My Last Country: Thailand

Hey guys!

Yesterday I arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand! I have 24 days left and tried to plan my route. I don't have figured out everything yet, but I've come quite far - I will do a 3-day-trekking tour up in the north starting tomorrow, then head a bit south to visit the ruins of Sukhothai, hopefully catching a night bus to Bangkok (again...). I also booked my flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani on 4th october to finally do my island hopping and diving (Ko Tao, Ko Pha-Ngan and Ko Samui). Maybe a week later or so I catch a bus tp Phuket and try to find out what's all about this legendary holiday spot and to do some more island hopping (Ko Phi Phi and Similan Islands) before I head back to Bangkok on the 19th october and finally after being to the airport so often, do some exploring of this city itself. And on 22nd october I have to leave...

So now it's noon and I will use the rest of the day to do some wat sightseeing in Chiang Mai (some 300 temples to see here...) and stroll around the famous Sunday Market. Tomorrow I booked a 3 day tour to trek in the mountains up in the north of Thailand, visit 3 hill tribes and spending 2 nights in their villages, do white water rafting and bamboo rafting and yippiie, and last but not least an elephant ride through the jungle. So after purring rain in Bangkok yesterday, the weather is as perfect as it can be here with 30 degree and sunshine.

:)

Hanoi, Vietnam

This is our last day in Hanoi and my last entry from Vietnam. We arrived in Hanoi 3 days ago and planned to do a 3 day/2night boat trip in the Halong Bay. Unfortunately we are not lucky in Vietnam. After recovering in Nha Trang and skipping Hoi Anh and Hue we only wanted to see this world heritage. However, due to a typhoon hitting the coast all boat tours are cancelled until the 27th of September - the day of our flight out...
Besides that, it is horrible how many fake and copied tour agents there are - having the same name and color of the signs and offering the same packages for half the money and telling you only the best. The worst thing - they even wanna talk you in buying their tour even when officially there is no boat allowed in the bay these days. (So it was easy to identify all fakes... but what if there is good weather?) All the guide books are warning you of the fakes, and still you can see lots of tourists inside...
So no tour for us. It's heartbreaking.
We have had some very rainy days here and a sick Holger with an otitis externa. Hanoi is actually really nice. We stayed mainly only in the old quarter with lots of shops, cafes, food stalls, markets and French influenced architecture. And because of the bad weather there are not that many tourists and mototaxis around, so the usually crowded loud streets calmed down a bit. So we wander from cafe to cafe, did a bit of bargaining and try to get the best out of the last days,...

One thing you can find in all the countries we've been so far is that the fastest and cheapest and the most local way to get around is by motorbike and a constant honking (i wonder why they don't just build in a button to turn off the honk!) and driving just insane! But after getting a ride here and there it is a really cool and fun way to get around - I won't miss this constant noise of pressing the honk 20cm next to you, but I WANT A MOTORBIKE!!!! :)
Well, and since the bike is really a thing to have here, it deserves a special place :) like in the middle of the living room! yes, that's right. in vietnam the houses start usually with a tiny vendor space and right behind is the living room where everybody can have a look inside... and in the middle right next to the table or couch is the perfect spot for your vehicle.

Vietnam is a great place and there is still so much left to see, so we've already decided that we definetely have to come back!!!

So tomorrow I head to Chiang Mai, Thailand to trek a bit in the jungle before I start the island hopping.

Vietnamese Cooking Class

Oh what fun and how delicious!!!
we've been in Nha Trang for 8 days now, Holger completed his diving course and is now a licenced PADI diver while I had to quit my course due to my health. I hope to complete it in Thailand.
So yesterday we went out with the boat to the nearby islands - Holger dived and I snorkeled. It was a beautiful spot with great corals, fish and other marine life. Today Holger dived again :( while I had a great half day of beach and blue water and treated myself to a sunlounger and a parasol in the first row.
In the afternoon we took a Vietnamese cooking class. It was an awesome experience and the 3 dishes we cooked were sooo yummy! Three easy and very typical Vietnamese dishes really worth trying at home: 1. Spring Rolls, 2. Stewed Fish in Clay Pot and 3. Spicy Lemongrass Chicken

