in the photo album section
I'll fly to indonesia this afternoon, very excited about crossing the equator!!!
26 juin 2007
Back in Bangkok
This is my third time, and with every visit here I like it better. Maybe it is my approach, but everybody seems to be friendlier now than on my first visit. Last time even after 6 weeks saying hello and thank you didn't come automatically, I had to think hard every time. When I got off the bus in Bangkok, it came back naturally to me. I was surprised at this, but also at how much friendlier I perceived the people. I realize now that my first time here came as a shock to my system, and it took me a while to get out of "India" mood and into "Thailand" mood (which are very different), but now after having spent quite some time in south eastern asia, I am so much more used to the people and the culture. I had no idea before this trip that I would like Asia that much...
busy Bangkok streets
I am still in Bangkok and haven't really done that much apart from spending a looooot of time on the internet, facebooking (I got addicted to it, check it out: Facebook.com and you'll see what I mean), checking and sorting out flights, shopping (yes, Bangkok is dangerous), visiting people I met before and who live in Bangkok (Sawasdee ka Sherry, Hi Scott), drinking lots of mango-banana shakes, going back to the tailor (like Hoi An wasn't enough...but in my 37 years I have never owned a suit, believe it or not, and what better place to get one tailor made - for cheap - than Bangkok?), and doing a little bit of sight seeing.
Bangkok's skyline (Scott, you are a lucky bastard.)
Today I went to Wat Mahadhatu, where they give daily mediatation classes, an introduction to Vipassena. I really enjoyed it and kind of regretted that I didn't sign up for a 10 day silent retreat in one of the numerous wats that offer Vipassena here in Asia (and world wide). Well, it's actually easy now to say that I enjoyed it, let's say I enjoyed the effect, but sitting without moving for half an hour was hard, and this was only an introduction to it, a little taste of the pain and suffering you inevitably must go through on a 10 day retreat. But hopefully I'll be ready to do it one day...
Even though I stay in the Kao San Raod area, I still hate it, but it is convenient for internet use, and probably the cheapest place to stay here. But it is not my thing. Instead I got drunk on Ko Samet, where I had intended to go for a few days, to relax, detox and do yoga. I had good intentions and followed them through for most part of it, but my last night there left me with a bad hangover for my bus ride back to Bangkok.
That was before the drinking...
From Bangkok I took a night train to Sungai Kolok, in the south east, from where I was crossing the border to Malaysia. The deep south of Thailand is mostly Muslim, women and girls cover their head... I felt the change and started ready myself for a new country, mostly Muslim this time.
Summer love - intense, but too short
I am leaving this beautiful country with wonderful memories and a wish to come back and see more.
So much Cambodia, so little time
Entering Cambodia at the Moc Bai/Bavet border from Vietnam I only got friendly smiles, no bribes, no hassle. Great!
My first glimpse of Cambodia is that of a spanking new immigration building in the style of the Thai wats and 2 Las Vegas style casinos under a clear blue sky. Weird, that's not what I expected.
Every time I enter a new country, I am full of anticipation. As these are man made borders, I know that it's not going to change drastically from one country to the next, yet slight differences become apparent very quickly.
Usually it's visible first in the architecture, and here in Cambodia it is no different. Whereas in Vietnam the houses were built on the ground, here most houses are on stilts. The Thai influence is visible everywhere (or was it the Khmer that influenced the Thai? I don't know...), no more conical hats and Mao-style pants for the women, sarongs again, which I think look much better on women - and on some men - anyway.
The features and even the physical built of the Khmer people are very different too, and their skin is much darker. I admit that before my trip all Asian people looked the same to me...
One thing that hit me on my first bus ride in Cambodia was the sky with the cotton candy clouds. It seemed like I could lift my hand and touch them... I have never seen clouds that looked so low in the sky. Zum Greifen nahe...
Passing trucks with heaps of people on the roof smiling below their checkered cotton headwrap, the bus took me straight to Phnom Penh. I stayed there for 2 days, enjoying the friendliness of the Cambodian people. The first evening I was walking to the river, stopping at a wat, where I had an interesting talk and some good laughs with the young monks. Everybody was out that night (it was actually a weekend) having a picnic on the lawn in front of the royal palace. I made the mistake of buying some lychees which I looooove, and the minute I sat down, some homeless kids came up to me, and asked me shyly, but politely to have some. My bag was empty quickly, but I had gotten so many smiles, bows, and thank yous from these kids, that I was probably as content as they were.
