Shine a light

24.11.2012 - Lampang

10am: Got to the busstation in Chiang Mai and bought tickets for a bus to Lampang. Lucky we still got some, all the buses seem really full.

11:45am: There is our bus. Let's board this baby and get going. Oh, pretty full...where do all these people come from? Hm, let's see if we can find two seats next to each other. Maybe there in the back? No, taken. Or there, behind the snoring monch?Nope, taken. Hm...will we even find two single seats on this bus?

Travelling first class - at least if you consider the view...

12pm: The bus is leaving. One of us is sitting in the last available seat on the bus. The other one is squatting down on a tiny bucket next to the busdriver. Special.

2pm: Luckily this was a short ride...still, some backs are hurting pretty badly now. For the bus to Bangkok at least, lets take the tourist bus.

3pm: Met Kate, our wonderful first couchsurfing host. She is so funny, open minded and smart. Picked us up by car and drove us to her appartment to drop of our stuff. Her room is girly, with pink walls, tons of shoes and lots of decor. And she is a student like us: lots of little sticky notes at the walls but skipping class to show us around. We are off for great local food, some sightseeing and the weekend bazaar now.

Kate and Anna at Wat Si Rong Muang

10pm: Had a great day. Visited some cool, Burmese style temples that look very different from the Thai style temples we have seen lately. Got lost in Lampang with Kate who doesn't spend much time here but prefers to go to Chiang Mai. Drove around in her car and relaxed. Had great food. Watched funny Thai TV. Discussed a lot about each others backgrounds. Met Kate's friends at the bazaar. Bought fruits for a whole soccer team and ate it all on the floor at Kates place - Isaan style (north east of Thailand, where Kate is from). Tried all sorts of Thai treats at the market (who would have thought that we hadn't tried them all yet...). Made a great new friend.To bed now. Kate's bed, by the way. She sleeps on her couch next to us.

25.11.2012 - Lampang

Breakfast at Kate's

10am: Oops, slept in. Haven't slept so well in a long long time. Hm, and Kate has already prepared breakfast. Awesome start into a probably great day.

11am: Ready for take off. Kate offered to take us to an extra special Wat outside of town before dropping us off in the city and go to classes herself. Her classes start at 1pm. Better hurry up now.

Wat Phra That Lampang Luang

12:30pm: This Wat is massive and so many Thai people come here to pray. It is like on a fair, crowded and loud, colourful and shiny. Where to look first?! Kate explains us how to surround a stupa the proper way: three times with folded hands, clockwise. Each time is for a different purpose: wisdom, peace and - well, Kate forgot the third one, but it's a good one for sure, so make it three rounds.

1:30pm: Still at the Wat. Kate is skipping class again. Are we such a bad influence?!

2pm: Driving around the landscape. Where is the way back to Lampang? Oh, wait, stop please. We need to take another picture.

With Kate on the night bazaar in Lampang

5pm: Went to a great hidden coffeeshop where we shared awesome fried ice cream. Yummie. Went back to Kate's place for some rest and are now really hungry. Time for the best restaurant in town - Kate is inviting us and we are really going local again. Yeah!

11pm: Great food, good stroll over the bazaar, some christmas shopping - done. The best bed in years awaits - we can't wait.




26.11.2012 - Sukothai

6:30am: Alarm rings, time to get up or Kate will be skipping class again.We can't let that happen... Cold shower and great Isaan style breakfast (sticky rice and BBQ pork) are the secret to a fast start.

8am: Having to say goodbye to our new friend, Kate. A beautiful, generous girl - what a great first couch surfing experience! We loved it and hope to meet again - either in Thailand or in Europe.

On the bikes in Sukothai

3pm: Arrived in Sukhothai. Man it is crowded in this town. Must be all about Loy Krathong, the festival of lights that is happening on the full moon of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar - to be clear: the 28th of November. Really happy to stay at a very nice guesthouse outside of town, right in the jungle.