1. Spring Rolls
Ingredients:
- 50g minced pork (or other meat)
- small amount Vermicelli (glass noodles)
- 50g black mushrooms
- 50g grated carrot
- 1/2 onion
- 1 or 2 spring onion
- 1 egg yolk, keep the egg white
- 8 rice paper sheets
- 1 lime
- fish sauce, ground garlic, sugar, pepper, salt, oil, Vietnamese basil and some lettuce

Always taste rice paper before using (salt)! Dice onion and carrot finely. Chop the spring onion. Soak vermicelli in water for 10 minutes. Rinse, drain and cut into small pieces. Soak the mushroom in warm water for 10 minutes, then wash them thoroughly, remove the stems and chop finely. Mix all ingredients together with 1 egg yolk and 2 pinches of pepper, 2 pinches of bullion and 1 pinch of salt. Spread each rice paper out. Place 1 table spoon of the stuffing at the base of each sheet, roll it tight. Fry the rolls in hot oil (rolls need to be covered halfway in oil) until they get a nice golden brown color.

Dipping Sauce
Mix 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar and 1-2 limes. Add 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 1/2 Tbsp boiling water, 1 Tbsp chopped garlic, and the preferred amount of chopped chili (about 1 Tbsp).

To enjoy your appetizer for 2 persons, just wrap your roll in lettuce and Vietnamese basil and dip in the sauce :)


2. Stewed Fish and Pork in Clay Pot
Ingredients:
- 100g fish filet
- 50g meat (pork etc.)
- spring onion
- roasted onions
- lemon grass
- 1 big fresh chili
- fish sauce, sugar, pepper, salt, caramel, oil, bullion

Marinate the fish and/or pork with 2 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp caramel (you can do it yourself - just melt some sugar in a pan), chopped spring onions, 1/2 tsp bullion, 2 Tbsp roasted onions.
Heat the clay pot over medium heat, add a bit of cooking oil. Cook the fish/pork in the clay pot until slightly cooked on all sides, then add water to cover the fish/pork. Cover the pot and allow to boil, then reduce the heat. Continue cooking over a low heat until most of the liquid is gone and the fish/pork are golden.
Leave in the clay pot and garnish with spring onions and fresh chili. Serve with steamed rice and some sliced cucumber.


3. Spicy Lemongrass Chicken
Ingredients:
- 150g chicken (highly recommended also with thinly sliced beef!!!)
- shaved lemongrass root
- fresh chili
- 1/2 onion
- curry powder
- sate tom sauce
- caramel, fish sauce, garlic, pepper, salt, sugar, spring onion, water, bullion, ginger if you like

Slice the chicken into bit size pieces, cut the onion into strips, shave the lemongrass roots. Heat a frying pan over medium heat, add some cooking oil. Turn heat off and add garlic, ginger, lemongrass, sate and chili quickly and stir. Then add the chicken and cook quickly! Add about half a rice bowl of water, 1 tsp curry powder, 1 Tbsp fish sauce, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1/2 Tbsp bullion, salt and pepper to your taste. Finally add the onion for about another minute. Enjoy with steamed rice.

You can cook all dishes within 1 hour, I guess. But since we ate it as soon as we cooked it and took some breaks we lost track of time :) Vietnames Cuisine is really amazing and you'll love the taste of the food because of their spices.

We ended our stay in Nha Trang with a very nice day program and now head to Hanoi by plane to visit the famous Halong Bay.

Bali Pics

Bilder hochladen im Internetcafe ist hier nicht so empfehlenswert. Vielleicht lande ich mal wieder in einem kleinen suessen Hotel, wo ich mich traue meine Fotos anzustoepseln. Aber dafuer hier ein paar nette Bilder aus Bali, geschossen von Arnold, den wir auf unserer Tour getroffen haben.


Besuch einer traditionellen Batikmanufaktur (und doch eher ziehmlich fuer Touris...)