The next day I met Melissa and we took a motorickshaw to drive around town to see some of the major 'sights', one of them being Tuol Sleng, a former school that was turned into an interrogation, detention and torture centre where thousands of people suffered incredible pain under the regime of Pol Pot, followed by the Killing Fields. It sends a shiver down your spine. This place looks like a peaceful garden, and it actually used to be a fruit orchard before... I have no words...
From Phnom Penh I took the obvious route to Siem Reap. There is actually a lot to do in this nice little town, which in spite of its very touristy aspect has retained some of its charm. One of the things I did with Melissa, was visiting the Angkor Wat Hospital For Children and giving blood. This hospital was started by a Japanese photographer who came to Angkor Wat wanting to take photos and realized how many sick and malnourished children there are. He started this hospital which is run on donations and provides free health care and medicine to children.
Angkor Wat is just absolutely stunning. The sheer size of it is incredible. You could spend days there. I had a quicky. A one day pass. But I have to say that the heat got to me, and I could only take in that much at a time. After a while, the ruins just looked like another pile of stones...
From Siem Reap I took a boat to Battambang, a lovely town (the second biggest I believe) on the river (I forgot the name). It was raining in the morning, and I was sooo disappointed, as you couldn't see anything from under the tarp on the boat. But after a few hours the sky cleared, and I spent the rest of the long boat ride on the roof passing floating villages, huts on stilts, naked waving children (it reminded mea bit of Lao), and the amazing flat Cambodian landscape.
naked boy waving
I loved the market in Battambang, I think it was my favorite one. Why? I can't really tell. I have seen so many markets, but somehow this one felt special. There were hardly any tourists there, there was a huge food section, and the Cambodian people were so friendly and open, eager to talk to you, yet a little shy.
market in Battambang
From Battambang I took a motorbike ride with a local to the surrounding countryside. Wow. Time seemed to stand still in certain places, people live in ramshackle huts, young boys and girls herd the buffaloes, everything is done by hand, but almost everybody has a cellphone! The landscape is very flat, and it is only interrupted by the tall palm trees, the sugar palm that is Cambodia's national tree. Beautiful.
My stay in Cambodia was way too short, I would have loved to stay there longer, but I wanted to be back in Bangkok to see Sherry before she was off to India (I had stayed with her on Ko Lanta in March).
15 juin 2007
Like an exilerating one night stand I'd repeat in a heartbeat...
Like an almost unexpected night out (I only intended to go to the north of Vietnam, and even that was a maybe in the beginning), Vietnam took me by surprise.
I pretty much immediately enjoyed its rough edges, loud crazyness and cocky behavior, but for me a one night stand only works if the danger side is paired with an equal amount of physical attraction, and Vietnam has plenty to offer: from emerald green peaks to one of the biggest river deltas in the world, from Sahara like sand dunes to palm tree lined deserted beaches, from limestone cliffs to rice paddies, from rustic villages to charming old towns and big cities. A little sweet tackiness doesn't hurt, and the Vietnamese master the art of kitsch almost as well as the Indians.
Just like on an evening out when you accept the overpriced cocktails, don't let the extortionism in Vietnam get the better of you, and you are in for a hell of a night!
31 mai 2007
Good Morning VIETNAM
Good morning
In Na Meo, a small border town that opened to foreigners only a couple of years ago, the officer inspecting my passport looked up, then smiled at me: "You are the first person from Luxembourg to cross this border."
My little claim to fame entering Vietnam.
After a 12 hours overnight ride from Lao in a sangthaew (these trucks with 2 benches long side in the back for people to sit on) full of locals and 3 Belgians, I was eager to enter the country and get to Hanoi. But Na Meo was not a busy tourist crosspoint (hence the sangthaew ride instead of the VIP tourist bus to get there), but we were lucky that day. There was a bus going to Hanoi, and what a bus it was, a chicken bus, literally (chicken, ducks and the smell in the back). That was OK. I like to travel like the locals... What was not OK was the price for the chicken bus, 20 bucks. I know we don't pay the same price as the locals, but 20 bucks was way over the top!
The agressive bus driver wasn't going to slash his price, he knew we had no other chance. There was a group of foreigners, some had been waiting there for a day or 2 to get a bus to Hanoi. Finally he agreed to 15 bucks, still too much, but hey, what can you do?
I had heard from many travellers that the people in Vietnam saw in each of us a walking cash machine and my first encounter (as would do my second one, the cabdrivers in Hanoi that same night) unfortunately seemed to confirm this statement. "Money, money, money", our bus driver's English language skills seemed to be reduced to that word and he obviously had no desire to broaden his vocabulary beyond that.
We got to Hanoi after a 10 hour bus ride. The journey is probably only 400 km...
