Phi Phi Island, Thailand

Pictures from Phi Phi can be found here in Picasa!

As you might have read earlier, we ended up skipping Laos in the favor of some warmth and sun shine in Phi Phi islands, Thailand. Also due to the fact that getting to Laos and further back to Singapore seemed to become extremely time consuming and rather expensive.

We booked a night bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok for the price of 16 USD for 8 hours of drive time. Our pick up was at 1.15 and as usually the bus was late, leaving 3 am.

Just before reaching the border, around 6.45 am we stopped. Our tickets were collected and we were slapped on with red stickers in exchange. From there we continued to the border which opened at 7 am. No fees at the border.

It took roughly an hour and a half to go through the borders and customs. And as a surprise and something to think, while walking between the borders in the no mans land we found the place filled with casinos forming a big city between, and of course duty free!

After getting stamped to Thailand we were gathered as a group of red sticker ons and walked out to a pick up point roughly 500 meters away. From there we continue to Bangkok with mini buses fitting 13 person each.

Before leaving one of the organizer asked if anyone wants to go directly to airport and we raised hands with my Danish bro. At this point there was no talk about extra costs or airport fees.

We left around 9 am towards Bangkok and the international airport of Suvarnabhumi. Approximately 30 minutes before arriving the driver who apparently doesn't know how to speak English or even understand it starts to ask extra money from the ones who wanted to go directly to the airport. It wasn't actually sure who he was talking to but so we ended up reasoning. First he asked 60 baht per person, then 3 USD then 4 USD. He actually called his boss and some other backpacker in front row talked to him solving our situation which ended up to a high 4 USD, which we reasoned not to pay, because on the way the driver only had to pay 50 baht highway fee. It really felt like they tried to make us pay the trip for a second time.

On the airport I said to the guy, we are not paying 4 USD each and asked if we can call his boss, I promised 1 USD each and that's it (at the moment 1 USD is approximately 30 baht), and the guy nodded. At the same time my Danish friend blurted out that we settled for 3 USD per head so we ended up paying it too. Paid for nothing but still we got where we wanted, so it's all fine.

So we arrived to the airport at noon and tried to change our 16:55 flight to Phuket to an earlier one leaving at 14:40, but the flight was already full. We ended up spending the day at the airport finishing one movie and catching some shuteye.

We arrived to Phuket airport and wandered to airport travel information stall to book some random cheap accommodation (Summer Hotel), also a minibus to Phuket Town and the following morning boat tickets to the Phi Phi islands including free pick-up service from the hotel. After arriving to our hotel we strolled around for a while and I finally got my friend to step out from his comfort zone, from the Burgers and Fries. We had the best duck rice ever on this tiny street stall, although my friend was very suspicious in the end when the guy handled  everything, the money, food and drinks with his bare hands. My friends was appalled, though I was fine with it.

We were supposed to be picked up at 8 am, boat departing at 8.30 am, but you can already guess, late. In the end we made to the cruiser filled with hundreds of tourists filling up the decks below and above.

We were supposed to be doing all kinds of activities like trekking, canoeing, snorkeling in Phi Phi islands, but we ended up just partying on the beach, partying on the beach, partying on the beach and once again partying on the beach! We enjoyed our lives to the fullest!

On one day though we went to gym for couple of hours and founded a sauna to relax, so nice! It wasn't the Finnish version, though they had one, but broken. We entered a steam sauna with sizzling 70 degrees of burning humidity awesomeness!

Also one of the evenings was filled with unexpected excitement, when my Danish friend and I were surrounded by five Thai mafia guys. They threatened us with taser pushing it almost on our face and skin. They also knocked me with a club to the back of my head, and smacked with open hand to my face and stomach, even though we weren't resisting. They were demanding 3000 bath (100 USD) as ransom to let us go. Some Swedish guy came to the scene and started to bullshit us too, saying that he can take care of this if we just pay. He was threatening us by saying that these guys can take you to the jungle and smack you to dead etc, I didn't feel like they could but still, why take the unnecessary risk. In the end we ended up paying 1700 baht which was all that we carried that moment.

