in Hue, Vietnam

The bus from Hanoi took about 14 hours. It was not the best 14 hours of my life. The bus is sort of nice, it's a sleeping bus so the chairs are built for laying down and you get a blanket but considering the state of the roads and the vietnamese driving it was more like being inside a simulator.

Once again the computer is from the Cold War days so I can't post pictures, but they will come soon.

Hue was once the capital of Vietnam (1802-1945) but now has a bit more thn ruins to show for it. It's not a big city and the Perfume river looks nice (and clean - rare in these parts) however the city's charms didn't work on me. I leave tomorrow morning at 8 am for Hoi An.

I met up with a Malaysian guy I met in Hanoi and we took 2 motorbikes around the city to just have a look around. Mostly we saw decaying pagodas, ruins and tombs... Since our hotel is close to the bus station we were harrassed a bit by taxi drivers, for a moment I thought I was in India, but G. handled them very well.

Because the bus ride was so bad (the driver doesn't understand speed limits) I feel very tired, almost like I didn't slept. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Will I ever find a computer from this century in Vietnam? oh the suspense.

Perfume Pagoda

Outside of Hanoi there is a complex of over 100 temples and pagodas, that is called the Perfume Pagoda.Even though it was full of sellars (a big culture shock is the way they attract your attention, anything but throwing things at you is allowed. I got yelled at, screamed at, clapped at, grabbed, smiled even "ihuuued" at..) and even though we didn't have as much time in the temples as I wanted I really like it. It makes me really hopefull for the countryside I'm about to see.


In order to get into the complex we have to take a boat. It was actually a long boat ride and the seats were not very comfortable. It was still worth it.



A part I really didn't like was the stairs. We basically went up a mountain on huge badly formed steps. Actually compared to Thailand, Vietnam is the country of stairs. My hotel room is on the 5th floor, the restaurants are always on the 2nd or 3rd and of course the temples and pagodas have to have more than a thousand steps. Way to test the pilgrims...

Hanoi in pictures

In the middle of the city there is a lake ( lake Hoan Kiem) with this little pagoda.

The last 3 were taken during a tuk-tuk ride, hence the low quality...

Leen's favorite food in Thailand exists also in Vietnam: unripe mango with sugar and chilli (on the left) followed by sticky rice and chicken.

Sorry there are so few pictures but the internet is so slow it takes a long time to upload. I can always upload more after my holidays.

Tonight I take the first bus to the South, follow me on the map! Destinations: Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Da Cat and Saigon (now Hohn Chin Min).

Budget in Vietnam

I keep getting questions about my travel budget so here goes. First I imagine 50e a day with lodging, food and transportation included. Then when I see the gross total and freak out I divide that by 2. That would mean something like 30 days in Vietnam at 25e a day: 750e.
Easy, right? except that I don't have that.

So I have a look at the Lonely Planet guide and came with 150 dollars plus 100 dollars for emergencies. Yes, that's all I have with me. If something happens I can always use my card but since I have to live off my money for a year I don't want to do that.

Because the trip was a bit on the short notice side I didn't use couch surfing but I hope to do that in Cambodia. So I am staying in a 8 dollar hotel in the old town, I eat in the streets, I take the buses that take hours instead of the express ones. Yes, some without A/C.

Another way to save is to take the night bus/train. I will do that tomorrow evening. I am going to spend the next 5 days in a bus, going from Hanoi to the South of the country. I don't even like buses, this is how short my budget is. I will tell you if all this worked.

Another thing that I try to include in the budget is internet and if it's really cheap, laundry (it was 0.20e in my hotel so I figured...).

Despite being on a tight budget I don't want money to be what rules my travels, I refuse to argue with a driver or a shop owner for what is basically a few Euro cents. So not worth it...

For reference:
1.00EUR = 23.705.67 VND(Vietnamese Dong).

1 water = 5000 to 15000 depending on how touristy is the area.

Hanoi, Vietnam - random notes

Pictures will come soon, the computer I am using is sort of falling apart.

On my first day I went to eat on a street stall, in general Vietnamese eat outside. They like to bring some chairs or benches and sit on the pavement eating, apparently it's because the houses are hot. Like most of Asia I ate rice for breakfast. I was full after a few bites...

