Ankor Watt

Heeellooo from Siem Reap!!!!

We took again the night bus from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap. In total that s 11 hours on a bus again. I think I am going to introduce a section on this blogg showing how many hours we ve spent on means of public transportation (excl. metro). Could be quite substantial I guess.
Eventhough it was a sleeping bus, and not to inconvenient, we still slep only very little. The occasionals smacks by your mattress kept us again awake. Well... we are already used to it... so no more wining about it.
Fabi had booked a hotel and they had promised to pick us up from the bus stop... unfortunately they didn t!!!! So we used the services of another TukTuk driver to come into town. He tried to be hired already for the next day, when we would go and see Ankor Watt.. but well it was just too early for business talks and bargaining efectivly... so we postponed it.

After a breakfast we were ready to go on a walk around Siem Reap. Hmmm unfortunately there is not too much to be seen in Siem Reap in the city center. We went to the market and I got a new pair of trousers!!! Juhu 5 USD! To me it looked like a bargain, but maybe they usually just charge 2 USD... but I don t want to know!!!

On our way we met our TukTuk drivers and one adviced us to go to the sunset in Ankor Watt. If you buy a ticket at 5.30 it is still valid for the next day as it is valid 24 hours!!! we decided to do so and would pick up the TukTuk driver at 4.30... he wasn t to sure about that, so he followed us around town. On our way we met Dr. Fish!!! Basically it is a big fishtank full of little fish, cleaning your feet. Fabi gave me a treat... and my feet got cleaned by. Dr. Fish.(is supposed to be healthy as well)

We sort of ran out of ideas what to do here as it was only 11 o clock in the morning... therefore we asked the TukTuk driver who was hanging out with us ;-). He suggested (clever businessman) to go to the floating village; yes yes very nice but faaaarrrrrrr!!! need to take Tuk Tuk!!
therefore we used his services and went to the floating villages. Okay this is just a huge scam!! 20 USD entrance (this may not sound sooo much for you but for Cambodia that is a FORTUNE!!) And on the trip they want to take you to an orphanage (donations), restaurant (more money to spend) and finally some tip for your tour guide (more money)!!! Fabi was really angry about that and about himself that he got tricked into such a scam and he simply stopped talked.... to my great annoyance!!!

In the evening we went for the sunset... we ran on top of a hill to have the best view. I imagined to sea just temples temples and again temples where ever you look. BUT NO.. basically we didn t see any temple but the one we were standing at, cause they are to far away! All those postcards where you see lots and lots of temples during sunset or sunrise are a FAKE!!!!

We went early to bed that night cause we would go and see the sunrise which meant getting up at 4.30!!!! After a night with little sleep that is even harder!
Our friend the TukTuk driver came again to pick us up at 5 and took as to Ankor Watt. There we and around 500 other people watched the sunrise and we had an amazing view on Ankor Watt! Nice .. but a once in a life time thing (4.30!!!) From there the temple visits started. Around Ankor Watt there are around 200 different temples. In 1200 a.chr. this used to be the biggest city in the world with more than a million inhabitants!!! We visited in total 7 temples and that was really enough after a while it is just "same same but different"!

I have posted a variety of temple pictures for you to enjoy:

Ankor Watt during sunrise

little lady in one of the temple

Among them there is the temple used for Toomb Raider (do you spell it like that???) Can you guess which one... if yes.. post it on my facebook side. I ll solve the rattle in my next post.

Now we are exhausted in our nice hotel... getting ready for a drink outside but not to late either cause tomoorrow at 6.10 am we have a pick up for the boat to Battangbang.

Kisses from Ankor Watt
Astrid and Fabian

Cambodia: Phnom Penh & Sihanoukville

Cambodia

Phnom Penh

We entered the bus in Saigon, not knowing how the border crossing will be. We expected everything from extreme bribery to every kind of extra obstacle to enter cambodia. In the bus our guide collected all the passports and 25 USD for the Visa. When we arrived at the border he arranged EVERYTHING. He even filled out the form for us!!!! It was just soo easy that we couldn t believe it.

Finally we arrived in Phnom Pen. On the way he could already see the difference to Vietnam. He style of houses is quite different. In Vietnam the houses are very narrow but long. In Cambodia the houses on the countryside have two floors and on the groundfloor there is a terrasse. Probably they need it to have some shade as it is damn hot here.
Cambodia seems to be poorer than Vietnam or at least the income disparity is even bigger. There is even more rubbish on the streets than in Vietnam. It seems as there is no such thing as a garbage collecting system.