6pm: Went to New Sukhothai by bike and explored the town a little. Crazy traffic. Went shopping on the local market - used the skills we learned from Kate to find all the good food we now know. Looking forward to having it all for dinner.

27.11.2012 - Sukothai

9am: Got up, took a long nice and cold shower and had breakfast. Taking some time now to prepare our trip to Bali a little while sipping on a cold Bananashake and enjoying the sun. It's steaming hot.

12pm: Time for us to go to Old Sukhothai now and explore the ruins of the capitol of the first Thai kingdom. We found out that they celebrate Loy Krathong for 4 days, so there will be plenty of things going on. We are excited.

12:30pm: After succesfully waving down the local bus to the old city like locals do, we are on our way. It might take us forever to get there. It is the slowest vehicle that ever roamed the earth. 14 km to the historical park...We should have taken a book.

1pm: Got off at the right spot, bought entrance tickets and audioguides and are ready to enter the magical ruins of old Sukhothai. Lara and Indi are alive and well.

5pm: Wow. Sukhothai is stunning. The city that was built in the late 13th century was huge, very sophisticated and is descriped as the most beautiful place. The ruins bear witness of this - temples with tons of pretty chedis, columns and so many huge Buddha images everywhere. Meeting places, drums that were rung for audiences with the king, ponds that are covered with water lillies and Khmer influenced towers - all this can still be found in the area. And within this compound there is a massive festival area with what must be thousands of food stalls, massage areas, vintage markets and Krathong sellers. That's what we will explore now - and better start with the food stalls, we are starving.

The beautiful Wat Mahathat at daylight

Buddha at Wat Mahathat

11pm: This was better than Oktoberfest, New Years and Carneval all at once! We found good spots across a pond to catch a glimpse of the light and sound show at Wat Mahathat, the most iconic sight at Old Sukhothai and the perfect stage for a show about Sukhothai's history. We definetely want tickets to that for tomorrow! We had great food and drinks, we watched lamps being enlightened and send to the sky, wondered about the skillfull art of building lanterns that even enter contests, enjoyed the whole exciting atmosphere at the festival area and walked amid the enchanting ruins lid by candlelight. And tomorrow night it is supposed to be even bigger! Time now to catch the bus back to the guesthouse.

2am: Finally made it to the guesthouse. Man, the local transfer needs some optimization around here...

28.11.2012 - Sukothai

9am: Loy Kratong day in Thailand. We are up but still kind of sleepy. We will spend some relaxing time at the guesthouse before renting a motorbike and going back to the Old city.

The PARTY people

4:30pm: Oops, what happened to the whole day that laid ahead of us?! And why is it starting to rain like that? It's too late and wet for the motorbike now. We better hurry, the local bus takes so long.

5pm: It happened again, like it has happened so often on this trip - just when we thought things didn't work out today like we planned them to this morning, everything got better because they didn't! Peter and Birgit, a German couple travelling around Thailand by car, just got here and are looking for someone to show them the way to Old Sukhothai. How awesome is that?!

5:10pm: Haha, passed by two local buses already. We like cars. And Peter and Birgit are really nice. They will also take us back home later. Could it get any better than this?!

Flying lantern decorate the skys

7:30pm: The whole place is crowded with thousands of Thai families, flirting teenagers and playing children. Everyone seems so ecxited and the air seems to vibrate. We are at our seats for the light and sound show. Really looking forward to this.

Light and sound show in front of the old temples

9pm: The show was great. Beautiful dresses, traditional dancing and enaction of the rise and fall of Sukhothai and the history of Loy Krathong (that was actually celebrated first in Sukhothai). It is amazing how many elements of the modern Thai society are based on the Sukhothai kingdom's society. But no time to be lazy, the next show starts shortly at the temple across the bridge and we have to fight our way over there through a wall of people...