Blick auf eines der Reisfelder in Zentralbali

Blick auf Bali's Vulkan Mt. Batur und Vulkansee

Update ueber meinen Gesundheitszustand

Ich bin auf dem Weg der Genesung...
Die Fieber-Tage sind Gott sei Dank hinter mir und nach mehreren Antibiotika bin ich wieder unter den Lebenden. Nach Saigon und der positiven Nachricht: No Dengue and No Malaria, dachte ich mir dann geht das Fieber sicher schon wieder weg. Der Arzt hat mich zwar auf meine massiv erhoehten Entzuendungsparameter hingewiesen und mir Antibiotika verordnet, aber mit Ibuprofen, Paracetamol und Berlosin bin ich ganz gut hingekommen und fand die 11 Stunden Nachbusfahrt nach Nha Trang als Einzige etwas erholsam...
Dafuer erschlug es mich dann am Morgen in Nha Trang. Ab da sollte ich fuer 3 Tage wirklich lahmgelegt sein. Das Fieber stieg auf knapp 40 Grad und es ging einfach nicht mehr zu senken. Nackensteife und Kopfschmerzen taten den Rest. Dazu kam noch Bauchkraempfe und waessriger Durchfall, wo ich nicht mal den einfachsten Schluck Wasser drin behielt. Holger hat mich am 2. Tag erneut ins Krankenhaus geschleppt, was fuer mich eine koerperliche Qual war (wenn ich gekonnt haette, ich war gewillt jeden einzelnen Huper fuer sein daemliches auf die Hupe druecken eigenhaendig zu bestrafen!). Ansonsten hab ich von den letzten Tagen nicht viel mitbekommen, die anscheinend sehr schoene Stadt muss ich erst noch erkunden und das Hotelbett kann ich auch nicht mehr sehen. Gestern wurde ich hoechstpersoenlich vom Hotelchef (welchen ich noch nie zuvor gesehen hatte) begruesst mit "ach wie schoen, es geht ihnen besser!" :)
Mit mir war nix anzufangen, und Holger hat sich um mich und auch alles andere gekuemmert. Bin wirklich froh gerade in der Situation nicht allein gewesen zu sein.

Mittlerweile ist das Fieber weg, mein Magen-Darm-Trakt stabilisiert sich - aber meinen Tauchschein kann ich noch nicht machen wie geplant. Jetzt kam noch Schnupfen dazu, sodass meine Ohren zu sind und ich nicht in die Tiefe tauchen kann... Holger ist morgen fertig und ein lizensierter Taucher :)

Lieber Gruss

Mekong Delta & Chau Doc, Vietnam

We made it ... a beautiful and relaxed border crossing from Cambodia to Vietnam on the Mekong. We booked a 3-day tour via boat and bus to discover the Mekong delta.

Vietnam is great!!! Our first impressions of this country are as perfect as they can be. The river cruise was lovely - nice weather and amazing people - kids and adults waving from the land or boats and shouting greetings and always smiling for the camera. In the Mekong delta the people live different lives. It is almost like centuries ago - duck farms, fishing, rice fields and water buffalo, wood houses on stilts and rowing boats, but with the most charming people.
The river provides everything - the things for living and daily needs - water for washing clothes or dishes and the water for body hygiene (brushing teeth or washing hair etc.). Of course the river is very dirty, and imagining us drinking it is impossible, but the Mekong people are used to it and are totally fine with using it just like our tab water.

Chau Doc, the first Vietnamese city after the border, turned out to be the cutest big city we've been to. It has 100.000 inhabitants, but still the charm of a small town, tourists are still very exotic and everywhere you are starred at very obviously and kids are waving and shouting and running after you. But the most positive thing for us - you could walk down the market and enjoy these strange things they sell without any annoying touting and you still pay the local price for local things. Our dinner was 10.000 Dong (0,5 Euro) for Pho, a fresh cooked beef & noodle soup with vegetables, and our fresh sugar cane juice was 3.000 Dong (0,15 Euro). The people are very friendly and they try to practice their few English words like "Hello", "How are you?" or "Happy New Year", but don't expect an answer - they haven't learned that yet :) So if you want to know how much it costs, they just show you the banknote with an adoring smile!
We had a sweet tour guide - a Vietnames woman from Chau Doc. She asked us if we would volunteer in a school to practise English conversation with 2 classes. So we spontanously agreed and it was such an amazing experience. Our first lesson was with the small ones (6-11 years) and after a shy beginning we didn't know whom to answer first their questions like "How tall are you?", "How is your home like?", "What are your hobbies?", "When do you get up?" and so on. But the question they enjoyed the most was "What is your telephone number?" with everyone writing my long answer in their exercise books ;). Our second class was actually more of a conversation and they constantly reassured me how highly regarded doctors are in Vietnam and were eager to find out everything about living and studying in Germany. So that's what we did last night - meeting these locals and having a really good time with them.