The first part of the trip led us through a beautiful mountainous region where poeple go about their daily activities in the little villages, these consisting mostly of working in the rice fields that cover the valleys. The landscape changed slowly from Lao, as did the architecture and the women's clothing. In Lao (and Thailand) women usually wear the sarong (or western clothes), but here all women were wearing pyjama like pants, and the cone shaped hat!
In a way these were the most "exotic" sights for me so far, triangular cones sticking out in the far stretching green and silvery rice paddies, people balancing big baskets on a long stick over their shoulders...
The rickety bus with its constant honking and its loud atmosphere inside only added to the new strangeness of this place. This was definitely different from Lao!
I finally got to a hotel in Hanoi with some of the people from the bus around 11 pm after haggling with a bunch of agressive cabdrivers and after a few bia hoi (draught beer) I slept like a baby.
street scene in Hanoi
The next morning I woke up refreshed and a long walk around the the old quarter's noisy lanes, I started to like this loud mess. In the old quarter of Hanoi, each street used to be home to a certain trade or guild, and this system is still more or less in use today. Thus the street names, if you speak Vietnamese, mean silk street, sweets street, lacquer street, and so on, depending on the trade
Today it is quite a challenge to cross these streets without bumping into a vendor or getting hit by a passing motorbike. Traffic and noise never stop. And here more than in the other Asian countries I have seen so far, life happens on the side walk.
Early morning is the best time of day to experience Hanoi. During the day it is too hot anyway. Even standing still makes you leak like a waterpump. I have never sweated as much in my life from doing nothing. It's not so much the heat (it probably only is in the lower 30s C), it is the humidity that gets you. Locals shun the heat and the sun during the day if they can. Vietnamese people (like Indians and all other south east Asians) get up early, around 5 am, some even earlier, and start their day with cooking rice, preparing food, selling and buying at the market or on the sidewalk. As the temperatures are still cool in the early morning hours, young and old flock to the numerous lakes in Hanoi and do tai chi, aerobics, badminton or just some kind of weird movement, all that to the crackling sound of the microphones all over the city telling people I don't know what...
The sidewalks bustle with life (and with Vietnamese mostly, as the tourists are still sleeping), the shops are still closed, but people set up their own little shops in front of the bigger ones. Makeshift restaurants where neighbors slurp pho bo (noodle soup with meat) or eat sticky rice out of banana leaves with their fingers pop up at the same spot as the previous night. The plastic industry here must be booming, as the tiny PVC chairs and tables have replaced the bamboo ones. These stools look like they are waiting for a bunch of kindergartners, and even though Vietnamese people are not tall, they are still huge compared to these doll's chairs, yet young and old sit down comfortably and get up swiflty. I guess all the weird exercise in the morning does pay off.
Next to poeple eating breakfast, rice of course, men are reading the newspaper, smoking a cigarette or the water pipe, drinking one of these delicious iced coffees, and some are already having a bia hoi or two. Meat is chopped up, tofu is fried, dishes are washed, and veggies are pealed and cut in front of the restaurants, all right on the sidewalk.
Women selling La vache qui rit cheese and bread from their baskets hustle tourists, others balance fruit or flowers in the two baskets dangling from their strong shoulders. Later in the day, and especially at night, these vendors trade in everything, bras, lighters, hair pins, razors, hankies... you need it, you name it.
As the mercury rises the number of motorbikes, bicycles, taxies, buses does too.
I spent quite a few days on and off (between going to Halong Bay, then to Sapa, as Hanoi was always the starting point) in Hanoi and really enjoyed it.
I had my nails done with Van, the Vietnamese girl I had met in the ashram in India, was invited to one of her Yoga classes, to her house to have a great dinner with her family (and to stay with them) and felt very privileged to be chauffeured around on the back of her scooter through the crazy traffic.
I noticed very quickly that my first impression of Vietnam was wrong. I have met so many friendly people here, and like everywhere: a smile goes a long way. Of course, they want your dollars, they try to make a living from tourism, and here maybe more than elsewhere, but their aggressiveness is not personal. It seems to be part of their nature, an instinct of survival maybe, and if you accept that, you are in for a good time.
Keeping Hanoi as my base, I took a tour to Halong Bay. Brief description from the UNESCO (Halong Bay is a natural World Heritage Site):"HaLong Bay, located in the Gulf of Tonkin, includes some 1600 islands and islets forming a spectacular seascape od limestone pillars. Because of their precipitous nature, most of the islands are uninhabited and unaffected by mean. The exceptional esthetic values of this site are complimented by its great biological interest." Wow! I had heard wonderful things about it, but also many things about numerous scams. I usually don't do the tour thing, but it just seemed to be easier to do Halong Bay with one of these tour operators. So I booked a 3 day/2 night tour, with one night sleep on the boat, one night in a hotel on Catba Island, hiking, kayaking and swimming.