Jens' Krathong

10pm: More dancing, traditional music, some comedy (that we didn't understand of course as it was in Thai). And now it is time for us to float our own Krathongs. These are little boats made of Banana leaves, flowers etc. We do it like we were told to: put incense sticks, a candle and a hair and a nail or something else of ourselves on the boat, light the candle, hold the boat up in front of our faces with our folded hands and pray that all the bad floats out of us and all the good comes to us instead. Then we put the boat in the water and watch it drift away.

Our flying lantern

10:30pm: Now it is time to start our flying lantern. Thousands of them sprinkle the dark sky over the historical park and it looks magic. Together with many others, we hold our lantern, enlighten the candle and wait for the hot air to fill up the balloon before we slowly let it go up to the sky. So romantic...

11:30pm: It's almost time for the grand finally now. Thousands have found a spot to sit around the great pond where the royal Krathongs will be lit and a grand firework will mark the end of Loy Krathong. We try to find a place to stand in the growing crowd, but everyone steps onto everyone elses feet. A Thai man sits in front of us on his mat with all his family. We have seen him there hours ago - he saved the spot for a very long time. He recognizes us and offers us a seat on his mat. We suddenly have first row seats for the spectacle. How great are these Thai people?!

2am: This was surely the biggest firework we have ever seen. And we sat right underneath all the sparkle (this wouldn't be possible in certain other parts of the world due to safety regulations...)! Our ears might be ringing, but we don't care. We are so full of everything we just saw. The Thai sure know how to have a party (btw. without a drop of booze!) and get their visitors in awe!

3am: Back at the guesthouse. Time for bed, our bus to Bangkok will leave early tomorrow morning. That means we have Mameow to look forward to. The good times just never end here in Thailand.

Aaaaand Action!

Scene one, take one: Discovering Chiang Mai and the beloved bed bugs 

Statues at one of the many temples of Chiang Mai

The old city is partially walled with an additional moat for protection and it holds a couple of really nice temples that we visited. One of them has an old, ruined chedi in the backyard that reminded us a bit of Angkor while all the other temples were of the modern Thai style: lots of white, red and golden or silver mosaics. So where it got really interesting for us wasn’t necessarily at the temples but in the many Sois: little alleyways that lead through the city like a maze and hide the real gems. From the prettiest little garden cafes to beautiful residential neighbourhoods, quite corners and lively local meeting points, from boutique hotels and spas to lotus ponds and peaceful canals – the atmospheric Sois are really good for some nice walking.

Sunday walking street in Chiang Mai

Since it was Sunday, we also did the (inevitable?!) touristic visit to the famous Sunday Walking Street: a huge area is blocked for traffic and what must be thousands of vendors build up their street stalls for handicraft, good and bad food, street music etc. It feels a bit like a fair and it gets crowded like on a fair as well. Loudspeakers play music and warnings in Thai and English not to leave any belongings unattended etc. The only real cool thing was when around 6 pm (like every Sunday everywhere in the country) the national anthem was played and the many thousands of tourists and vendors all stood still out of the sudden, stopped talking and just listened and paid their respects. After that, we tried some Chiang Mai sausages and dumplings and then fled the bazaar – it was just too much shuffeling. Instead we went to the nightmarket outside of the old town that at every other day of the week is crowded as well, but on this day was calm and empty of other tourists. A much nicer experience!
Oh, yes – and then we discovered the hundreds of bed bugs in our bed when we got back to the guesthouse. Not pleasant – I’ll spare you the details…