We had not booked anything in Phnom Penh but we decided to follow the advice of Lonely Planet and get a room in the Sunday guesthouse. The room seemed basic but clean with an own bathroom for 8 USD per night. That really looked like a perfect deal.
Unfortunately the bathroom did not have a window, so all the moist and used air had to stay in the bathroom. It smelled like the whole room was full of mole!!!!! DISGUSTING!!

On our first evening in Phnom Penh we had a walk and decided to have Indian food at the main food street next to the river. It was pure luxury as I paid 8 USD for my dinner ... imagine: twice as much as for the room per person!!!!! Ah i forgot to tell you about my desert. There was a little stall next to the river selling insects, spiders and all kind of nasty disgusting little animals. So i thought: Okay it looks really nasty but maybe the taste is nice. Therefore I had spider as a desert and I have to admit yes look = out of this world disgusting; taste = not so bad

astrid eats a spider

In the next morning we met two spanish girls who would share a tuk tuk with us, to keep the costs down. They also wanted to go to the museum of torture, the killing fields and the Russian market... that s why we joined. When we had arranged a TukTuk they told us that they wanted to go to an orphanage as well as they wanted to donate some food. Soo off we went.
The visit at that orphanage was on the one side nice..the kids were very cute and everybody wanted to talk to you.. on the otherside we felt a little like Brad and Angelina.... it is just toooo much!!!!

After that we went to see the killing fields. This is the place where 14.000 were killed during the leadership of Pol Pot in 1975 to 1979. It is very strange (strange in an aweful way) they killed in total 2.000.000 cambodians because they were educated!!! They killed their own people!!!!
At the killing fields they had built a stupa where they display many of the skulls and bones of the victimes...

After that we went to see the prison where they had tortured them before they were sent to the killing fields. Everything is very in detail and you can see many many fotos of the victims. After all these sad visits we needed something to cheer us up. THE RUSSIAN MARKET

Well basically it is a food-, clothes-, copy-watch-, bag-, spare parts, meat and vegetable market. It is located under at least 1000 small tents and in there it feels like in a sauna. Now imagin that you have raw meat in this moisty and hot temperature... = TERRIBLE smell!!! rotten food smell all the time. As I was really hungry I had to get something but I went for something vegetarian to be safe!!!!

meat, vegetables and people sleeping there


On the next they Fabi and I decided to move once more to the beach. Sihanounkville is a small village located right next to the beach and it lives from the backpacker tourist who come to visit. He got a small bungalow at the monkey republic backpacker resort. The bungalow was quite spartanic... not toilett flush and not hot water. To flush the toilett you need to scoop water from a bucket into the toilett.

our cosy but basic bungalow


The first afternoon we spend already on the beach. The whole beach is full of bars and cafes which all offer sunbeds. To used them you only need to buy a drink for the cost of 1 USD. Well... fine with us :-)
Unfortunately it it is very difficult to relax on the beach as every two minutes kids and ladies pass by offering fruit, bracelets, pedicures, massages and books. Especially those ladies selling manicures and pedicures stare at your feet and nails and tell you openly how aweful they look. I felt slightly embarrased. They even check your legs whether they can find any hair... if they do.... they ll point at it ... telling you that it is not attractive and that you URGENTLY need to take care of that... even better they will take care of it for you!!! :-)
Eventually on the third day I gave in and I got my legs depliated with a string and my nails manicured (feet and finger) for 11 USD!!!!! - quite fair I would say.

I am getting my leg depilated with a string

In they evening all the bars offer seafood barbeque on the beach. You just pick whatever you like and they will grill it for you. Together with salad, rice and some bread it costs you 3 USD to enjoy the excellent view and some delicious seafood!! Therefore we went for it in total 3 times!!! Loved it !!!

seafood at the beach

Apart from the ladies and kids who pass by selling something, locals from the bar will come to inform you about the party-opportunities for tonight. AND there are tons!!!!!! In the evening we could chose from around 20 happy hour offerings... finally we went for a bar on the beach. Obviously the only Cambodians who are in this village are either Tuk-Tuk driver or prostitutes. Fabi got frequently informed that „bumbum“ is 10 USD.