It all
sounded good on paper. I was prepared for the worst.
We didn't get to sleep on the boat at all (but got a beer and 3 bucks for compensation!) but stayed 2 nights in a hotel on Catba Island, a weird mix of seaside resort, Coney Island style, and Asian fishermen's village. At night the tacky marina lit up like a Christmans tree.
Unfortunately the 'tour operators' get away with the scams and rip offs, as everyone wants to go there, and it is truly spectacular.
I enjoyed the short hike, the kayaking and the jumping off the boat to swim, and of course the amazing scenery.
Halong Bay
It seems to me from what I have seen in Vietnam so far that it is very easy to travel to the touristy spots as there are plenty of hotels and travel agencies who book tours and buses.
If you want to do these things on your own or venture off the beaten track, it gets a little harder as nobody speaks English and everybody wants to take your green. Having said that and exprienced some minor rip offs, that's not all Vietnam is about. I have met wonderful people who ask fair prices. And at a lot of places you can, and you should, haggle for a fair price.
After Halong Bay (and a brief stopovr in Hanoi) I went to Sapa, on a cofortable ten hour overnight train ride up north, this time on my own, without booking a tour. Once in Sapa, I decided Id'd take it from there. Three Vietnamese people who shard my train compartment (two of them actually fellow New Yorkers who visited relatives in Vietnam) ended up being my travel compnaions for the weekend, or rather i was theirs.
Sapa, a beautiful hill station that has known a very recent tourist boom, and its surroundings are home to many ethnic minorities, mostly Hmong people and the tourist business is a lucrative one for them.
The
y walk around town in their beautiful indigo colored traditional dress with rich embroidery, offering, or rather pushing ("You buy from me.") their handmade wares for sale. It is hard to resist, as they ar very friendly, open to foreigners, have a good sense of humour and speak good English.
The first picture shows me with Tao and some Hmong girls who peddle their wares in Sapa town and who strolled along with us as business was very slow that day.
I had a medicinal bath (in a tub of bamboo) followed by a massage given from a tiny Vietamese girl who at one point had my body balanced on hers on the massage table (dram on guys) while pushing and cracking my bones.
People go to Sapa to do treking, so I went along with Tao, Seth, and Hung. We walked down the mountains past rice paddies, hard working poeple, and occasionally crossed a tiny hamlet where people still live under very basic conditions (for our standard).
The scenery was amazing. I loved the terrassed rice paddies, some of them were emerald green, the greenest green I have ever seen, others were almost silvery, as the rice wasn't planted yet.
I loved the views, we stopped many times to take pictures, and very soon it was clear that we would not make it to the village where we wanted to sleep and where a jeep would pick us up the next morning.
W
e just made it to another tiny hamlet before the sun was down and we couldn't see anything. Balancing on the ridges that separate the rice paddies is acrobacy and suddenly these paddies didn't look that inviting to me anymore.
We ended up spending the night in this hamlet where a friendly family took us in for the night after cooking rice and vegetable for us. They were Hmong and spoke some Vietamese, so Hnug, Seth and Tao could communicate with them. It was quite a night, sleeping on a wooden plank on the floor in their traditional house and doing my business behing the house in the bare open.
We got up at 4 am to walk to the village our jeep was waiting for us.
Hung, Seth and me and the stream
Hung who is an occasional tour guide in the area had gotten us a jeep that took us about 40 km north of Sapa on the Chinese border to a local market.
These roads were even worse than the dirt tracks in Lao! (but overall I found the roads in Vietnam to be in a great condition, especially compared with Lao)
The market was amazing, my eyes were feasting on colors. All the different hill trive people come out to this market to sell, buy, and socialize. And no tourists in sight, except me (and a couple of French people).
I think the pictures speak for themselves.
In Vietnam you find less sticky rice as in Lao, but still it is a staple food, and it comes in almost every color of the rainbow. The colors are natural though, no chemicals...
Here we are enjoying purple rice.
I had a great time in Sapa thanks to these people I met.
I took the night train back to Hanoi where I stayed a couple more days and nights enjoying a few beers outdoors on the sidewalk for 2000 dong, that's about 15 cents a pint, with locals and other travelers alike.
