The Whatever - Experience

Hey guys,

after leaving Luang Nam Tha with a bunch of new experiences (and bruises), we sallied out directly to the most northwestern region of Laos, Bokeo, in order to immerse ourselves for three days in the Laotian Jungle.
The night before the trip started we had to stay in a tiny village called Ban Don Chai, to be picked up from there the next morning. What seemed to be a mere necessity shaped up as a wonderful possibility of authentic contact to the villagers. We even could help (or rather show some good will) at the emerging village support project.


The thing we were about to do was called the Gibbon Experience, not only a balancing act between adventure- and eco-tourism, but also literally: For three days you live on treehouses that can only be entered and left via zip lines stretched out up to 500m in length and 100m above the ground.


Treehouses in about 40m height.

We were told that the trip is all about the overwhelming flora and fauna of this out-in-the-sticks-region. But right from the beginning it came out in the wash that the main attraction were the zip lines, when the guides (according to www.gibbonx.org "eager to show you the forest and its inhabitants") handed us over the (Petzl-)ziplining gears and just told us to zip away and have fun without further explanations...


Yeah, baby!

Pez enjoying himself.

A few more words on how to use the gear would not have been amiss for some of the zippers...

Truth is, it actually WAS a great experience of nature and wildlife, although I wouldn't go as far as calling it the "Gibbon" Experience as we haven't seen or even heard a single gibbon these days. Our ideas for more appropriate names: The Zipping Experience, The Leech Experience or even The Rat Experience...

For us it was also The Dutch Experience, as we shared our treehouse with a bunch of lovely people from Holland. To kill our angst of spider- and rat-attacks we spent our guide-less evenings on the treehouses solving riddles and guessing movies. ;) Thanx for the good time, folks!
Especially Stevie seemed to have enjoyed himself, as the first thing we heard one morning coming out of Stevies and a Dutch fellows' mosquito net, was the following conversation:
Chris: "Aaaahh, that was a beautiful night."
Stevie: "Thank you, Chris"

All the other obscenities at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157610309172072/

On Stevies demand: The spider in our toilet/shower:

Bokeo

Im Nordwesten von Laos, in der Provinz Bokeo, haben wir schon vor unserer Abreise 3 Tage bei einem Projekt namens Gibbon Experience gebucht. Hier kann man durch den Dschungel wandern, in Baumhaeusern schlafen und auf sogenannten Ziplines ueber und zwischen den Baeumen dahinduesen. Nochdazu ist es ein Oekotourismus projekt und so werden durch die , zugegebener Massen hohen Gebuehren, die Einwohner umliegender Doerfer sowie der Schutz des anliegenden Nationalparks unterstuetzt.

Die letzte Nacht vor Start der Tour uebernachteten wir in einer sehr einfachen - allerdings auch aeusserst guenstigen - Unterkunft ca. 2 Autostunden vor Houay Xay. Attraktion en hier waren nur die Dusche mit der Schoepfkelle - sehr muehsam- (Stephan bevorzugte daher den Bach) und eine Riesenspinne (Bild von Petz noch ausstaendig). Keine Auswahl beim Essen: zu Mittag gab es Reis mit Gemuese und am ABend wurde Chicken angekuendigt....

Wer konnte ahnen, dass es wirklich ein ganzes Huhn gab!!! Meine gefraessigen Begleiter freuten sich riesig! Rechts hinten: Lala.

Am naechsten Tag ging es dann wirklich los und wir wurden mit Gelaendewagen in ein Dorf im Nationalpark gefuehrt. Weiter ging es dann zu Fuss durch den Dschungel bis nach schier endloser Zeit endlich die ersten Ziplines auftauchten. Umso groesser der Schreck als wir vor dem ersten Start eine Touristin dabei beobachten konnten wie sie vom Seil herabfiel und nur noch vom Sicherheitsseil gehalten von zwei Guides gerettet werden musste. Es stellte sich allerdings im Nachhinein heraus, dass dies nur auf ihre eigene Dummheit zurueck zu fuehren war und bei unserer Gruppe gab es kein einziges Mal irgendwelche Probleme.