The night out turned out to be a huge success!!! Crazy party party :-)

Once we decided to take a scooter again to explore the surroundings. We were sure that there must be something else than party and beach. We were proven to be wrong. Actually there is really nothing else. Nothing interesting to see! So if anybody of you is going to Sihanoukville... it is just for beach and party (be aware of that!! :-))

After 3 days in Sihanoukville we decided to leave for Siem Reap (the place where Ankor Watt is). We will be taking a nightbus again. Maybe they are slightly better in Cambodia than in Vietnam???? We ll see

Hugs from Cambodia
Astrid & Fabi

Mui Ne & Saigon

After the beach days in Mui Ne, we went surprise... for more beach. Lonely Planet claimed that Mui Ne (is a small village further in the south of Vietnam) has the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam. Consequently I decided that I would need to see them.
We used again our open bus ticket and went by bus to Mui Ne. Mui Ne is so small that eventhough it has plenty of hotels... none of them are mentioned on hostelworld.com... Fortunately the Lonely Planet has always some suggestions. We booked a bungalow in a resort... sounds really fancy and it was also kind of fancy. Private bungalow close to the seaside, private resort beach and pool with pool bar. All that including breakfast for 12,5 USD per person.... not to bad is it?

We arrived at 2 in the afternoon so we decided to spend the rest of the day at the beach. In the evening we went to a small restaurant and had a splendid dinner for less than 3 Euros per person... this is the way I like it. During that time we got to know that this seems to be a major holiday destination for Russian tourist... again!!! Wherever you go, you ll find Russian menus and adverts!!! Hmmm not exactly my favorite tourist group ... but okay.

The next day we hired again a scooter and went to see the red dunes. There lots of kids offer you a plastic sheet to slide down the dunes. I thought that it might be fun, but Fabi was rather skeptic... It turned out that he was right... it is absolutely impossible to really slide down the dunes!! Damn it...

After this disappointment we went to see the white dunes which are a little further away and by far not so touristic. The landscape was just amazing... everything around you was red and suddenly a small lake with white dunes behind appeared.
Of course the Vietnamese tried to make some business out of it and offered either ostrich quad bike rides... we rode neither.

gas station in Vietnam

Mui Ne is really small, so after we had seen the dunes and the center of Mui Ne, we had seen everything. Therefore back to the beach. As I told you Lonely Planet spread the rumour that Mui Ne has the nicest beaches in Vietnam... maybe in theory but in practice they are quite dirty and full of disgusting things.

But this is still a nix picture

The next day we left Mui Ne and its dirty beaches and went by bus to Saigon (I know now it is called Ho Chi Minh City). I had booked a room in a guest house called "MyMy Art House". To get there you had to enter a block of houses and a tiny road, badly lit, led to the hostel. Actually the street looked like those in some murderer movies, where you know already if "she" enters now she will be killed. CHARMING!!! ;-)
But the guest house and its owner (a lady) were very nice and actually charming! We went for some food and met an English and a Finnish guy and we got stuck there chatting and making plans. Eventually we left and went for a walk in Saigon. Saigon is much richer than Hanoi ans has already a small western touch. Fabi prefers Saigon to Hanoi, I don t! Well I know.. I am more for the shabby and slightly dirty places... but don t expect now Saigon to be clean... rubbish is disposed always on the floor/street! Wherever you go, nobody cares!!

While we were sitting in a street bar in Saigon, we unexpectedly met two Norweagans that we had met in Nah Trang... Yeah party.. good to see you... more beer!!! We decided that tomorrow all of us would go to see the Cu Chi Tunnels close to Saigon. For those of you, who don t know: these tunnels were used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam war. Their extention is around 200 km and approximately 18000 people lived in there over the period of 26 years (they were already used during the French occupation)

There you could enter the tunnels, see the traps they had built for the Americans and their facilities to survive (kitchen, hospital, etc..) We had a guided tour which was really interesting and totally worth its money even though given in Vietnamese-English (hard to understand)!!! After the tour the four of us went to the museum of war. That s quite rough stuff, which is shown there. Maybe though a little bit one-sided but still.... photos of deformed kids due to the used of the chemicals "Agent Orange" by the Americans ... and the prison that they kept people in (torture tools etc....) Puhhhh

It takes a while to digest these things... and it makes you think. I ll really need to find a book about the Vietnam War, to get some more details... If anybody has a suggestion.. pls let me know!