Scene two, take one: First day of two day mountain trek

Longneck woman

We were picked up from our hotel in an appropriate manner (10 people cramped into the back of a pick-up) and first drove to a local market where we could buy some necessary items for the adventure, like toiletpaper or mozzie repellent. Afterwards we visited a village of the Longneck-people which was pretty disappointing. The men and women came here from Myanmar a couple of years ago and are not allowed to leave any more because the Thai government earns quite a deal of money with them. The whole “village” is made up by one path through the forest that is plastered with the peoples’ shops where they sell handicraft goods and souvenirs. Visitors are allowed to take pictures of the Longneck tribespeople without asking them for permission first so there is no need to get into any kind of conversation other than bargaining for prices if they wish to purchase something. All in all a pretty sad scene, despite the beautiful jewelry of the people and the surely quite different cultural background that could have made for a very interesting encounter. So back on the truck and right on to the next stop along the way: an orchid farm with butterfly gardens. We spent a beautiful 5 minutes before we got back on the track to go – o the horrors – to yet another stop before the real thing, a snake farm. After having witnessed a horrific show (the way they treat the animals is at least as disgusting as the animals themselves…) and walked around the snakes' cages for a while we finally went to the mountains where we had yummie fried rice lunch and then started hiking. It was about time.

Dusk as seen from the mountain top

Enjoying Dinner with the whole group

The hike took us up through dense jungle and it was a real hard climb at times so we were sweating like madmen. We stopped at a waterfall where we could take an ice cold swim before we went up higher. The hike only took a total of a little more than 3 hours but it surely wasn’t easy and our legs were shaking when we reached a tiny hilltribe village of little more than 10 huts on top of the mountain. The views from up there were reward enough for the hard climb up there. After a short icy shower in one of the very basic “bathrooms” and a good beer, we felt better and enjoyed sitting on our big terrace with the rest of our group and watching the sky slowly turn dark. We put on a fire and some candles for light, our guide cooked us some delicious Thai curry and stir fried tofu and knife-danced for us after a couple of more beers and everything was perfect. Only downturn: all the massive spiders that came out after dark and blocked the entrance to the toilets, our beds (basic bamboo mats under a mosquito net – perfect jungle romance) or anywhere else I would have wanted to go to. Seriously, I have never seen so many biggies in one place. And at night, when you flash them with your torch, they stare at you with their shiny eyes and slowly move a couple of their legs as to say “Just come near me and I WILL move after all!” Needless to say I preferred going into the nature for my needs this night…

Scene two, take two: second day of two day mountain trek

Beautiful (and easy for once) walking through the forests

We got up early from all the roosters whose inner clock must be off – why else would they wake us at 3:30 am?! Seriously… Stayed in bed until breakfast at 8 am and then went hiking down the mountain. The path this day was very steep and slippery so that not only our bodies (especially the legs - knees and behind to name it) but also our brains worked out hard because we constantly had to watch our steps and find good places to put our feet.

Cool down at the waterfall

We first walked through jungle and then arrived at a beautiful waterfall where, again, we could swim a little to cool off. The track then lead us along the river through beautiful forests to our lunch stop (hmmm, good Pad Thai) at an elephant farm.
After lunch we mounted our elephants and went for a ride. The landscape was nice and the giants skillfully climbed up and down the steep slopes – but still we couldn’t really enjoy the ride a lot as we felt bad for the animals that weren’t treated very well by their Mahouts (care taker). When we got back to the camp, we jumped from the elephant right into a white water raft and with that into the wild river. We rafted down a couple of serious rapids and had a blast! Saying we got wet is definitely an understatement. Quite the adrenaline boost! Once we left the big rapids behind, we changed to a bamboo raft for a tranquil, relaxing ride down the last couple of km on the river. Weird thing about this: the raft was floating, but not on the surface but about 40 cm below it, so our buds were kissed by fish a lot during the ride…a little random… 