People seem very nice and open, they smile and laugh a lot. Maybe Thailand is too used to tourists.

Some Vietnamese took my picture, this also happened in Thailand, my white face is going to be all over the world...

The center is fairly old fashioned but in a nice way. People still wear traditional customs, something Thailand no longer has in the capital. Hanoi seems to be less Westernized than Bangkok, it really gives you a feeling of "ah, yes, I am in Vietnam".

My phone doesn't work here, I had to buy a Vietnamese card. It was 3e.

Vietnam is more expensive than Thailand but certain things like camera bags are a bargain here.

Traffic is less than Bangkok and Delhi but still insane. Crossing the road requires your full attention. One Vietnamese guy told me to think of myself as a rock and the traffic as water in a river that flows around the rock. I took one motorbike taxi during rush hour and actually closed my eyes twice. It was so packed that my leg touched other bikes.

The first pagoda I visited had as many Vietnamese tourists as Westerns, a good sign for me.

It's very hard to explain but even though I am a minority and I stand out as soon as I step out of my room, so far I really feel at ease, safe and ok in Asia (well except in India). Maybe that feeling will go away during the rain season. It is a strange feeling even for me, I don't understand the languages, I have problems understanding the reasons behind certain things yet I love it.

I'll try another computer tomorrow so you can have a glimpse of Hanoi.

Ko Samed

My first holiday in Thailand was in the small island Ko Samed.

Look at that sand, look at that sea!

I had a great time as you can imagine.

Eating freash watermellon at the beach: paradise.

Ko Samed is not very turisty but it is more expensive than small town Thailand where I live.

I am totally in love with this pier, it's half palm tree, a quarter rubber and a quarter holes...

Snorkling for a whole day is great but can lead to the below photo:

It's been over 10 years since my last sunburn, I didn't miss it at all.

Aparently it's my new tradition

As expected, my flight is delayed. I don't want to sound paranoid but it's been over a year since one of my flights departured on time.

I am flying with Air Asia, supposedly the cheapest way to fly around SE Asia. this is so typical, I go for the cheap stuff and always wait around like an idiot.

On my way to Vietnam!

I hope there are no delays, I don't have a book with me. The picture above was taken as my patience was running out after waiting 1.30h for a boat to Ko Samed (we had to wait until there were 20 people so the boat would go and since it's low season we waited a lot).

I will post photos from Ko Samed as soon as the Vietnamese internet allows me.

How to ruin your camera in 5 easy steps

• Wake up early and leave your brain in your bed.

• Go tubbing - a very popular activity in Asia

basically you sit your ass down on a "tire" and float around...

• Go crazy, get all excited about it!

• Go on your friend's "tire" even if she says "no".

• Drop your camera in the river during the excitement.
  

• Repeat if camera still working.

P.S. My camera is being fixed as we speak, I have a replacement thanks to my insurance.

Nice end of the week

So first my laptop got a virus, I got sick and then my camera fell in the river Songkalia. In that order. I've had better holidays... Sooo all this to say that my Portuguese chronicle is late, I can't post pictures and my throat caused a two day delay on my travel plans.

I am now in Bangkok deciding what to do with my camera. We will go tomorrow to Ko Samet, an island on the east of Thailand.

Oh the irony

My first guest/visitor from Europe arrives in less than one hour and I am sick. Seriously. My throat feels like sawdust and nails, I can barely swallow and I am dizzy. I can't wait for the rest. I now have to tell my guest that it's probably safer to stay at a guesthouse since there are two sick in the house...

I don't think I'll post over the next days but we'll see. It's so great to be sick in this heat, you don't know what you are missing.

A tiger of a day - pt II

After the strange walk with the tiger we went to a sort of arena with around 10 tigers, 3 were still quite young. Then we went around with a worker to pet them and take pictures with them. They had just ate so they were taking a nap. So at the end of the day I touched more than 6 tigers. Very strange concept. The kids seemed to enjoy it. Some preferred to watch from a distance. Me and the other volunteers discussed how our families would react to the pictures. I'm pretty sure I'll never show them to my grandmother...

"Someone touched my thingy!!!"