My next stop was going to be Hoi An, but on my way down I made a short stop in Ninh Binh, a charming Vietnamese town that's not spoiled by tourism, and strolled along the streets and through the market. I also spent an afternoon in nearby Tam Coc, the "Halong Bay of the rice paddies"...
This is me (obviously) on a boat through these paddies, stunning limestone cliffs in the background.
This is the market of Ninh Binh where you get everything you need for tonight's cooking, from chicken (you choose the live one you want, all fresh) to beef, to fish, to crab, eel, worms, and dog...
streets of Ninh Binh where I would have loved to stay on a little longer, but I was on my way to Hoi An on the overnight bus.
Hoi An , more or less half way down between Hanoi in the north and Saigon (HCMC) in the south, is a charming town, and the old part is another UNESCO world heritage center, meaning beautiful old restored buildings, Chinese, French...
The main appeal of Hoi An though for a lot of people (especially women) are the numerous tailors. In Hoi An you can get everything tailor made, at very affordable prices, and Monica, whom I had met on the bus to Hoi An and shared a room with, and I spent quite a few dong (or dollars) there. It was great, every time we went back for a fitting we got tempted again... Now I'll have to wait for occasions to wear these great dresses I had made...
I thought Hanoi was hot, but Hoi An was almost unbearable in comparison. It was probably in the high 30s C, and after 7 am it was already too hot to do something, except go to the beach. That was the other appeal for us in Hoi An. We had bicycles and rode the few km to the beach for a couple of days. Beaches never came to my mind when I thought about Vietnam, but I guess, I never looked closely enough at the map of the country. The whole east side and the south border the ocean! And the beaches are reaaaally nice. The sun sets behind the sea, so you don't get the sunset over the water, but I have to say that the most stunning sunsets I have seen so far where the ones in Hanoi. The colors are just overwhelming (I'll insert a photo next time, this f... computer isn't reading my pictures!!! Grrrrr, I 've had quite a lot of frustration recently with computers!!!)
If you get up early, you can see the sunrise over the ocean. Early means here before 4 am. Everyone is up by 4:30 or 5 at the latest, the locals I mean. The hours before 8 am are the bearable ones. It is wayyyy too hot afterwards. I feel like I am melting. Even if you don't move, you are sweating, no, dripping.
From Hoi An we took a the bus to Mui Ne, a small town that used to live mostly from fishing before they started to cash in form the tourist business. One resort next to the other, and they are still building... It just felt good to relax on the beach for another day or two before going on to Saigon.
The beach was beautiful, lined by palm trees, so apart from a trip to the nearby Sahara like sand dunes (which Mui Ne is famous for) and the fishing village at 5 am to catch the sunrise and to escape the heat, we did very little. Under the umbrella or in the water, which was infested with jellyfish the second day. I went in nevertheless, but after that I had plenty of red spots which stung first, and now itch. I don't know whether they're from the jellyfish or maybe sandflies from the dunes, but they itch like crazy. It's probably not bedbugs, as we were staying in a really nice and clean place, but who knows...
The accomodation in Vietnam is pretty luxurious compared to everything else I had before. But it is also more expensive. I guess, 12 bucks for a spacious, clean double room with fresh towels, big bathroom, hairdryer (yes, a hairdryer!!! After 8 months of living out of my backpack I got pretty exited about such a trivial appliance!!!), satellite TV (which we didn't watch), copious breakfast and unlimited (but sloooooow)internet included, is a killer deal for western standards, and I thought, yes, let's splurge a little bit. I couldn't have travelled for so long if I'd had to pay 6 bucks per night during the last 8 months. Vietnam so far has been my most expensive destination, partly because of the accomodation, but mostly because of all the tailormade wintercoats and dresses I don't really need!
During all these months of traveling I never really missed certain things from home, but after Hoi An I realized that wearing the same scruffy outfits over and over again for such a long time makes me really look forward to getting a makeover once I'll be 'home' again. Oh, I can't wait to wear a pretty dress, put on some makeup, and wear nice high heels!!! Yes, call me shallow, after all my preaching on this blog about unattachment to wordly possessions and the spiritual meaning of life..., a girl still wants to look pretty!
I am enjoying this country very much, and not just because of the tailors and the silk! So I decided to skip southern Lao (a week would have been too short anyway) and instead continue my trip down to the south of Vietnam to Saigon (Hoh Chi Minh City) and the Mekong Delta.
As the bus approached Saigon, I realized that this is one big city! We passed huge industrial zones, factories, big companies, construction everywhere... I couldn't help comparing this to Lao. In Loa I didn't see a single factory, not even a billboard (I was only in the north, and not in Vientiane, the capital). They have to import almost everything, as the country doesn't produce much in terms of manufacturing.