Scene three, take one: Mahout training
 

The next day was elephant day. We were picked up early and went to an elephant camp where old working elephants come to and can live a better life. On the way there, we practiced some Mahout commands to communicate with the animals, when we arrived we quickly changed into the traditional Mahout outfit (loose clothing that allowed us to jump onto the Elephant) and finally got to know our new best friends: the elephants. We first fed them so they could get used to us. Their trunks would swing towards us and grab the banana that we offered, swing back towards the mouths of the elephants and then, about halfway back to the mouth, change direction again and swing towards our other hand where we still held the rest of the whole banana plant and quickly grab that as well before we could take it out of reach. The trunks felt wet and soft at the top, and they had a very firm grip on our hands when they got them. The skin was rough and dry, almost hard. A very cool experience getting so close to these giants, having them run around freely and ever coming closer to us whilst we tried to find some new food for them. Of course next we got even closer to them as we had our first test rides on their necks. Unlike at elephant rides, Mahouts don’t sit on the animals back but on their necks, with their knees locked behind the ears, ready to use them for steering. Sitting atop the elephant and feeling how they react to your commands is a very unique experience. After the trial we got our personal elephants to take care of for the rest of the day. So we had to go out to the jungle and collect some food for them, bring them water, prepare some special medicine for them and ride them to the river to bath with them. My elephant had a baby that was not leaving its mothers side. When we were bathing in the river, it was playing, going under water and splashing and kicking – while I tried to be close to the mom to wash her. I can truly say, I swam with the elephants…quite the underwater stampede…
An awesome day!


Scene 4, take one: Thai cookery class

Working on the soup

That morning we didn’t have breakfast as a whole day of cooking and eating great Thai food laid ahead of us. After we were picked up, we went to the market with our instructor who told us a lot about the ingredients of Thai cuisine: spices, different kinds of rice, meat and tofu and tons of vegetables are all in the mix. Afterwards we went to the countryside by train and then took a bike for the last couple of km before we arrived at the school, located on a farm.

Stir-frying Pad Thai

We had great menu choices and to pick only one each was really hard, but in the end this is what we cooked: Jens had Deep Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls as an appetizer, Local Sweet And Sour Chicken as a soup, Chicken Pad Thai and Massaman Curry (based on a self-made curry paste) as the mains (yes, he CAN eat some curries…just not the powder as it might include dry nuts) and Fried Banana as a dessert. I cooked and enjoyed Spicy Papaya Salad as a starter, Chicken In Coconut Milk as a soup, Fried Chicken With Holy Basil and Green Chicken Curry (also based on a self-made curry paste) as mains and Sweet Sticky Rice With Mango as the dessert. It was sooo tasty! And the sheer amount of food reminded me: it was Thanksgiving! What better day for a huge meal than this?! (You’ll find some of the recipes in a new section of the blog as soon as we find some time for that.)

That's how we felt after all that food :)

The next scene will take us to Lampang where we will have our first couchsurfing experience on this trip and then on to Sukhothai where we'll see the festival of lights! After that we already have to go back to Bangkok because our time here slowly comes to an end... :(

Ducktales

This is a story about great friendships and how you always meet friends twice in life...

Chapter 1: Meeting for the first time and becoming friends

It all started when we decided to go to Luang Prabang by Sorngtaaou instead of the slow boat. We left beautiful but sleepy Nong Khiaw on a sunny morning and boarded our first TukTuk in more than a month to get to the bus station. We got there early and secured a good-ish seat next to the door right before a ton of other tourists and locals packed with all sorts of goods jumped in behind us and swiftly filled up all the space that was left. The last one to make it on the bus was a beautifully deranged, tight up duck named Alfred (at least it looked like an Alfred). He got the spot right in front of Jens, underneath the seat, next to his feet. The two fell in love instantly: Alfred chewed on Jens’ toes and found some rest for his weary head leaning against Jens' legs. Jens found something to put all his attention to in order to ignore the beautifully off tune Lao music that filled the thick air in the little Sorngtaaou and also he had something to warm his feet with in case the weather would change unexpectedly. It was a deep friendship, built on the principles of symbiosis, trust and soulmateship. 3 hours later we arrived in Luang Prabang and the friends’ ways had to part as the duck was taken away by his owner. Alfred looked at Jens one last time as if to say: “Don’t worry my friend, all will be fine. We will meet again!”.

Chapter 2: You always meet friends twice in life

The next couple of days went by and we explored beautiful Luang Prabang. We had great iced Mochas at riverfront cafés, watched sunsets over the Mekong and visited the numerous temples that are scattered around town and are all brilliantly adorned with glittering mosaics. We climbed up Phu Si mountain in pouring rain and got washed back down on a waterslide. We checked out the Royal Palace museum and crossed the not very trustworthy bamboo bridge to the other side of the Nam Khan river.

