Hanoi

Just a few final shots from vacation. Hanoi was the last stop on my Southeast Asia trip. I flew out around 10 PM, got back to Singapore at 2 in the morning and then left Singapore at 9 AM the next day on my flight back to Munich. Already the tan is faded in the chilly autumn weather but hopefully the memories will last a long, long time.


Lake Promenade


The Market


Well Wired



Saturday Night in Hanoi


Delicious Food - Spring Rolls


Clay Pot Soup Ingredients


Clay Pot Soup Fish and Broth









Posted from Zürich

Vietnam Halong Bay

With less than a week left before returning to Europe, I wanted to plan one final trip in Asia. It was a tough decision as there were at least 4 or 5 more places I wanted to go. I narrowed it down to Hong Kong/Macau or Vietnam. I decided to let the Visa situation determine the fate. With Hong Kong I could just go but for Vietnam it was required for entry. Most of the Asia countries grant Visas upon arrival but not Vietnam. I used a shady online service to try to expedite the process and it worked out very well. In less than 24 hours I had a letter granting permission to enter Vietnam. I booked my flight to Hanoi and let a friend of mine who is on sabbatical from our company and just starting a year with the Thai Binh Red Cross know I was coming.








I scanned through the Lonely Planet while on the flight, a skill I am getting really good at, and decided that with my 3 days I wanted to do an overnight cruise on Halong Bay (3 hours from Hanoi) and spend the rest of the time checking out Hanoi itself.

I arrived late in Hanoi and spent the first night there before boarding the bus early morning to Halong Bay. Vietnamese drivers are crazy. The horn is an integral part of the driving experience. At times there are 3 trucks next to each other heading in one direction and 2 trucks coming in the opposite direction and the is only a two lane road. Motorcycles and bicycles are zipping in and out. India still takes the prize for the craziest drivers but only because they have even more miscellaneous obstacles on the road to deal with (cows, elephants, monkeys, etc) and the road conditions are worse.






On a side note it was quite an experience to cross the road on foot in Hanoi. I stood at the crosswalk for some time waiting. After awhile I realized there would never be a break in the traffic and you have to cross the road Frogger style. Imagine motorcycles 15 across, cars and trucks, buses and people on bicycles all zoomming down the road and you have to dodge and dart as they make small parts in the traffic in which you can pass. The hardest thing is not to run - you have to know when to just stop in the middle of all the oncoming traffic until the next gap opens up. I am glad I am still intact.

The road to Halong Bay was mostly country and we passed small towns and wide open rice fields on the way. I saw many restaurants offering dog meat. I made sure I learned the Vietnamese word for dog meat before starting the trip to avoid any unfortunate ingestion of Fido.

Perhaps as a result of taking trips on such short notice I don't have much time to have expectations about what I will see. Whatever my expectations may have been, Halong Bay blew them away. Oddly the only thing I could compare it to is sunken, tropical Alps. The peaks go on as far as the eye can see. The water is a beautiful jade green. The people are gorgeous.






There was a pack of crazy Aussie middle aged women on my cruise and they took a shine to me and kept me entertained. I think the best part was laying in the bed as the beautiful formations drifted past the window. It was rainy and sunny in turns so we were lucky to have a beautiful red sunset and I woke up to a nice rainbow in the morning.





I was hoping this was a dream and no one would wake me up.

Posted from Zürich

Malaysia

After Cambodia, I returned to Singapore for a week. I decided at that point to extend my vacation by another 10 days since there was no immediate project awaiting and nothing really to get back to. There were plenty of people to spend time with and that felt like what I needed right then. Pool time and long, lazy dinners with colleagues and their various visitors from home.



As people were coming to the end of their stays in Singapore, we decided to make a group trip for a weekend. After investigating flight times, connections and hotel options we settled on Langkawi, a group of islands off the coast of Malaysia. It seemed like the perfect place with mountains, nice beaches, waterfalls, wild monkeys and mopeds!

My Crash Helmet - Don't think it was the best one ever.


Spanish motorcycle gang

Langkawi is a beautiful paradise and I loved hanging out with the mostly Spanish and American crowd I was with. If all Spanish are like the group I was with, I think I should move to Spain. They are fun, funny, sensitive and enjoying each moment to the fullest.

View from the Hotel Terrace

On Saturday morning we rented our mopeds and went riding around the island. We went to the top of Langkawi (at 910 meters) via cable car and enjoyed the great view. We had some rain on Saturday afternoon so we played frisbee in the pool and then a few hours of Monopoly out on the terrace. I forgot how good I am at that game (can you tell who won? hehehe).