PPetz vor einem etwas ausgesetzten Zipline -Start beim ersten Baumhaus.

Luang Nam Tha

Disclaimer: The following post may contain disturbing images even though the performers of the stunts thought they were professionals.

Ok, ready for some blood and gore now?

After having celebrated our invasion of Lao (in defiance of peoples and natures resistance) with truckloads of Beer Lao and Lao-lao (Rice-Whiskey) we traveled on to Luang Nam Tha. It is a nice city surrounded by the Nam Ha National Park with remote villages of different tribes and beautiful untouched nature. So I did what every reasonable tourist would do: I rented a loud and dirty motorbike and blasted off through the wonderful scenery. As a motorcycle-novice I for the first time felt the boundless freedom bikers always rant about, as the head wind wet my eyes and kids were running out of their shacks to wave at me.
And then I crashed...


Ok, to be honest, it was just a crappy moped, but 125cc were enough to batter the vehicle and me for 30 bucks worth of repair costs and two weeks worth of (light;) pain, respectively. The good side is that I haven't got to excise the suspect birthmark on my shoulder anymore...

We were staying at a marvelous guest house these days in Luang Nam Tha. That they had still free rooms may be explained simply by their telephone number...


By the way, we have once again pushed our culinary limits:

Now that Peter and I have started eating cockroaches, it is only a matter of time until they have to be added to the list of endangered species...

Yours, Evel Knievel jun.
official homepage at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157610205016337/

Einmal quer durch das Nordwestlaos

Von Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam starteten wir morgens zu sechst mit Gepaeck Richtung laotischer Grenze bei Tay Trang. Das erste Problem ergab sich dadurch, dass unser vietnamesicher Fahrer schon nach halber Strecke mit vielen Entschuldigungen anhalten musste um sich mehrmals zu uebergeben (!). Trotzdem wurden wir schliesslich an der Grenze abgeladen nud den langwierigen Grenzformalitaeten ueberlassen. Diese dauerten einerseits so lange weil hier anscheinend fuer jeden Stempel ein anderer Grenzbeamter aufgeweckt werden muss und andererseits weil die Grenze erst seit etwa einem Jahr fuer Touriswten geoeffnet ist und die Grenzbeamten offensichtlich das erste mal in ihrem Leben einen oesterreichischen Pass sahen.
Zusaetzlich gibt es zwischen vietnamesischen und laotischen Grenzboten ca. einen Kilometer Niemandsland, das man zu Fuss mit Gepaeck ueberwinden muss.
Nach Beendigung der Formalitaeten galt es ein geeignetes Transportmittel fuer die Weiterfahrt zu finden. Das war nicht einfach, da der wirklich niemand ueber die Grenze zu kommen scheint und das einzige Transportangebot wirklich unglaublich teuer war. Zudem waren wir aufgrund ungenauer Karten auch noch schlecht ueber die weiteren Distanzen informiert.
Da inzwischen auch noch ein67 jaehriges Ehepaar zu uns gestossen war machten wir uns also um ca 15:00 zu Fuss auf den Weg um ein geeignetes, billiges Transportmittel zu finden. Leder gelang uns das nicht. Auch nur Dank des von Stephan mitgenommenen Bilderbuchs gelang es zumindest etwas zu essen zu kaufen. Schliesslich wurde es dunkel und wir waren mitten in der Wildnis ohne Aussicht auf Unterkunft und Transport. Gluecklicherweise fanden wir eine Art von Hochstand und einigten uns darauf dort zu uebernachten. Hier macht sich zum ersten mal unsere wirklich gute Ausruesutung bezahlt, die wir die ganze Zeit mit uns herumschleppen: unter unseren drei Moskitonetzen finden schliesslich 8 Leute Platz und Dank der Isomatten und Schlafsaecke muessen wir auch nicht frieren. Zum Nachtmahl gibt jeder was er noch hat und so wird es noch ein lustiger Abend unter freiem Himmel in der laotischen Wildnis...
Am naechsten Tag gelingt es uns zum Glueck nach insgesamt ueber 30 Kilometern Marsch mit vollen Gepaeck einen Minivan fuer den Transport zur naechstgroesseren Stadt Muang Khua zu organisieren.