We shopped around the charming handicrafts night market and enjoyed outrageously cheap buffets at the food street. When we just had another yummie street vendored banana-nutella-pancake accompanied by a plastic bag of freshly mixed fruit shake it happened: we unexpectedly met friends for the second time. No, it wasn’t Alfred (at least not yet) – it were Bernd and Eva whom we had parted from in Muang Khua. We spent a great morning together, getting up at 5 to see the Tak Bat: The many monks of Luang Prabang’s temples forming a line down the main street to receive alms at break of dawn. This ancient ceremony was beautiful to watch, a perfect picture with the sober colours of the early morning’s light and the bright orange robes of the big and small monks (though what made it all truly “spectacular” were us tourists, I fear). After witnessing this, we went to the morning market where we had to say good bye once again to our two fellow travellers. And right then, when the two of us turned back to the hotel for taking a nap, Jens saw another friend for the second time in his life. There was Alfred. We had reached the meat market.

Chapter 3: The life after

After this shock, we decided to take it slow again: instead of going to the Thai border by bus, we went back on the slow boat. The two day Mekong river cruise first took us to Pak Beng, a small town halfway between Luang Prabang and Huay Xai at the border. We got there after nightfall and left the next day early in the morning. We assume there was little to see other than the good Indian restaurant we went to for dinner and a relaxed beer. The next day, the boat took us to Huay Xai, a small border town and our last stop in Laos. The city was full of tourists and, quite unusual judging by all the rest of Laos that we have seen, cars - probably due to the proximity to a much wealthier country. Thailand is just across the yellow Mekong river from Huay Xai, so we had some nice dinner in watching distance of our next destination. While enjoying our last laotion food and Beerlao it occured to us that Laos is a country where we have met great people, spend a wonderful and very relaxing time in beautiful surroundings, explored great cultural treasures in the most rural main city in all of southeast asia we have been to so far - in short: we fell in love with Laos. So of course we will come back, 'cause as we know now: you always meet friends twice in life.

Change of scene

Leaving Vietnam was a real adventure: We took a mini van from Sapa to Dien Bien Phu (a small town and necessary stop on the way to Laos) and  even though we were lucky as there were only eight other backpackers (with a big and a small backpack each) it got pretty cozy once the 3 locals, the driver and his assistant and the tons of cargo were added into the mix. Now imagine a very small dirt road that goes up and down the mountains in narrow serpentines through dense fog with visibilities of less than 10 meters and no guard railing at all - you'll somewhat understand but don't necessarily sympathize with our fellow travellers that got motion sick on the way and iteratively filled small plastic bags with the remains of last night's party, breakfast or lunch. The occassioanl smell of puke and the splashing sound of the bags hitting ground after being thrown out of the window were the least of our troubles, though. The huge but hidden potholes leading to permanent course corrections and regularly heavy shocks and a driver eager to break a new lap record and therefore not only going very fast, but also overtaking each and every other vehicle on the road ( including motorbikes, cars, vans, busses and even big trucks that were forced to drive into the jungle to let us overtake) kept our minds busy the rest of the time. Nonetheless, it was a relatively safe ride as our driver was smart enough to stop and wait whenever the road was too bad (others tried and failed to go up muddy paths and often there wasn't much missing before they would have fallen down into the river next to the road) and we arrived safely in Dien Bien Phu where we shared a nice evening with Eva and Bernd whom we had met on the mini bus and made our way to Laos with.