The trip ended with the most boring 11 hours waiting time on the Phuket international airport, but we really didn't want to miss our flight and my connection to Finland on next day, and we were a bit unsure about our JetStar flight tickets. I tried to buy them for us, but payment failed twice. Then my friend tried to buy the tickets, after one failure we got the itinerary confirmed. In the end my friend got to confirmed flight itinerary's in his mail and I received two confirmed ones almost two days after the flight had already left and we were in Singapore already. Lets see what they are making us to pay...

Cambodia Part II, Siem Reap

Pictures from Siem Reap can be found here from Picasa!

Siem Reap is nowadays a popular tourist destination, with a large number of hotels and restaurants. Many of the smaller establishments are concentrated around the Old Market area, like our hostel Angkor Thom with rooms for 8 USD per night so 4 USD per head. More expensive hotels can be found between Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport and the town along National Road 6. There is a vast variety of mid-range hotels and restaurants along Sivatha boulevard, and mid budget to mid-range hotels in the Phsar Leu area. The Pub Street is the center of backpacker life day or night!

As the tripadvisor and lonely planet plus some local tour procures suggested we decided to do the small and grand circuit tours of the Angkor Temples, first starting with the small one and then next day the grand one. Of course we did some minor modifications to the plans so that we were able to catch the sunset and sunrises in best locations.

The Small Circuit takes in several of the major and minor temples in the area. Beginning at Angkor Wat and running for seventeen kilometers the circuit takes in the major elements of Angkor Thom, Ta Phrohm, and Banteay Kdei, and some of the minor but interesting temples such as the Baphoun, The Terrace of the Leper King, The Terrace of the Elephants, the Twelve Prasats, Spean Thma and Sras Srang before returning to Angkor Wat.

We started our tour from the Spean Thma and Sras Srang skipping the Angkor Wat on the first day because we had planned to catch the sunrise there on the next morning. We ended our first day with a sunset view from top of the mountain temple Phnom Bakheng.

Ta Phrom was built in the late 12th century by Jayavarman VII as a shrine to his mother and is another must for anyone coming to Siem Reap. As a monastery there were nearly three thousand priests here including eighteen high priests. Ta Prohm is unforgettable due to the massive trees that were left here intentionally by the archaeologists working on the site. While clearing back the forest it was decided to leave them in place to serve as a reminder of how the original discovers found it and other temples. Many of the trees have grown around and through the remains, and soar high above the temple.

Phnom Bakheng served as the temple mountain of the first city of Angkor as opposed to the previous center of Roluos. The capital built on a lone hill offers panoramic views of Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom and the surrounding areas. It is best visited in the late afternoon for a spectacular sunset or in the early morning for sunrise over Angkor Wat.

Angkor Thom was built by Cambodia's greatest builder, Jayavarman VII. This ten square kilometer city is enclosed by an eight meter high wall and encircled by a hundred meter moat said to have been inhabited by fierce crocodiles. There are five twenty meter high gates in the wall in each of the North, West and South walls and two in the East Wall. Access is via causeways over the moat that are flanked by the statues of fifty four Gods on the left and fifty four devils on the right, all seemingly engaged in a game of tug of war.

Bayon is located in the geographical heart of Angkor Thom. The fifty four tower temple is a quite remarkable sight. Initially the temple seems to be a shapeless mass of grey and brown stone but as one approaches one realizes that each of the towers is in fact carved and there are over two hundred huge enigmatic faces of Avalokitesharva bearing down on you wherever you turn. The amazing and unique temple of Bayon is easily the most popular sight after Angkor Wat.

The twenty-six kilometer Grand Circuit is an extension on the little circuit but taking in Preah Khan, Preah Neak Pean to the Eastern Mebon and the various monuments like Ta Som, Preah Rup, before returning to Angkor Wat and is highly recommended for anyone spending three or more days in the complex. The Big Circuit encompasses a good representation of the rich variety of architecture here.