"A little more to the right... yeah, that's it!"

"eeew, water again?!"...

After the tigers it took us a while to gather all the kids together and go back to the car. But we had promised them food and swimming in the hot springs.

Getting the food in the restaurant was chaotic but somehow it worked. It was already 17h30 so we thought swimming was off. The girl that visited her parents had not called us and she was not at the pick up place. Of course. We had to drive to her village. It was a tiny but nice place.

Due to lack of communication with the other car we ended up really going to the hot springs. We entered around 18h30. 10Bth each. Basically there is a hot spring (very hot) next to the river so we skip from one to the other. It was fine in the beginning. It was so hot it took us a while. After everyone was wet the splashing around and getting others in the hot water began. I am still waiting for the other volunteers to show me their pictures, I think one camera caught the moment when 3 students and 1 volunteer tried to get me in the water but I would not let go of the wall.. 4 people and I was still in dry land. Those kung fu sessions really made me stronger.

The redness is due to the heat. I never had thought I'd sweat in water...

We stayed until it was dark.

While we were getting ready to leave 3 girls told me that the girl that had been car sick was sick again. It was strange since we weren't moving or even in the car. 5 minutes later when I got to the car she was moaning in pain and barely standing up. I let her in the car and noticed she was pressing her stomach. I touched where her appendix was and it hurt. For a second I really thought it was appendicitis. But she didn't have a fever. We tried to get everyone in the car fast so we could get her to a doctor. In those few seconds her pain seemed to get worse, she started punching herself in order to relief the pain. We decided to get her to a hospital. The problem was we didn't really know the way. The girl was laying on my lap when I noticed her temperature was going up so I started putting a wet cold t-shirt to cool her off a bit. And then she passed out and I couldn't wake her up. For about 20 seconds I was really worried. After some running around, some illegal turns, some screaming we found the hospital. Then there was the language issue, the doctor spoke some English but was too busy to let us know what was happening. After a bit she explained it was a sort of disepsia and ulcer wound. We were so relieved. I could've hugged her right there.

Then there was the issue of 26 kids running around the hospital, seeing things they really shouldn't. We sent most of them back, and realized that since she was a refugee and had no documents she would be given farang (foreigner) price. We barely had any money left. I offered to look for a bank. A few minutes after the car left with most kids we were told she could go, she would have some medication and a new diet but would be ok. Her sister still looked very frightened. I really wanted to go home. Being the adult sucked a bit.

So at 21h30 we were going home. It was pitch dark and Valentina, the driver, was getting tired. I talked my life out. Even I was tired of hearing my voice but as the kids fell asleep and Valentina started yawning I knew I had to just keep her talking back to me. During the last hour, out of sheer desperation we started singing. I don't remember how or who started it. We were too tired to know all the lyrics or even tunes properly. We both had bad voices. But we sung out loud anyways. It was our "ruin music history" moment. We started with the Beatles and ended up in gospel.

The last gospel (that ended in our driveway) included lyrics like "Oh happy day... when we get home... and this stupid road... makes my ass hurt..."

A tiger of a day - pt I

Saturday night the five Italians cooked pasta and allowed me and two brits to relish on it. Then one of them mentioned the fact that on the next day at 6 am they were going to take some teenagers to a tiger sanctuary. I jumped at the opportunity. Little did I know what I was getting myself into (I never do...).

I woke up at 5h45 after going to bed at 1 am. It was hard getting up but not impossible. Valentina (from Florence) told me the kids were late. I went around the village taking pictures, it was the perfect setting: the streets were empty, the light was good, it was still fresh so I actually didn't sweat. At 7h30 I was still waiting. The Baan Unrak bakery was still closed. I layed down on the floor using my backpack as a pillow and waited some more. (for those of you who say I am not patient..) At 8h they arrived. Then Valentina and Iacopo (also from Florence) noticed that the brakes were failing, that the oil was dripping on one of the tires and that the fuel tank was on empty. A real riot. We waited for the second car as we had too many kids. We left Sangkla at 8h20.

The first gas station was of course out of gas. At least of diesel, not sure about the rest. We headed to the tiger temple (name of the sanctuary) hoping to find another station along the way. The second car (with brakes and gas) flew past us and we got separated. We called them but there was no connection... Nice start.