In the evening we arrange our bus ticket to Phnom Penh for the next day, some street food and a visit in the pharmacy. I started to get nervous about Malaria cause I get bitten all the time (also here) by mosquitos. Therefore I decided it might be wise to actually take medication. When I prepared my trip, my doctor even prescribed some Malaria meds BUT I got only 12 pills and I am supposed to take them everyday while in a Malaria-risk area + 2 weeks more.... so what to do with 12 pills????
Furthermore they are crazy expensive in Austria = 60 Euros for 12 pills! Here I got 100 pills for 3,5 Euros!!!! If I had know that!!!!!! Well the financial harm is already done!!


Greetings from Saigon
Astrid+Fabi

PS: This is for my mum. We went to change Euros to USD for Cambodia to a bank. Bank clerks in Vietnam have a very different life than in Austria. The lady was so bored she offered to paint my nails (she is a bank clerk!!). We exchanged 100 Euros and she did not have enough money (by 50 cent or so), therefore she offered us the rest of her lunch (pizza)!!! Maybe you can share this story at work :-)

Nha Trang

I know that there is three times the same photo in the last post but something went wrong and I can t correct it anymore cause I just see the html scrip... sorry!! but now about nha trang:

After a short but marvollous stay in Hoi An we left in the evening for Nha Trang. Nha Trang is also at the coast of Vietnam but further in the south and it is famous for its beaches!!!! Juhhuu both of us are really looking forward to lying on the beach, getting tanned (at least a little) and enjoying the see.

We arrived at 6 in the morning, so of course our room was not ready yet. Therefore we just dropped our luggage at the hotel and went to the beach. There we had a 2 hour nap, as we had barely slept the whole night on the bus. Afterwards breakfast – swimming clothes and .... beach again.... NIIICEEE. That evening we were quite tired so nothing much except a welcome beer happend.

Next day we could enjoy for the first time our breakfast outside on the terrace. We rented again a scooter to visit the famous spa and waterfalls. Of course they also offer a tour, but it is 35 USD per person.... we can do that cheaper and nicer!! It is not too difficult to find the spa. Fabi though didn t know that the spa included a mud bath. I imagined it to be quite nice and exquisite and relaxing... well not exactly. In this spa resort the have around 10 bathtubs, some are smaller some are bigger. But most of them were crammed with Vietnamese people. So imagine an average European size bath tap and around 15 Vietnamese guys in there.
Fabi looked so shocked that we were assigned to our own bath tab and we did not have to squeeze in with 10 other guys. Moreover it was a little weird cause the mud was actually cold, so basically we were sitting in cold mud.. freezing, waiting until 15 minutes were over...!!!! We enjoyed a little longer the hot mineral water bath and the pool but everything was not exactly up to our hygiene standards, therefore we left quite early to see the waterfalls.

It took us a while to find them. On our way we passed by the seaside were you could see lots of fisher boats....in the sun! AMAZING view.

The waterfall turned out to be a little hidden and could only be reached via a very small and bumpy road. I had thought, that we would arrive next to the waterfalls and no walk would be required... therefore I was wearing flip-flops!!! Unfortunately it turned out to be quite a hike involving some climbing.... dammnnnn flip flops!!

After 20 times swearing and at least 7 scratches we arrived at the waterfall. Some American guys were jumping of the cliffs and Fabi had of course to join them.

For a second i thought about jumping as well but decided eventually that I am too afraid of the unknown depth even though the others had already jumped 10 times. Anyway back again.... now i really started to get REALLY annoyed.. I fell and scratched my knee and my toe and ... well i was just furious!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I started to run as fast as possible towards the entrance... by the time I arrived there, I had chilled out a little and everything was okay again. Back to the hostel. On our way we saw some fish and mussle street kitchens, which seemed quite nice so we decided to have dinner there. They had a mostly still alive seafood buffet!!!

So you could choose, which of those animals will be on your plate! But we receive a menu, poorly translated... In the end we received stuff that he had not ordered and Fabi was still hungry... getting more and more nervous!! Finally he just grabbed, while pointing on a plate at the next table.
That evening we went to be quite early as we had planned a diving trip for the next day which meant: gooooooooooddddmooooorrrnnnniiinnngggg Vietnam at 6 o clock am!!!!