On the next day we continued to Laos at 5 a, this time with a local bus. Although we stopped after 10 minutes to change a tire, the ride was more pleasant as the roads got better. Arriving at the border to Laos (Panghok) we had to fill out our arrival cards and the application form for the Visa. When we wanted to hand in the forms all offices were empty as the officials had dissappeared into thin air - our first encounter with what everyone calls "Lao time". There was nothing to do except waiting. After more than 40 relaxed minutes, the border officials came back from what turned out to had been there breakfast break and we could hand in the forms and get the Visa. We arrived in Laos. We arrived more than two hours ahead of schedule in Muang Khua, our first stop in the new country, due to unexpectedly good streets. When we got there, we were surprised once more: the expected herd of tuk tuk, taxi or moto drivers who try to win you as their customers as soon as you stand up inside the bus was missing - there was simply nobody taking notice of us and for the first time we had no clue were to go or what to do - and enjoyed it. We followed another traveller's recommendation for a guesthouse with a beautiful view on the river and spent a quiet evening with Eva and Bernd on the porch, enjoying local food and booze, good conversation and the insect-hunting-skills of the owner's son. In the morning we were woken up by carking roosters and the rattling of motorbikes crossing the bridge. We left Muang Khua to continue our journey to Muang Ngoy Neua. According to the most common way of transportation in Laos we took the boat down the Nam Ou river.

This is also the only way to go there, as Muang Ngoy Neua is a town that no roads lead to. It is also not connected to the electricity grid and only from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm a diesel generator provides some electricity. Of course there is no internet and also no mobile phone network - a perfect place to get to know the rural life and the Laos people. We did a guided one day track to visit Hmong and Khomu villages a bit down the river. The landscape was stunning: Deep, untouched jungle, dotted by rice fields in front of impressive karst mountains with wooden houses on stilts right inbetween. The chief of the Hmong village welcomed us with tea and sugar cane bites and we could walk around the village to see how the people of this minority live today.

We left Muang Ngoy Neua when we needed a little independence from daylight (which happened after only two nights - we are so spoiled) and took the boat to Nong Khiaw. Both towns are similar but Nong Khiaw has a road connection to Luang Prabang, electricity, internet, phone network and, urgently needed, an ATM. Nonetheless, it has the same relaxed atmosphere that we found right after we entered Laos. One reason for this impression of total calmness might as well be that so far we found prices being fairly fixed in Laos so there is little hustle when tourists come by. Anyway, because of this very relaxed atmosphere, we decided to stay in Nong Khiaw for two nights to enjoy the beautiful landscape and to chill out in the hammock on the front porch.

There are several caves scattered throughout the mountains around town, so we went down the main road to visit one of them. Most of the locals hid here or in similar caves during the attacks of american bombers during the war in Vietnam. Since the region is right on the Ho Chi Minh trail, enormous amouts of bombs were dropped here to stop the reinforcements of the Vietcong that were sent south. Today, even though there are signs in the cave telling you how it was used, it is hard to imagine how these people must have felt at that time. On the way back to the village we visited a small temple near our guesthouse where we found new friends: some children, getting ready to play some good old football, insisted on having a picture taken of them. In the end it wasn't only one picture but quite a number of them as the kids were pretty picky about the outcome.

Tomorrow we will get on a bus again and go to Luang Prabang - the old capital of Laos.

Northern Impressions

Vietnam’s political center Hanoi is a frantic place that leaves little room for relaxation and quite time. The city is home to 6.5 million Vietnamese that share the space with their 5 million motorbikes that ebb and flow through the chaos of town.

Traffic in Hanoi

The narrow streets of the wonderful old quarter are packed with pedestrians, hawkers, locals that sip their coffee or bia hoi (freshly brewed local beer), cyclos and motos that fight for space and customers and electricity poles that hold at least one ton of wires. If this gets too cozy, follow the locals at dawn and dusk to Hoan Kiem Lake where they find room to practice their graceful Tai Chi or play some chess with their friends. If you get really lucky, you might see the giant turtle that inhabits the water – but don’t count on it as it rarely shows itself.