One good thing about living in a village in the middle of nowhere is that the locals are used to making do while being isolated, as such some little road restaurants/snack stores have little gasoline tanks. Usually around 20l of each type. We only managed to get 15l in to our car. Thankfully the others noticed we were missing and came back.

Here is the "gas station".

And we were off for the 3rd time. We dropped off a girl to visit her parents and arranged to pick her up later. Another girl was throwing up so she came in front with us and we were on our way for the 4th time. Only then I was informed that no one knew the way, only a rough idea. Yay... We passed the checkpoints easily - usually in Thailand when you go out of a distric your passport gets checked - which considering some of our kids don't have ID or passport was really lucky. Then the orphanage's director called to say we had to arrive before 12h otherwise the kids had to pay. It was 11h35.

After asking for directions and trying to fly the kids started screaming and hitting the car. Apparently we had passed it. We turned the car and drove back. We saw two wooden tigers on each side of the gate, we cheered! We made it! As our car was going in the kids hit the car again. Iacopo comes to the window and says "ooops, this is not the place"...





Paolo's car was arriving as we turned away from the wooden tigers. I could almost hear him swear in Italian... A few minutes later we found the right place:

The crucial moment. When we entered the sanctuary's grounds.

Of course we were 35 minutes too late and the kids were supposed to pay 500BTH along with the 5 volunteers. There was no way we could afford 32 tickets.Yes, we had 27 kids. The cashiers suggested to return on the next day as it was free for Thais, we explained where we came from. Showed a letter from our home, practically begged. They knew our place but rules were rules. The letter mentioned a different tiger place and mentioned 18 kids and not 27... Then out of the blue while we were negotiating between us if we could afford to pay for the kids, the lady in charge of the tiger program said that the kids' tickets would go into their relief program and that we only had to pay for ours. It was extremely nice of her. We had 18 kids paid for, paid for the rest and finally entered. No one cheered, we were tired.

We walked around a bit until we found one monk (the sanctuary is run by Buddhists monks and that is why we have to dress conservatively) walking around with a huge tiger on a leash. Insane. The workers told us to walk in a line and that we would all get our picture with the tiger, if we wanted too. Some kids walked away as soon as they saw the tiger. I went ahead thinking the monk would be holding the leash or something. But no, see below:

How insane is this? One hand tapping the tiger, the other holding the leash... I'm pretty sure my life insurance would not cover any accidents.

And here I thought, "no need to turn around, dude..."

More on our tiger day tomorrow as this post is going on forever...

Sweat

It's not the prettiest of topics but for those you keep sending me weird messages about the cold in Europe here it goes:

• There is not a moment of the day when i am not sweating.
• Even my legs get all moist.
• If I do some sport like cycling or running I get completely soaked, hair dripping wet...
• I take a shower at night and as soon as I lay in bed I feel my pijama (it's a silky one, not like what I used to wear there) start getting glued to me.

Don't get me wrong, but I dont think I'll be able to live in a cold country again. Maybe it was growing up in Madeira that triggered my genes to heat? Yet despite loving warm weather I'd love to have at least one hour of the day when I don't sweat. Just as a confidance buster.

P.S. I've been having some problems with my pc again so please be patient for new pictures.

It all makes sense now

I admit it took me a while but I finally figured it all out.

Why our house has such thin walls we can hear each other's farts. Why there are frogs everywhere, lizzards, geckos, spiders, millions of mosquitos and hundreds of fleas.

Why men and women have to sleep in different houses...

The ngo doesn't want us to have sex. You have to admit it's an ingenious plan.

Lizzards pt2

After sleeping with one fat lizzard in my room (I kept waking up at the slightest sound) I decided I needed help. Mostly because I am a big sissy. Everyone in the house kept saying that geckos are harmless but not a single one would go in my room.

So I asked the only Thai of the house to help me. She has basically no English and I have no Thai. But with "help" and "gecko" we understood each other. She's shorter than me so I could not stop laughing when she came back with a bamboo stick higher than the two of us together. She then proceeded to climb my wall and push the gecko out. At that point I was on the other side of the house. Yep, big sissy.