Fabi has already a diving license but for me it was my first dive. I was a little nervous but the instructor would be next to me all the time.. so I would be fine. We did two dives.. they were amazing!! The view was very clear, we saw lots of corals and fish in all colors. My instructor handed me a sea star... it felt soooo soft and it was pink :-)

When we came back to the hostel we were quite tired so we took a little nap... but Fabi woke up soon and went to the beach for some beach soccer. Strangely everybody that we met this evening was absolutely motivated for party and so was Fabi. So we had a couple of beer in the hostel bar and moved on to a club called the sailing club!! I didn t expect it to be soooo nice! it was right next to the beach, playing quite nice music... only disadvantage: LOTS of Russians !!!
In general I don t have a problem with Russians but the moment they see alcohol --- out of this world!!! At 3:20 I left Fabi (we was going to another bar) and walked home. We really had a great night out!

Unfortunately the next day was kind of useless but we made the best out of it and went to the beach. I started studying my Lonely Planet to figure out a route for Cambodia !!!!! YEEAAHHH

Well greetings from Nha Trang.... moving on to Mui Ne (according to Lonely Planet the best beaches in Vietnam)

Astrid & Fabian

Hoi An

Sorry I know it took me a while to upload another post but I very depend on a decent internet connection.. which is not abundandt in Vietnam. Anyway enjoy the post and the fotos.

Before I can actually tell you about our visit in Hoi An I have to mention the bus ride to get there. We knew that the total ride from Hanoi to Hoi an would take us 16 hours from which 12 were in a sleeping bus.

After our last walk in Hanoi, a minivan picked us up and brought us to the main bus stop. There we spend another our waiting for the actual bus right next to a main road. I spend my time there counting „almost accidents“ (around 21). Moreover I discovered the underlying traffic rule in Vietnam. At first it seemed that the bigger vehicles have priority but NO.... it is those vehicles with the loudest horn. Therefore you see a looootttt of cars with a customized horn !!!!!

Okay anyway finally we managed to get into the sleeping bus, which was totally crowed! For those of you who had not yet the pleasure of experiencing one of those.... imagine:

In such a bus there are three lines of bunk beds. Two next to the window and one in the middle. Sleeping is supposed to mean, that you can ly down... well maybe if your are vieatnamese but an average European person, doesn t fit there.

As we were the last to enter the bus we got the worst beds. Upper bed (you feel every curve twice as hard), right under the general air condition (= freezing cold) and next to the toilet (a rough breeze of sh...).

Within the first 10 minutes of that bus ride, an English girl right behind us found cockroaches. She made a huge fuss and that s why Fabi enjoyed it even more teasing her :-)

Roads in Vietnam are not the best with lots of holes and bumps. This turned out to be an issue as we discovered that our bus had absolutely no damper (german: Stoßdämpfer). So the moment you just managed to doze of for a while, the bus passed a bump and we slammed our faces into the really hard mattress. Those slaps (around every 10 minutes) made it quite impossible to sleep....

So just to summarize the bus ride: 12 h, stinky toilet smell, VERY cold air condition right above us, cockroaches and around 72 slaps by your mattress

Okay anyway finally we arrived in Hue where we changed immediately to the sitting-bus. FINALLY after 4 hours we arrived in Hoi An. After 6 days in a dormitory of 16 people in Hanoi, we treated ourselves with a double room!!!! Privacy is just NICE!

While I was still busy with checking in, Fabian had already rented a Scooter. So off we went for the beach.

Basically we were alone on the beach--- maybe it was slightly to windy for beach action but after freezing for 2,5 weeks, we were just ready for some beach. We enjoyed some wonderful lunch right AT the beach (seafood with rice). 

Our map mentioned „MY SON“ but we had no clue what it actually was... (could not read the lonely planet in the bus) but we anyway decided to go there. It took us 2 hours plain driving to get there and we had to buy petrol 3 times as Fabian would not buy a little more... cause otherwise we would return more petrol then we had gotten!!!!!! ... we are talking about 30 cents more or less!!!!!

Once in a while i really got nervous, as I could already see us... pushing a scooter in the very outskirts of Vietnam!!! But fortunately.... didn t happen.

Well finally we arrived there , „MY SON“ (pronounced me son (engl.)) turned out to be tempers!!!!!! Apparently we were 20 minutes to late so we could only see the museum but not the temples, as they were closed... better to say the rest of them (very old and almost rotten) were closed.