Die Strassen in Laos sind nicht unbedingt die Besten. Drei Stunden Fahrt fuer knapp ueber 40 Kilometer. Mehrmals muss trotz Allrad antrieb der Minivan ausgegraben werden....

Am darauffolgenden Abend wird muede aber erleichtert gemeinsam die Rueckkehr in die Zivilisation gefeiert.

Muang Khua, ddie erste groessere Stadt in Laos, liegt sehr schoen am Ufer des Nam Ou. Vor Beziehen des Quartiers muss noch mittels Faehre der Fluss ueberquert werden...

Da unser Zeitplan aber sehr dicht bepackt ist geht es schon am naechsten Tag weiter ueber Oudom Xay nach Luang Nam Tha. Erschoeft von den vorherigen Tagen bekommen wir von der Busfahrt nicht mehr wirklich viel mit. Schade, denn die Gegend ist wirklich sehenswert!

Luang Nam Tha ist das Oekotourismuszentrum von Nordlaos und liegt direkt bei einem grossen Nationalpark. Da die Touren aber sehr teuer sind beschliessen wir in den naechsten zwei Tagen die Umgebung entspannt auf eigene Faust zu erkunden.

Einsame Reisfelder nahe der chinesischen Grenze bei Boten.

DIe Gegend rund um Luang Nam Tha ist wirklich sehr sehenswert. Bei einer kurzen Wanderung zu einem Wasserfall hat sich auch der erste Blutegel zu mir gesellt. Keine AHnung wie der so schnel auf meinen Bauch unter das T-Shirt kommen konnte.... Gluecklicherweise war er noch auf der Suche nach einem schoeneren Plaetzchen und konnte daher schnell und problemlos entfernt werden.

Eine wirklich sehr interessante Haengebruecke ! Wurde nach intensiven Selbsttest als tragfaehig eingeordnet.

Nach Luang Nam Tha ging es direkt weiter fuer drei Tage nach Bokeo zur Gibbon Experience, der ich einen eigenen Eintrag widmen werde.

Die Querung von Nordlaos endete schliesslich an der thailaendischen Grenze bei Houay Xay, wo sich leider ein Strom con Touristen nach Laos ergiesst....

The Fellowship of the Border Crossing

I am sure you will notice the subtle innuendo to Tolkiens' Lord of the Ring - saga in the title of this blog entry and maybe wonder if we are truly that nerdy to write such a thing. But compared to what we had to endure after we left Dien Bien Phu in order to cross the border to Lao, Frodos journey to Mordor was an easy Sunday morning stroll...

It all started out funny. We met some nice people from Australia, England and the States in the Bus from Sapa to Dien Bien Phu, and as we were 6 persons and very eager to get to Lao, we decided not to wait for the bus on Friday but to charter a minivan in order to head off to the border right the next morning, from where, according to our guest house owner, a public bus would leave to our next destination, Muang Khua, which is situated about 50km into Lao. Said, done. Our enthusiasm couldn't even be tarnished when the minivan we ordered on telephone turned out to be a small station wagon (quite a logistic challenge for 6 people and some backpacks that are bigger than the average Vietnamese) and our driver to be motionsick on the curvy mountain road. (We are getting used to Asians puking in buses as easily as small children but it was our first driver that had to throw the towel.) After crossing the Vietnamese part of the border quite easily - we only had to justify living in a country like Austria, of which they had never heard of - we walked about 1km to the Lao customs office, where the real trouble started...
I have to explain here that this border wasn't open for foreigners until 2007 and obviously not too many Westerners have crossed it yet, as the secretary in charge had to copy our personal data line by line (Lao doesn't have the Arabic lettering like Vietnam). It took them 4 hours to fill in/draw the forms of us six and an elderly French couple we met there.