Saigon looked and felt huge. And it is. I spent my time today cruising on the back of a xe om (motorbike taxi) through the city, being chauffeured around, when it suddenly started to downpour! In just a few minutes the streets were fludded up to about 20 cm at certain intersections. You'd think the rain would slow people down, not here though. And it only lasted for an hour or so. It actually felt so good, and I do understand that people in these countries are looking forward to the rainy season. It breaks the heat, at least for a little bit.
Saigon is big, fast, loud, and polluted, but I like the energy...for a couple of days. It's very different from Hanoi, where you always find an oasis of quiet peace around one of the numerous lakes.
Watching the street life is mesmerizing, and every moment is a Kodak moment. Motorbikes by the hundreds, carrying everything imaginable... It is impossible here (as in Hanoi) to use the sidewalk. In Hanoi bicycles and motorbikes were parked on the sidewalk, here in Saigon bicycles and motorbikes ride on the sidewalk! There are hardly any traffic lights (and I don't know about traffic rules, it seems to me that Darwin's rule applies here), but 10 years in NYC have prepared me pretty well for crossing the streets of Saigon. Just don't hesitate, otherwise you'll never cross. The traffic never stops, it's a constant flow, the trick is to move with it. Walk slowly, and watch both sides, the drivers here are used to it, they drive around you, just keep walking.
It is also amazing to see what can be carried on a motorbike, or a bicycle. You name it, they carry it: whole window panes, long bamboo rods, computers, plumbing tubes, a whole door, wooden planks, fishing traps, balloons, huge stacks of newpapers, potting plants, toilet paper, live chicken, ducks, pigs, dogs in bamboo cages... and of course whole families of 5 (the youngest on dad's lap behind the wheel, then dad, then the other kid, then mum with the baby on her lap)!
I will leave this chaos of a city tomorrow to spend two days in the Mekong Delta from where I'll pass the border to Cambodia. I have always wanted to see the Mekong Delta. It is one of these places that sound exotic. And after my first glimpse of the Mekong (up in the north on the Thailand/Lao border) was pretty disappointing, I have huge expectations, let's see. I will let you know.
25 mai 2007
Humbling love...
If you're lucky enough, you meet people in your life whose generosity, beauty, kindness, and gentleness touch you deep down, in a simple yet profound way, in a way that humbles you.
Lao was like that person to me, and I hope the lessons it taught me will not be lost once I'll be back in our fast paced Western world. Let me not forget the taste of rain, the kisses of a thousand butterflies, the sounds of laughing children, and the beauty in the smiles of the Lao people.
09 mai 2007
LAO, land of the smiles
LUANG NAMTHA and MUANG SING
I started my Lao experience going straight up north after crossing the Thai border in Chiang Khong. Most backpackers opt for the 2 day boat trip on the Mekong going east to Luang Prabang (sorry for the absence of maps on my blog!!!).
Traveling on the Mekong... as romantic as that sounds, it is actually quite the opposite. hardly any local takes this boat trip anymore, as travel by road is now feasable, quicker and cheaper. The idea of being squeezed in like sardines for 2 days didn't appeal to me, so I took a minivan up north to LUANG NAMTHA.
The driver, rather than focusing on the very bumpy dirt road, was flirting with his female co-driver and, after a few spins, we ended up in the ditch. That was quiet a shock, but luckily nobody was hurt and the van only got a few scratches. Welcome to Lao's 'roads'.
My first stop was LUANG NAMTHA in the north east, a little town close to many tribal villages. Driving up there I realized that everything was very different from Thailand, and definitely much poorer. The landscape was beautiful, and surprisingly much greener than in northern Thailand: mountains everywhere, and a narrow steep winding road passing small villages where half naked children played in the mud left behind by last night's rain.
The only eyesore were the numerous fumes coming up from these beautiful mountains, fumes coming from the 'slash and burn' practice almost everywhere. Unfortunately vast parts of Lao's woods are being (or already are) deforested, in order to gain land for - mostly - monocultures and to sell the resulting timber. I cannot imagine the impact this will have in the near future. We are speaking steep hills here, really steep, and I have experienced quite a bit of rain here, although it is not rainy season yet. Seeing the mud running down the hills, I cannot imagine what this must be like during monsoon, and with no trees and the soil being eroded gradually...
my first picture in Lao (Luang Namtha)
Luang Namtha's streets are not tarmaced whichgives this town a village-like feeling. At night the "streets" are not lit, and places close down early, yet you can hear signs of life everywhere, joyful signs, music, chatting, laughter... I had a feeling I was going to like this place.