Tonight we stay in Can Tho, another big city right at the Mekong. Tomorrow is the last day of our tour starting with the floating markets and finishing in Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh City. There we'll stay maybe another day and try to catch an open bus heading north, where you can hop on and off as much as you like on your way to Hanoi. So since our days together are count (Holger leaves 27th or 28th of September to Singapore), we try to have some interesting but also relaxing days in Vietnam.

Poverty, Tourism and its Consequences

Cambodia is war and terror-torn, with a lack of education, worker-skills and infrastructure and poverty all over the country. The Khmer Rouge regime killed almost all of their own intellectual people, and destroyed schools and infrastructure - so there is the need to build houses but there is no one left who is able because there is a lack of engineers and architects. This is only one example.
Begging is a big problem in Cambodia, and unfortunately begging or selling little things to tourists brings in more money than going to school to get an education. So there are lots of children begging you to buy things, and they are really good in making you feel bad when not buying anything. So far we could resist, and only bought some postcards from one little girl in the temples, because we know we don't help them in the long-term by buying things from them.
Since Cambodia has a long and tragic history of killing, more than half of the population is below 27 years of age. On the street you can see a lot of homeless (?) women with kids begging for money, and at the museum of the genocide there are victims of war with burned faces or lost legs coming up to you begging for money. So they give you a hard and exhausting time here, and learning about the country makes you feel bad and appreciate what you have at the same time.
There are lot of organizations and projects offering long term help and support services that help kids and people in need to have a better future. For example cooking schools where restaurants train street kids for free to give them a qualification, or a kids hospital run by donations and volunteer work or renting bikes with all profit for building houses, projects for producing prosthetics for mine-injured people, non-profit organizations for orphans, etc.
You are advised not to give money directly to children or street sales people, but rather to a charity project as an effective alternative. They produce clearly labelled products for a slightly higher price, but they ensure safe and humane working conditions and are made by parents, so that children can go back to school, or by disabled people and former street kids in training so that they can find employment.

Great Angkor

Yesterday we visited the Temples of Angkor, with the famous Angkor Wat. We got up at 4 AM to get a view of the temples in a nice sunrise light, however the weather was not quite on our side. So we did our impressive temple tour until around 4 PM when it started to rain... yes, unfortunately it is rain season, so we did not get a good sunset either.
Anyways, it was a great day and it is just amazing what mankind built a thousand years ago.

First impressions of Cambodia

It is our second day now in Cambodia and so far we've only been in Phnom Penh. We arrived yesterday late afternoon, and since it gets dark around 6.30 ~ 7.00 PM in South East Asia, there is not much to look at in the evening. And we didn't want to take the risk and do too much here because it is safe by day, but not advised to walk around by night, or even to carry bags because robbery is still a problem. Today we did all the sightseeing around the city, most of it by the numerous motos (tuk tuks), offering a lift literally everywhere along the way. But it is the most adventurous, easiest, cheapest (but you still have to bargain hard) and fun way to get around town. Phnom Penh is very different from all the big cities we've seen so far - dirty, stinky, dusty!, loud, crowded - but with its own charm and all the noise and dirt is easy to take :) The people still try to sell you things, but not that aggressive and they are very friendly, helpful and always have a smile for you. Cambodia has a very dark and brutal history of decades of war followed by a genocide era of the Khmer Rouge regime. Today we visited the killing field with the mass graves and the Tuol Sleng Museum, the largest prison of torture and unthinkable horrors wich happened there. All this knowledge gives us a better understanding why Cambodia is at this point of development where it is and also raises the admiration for its still optimistic people.

Tomorrow we head to Siem Reap to visit the world famous Angkor Wat and Temples before...

