It’s very different experiencing another culture around this time of year. I am such a family person, especially at Christmas time, and love spending the day with family, laughing, eating, drinking, and being merry. Hanoi is a very busy city, everything is always moving, so it’s hard to stop on a day like today and really get into the Spirit of things. Especially when it’s just the two of us at home, and have to do regular things like go to work and shop for groceries. There is still a little Christmas Spirit in the air, however; listening to Christmas Carols [View Full Entry]

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And another corny, cliché comment from Sarah: “Time flies when you’re having fun”! This is an update of our work days over the past 7wks. Luke was lucky enough to meet a lovely Vietnamese Man; Toan, at a Guitar shop in our very early days in Hanoi. They got talking about what we were doing in Hanoi, and as a result, on Sunday November 9th, I met with Toan, his brother, and nephew at Pho 24 Restaurant on Van Mieu Street. Toan’s nephew; Son wanted Private English Lessons. The four of us chatted over ice coffees, and decided I would teach [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Vietnam knowing that we had a one hour drive to Hanoi. We soon found a taxi and negotiated a $10 fare to our chosen hotel - The Hanoi Guesthouse. There were roadworks and we arrived in the centre after 75 minutes. It is scruffy, dirty and noisy - maybe we should just go back to the airport. First stop - Hotel Omega - no we want Hanoi Guesthouse. “Same Same” as we have heard many times before. After a few minutes and having to stay firm we drove on to Hanoi Green Garden Guesthouse. Here we had stiffer [View Full Entry]

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I took a trip up to Hanoi for a long weekend. Although Hanoi is the capital city of Vietnam, Saigon is still seen as the big city being the commercial centre. Hanoi is the complete opposite to Saigon, at this time of year it is 20 degrees cooler (I even had to wear a jacket), it is a lot quieter and much of it could be considered ancient in comparison. The people are more groomed and although there are the same problems with poverty and begging, more so in fact, in general it feels like a cleaner calmer city. Think Edinburgh [View Full Entry]

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Eigentlich wollte ich mir das Ho-Chi-Minh-Mausoleum nicht ansehen, auf Maos ausgestellte Leiche hatte ich auch verzichtet, nicht nur weil damals in Peking absoluter Ausnahmestatus wegen des Nationalfeiertags herrschte. Allerdings wollte ich das dazugehörige Museum, sowie einige andere Sehenswürdigkeiten auf dem Gelände ansehen, die man nur betreten kann, wenn man zuvor Onkel Ho in seiner letzten Ruhestätte die Ehre erwiesen hat. Also machten wir uns morgens in Richtung des Mausoleums auf. Cloud konnte nicht so recht verstehen, warum die Vietnamesen den Revolutionsführer ausstellen. Auf mei [View Full Entry]

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Ich bin im kulinarischen Himmel! Gegenüber Cloud darf ich es nicht allzu laut sagen, aber bei aller Liebe zu einzelnen chinesischen Gerichten, habe ich in den vergangenen anderthalb Tagen so ziemlich das beste Essen der vergangenen drei Monate gegessen. Am ersten Abend gab es gegrillte Hähnchenstücke mit Zitronengras, heute Mittag meine erste Pho seit über zwei Jahren (für weniger als einen Euro ein riesiger Topf Reisnudelsuppe mit hauchdünnen Rindfleischscheiben, Koriander und Frühlingszwiebeln, nach eigenem Ermessen mit Fischsauce, Limettensaft und Chilis vermischt), zum Abendessen dann gebr [View Full Entry]

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Der Dschungel brennt. Darüber fliegen Hubschrauber, in denen US-Soldaten mit dem Gewehr in der Hand darauf warten, zu ihrem Einsatzort gebracht zu werden. Im Hintergrund ertönt "Paint it Black" von den Rolling Stones. In der grünen Hölle darunter kämpfen milchgesichtige US-Boys gegen Hitze, Malaria und einen unsichtbaren Feind. Irgendwo im Dschungel an einem der unzähligen Arme des Mekong hat sich Marlon Brando sein eigenes Dschungelreich geschaffen... Kein Land Südostasiens weckt bei der bloßen Erwähnung des Namens so viele negative Assoziationen wie Vietnam, nicht einmal Kambodscha [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 28 November 2009 - The third weekend of this month I was not at home. This time I traveled with my parents and their friends to Tản Đà spa resort and Khoang Xanh. There were 42 people on the trip and I was the youngest one. It is always fun to spend time with old people at age 55 to 78 as I could learn from them a great enthusiasm and affection for life. They experienced both French and American wars, and their lives were so hard during and after the wars. I love their optimism, especially when they read [View Full Entry]

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The bus actually arrived in Mui Ne although an hour late and we boarded it to head to Nha Trang, although Mully wasn't allowed on untill he cleaned his feet with a bottle of water. This was our first experience of a sleeper bus which is exactly what it says on the tin. A bus with three row across the middle of it with a number of beds. We had been advised to get onto the back seats as there was more room which was true, what we hadn't counted on (nor the est of the bus for that matter) was [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 21 November 2009 - Some friends visited Hanoi, so we rented a taxi and traveled 40km to two villages in Thanh Oai commune. The first village we visited was the Vác village where the locals make bird cages and paper fans. We visited 3 houses and saw the locals drying fans in the sun or making bird cages of different shapes. The next village is more interesting. Our taxi went along the Nhuệ river and we passed by Cự Khê village then stopped at the gate into Cự Đà village. This village is famous for its finely preserved architecture. It [View Full Entry]

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