I noticed that another housemate was watching as far away as I was... but yes, they are quite harmless. The gecko was not happy but left my room. The Thai lady closed the door and proceeded to expel it out of the house.

I thanked her profusely and went to get my stuff. She had locked my room and the key was inside. I thought it was a joke since last week around one in the morning she locked herself out of her room and I got up thinking it was a burglar (one of those "you had to be there" moments) and found her sitting on the floor waiting for Divine intervention. It was no joke and it took us more than 40 minutes to get the door open.

Just 20 minutes ago I noticed the gecko was back. Sigh.

Laugh all you want

This morning as I went to get some underwear two huge lizzards jumped out of the wall.

They were fighting with each other and basically ignoring me but hey still gave me a heart attack. I screamed so loud that the whole of the house came to see if I was dead.

For ten minutes I was shaking and laughing at myself but the problem remained. I needed underwear and two black lizzards with white dots were in the way.

The Thai lady that lives with us scared them a way enough for me to me dressed but that means they are still in my room. That is not aceptable. I got two boards, bought a hammer and nails and hope they are in the wall by the time I get home so I only have to hammer away really fast.

Yes, I knew I was moving to a tropical country but still...

Bad side of Thailand

Someone poisoned our dogs. Two already died, one is sick and the other is missing. The only vet (that is just visiting for a month) returns saturday. At our place we are basically waiting until most of them disappear or show up dead in our backyard. Stupid people.

Motorbike riding in Thailand

It's a pretty exhilarating, I mean, full speed ahead with no helmet? Riding something that can kill you in a nasty way with no helmet? Pretty insane.

Also I now ride like the local girls, side saddle. Yep. Not even holding on properly, sometimes holding on to two or three bags instead of holding on for dear life.

The other day the power was out because of an incoming storm and I got to ride in total darkeness - except for the bike's headlight - side saddle and with lightning above in the sky. Betcha you never did that!

My most recent experience with a motorbike taxi was having the driver fart all the way down the hill. You know, for speed...

Hard life

The school will be closed from March 18th until May 1st. Actually May 12th but the teacher are asked to return earlier. So from the 18th until the 15th I have a visitor, then on the 26th I go to Vietnam (Hanoi) to visit a friend who will return to Europe on the 30th. From the 30th onwards I travel around Vietnam. Yay for me.

To enter Vietnam you need a visa, you can do one online now at http://www.vietnam-immigration.org for 20dollars. Then you give the letter at the airport and get a stamp for 25dollars. And tah dah, 30 day visa.

I am looking for the cheapest flight and will soon chase down couchsurfers for accomodation. According to my guide I can live with around 25dollars a day in Vietnam, we'll see...

Basic Thai lessons

Of course after one month my Thai is not that fluent. Or existent. However I do know some things. For example, no matter what sentence if you are polite you finish your sentence with ka or kab, Ka for girls, kab for boys.

This is 'phonetis', there is no way I'll be able to write in Thai alphabet...

Hello - sa was dee ka/kab
How much - Tao rai ka/kab
thank you - ko pun ka/kab
sorry - koe tod ka/kab
not spicy - mai ped ka/kab
spicy - ped
yes - ka/kab
no - mai
teacher - krew
listen - fung ka/kab

Since Thai is a tonal language some words can mean up to five or six different things which would explain the laughter the kids had when I tried to say somethings...

Slave work

I know I came here to teach but as expected there is always something to do. After a nice dinner the Italians that are working in the orphanage not only seemed very nice as they looked they could use a hand, so I ofered to help out with their fence building.

Basically they are clearing the field and collecting all the things they find in order to clear a path for a fence. The orphanage is now sort of open to anyone and not all visitors are friendly or welcome. The collecting implies clearing bushes and picking up all sorts of garbage.

The stuff is then put into different piles: garbage goes in the bags (there is a minimum of 10 bags each day), wood goes to the orphanage's oven, bamboo to another worker, bushes, leaves etc go to a field to make a compost for the soil.

Me and the Italian now have a gabage competition. The ones that finds the most discusting or strange item wins. So far we are 1-1. Yes, we wear gloves...