The real problem was, though, that it was already getting 3 pm and no bus in sight. We attributed this to the bad streets and rainy weather. So we refused the generous offer of the customs officer to organize his friends' car for 100 bucks and marched off to the next bigger village, which was, according to our map, just about 6 or 7 kilometers from the border. We were ready to settle for everything, be it a bus, a car or maybe already a place to sleep and something to eat, as we had skipped breakfast and almost no food left. We actually reached some village after about 3km, where they told us that the bigger village we were searching for was still 20km away. But as they didn't welcomed us as openly as the Lao people are said to do normally, we traced this back to the fact that a big jeep was parked behind the chiefs shack: The price was 100 dollars again, for a drive to the next village, which supposedly was right behind the next few turns of the road. So we refused again and hiked on, knowing that the villagers wouldn't miss the chance of some easily earned money and come after us with their real offer as soon as we left their village. After a few more kilometers of walking it dawned on us (while it already dusked on the sky) that they wouldn't come...


gallows humor

Our cards weren't too good: It was raining, our map has betrayed us, we were on a dirt track in the midst of the jungle and, above all, had to carry backpacks the size of a grownup cow. At least we had torches, which helped us to find this rice storage shack beside the track, which we modified to be our survival camp for our first night out in the wild.


Alone in the jungle

United Nations could have taken a leaf out of our book when our survival instinct finally punched in as we sat together surrounded by unheard-of noises coming out of the jungle which mingled with some well-known noises coming out of our stomaches. Austria chipped in Mosquito nets and some cookies, France handed America some dried fruits and Australia and Great Britain drank from the same rice wine bottle.


The Fellowship of the Dried Apple Rings

When we woke up we were still eight in number! Without guide, cellphone, TV or frozen food, we still had persevered. Jungle: 0 - Civilization: 1! Long live the human race.
Spirits fresh but only four cookies for eight people left, we hiked on. I will spare you the cruel details, but 15km, some severe shoulder myogelosis and several aberrant conversations with villagers later (which couldn't have been conducted without Langenscheidts picture dictionary "Ohne Woerterbuch"), we finally got to the "town" we were so desperately seeking. Only to discover that there was no bus leaving the respective day. The owner of the only guesthouse was already baring his teeth...
At this point the French couple, who put up a good fight until then, gave in and paid the majority of an enormous amount (which I will not reproduce here) for a minivan to bring us the next 30km to our actual destination, Muang Khua, where they immediately checked into the best hotel the city could offer...
As these 30km took us about 4 hours, we finally got an idea why the villagers reacted, euphemistically expressed, reluctantly on our requests for transportation.


Getting something for our money


After all, the heavenly rays over Muang Khua were no imagination.


Salvation! (Beer Lao)

More on the lecture "never trust a map" at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157609343303362/

Dien Bien Phu

Nothing really exciting happened today. Which in some way is exciting, too.
Just had a 9h bus drive, which not only took us from Sapa to Dien Bien Phu near the Laotian border, but also from the northpole to the tropes! Yeah.

Although we passed through wonderful sceneries today, we still feel down after the bus ride with 15 people in one minivan, our luggage consuming most of the leg space which is already sparse, even if applying Vietnamese standards.

We hope to cross the Laotian border tomorrow if we are lucky enough to book a cheap taxi, as the next bus is not leaving before friday.

Hope to get in contact soon. Could be troublesome in Lao, tough.
Hasta pronto

Sapa Part 2

So this is Christmas.
Considering that this year Christmas will be called off for me, I've had more Christmas atmosphere so far here in Vietnam than I wished for. Walking through the deserted streets of Sapa in winter clothes, through fog as thick as soy sauce, with the fancy Vietnamese sparkler-like street lighting dancing over the closed stands turning Sapa into some big Christmas fair almost made us thing Christmas carols. Luckily, as soon as we descended a few meters under the Pho (soup) of fog, we had clear vision of the surrounding ricefields in the mountains, devided like honeycombs and attended by the local tribes.