From Luang Namtha I took a 3 day/2 night trek through the lush rainforest, climbing up steep mud tracks. this being the beginning of the wet season, it had rained quite a bit since I had gotten to Lao, heavy downpours that usually lasted for a few hours only, but for the first 2 days of our trek it rained quite heavily, which translated into muddy tracks and leeches!!!!
At the beginning I was preoccupied by these nasty bloodsuckers, but very soon my only worry was how to get downhill on my feet instead of my ass. Granted, I wasn't really equipped for these weather conditions in this kind of environment, the grip on the soles of my cheap imitation Dr. Scholl (Stoll) sandals I had baught back in India had completely worn off and the straps on my 'made in China' daypack which wasn't worth the few thousand kip I had paid for (a few thousand kip sounds like a lot, but the exchange rate is 10.000 kip to 1 US dollar...) broke after my first fall! I would be lying if I said this hike was easy, but in the end I survived the leeches and the mud. The last day it stopped raining, so the tracks were much more manageable, but in the end I don;t know what's worse, the slippery mud or the unbearable heat...
Anyway, it was good exercise, and God knows, I needed it!
Our small group stayed both nights in minority villages where the locals prepared the food for us (chicken killed live in front of us, fresh and organic!). But apart from sharaing a few rounds of Lao Lao, their strong homebrewn rice wine, there was no real interaction with the villagers and the whole thing didin't make me feel a hundred percent comfortable. This was a so-called "low impact tourism" hike, offered by the Lao government (and I was positively surprised at the offers in Lao that tend to gear more and more towards this kind of tourism), hiring and working with local tribal people. Even though this trek didn't feel too touristy, I still felt like a voyeur.
the Hmong village where we stayed for the first night
What is the right thing to do do? We're all curious, we want to see how these people live, we're fascinated by their way of trying to hold on to their traditional values, some of us are drawn to their colorful dress, others wonder how they live without electricity and running water, and a lot of westerners are curious about the poppies and the opium.
I still haven't found an answer for myself and as much as I enjoy my travel experience, I can't help but think many times that somehow traveling is wrong. We bring the wrong things to these people and places and unfortunately very often show them the worst our cultures have to offer, me included. On the other hand, tourism is a growing source of income here... I just don't know if the money really goes to the right causes and to the people who need it the most.
one of the many villages we passed
going home after a hard day's work...
people don't have a 'bathroom' with a shower here, the daily communal bath is an occasion for socializing, gossipping, and probably flirting too...
Lao is a beautiful place with beautiful people, and I can only hope that this won't change too much with the quickly growing tourist industry.
After a quiet week in Luang Namtha and neighboring Muang Sing... 
main street in Muang Sing (1. picture) countryside surrounding Muang Sing, close to the Chinese border (2. picture)
...I took a bus to Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a stunningly beautiful town on the convergence of the Mekong and the Nam Kan river. I couldn't help being amazed at the boutiques, bars, and fine dining... this was not the Lao I had seen through the bus window, but I welcomed it without feeling guilty. My first day in Luang Prabang I sat in this cute French bakery and gorged on crispy baguette for breakfast, then I had baguette for luch, and again baguette for dinner, not to mention the real strong Lao coffee. In one of the trendy bars I danced salsa with two students from Central America who are working in Lao for a few months. I went shopping at the very tempting night market. Apart from all these worldly pleasures I delved into, I had a few glimpses at some of the many wats in town, but after a while they all start to look the same...
view of Luang Prabang from the top of Mount Phousi
the mighty muddy Mekong
early morning in the main street
monks on their daily round
After 4 or 5 quite hedonistic days I suddenly knew I had to get out of there, I had to leave tourist town, immediately. So I took an 8 hour bus ride south to Vang Vieng, which somebody had described to me as Vang Falang (falang meaning Westerner, or any Non-Laotian). Arriving there I quickly realized why. This sleepy little town, set against the most gorgeous backdrop of limestone cliffs, on a river, is not so sleepy anymore, especially a few streets in the center which are lined with bars and restaurants that show reruns of "Friends". Why would you want to travel so far, to such a beautiful place, and spend your day watching TV? 
sunset in Vang Vieng
Anyway...another favourite past time of Vang Vieng backpackers is tubing. And that actually is a lot of fun. Basically, you rent a big tube (from a truck tire) for the day and start your journey on the river a few km out of town. The river is pretty shallow but has surprisingly strong currents. So you just drift down the river, a beer in your hand, and stop at the numerous makeshift bamboo outdoor bars, where you drink and jump in the water from huge swings or hight ziplines. I had to try, but when I was standing up there with the swing in my hand, looking down, I was scared shitless... But being me, I would not go back. So I just jumped...and it is greaaaat. And highly addictive.
woooowwwww.......