Cable Car to the 'Top of Langkawi'

Bridge on Top of Langkawi





On Saturday night we decided to go out for some drinks after dinner and maybe do a little dancing. As a whole the island is very Muslim and there was not a lot in the way of bars. I had heard of a place called Sanbar or something like this so after dinner we asked the waiter if we could walk there. He pointed us down the road and said 10 minutes up. After about 5 more 10 minutes up the road from various people on the way, we finally arrived. It was worth the walk - they had a great live band and drinks and in no time we were out on the floor dancing with the tourists and the locals alike.

Nightfall in Langkawi

Sunday we found an empty beach and napped all afternoon watching the tide come in and then swing back out. The receding tide left all these nice tidal pools and I got to play biologist for awhile. There were some kind of amphibious fish, crabs and lobsters, jellyfish and other things that I have no clue but were fascinating to look at. As the sun started sinking we headed to the airport and back to Singapore.

Sunday Nap - All there was to hear was the ocean, the birds and the monkeys...



Watching the weird tourists

Posted from Zürich

Cambodia

Angkor Wat

After my late return to Singapore from Thailand when the Phuket airport reopened, I only had a short night to prepare for my next trip. I wanted to go somewhere I could see some history and where I could do some exploring. After a short poll of my colleagues who had done some extensive touring of the region, I decided to go to Cambodia. Jungles and ancient temples and history to make the great cities of Europe look like they were newborns. Plus I always loved Tomb Raider and thought I could play Lara Croft for a few days. Little did I know this would be the most touching trip I would take.

Temple Visits = Lots of Stair Climbing

The Gods and The Demons Churning the Sea of Milk

Giant Faces at Bayon Temple

I was a bit nervous flying in as I was going this one alone, excepting the tour guide I hired, and after just leaving the political instability of Thailand behind and knowing enough of Cambodia's recent history, I wondered how safe this trip really was. We flew in over Tonle Sap, an enormous freshwater lake near the city of Siem Reap. As we came in for a landing I could see the mopeds and motorcycles riding down the red dirt roads and water buffalo standing around in the hot sun munching on the grass with their vacant expressions and I felt suddenly happy to be coming to this place.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat


Sunrise at Angkor Wat


Dance Hall


The airport was very nice and welcoming and processing the visa was easy. I found it strange that the ATM machine was giving out USD and that was more or less the currency I used for everything on that trip. Once outside the airport I was met by my guide and we headed straight for Angkor Wat as this is typically the first thing everyone wants to see.

Ta Prohm - Jungle vs. Temple


Ta Prohm


Ta Prohm



I knew right away that this guide was exactly what I had hoped for. Not only did he explain the ancient history and myths of this amazing place, he also shared much more. Over the course of the 4 days I spent with him, I was deeply touched by the amazing and tragic history of this part of the world and their hopes for the future in spite of all they had been through.

Cambodian Children Playing


Monks in Siem Reap


Rush Hour in Siem Reap

I found out that my tour guide's wife is a school librarian and makes only 40 USD a month. The salary is about the same for a school teacher, which my tour guide wants to and used to be until he realized he couldn't make ends meet for his two children so took up the touring work.

My guide described Cambodia as a buffet for outsiders. Others come, pick what they want from it and then abandon it. We discussed the relationships and issues with Thailand, Vietnam, the influence of China and the US, the recent Cambodian elections, health care, education, religion, philosophy, the environment, the tourists, the past and the future. More than once I was left speechless and humbled about how little my problems are in the grand scheme of things.


Floating Fisherman Home on Tonle Sap

I was there long enough to see quite a few temples and these are spectacular! I never got tired of the first glimpse of a new temple overtaken more or less by the surrounding jungle, the intricate stone carvings that have endured centuries and seeing just how much and how little people have changed over the centuries. To feel these people from so long ago is to feel some true sense of humanity. Happily, my trip was during low season so the crowds were kept to a minimum and sometimes there was only me and my guide at some of the sites. Siem Reap has become quite a tourist destination now and at busy times is flooded with people.

I got up at 4.30 one morning and watched the sunrise over Angkor Wat. I watched the sunset over Bakheng Hill. I took a boat tour of the floating fishing villages on Tonle Sap and we walked through a village and monastery where the buddhist monks were teaching the village children english. The shy smiles of the monks and Cambodian children would melt anyone's heart. I watched craftsmen carving stone and wood, painting and making lovely things out of silk.

Sunset at Bakheng Hill

I hope I can always keep some connection to Cambodia and my time there.
Posted from Basel