So back to town!!! As we didn t sleep the night before we went early to be to be fresh for tomorrow. After the breakfast we had 6 hours to kill until our bus to Nha Trang left. What to do..... hmmmm

It turned out (not mentioned in Lonely Planet) that Hoi An has a lovely old town with a really „back to the roots“ market next to a river bank. So we walked up an down, a little off road to see how people live.

By that time it was around 1 pm (lunch time) and we could hear Karaoke!! We passed an entrance and we could see 3 grown up men (difficult to say how old they were, but around 30-40) sitting on the floor singing karaoke and drinking beer. When they saw us... they invited us to join them.... of course we did!!!

Thanks God they didn t have any English songs, cause otherwise we would have to sing as well. They continued singing while puring lots of beer into our glasses. 3 glasses later we decided to leave... otherwise who knows....

Lunch: first Cao Lao which is supposed to be the specialty of Hoi An... I am not convinced.. some noodles with salad and small pieces of pork. This was definitely not enough so we went for some grilled meat on sticks. There is a special technique to prepare them.

1. take rice paper
2. put rice noodle inside
3. put cucumber and salad on the rice noodels
4. put the stick with meat in the middel and wrap it with the rice paper
5. pull out the stick, so that only the meat is left

Fabi had around 10 of those... but really delicious. Please check out the furniture of those street kitchens. TINY chairs and very small tables.. it is like having lunch in kindergarten, except that you don t fit them anymore

After that we went for a boat tour on the river. A one hour boat tour for just the two of our cost us 6 euros!!! it was soooo nice and relaxing... just perfect.

Cobra with scorpio in whiskey

Finally we went bacḱ to the hotel to get our stuff and hop on another bus which was supposed to be a sitting bus (12 h!!!) cause all the sleeping buses were full. Fabi = absolutely not amused

Anyway if you ever have the chance to go to Vietnam, you need to visit Hoi An. It is just lovely!!! And the people there are very friendly and not so westernized like in Hanoi.

Kisses from Hoi An

Ha Long Bay in Vietnam

I had heard already from my father that the Ha Long Bay is supposed to be an amazing place and all other we had met so far, said the same. Therefore we booked a tour for 2 days. Including cruising, kayaking, food, cave visit and foot massage :-)

So we left early in the morning by bus (3,5 hours). The weather was cold and humid so basically disgusting! Everybody was freezing... In Ha Long Bay we got onto our vessel.... excellent and very comfortable ship! On our ship there were only 10 people including us. We started immediatly with lunch. 5 different Vietnamese dishes.... really delicious!

After a bit of cruising we changed to a smaller boat and went to one of the floating villages. These are villages that are built on rafts and their inhabitants are fishermen moving just by boat. There we got kayaks and started to paddle through the bay.

As it was quite cold not everybody got into one but of course i was in!!! I was just hoping not to flip over - but i didn t.

Afterwards cave tour. The cave is the biggest cave among the 2669 island there and was caused by rainwater. At the entrance there is a platfrom with an excellent view:

In the evening some of us enjoyed a foot massage an some more food!!!!!!!! nice. The rooms were very small but comfortable with our own bathroom = pure luxury. The next morning we got up quite early so that we would be back at the pier around 11:30 to hop on the bus in time.

The Ha Long Bay is nominated to be one of the 7 natural world wonders. If you have decided after those photos that it should be one, pls vote for it. Just google "7 natural world wonders" and you can participate in the choice.

Sunny greetings from the Ha Long Bay
Astrid and Fabian

Hanoi Vietnam

Eventually we managed to book a flight from Shanghai to Guangzouh (still China) and from there to Hanoi. The cheapest flight we found was on the web page "edreams". I really do not recommend them at all. They declined both of our credit cards, but with after a 12 h notice, which was incredible annoying (especially as both credit cards are absolutely fine). So just in case you plan to book something with them.... think about that twice... there service and reliablity is absolutely rubbish!

Anyway we got to the airport and got our tickets. There the luggage was immediately scanned and as Fabi had a pocket knife in his huge backpack we had to go to the luggage inspection to get everything checked. Fortunately everything turned out just fine, without any problems.