Our hotel (Pinocchio) was run by a very nice family, with whom we spent one evening playing with their little one and breaking open and eating snails like pistachios.



The mother probably had a bit too much snails since she was lying down with stomach convulsions the day after. (We have seen lake Sapa meanwhile, where the snails probably were caught in. Explains a lot.)

The next evening, after having a nice trek and exploring a cave without a proper light, mostly just with the autofocus lamps of our camera, we spent some time in a (the) bar playing pool with some surprisingly open-minded Hmong girls. They really kicked our ass (and weren't afraid to tell us so...).
By the way, I am by now proud carrier of at least two Hmong curses. They weren't specified exactly but I am afraid that they were a rotting feet curse and the ubiquitiously dreaded snoring curse...

See more at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157608645631803/

Regen auch in Sapa

Petz vor dem ueber die Ufer getretenen Hoan Kiem See im Zentrum Hanois. Am Vortag stand das Wasser sicher noch mindestens einen halben Meter hoeher...

Gerade aus dem ueberschwemmten Hanoi geflohen, erwartete uns in drei Tagen Sapa leider auch kein besseres Wetter. Im Gegenteil: Zu der staendigen Naesse gesellte sich auch noch eine, besonders am ersten Tag, sehr empfindliche Kaelte, sodass wir all unsere Kleidung benoetigten um nicht staendig zu frieren.


Nachdem Petz und ich schon fast einen ganzen Tag mit dem Besorgen der Tickets fuer den Nachtbus (natuerlich die teuerste Kategorie = geschlossenes 4er Abteil) verbracht haben, verlief die eigentliche Fahrt ueber die Nacht relativ unspektakulaer. Das dachte sich vermutlich auch der vietnamesische Gast, der das Vewgnuegen hatte sich das ABteil mit uns zu teilen und zu Beginn recht skeptisch zu sein schien. Die Betten waren annaehernd gross genug (im Vergleich zu dem Schlafwagen mit der Schule Richtung Lemberg geradezu luxerioes), nur das Leintuch hatte doch einen sehr eigentuemlichen Geruch/Gestank...

Mein Bereich im Schlafwagen. Sogar ein bisschen geschlafen, da Stephan ausnahmsweise mal nicht geschnarcht hat.

Sapa selbst sahen wir leider die mesite Zeit nur im sehr dichten Nebel, manchmal war es auch "nur" regnerisch...

Laesst der Nebel freie Sicht zu, so sind die Reisfelder in den Haengen wirklich wunderschoen.

Im Tal bei den reissenden Fluten waehrend der ersten Tour zum sehr touristischen Hmong-Doerfchen Cat Cat

Die Hmong und Daoscheinen noch kleiner als die "normalen" Vietnamesen zu sein. Hier ist selbst Petz ein Riese und fast immer mindestens einen Kopf groesser.

Nachtmahl ruft - Fortsetzung folgt hoffentlich bald...

Sapa

Hi folks,

The weather is playing pranks on us at the moment. After having a wonderful couple of
days at Ha Long Bay we returned to Hanoi. As soon as we arrived it started raining cats
and dogs and didn't stop until we left two days later. There were heavy floodings and
about 20 people died in Hanoi. We heard that it even made it into the news in Austria.
But luckily it didn't affect our part of town too much- the kneedeep water on the
streets didn't seem to be something extraordinary for most of the locals.



As we unfortunately had to skip the Parfume Pagoda because of the heavy rain, we left earlier
than planned to Sapa. We took a night train and spent the money we saved by not visiting
the Parfume Pagoda on some soft sleeper tickets. Was a great idea because we had a night
of good sleep during the 10 hour train ride. The Chinese businessman who had to share the
4 bed-compartment with us probably didn't, as we had reached a serious level of
smelliness by then. :)

Paid 2 Dollars for the 3h-Busride from Lao Cai to Sapa. The armada of Busdrivers and their attendents will try to charge 10 at the train station. Just walk away in direction of the public bus station and they will come after with more intereresting offers.