Beerlao, the best beer in South East Asia...
gorgeous background tubing down the river...
I spent most of my time at the Organic Farm walking along the river and watching the children play in the water. The sounds I will remember most from Lao are the ones of laughing children. Even though they work hard at a very young age, they know how to play, without fancy toys. The boys play with wooden tops or marbles, the girls like hop scotch, they catch live huge beetles, they go fishing and swim in the water... they never seem bored, and you always hear their laughter...
As I had not taken the boat trip on the Mekong to Luang Prabang, I still didn't want to miss out completely on the boat experience. So after my bus ride back to Luang Prabang I took a slow boat from there to Nong Khiaw, a boat ride that was appraised by the Lonely Planet as one of the most spectacular boat rides with gorgeous scenery. And for one time the Lonely Planet was right. The 8 hours it took went by in the blink of an eye, almost...
Nong Khiaw is a beautiful small village that has known a recent increase of backpackers. This is not surprising, given the beauty of its surroundings and the beauty of its people. I loved and treasured both for a week. Most of the people who come here just enjoy the scenery, go for walks or just hang out in their bamboo huts, there is none of the Vang Vieng "Friends"watching vibe here and everything closes down at 9 or 10 at the latest after the locals are done with their daily petanque game.
This is the slow boat I took from Luang Prabang to Nong Khiaw.
view of Nong Khiaw from the other side of the bridge
Fishing (I didn't catch anything),
kissing butterlies,
listening to the rain outside of my bamboo hut,
drawing the beautiful scenery,
watching Scott and the locals play petanque...
these are a few of my favorite things...in Nong Khiaw.
As my Lao visa came to an end I had to leave, my heart heavy, but thankful for this great experience and with a wish in my heart to come back one day.
Ironically I had tried to leave Nong Khiaw by bus during the day, but didn't get a connection in the next village (long story) where I stayed with a wonderful family overnight, and came back the next day to catch the night bus, a real bus, I was promised with lots of legroom. This being laid back Lao, and Nong Khiaw and surroundings being a part that's not too much traveled yet, I was in for a surprise. My 'bus' finally arrived at 11 pm, it was a sangthaew, which are used everywhere in Lao (they are called buses here, so why my surprise? and I actually had a lot of legroom, as I was sitting in the back being able to stretch my legs out completely). It was packed with locals and bags of rice. How could I have left Nong Khiaw in a different way?
Laos will be for me the real Land of smiles.
23 avril 2007
Mom, don't worry, I am eating (About food and getting fat)
Whoever told me that I'd lose weight travelling to India and south east Asia must have had a severe case of 'Delhi bell
y'.
I have lived 10 years in the US and I lost weight, and now 7 months in Asia and I am putting on the pounds.
It started with the sweet sugery chai and the deliciously greasy curries in India, not to forget the masses of rice and chapati, and by the time I realized how much sugar they put in one tiny chai, it was too late. My body was craving sugar, I needed my daily fix, be that in the form of one of the overly sweet Indian sweets, or chai.
Now that I am in Thailand, it is not getting any better. Even though I am trying to convince myself that having my coffee (real coffee here in the north) without sugar and going for the noodle soups and the papaya salad instead of the curries with rich creamy coconut milk will make a difference, I know deep down that I am just fooling myself. OK, granted, I am having smaller meals now, less rice and sugar, but as food is everywhere I have started to do like the Thai people, snack in between. I don't even know the names of everything I am eating, but I can't resist. There is so much to try, and so many new kinds of fruit... And I like to try food (I like food in general), even if I don't know what it is. I haven't dared yet to go for the crickets and maggots, but maybe a creepy-crawler-diet will bring me back to my initial weight!
At least my mom must be happy to hear that I am not starving.
It wasn't love at first sight...
...I was even disappointed at Thailand at first, then I went through a period of mixed feelings. I had heard so much about Thailand, so many good things, so I guess I had high expectations, but at the same time knowing that they probably wouldn't live up to it. That image of Thailand I had in my mind wasn't the Thailand I saw in front of me. And it's not as picture perfect as they always tell you, like any place...
But I found some great places here and met very interesting people, unfortunately though not too many Thai people (but that's my own doing). I guess it took me a while to 'shift' mentally and emotionally from one culture to another, but now I am starting to really enjoy Thailand.
I am leaving for Laos today, curious to see what this counrty has in store for me.