Bali

A big hello from Phnom Penh, Cambodia! Yesterday we arrived in Phnom Penh after quite a long journey from Bali via Jakarta and an overnight stay in Bangkok. Everything went fine except the many airport taxes (100.000 Rp in Jakarta ~ 8 Euro for just a short stop) and a very turbulence-rich flight to Bangkok through a thunderstorm and lightning closer than I have ever experienced. I was very very happy to land safely on Thai ground.

Just a short summary of our week in Bali. Well, Indonesia has a very special mentality of dealing with tourists, and it is not one I like. They always try to rip you off, overcharge, make up prices however they feel and are very aggressive trying to sell you things. And the sentence I probably heard the most was "Yes, transport?" or a variation of that: "Yes, taxi?". It seemed like everybody loitering around and owning a moped or car decided to offer you a ride as soon as he spotted you. Sometimes Holger was really pissed off not being able to walk a few steps without answering in a polite way 'no thanks.' But by the end of our stay we could handle it quite well and ended up rather taking it with humour and joking with them.

But Bali was, off course, more than just annoying tourist traps. It is really a beautiful island with great weather and landscapes. Its culture is displayed everywhere. Even in the most crowded of tourist shop alleys in Kuta you could see the offerings (sesajen) displaying their religious roots. There are family temples and statues everywhere along the streets. People that do not profit from you are very friendly. The temples are very pretty and located in scenic spots like the Uluwatu Temple, a stunning clifftop temple with a great sunset view and Tanah Lot, placed on a little island which you can only reach during low tide. Most of the time we stayed in Kuta and taking trips to the different places. Kuta is the most heavily developed place and its gangs are so narrow! Most of the times the alleys close to the beach are oneway streets stuffed with shops, tourists and mopeds and sometimes insane car drivers trying to move their vehicle through a much too tiny street. But the most funny thing, we could frequently watch, was how a narrow one way street turns into a two way street by all these mopeds ignoring the the sign and transforming a pavement - with pedestrians still on it - into the missing lane :)
After many frustrating tries to book an online flight to Jakarta, we ended up booking a flight through an agency. And while waiting for Holger, who went to a different office once across town by moped to pay with credit card (you should have seen his more than happy and joyous face about that little moped ride!)I got into a nice talk with the travel agent and ended up booking 2 individual one-day tours for a very good price. After a full 2 day cultural program, lots of picture-posing but thievish monkeys and a final lunch with an amazing view over the volcano Mt.Batur and Lake Batur, we were lucky to get dropped of in Ubud - a cute art and craft town in central Bali. Ubud has a very lively and cramped 2 story market and nice cafes to chill and to enjoy the flair. While looking for budget accomodation we ended up in a very cheap and familiar tiny place with just 2 huts (and some unidentified roommates under the roof) right next to the family temple and breakfast served right on our front porch by a very charming owner.
Back in Kuta, the surfer place and center of party culture, we could not miss taking a beginner surfing lesson. That was really cool and one of the highlights in Bali. It is so much fun! Had our visa not been limited to 7 days and had we not booked flights, we would just have stayed there and surfed for the next weeks :) After some nights in Kuta, we even found our favorite restaurant and I became a beef lover with my favorite dish being the Daging Rendang - sliced beef in peanut sauce and rice.

Information ueber weitere Reiseroute

Wir sind heute nochmal ins Internet und Dank Holgers Ma sind wir intensiver auf die Unruhen in Bangkok aufmerksam geworden. Wir haben uns informiert und entschieden trotzdem alle unsere Fluege anzutreten.
Somit geht es morgen von Bali nach Jakarta (Lion Air), dann Jakarta - Bangkok, Flugnummer QZ7716 (Air Asia), und am Samstag dann hoffentlich Bangkok - Phnom Penh, Flugnummer FD3616 (Air Asia).

Wir werden die Orte der Demonstrationen meiden oder gar nicht erst in die Stadt reinfahren. Wo wir unsere Nacht verbringen entscheiden wir vor Ort, aber wir nehmen die sicherste Option und wenns sein muss ein Airport-Hotel.

Inwieweit Kambodscha Internet hat muss sich erst noch herausstellen ;). Dann gibt es einen ausfuehrlichen Bali-Bericht. Uns geht es gut, Bali ist toll und wir sind unter die Surfer gegangen.

Lieber Gruss!!!