Now to Sapa. We have heard a lot of great things about Sapa. The problem is, we haven't seen them because of the fog that is lingering over the town 24/7. What we could see is that the towns motto is "ethnic minority". From "ethnic minority silver" to "ethnic minority herbal foot bath" you can get everything a colonists heart can desire.
The lonely planet, our guide and master, writes, that the flourishing tourism of the recent years has corrupted Sapa and that ripoff by and prostitution of the ethnic minorities is taking overhand. We can confirm the first but have to doubt the second. If a Black Hmong or Red Dao comes up to you saying: "Kiss me, wanna buy me?" she really means "Excuse me, you want to buy something from me." So the only thing taking overhand here may be bad english...


A Black Hmong girl

I have to stop writing now. Getting hungry. By the way, some exciting news for all our dog loving friends. We are one of your kind now...


Before

After

Yummie

C u guys soon

The true story at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157608645631803/

Addendum Ha Long Bay

As Stevies meteorosensitive spider-finger told us that the next days the weather was going to be fine in Ha Long Bay we grabbed our backpacks Tuesday morning and headed off to Ha Long Bay. The beginning of the journey was quite an endurance test for my anger coping strategies as the two ascetic monks I'm traveling with refused to pay (converted) 20 cent for the bus and preferred to walk 3 quarters of an hour in broad sunlight alongside a traffic artery with 25kg of luggage on our backs, watching 17 buses passing by that we could have taken preferring to eat the dust of their tires...
Sorry that I couldn't take photos of this great walk, but I couldn't see with all that blood in my eyes.
But what built me up again was that probably not many tourists made it to this particular bus station, as the driver gave a dazzling look at my camping mat tied to my backpack calzone-style and asked me what this is...

The way to Ha Long continued to be a pain in the ass, with a guy sitting next to me exploring his oral and nasal cavities with all his fingers and knuckles while staring at me from the side intently, and with a scenery looking most of the 3h-journey like the Vietnamese Burgenland, wouldn't in the rice fields be sparsely floating Pagoda hats like molehills. But the views we got at Ha Long Bay compensated us for all these troubles...


GI Joe and Pepperoni Pete cracking up



The album of Ha Long, infamous for the shooting of James Bonds Man with the Golden Colt, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157608532050049/

A big part of our stay in Ha Long Bay we spent on Cat Ba island, a lost paradise whose heartland is almost unaffected by the mass tourism which infests Ha Long Bay.





We had jungle trip with a great guide who neatly explained the dangers and benefits of the flora and fauna. For example, he eased Pez' fear of the "toedlicher Zitronengiftfalter". Or he told us not to get in touch with a certain kind of plant because of its itchiness. Unfortunately not before a few minutes after I had it in my mouth (don't ask why, long story). He even offered us some water (in which he was soaking his socks a few moments before) to wash our hands in before lunch. Stevie gratefully accepted :))



As always, the full album to see on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157608537152529/

Till next time, tada

HANOI Sehenswuerdigkeiten

Natuerlich haben wir uns auch den vielen Sehenswuerdigkeiten dieser Stadt gewidmet.

Natuerlich wurden einige Pagoden besichtigt...

Tran-Quoc-Pagode

Im Grossen und ganzen sind sie alle doch recht aehnlich.

Petz im Inneren eines Tempels. Man beachte die Opfergaben im Vordergrund: von huhn, ueber Obst und Gemuese bis zu Geld alles dabei.

Auch den beruehmten Literaturtempel haben wir gesehen...

Der Eingangsbereich des Literaturtempels.

Mausoleum von Ho Chi Min (seine Ueberreste sind aber zur Zeit in China...)