Water puppets in Hanoi, showing the H'Mong umbrella dance

Rather spend your time witnessing skillful art at the water puppet theater at the next corner that beautifully displays cultural dances, habits and legends from the many ethnic minority groups from the north. Afterwards, take a stroll over the packed night market, take in a bia hoi at a street corner and make your way back to your Aussie-run hostel where chances are high that the biggest Halloween party in town awaits you with drunk pumpkins and mummies dancing on the tables. Not yet drunk enough for that madness? Go down the street and find a nice BBQ-place to eat with some newfound friends and enjoy a cold beer in a less western atmosphere. The hostels rooftop awaits for

BBQ and beer after a long day of exploring with Bine and Martin

some good night drinks and good talks afterwards (if you make it through the wasted Halloween crowd at the reception/bar). What else to do on a glorious late October day in Hanoi? Walk around town to visit the old prison where the French put their political prisoners; try to catch a look of the pale body of Ho Chi Minh in his Mausoleum just to find that the body is in Russia for maintenance around this time of the year; catch the sunset on the rooftop bar of some posh downtown office building –

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

but not in your flip-flops please; walk around the Lenin Park and the military museum to see great examples of communist ostentation; have great egg-coffee at lakeside cafés; shop around the millions of tour-booking offices like a crazy madman in order to find the one cheap but nice tour around Halong Bay, Sapa or wherever else you want to go; visit St. Josephs cathedral while there is a service and listen to the cool Vietnamese versions of all the old songs you’ve often heard at church back home; or try out your bargaining skills once more at one of the huge markets of the city. The two things you can’t easily do around here (though it is said to be possible): find a quiet place and find a street that’s easy and safe to cross.

The railway runs right through the city

Vietnamese girls on their way to a wedding photo shooting

So how great is it to get out of the city to beautiful, peaceful Halong Bay, 4 hours north of Hanoi?

At the top of Dao Titop

Despite the thousands of tourists that try to escape the noise and chaos of the city like this every day, it is VERY great. Halong Bay, with its sublime scenery, warm, calm waters to swim in, caves and hidden bays to explore by Kayak or on foot and mountaintops to climb for sunrise views offers the perfect scene for a two day cruise on a nice traditional Junk boat. Great and lots of Vietnamese food and nice company made our tour a wonderful experience. The karsts may be similar in Ninh Binh but they simply cannot compete with the surreal sight of almost 2000 mountains rising up from the ocean like in the astonishing Halong Bay.

Sunset over Halong Bay

Trekking around Cat Cat village

Leaving the ocean behind, we went deep into the north west of Vietnam, to Sapa. The mountain town is surrounded by rice terraces, deep valleys and high peaks (the Fansipan, Vietnam’s highest mountain, seems to be just a jump away from our balcony) and great hiking trails. The real charm, and the reason for many tourists to come here, are the many hill tribe villages that dot the landscape around Sapa. The people are colorfully dressed in their traditional garments when they come to town to sell their products on the local market or to find some tourists and act as their

Elderly H'Mong woman in traditional garment

guides. They carry their babies on their backs, smile their often toothless smiles and find their soul mates on the weekly love markets. It all looks very nice, but after having seen the hill tribes in the Central Highlands it also looks a bit like a zoo where the animals pose for the visitors’ pictures. Also, in November, it gets really cool in the mountains; the weather is cloudy and rainy so you can barely see the next building and the rice fields are empty after the harvesting season is over. There aren’t so many tourists any more so the locals fight hard and

H'Mong girls doing the traditional umbrella dance

loudly to win you as their customers and the cheaper hotel rooms are damp and cold as they lack a heater. We had a very good hiking day with fine weather, stunning landscapes and interesting insights into the Hmong culture the first day we got here but the rest was rather mediocre due to the facts above. We are still happy to have come here as it left us some time to spend on drinking coffee, reading books and reflect on all the wondrous things we did and saw during the last couple of weeks in Vietnam.

The rice terraces are empty now, the water buffaloes have done their work

It has been an amazing time and we fell in love with the country, its warm and welcoming people, the great food, the stunning landscapes and the rich culture. We will sadly leave Vietnam now, but as we do, we are also looking forward to visit Laos. It will surely be just as exciting!