Some more hanging around on the airport and we could finally board the plane but it took us another hour until we could actually fly to Guanghzou do to the massive air traffic. Fabi got really pissed cause it seemed that we would not be able to catch our next flight, which would probably mean another night on the airport.......
Luckily we were able to catch our flight as it was as well delayed by 40 minutes :-) We had already booked a hostel and they highly advised us to use the shuttle they provide, as frequently taxi drivers just drop you at a hostel where they get commissions with made up explanations, like "your hostel got destroyed by an act of god". Fabi though did not want to use this service as it was about 14 USD. TOO EXPENSIVE. So we ended up paying 15 USD not knowing whether the driver would really drop us off the right place. Hurray!!!

Before we got in the taxi we had asked repeatedly the driver whether he actually knew where the hostel is. OF COURSE he knew!!!! Finally there was not only the driver and the two of us but another Viatnamese guy sitting next to the driver. Fabi was already preparing his mind to fight with 2 small Viatnamese guys in case they would rob us. But no need for that, as one guy is driving and the other is reading the map :-)!!!!!!

In the end they really managed to drop us off the right place. We were happy to finally arrive in our hostel in Hanoi (1 am )

The next day we just spend walking around Hanoi getting a feeling for the city. The air here is terrible... smogg!!!!! In the streets you can see lots of people wearing masks to protect themselves from breathing in to much of the awful air.
Moreover this seems to be the capital of scooters. EVERYONE is driving a scooter and their only weapon against other drivers (cars, byicles, other scooters) is their horn! Consequently traffic here is a huge load mess! People carry everything on their scooters. One guy obviously bought a  huge flat screen which he attached to himself and the scooter with a thin piece of cord and off you go :-)

Hanoi is the best place to eat fresh food!!!! It is REALLY fresh. Next to our hostel there is a small back door kitchen where they keep half a dozen chickens. In the morning when we were heading out, we could see how one was strangled, cooked, displumed and roasted. In that case it could happen that your food had been alive an hour again = very fresh.

right bottom corner = chicken! didn t post a foto of slaughtering...

I have to say that the food is excellent here but it doesn t last very long. After a full meal it takes maximum 2 hours and you ll be hungry again. So there is a constant need for food, which can be satisfied cheaply at an street kitchen. Unfortunately those street kitchens are even less clean than those in China. You ll sit only tiny stools, trying not to touch too much, as really everything is quite dirty... once in a while a rat might pass by (yummyy) - well probably you need to relax about those issues, cause I am afraid that this might happen again on our trip.

Ahhh another cuisine issue that I ve come across is the scarcity of McDonalds or basically any type of western fastfood chain. EXCELLENT.... even though i quite enjoy once in a while a BigMac, I quite like the fact that McDonald has not conquered that market. I even asked my tour guide and he told me... "we don t like fat food... we don t eat.. no McDonald". At that point i got interested and i checked a couple of tables showing the BigMac Index.... I could not find Vietnam!!!!
You have to know that here they use 2 currencies: the vietnamese Dong (1 euro = around 26.699 Dong) or the USD. The US used to be their arch enimy and never the less they adoped the US Dollar as an official currency .... ridiculous. But the refusal of American food seems to be their sielent protest  against the cultural assimilation to the "western (american) world" NICE!!!

Did I mention that we flew to Hanoi cause we were sick of being in freezing Shanghai and that we really needed some sun. Well maybe Hanoi isn t the best place either for sun in February. Yes it is warmer... around 15 degrees but still humid and cloudy... so we were quite disappointed and we are still freezing!! I don t know how we are going to handle Austria again but fortunately we ll come back in summer, so there is hope :-)

And of course another reason to leave Shanghai was the Chinese New Year cause it is just much more difficult to travell around that time, as everybody is traveling home! BUT guess what.. there is also a Vietnamese New Year NOW. So here the year of the cat starts, whereas in China it is the year of the rabbit. New Years eve: 2nd of February! It is not like in Europe where huge parties are going on ... here everybody spends the bank holidays with their families (it is more like Christmas). Yes there are fireworks but not music and no party. It was though the longest fireworks that I have ever seen in my whole life. It lasted for around 30 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first tree is a small orange tree. It is basically like our Christmas tree... everybody has it at their home-- mainly for good luck. The second tree is a peach tree. It is supposed to bring you love for the next year. Some girls write a message on a piece of paper and tie it around one of the branches... this is supposed to bring them a boyfriend or husband in the new year. And finally in front of most houses you ll find little tables with candles and food. This is a sacrifice ... to (?) to ensure a happy new year!

So this year we were actually able to start the new year twice!!!! hurray!!!!!!

Greetings from Hanoi without Big Mac!!!