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum - soll Lotusbluete oder ein traditionelles Gemeindehaus darstellen - ist dem Architekten unserer Meinung nach nicht so gut gelungen

Solche riesigen Propagandaplatze kenne ich schon aus Kuba...

Das Regierungsviertel war aufgrund eines gerade eintreffenden slowakischen Staatsbesuchs leider grossraeumig abgesperrt ( Hintergrund).

gegen den Besuch des ethnologischen Museums als Schlechtwetterprogramm hat sich Stephan erfolglos gewehrt. Aber er hat dafuer dort boese geschaut und extra viel geschwitzt.

Schnitzkunst eines Bergvolkes...

Absolutes Highloght war der Besuch im Wasserpuppentheater. In knapp 50 minuten wurde eine Geschichte erzaehlt und mit den Wasserpuppen dargestellt. Der Handlung konnten wir nicht wirklich folgen, da die Erzaehlung auf Vietnamesich war. trotzdem war das Zusammenspiel von Wasserpuppen und Musik sehr beeindruckend und der Besuch des Theaters ist jedem Hanoireisenden unbedingt zu empfehlen!

Wasserpuppentheater

Und so wirds gemacht....

Drei Tage lang versuchten wir auch die Parfume Pagode zu besuchen, die man bei einem Hanoibesuch eigentlich nicht verpassen sollte. Sintflutartige Regenfaelle die seit unserer Rueckkehr aus Halong zu Ueberschwemmungen in und um Hanoi fuehrten liesen diesen Tagesausflug aber leider buchstaeblich ins Wasser fallen.
Heute Abend geht es schon weiter mit dem Nachtzug nach Lao Cai und weiter in die Bergregion Sapa im Norden des Landes. Also werden wir die Parfumpagode leider nicht besichtigen koennen....

In light of recent events...

A few days ago we came across an extraordinary rare event of nature, which we want to share with you. For this reason an unscheduled blog-post.

The birth of a goblin



The whole spectacle here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157608550536436/

Hanoi Part 2

Hi again,

first I have to thank Stevie for the adorable photos he posted of Pez and me. He should be grateful that I already am in Zen-Mode and revenge doesn't satisfy me. (Even Pez trying to see every last Pagoda in Greater Hanoi couldn't upset me.)



His description of the city and its wheelocentric system is quite accurate, though. I think the best way to determine the Vietnamese population would be by counting the motorbikes. If you see an unused motorbike somewhere (meaning that someone isn't driving it, sleeping on it or breastfeeding on it) you can assume confidently that the owner must have died.
If you should come to Hanoi, bear in mind the most important rule: If u cross the street, don't ever hesitate. It's like walking on hot coals, it only hurts when u lose your determination.



Due to some digestive problems I had to put off our Lucullan excesses for a while, only some maggots joined the list of eel, pigeon, crab and frog. But we are already seriously on the lookout for some thit cho (dog's meat) - watch out, puppies! :)




One highlight of our visit in Hanoi was the Waterpuppet Theater. Historical, religious and every days - stories are being told by puppeteers, which are supported by musicians and singers. Having had 3 Bia Hoi immediately before the performance, we secretly wished they weren't WATERpuppets of all things, splashing and twiddling around in the water... At last, Stevie gave in and rushed to the toilet 5 minutes before finish. Victory! :)



Another irritating event was the insidious infliction of injury on Stevies left ring finger by a supposed spider during our first night in Hanoi. This led to the following "conversation" in a nearby pharmacy:



Stephan: Hello.
Pharmacist: Hello.
Stephan: Diclofenac? smearing gesture
Pharmacist: ...
Stephan: more smearing
Pharmacist: Ahh, you need some Voltaren ointment.

But this couldn't cloud our spirit as our first accommodation was generally bug-free and very nice and low priced.



Meanwhile, as we are back from Ha Long Bay, we had to change to a more adventurous lodging. For 9 bucks a night (per room, not per person) we sleep in the same guest house, but in something best described as the staff's bunk. We expect Laos to get a lot worse...



The full album here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157608526783220/

Over and out