We started the second day waking up at 4:30 am to catch the sunrise over the Angkor Wat and otherwise it went as preplanned. Although we decided not to visit the Rolous Group locating further away as it seemed that they had nothing more to offer for us. So we ended up changing our plans to cover the Water Village locate also further away.


Angkor Wat is the cultural home of the Khmer people and its form, in various guises has appeared and is still on the national flag. Had it been located in the Mediterranean basin it would have been one of the eight wonders of the world. The Lost City of Angkor was to remain undiscovered by Western archaeologists until the late 19th century and ever since has continued to amaze all who see it for the first time: neither words nor pictures do it justice. Angkor Wat is a legacy of the might that was once the Khmer Empire, a detailed history of which has been carved into the many walls of this fortified temple. The temple is accessible by a giant stone causeway across the hundred ninety meter moat, itself an incredible feat of engineering, to the west face of the Wat.

The tuk-tuk ride to the Water Village took around 30 minutes to get there followed by another 30 minutes of small boat ride. In the village we enjoyed some refreshments before renting local style canoes to visit the Flooding Forest and the Flooding fields. The trip took altogether around 4 hours back and forth, we were really pleased. A must thing to do if visiting, but just to note, make sure that it is watery season, because in two months those fields and forest will be without water, just bare land.

The tuk-tuk with a driver for two whole days cost us 31 USD for four people. In the end we decided to tip the driver with 4 extra making total 35 USD and he ended up hugging us. He was so kind to us with waiting and helping to get the best out of our trip, he was also really patient with us wanting to catch the sunset and sunrise. Normally you have to pay extra to see them. The 3 day tickets to see the temples were 40 USD per head.

On the third day I joined my Danish buddy to the shooting range, he was destined to shoot a clip with AK 47. After 30 rounds and 60 USD, the day followed with mostly all manly activities starting with beers, drinks and pizzas continuing 14 hours straight. We also enjoyed some great frog barbecue and burgers, yarrr! We also met again with some guys we first met in Phnom Penh and partied with them, great and crazy night!

Last day was just for resting before leaving to the next country. Actually there has been some changes to our plans. We are not continuing to Laos but rather than taking a night bus to Bangkok, Thailand from where I'll continue with just my Danish bro to Phuket with a domestic flight followed by a ferry ride to the Phi Phi paradise islands.

Ps. I already bought train tickets from Helsinki to Seinäjoki on December 23rd at 13:06 o'clock! Just wait Christmas, here I come!

Cambodia Part I, Phnom Phen

Pictures from the Phnom Phen can be founded from Picasa. Some of the pictures especially from Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or the Killing Fields may be a bit shocking, so I advice to use some digression. I tried not to upload anything too brutal though.

The ride from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh took around 6 hours and it was okay, steady enough and the roads are actually quite good on the Vietnam side. Another story after crossing to Cambodia. We crossed the border at the Bavet checkpoint. At the border we had to pay 25 USD to get a visa to Cambodia which the bus coordinator collected along with our passports. Just a bit corrupted feeling, they almost didn't even look at who was using the passport, just stamping them in a row happily after receiving the payment.

The Eighty8 Backpackers hostel was our destination. A bit expensive dorms 6 USD, but otherwise a very nice place with welcoming staff. On the first night we gazed upon the riverside, chilled at the Night Market and crossed the Wat Phnom on the way back. Night market is really a place to see when visiting Phnom Penh.

The next morning was followed by a walking tour that I had prepared for us over the day. We started with the Wat Phnom, continued to Central Market, gazed upon Wat Koh and Wat Saravorn. Enjoyed a tour of history with guide in National Museum followed by a lunch. After that tried to capture the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda but realized that we didn't had proper clothing for that. We then went to Cambodia and Vietnam friendship monument, continued to Independence Monument and saw the Wat Langka finally ariving to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. After that we were supposed to visit the Russian Market but we didn't had enough time. Should start these day trips early in the morning, and not at 10 am...

Wat Phnom, the Temple of the Mountains or Mountain Pagoda is a Buddhist temple located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was built in 1373, and stands 27 meters above the ground. It is the tallest religious structure in the city.

The Central market or as locals call it, Phsar Thmei is a major tourist hot spot. The four wings of the yellow colored market are teeming with numerous stalls selling gold and silver jewelry, antique coins, clothing, clocks, flowers, food, fabrics and shoes. We managed to find some electronics like iPod charger for my Spanish friend and usb mouse the Danish one.

We booked a guide in the National Museum of Cambodia. One could correct the name of the museum to a National Museum of Religions in Cambodia. There we learned how, when and from where the Hinduism and Buddhism had came to be in Cambodia and how it evolved over the time, and where it took all its symbolisms etc. The guide also told us about the current status of religions in Cambodia and shared us a view to the stories behind the main gods like Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. The relationships between them and all the different meanings of different minor gods like Ganesh with elephant head. Also she shared that the amount of arms contrasted the power of the god and what the feel of fire meant.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is one of the breathtaking museums in Phnom Penh. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill". It is estimated that it hold up to 20000 people as prisoners, 1000 to 1500 at a time. The prisoners were repeatedly tortured and coerced to name family members, friends or colleagues as CIA or KGB agents or any culprits against the communist uprise.

When the museum was closing and we were waiting for some of our friends to finish the tour I played with some local kids. I actually started to fold a paper plane for one kid smiling close by. After a while another girl stumbled upon us and took the plane out of my hands and started to fold it by herself telling me that I didn't know how to make a airplane. She actually copied how I had made it already, clever kid. Then a third kid showed up, he challenged me to play with him, whom can shove the airplane further and the highest. I won the first one by far. The kid demanded a rematch and I agreed. Now he threw his airplane directly upwards while I was shoving mine also forward. And so he won the competition for the highest throw and I for the longest one. I donated my winning plane for the girl who was making it with me.

After the long day we finally had a time to relax. We had pallend a get-together with other NUS exchange students that we knew to be in Phnom Penh too, in the end there were eleven of us! We met at the first national flag on the riverside where we saw also some kids break dancing. After awhile of hugging we headed to find a restaurant. Our friends had spotted some place earlier on the day while walking in the city.

We ended up eating beef from a wholesome barbecued cow. The night was perfect with lots of fun. Thank you all guys and girls! While enjoying the dinner we encountered some kids begging, we knew that giving money wont help, so we asked if they wanted to have some meet that we could share for them and they happily accepted. Of course their hiding parents behind the corned weren't so happy because they didn't bring any money to them, rather just ate themselves the food we shared. As previously in the Tuol Sleng museum, I made a airplane for the kids to play and they were happy.

After awhile of pub crawling we found a night club to party at till 4.30 am when we found ourselves back at the hostel.

On the last day we were supposed to visit the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda early in the morning at 7.30 am when they opened and right after that the Killing fields before continuing to Siem Reap. And so it happened that us guys overslept and the girls went by themselves. Although we slept in the same dorm and apparently they tried to wake me up at least three times I didn't join their entourage.

The rest of us woke up around noon and decided to hurry up to see the fields and to catch a bus to Siem Reap on the same day.

The Killing Fields are a number of sites, at least 300 hundred of them found, in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979. This happened immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War in 1970-1975.

Analysis of 20,000 mass grave sites by the DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University indicate at least 1,386,734 victims. It is estimated that the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a population of around 8 million. In 1979, communist Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime.

PS. just comment if interest about the facts and real stories of some of the rare survivors of S-21 and I'll share them too!

Vietnam Part III - Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City

Pictures from Nha Trang and some from Ho Chi Minh City can be found from my picasa album!

Nha Trang

We arrived to the hotel at 6 am with the open bus. Found an affordable accommodation right away, only 6 USD per night. We booked the rooms and jumped back to bed to rest till 9 am, after which we enjoyed a breakfast on the roof terrace with beautiful view opening over the Nha Trang beach and city. After the breakfast we wandered couple of kilometers by the shore.

Nha Trangs is actually the most famous seaside resort-town in Vietnam. It is more lively and urbar in character than other beach destinations like Phu Quoc and Mui Ne, also serving as a scuba diving center of Vietnam. One cannot wander the street noticing that it has reached its current state due to Russian tourism, which can be seen everywhere as everything is translated also in Russian.

Located on a small hill at the mouth of the Cai river at Nha Trang, we found the temple of Po Nagar. It is said to be named after the goddess of local origin who is said to have created the earth, eaglewood and rice. The temple was built and rebuilt in 7th-12th centuries during the Hindu period of Champa and thus the images of the goddess takes the form of Uma, wife of Siva.

The temple is nowadays used by Vietnamese people and they have dressed the goddess in Buddhist robes. There is speculations of comparison between this temple and the towers of Lolei, near the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which were built at the end of the 8th century.

Next place we visited was the Long Son Pagoda, which is the home of the giant seated Buddha, and it is the oldest Buddhist pagoda in town. The pagoda was established in 1963 and built on the site of the first pagoda in Nha Trang to honor the monks and nuns who died demonstrating against the Diem government. The famous giant seated Buddha is 79 ft. tall and has a shrine inside.

While walking back to the hotel we stumbled upon the Nha Trang Main Cathedral. The construction was started by the archbishop Louis Valet who had the top of the mountain blown off with 500 mines to obtain flat surface of 4,500 square meters. The cathedral was finally completed after 7 years of construction in 1935. The cathedral still holds its majestic beauty and its unique architecture.

When we arrived back to the hotel the girls met this older random Russian guy who was just arrived to the Vietnam and was completely lost. We continued to our room, but awhile later they all stumbled upon our door to ask us to join. Long story short, we ended up sharing a bottle of vodka with Igor on the roof sharing some stories. Apparently he had spent 20 years roaming the sea as a ichthyologist, and also that almost all of his cousins live in near Turku. The guy didn't speak any English so the girls worked a bit as a translators. It was a really weird evening and a night.

The next morning started with a walk around the close by quarters while enjoying some street food. We then separated to groups of boys and girls. I ended up resting a while before going to gym for one hour and thirty minutes followed by a solid thirty minutes of stretching.

Later, as a one group again, we enjoyed a nice dinner with some crocodile meat on the side. Others said that it was a bit more chicken like but for me it was a bit more white fish meat like than chicken - same same but different.

Also after the dinner my 1 year 11 months unplanned Movember ended. After the dinner we went to barbershop to cut my hair, and around 20 minutes later I had become 5 years younger. I love my new old hairstyle, how's that cutie in the picture? The whole thing was filmed and archived.

After the dinner we went actually to order a movie night on a local cinema like theater. The cinema had room for almost 20 people and you were allowed to book what you wanted to watch, we ended up choosing the Daybreakers. I could classify it as a B-grade vampire action strip with some idea in it, IMDB gives quite surprising 6.1 out of 10. In the end it was a entertaining movie enough but not that much to say or to add. We had the whole theater for ourselves which was nice. To note, it wasn't actually like a proper theater, it was more like a living room private cinema.

For the next day we had booked a 4 island boat tour. The boat got backed up with around 30 to 40 people ranging in age, sex and nationality, mainly some older Chinese and American people in our situation. First stop was an aquarium island, which we had to pay 50 000 dong (1.5 USD) more to see it. Was a bit of a ripoff though, it was even smaller aquarium than the one in Särkänniemi back in Tampere, but I still enjoyed it with all the sharks and weird coral fishes etc. they had.

Second stop was close by the Monkey island. There was a possibility for swimming, jumping off from the boat roof and lots of different expensive water sports. They also offered a change for scuba diving for the price of 25 USD, luckily snorkeling was free, but as a misfortune, the past night was so stormy that it had made the seabed unclear. I didn't feel like swimming although the sun was shining, ended up just blazing myself in the sun.

Third stop was close to the Bamboo island, we actually anchored ourselves next to a floating fishing village where you were able to buy some food to be cooked for you. The lobster felt really pricey, a one huge over a kilo in weight lobster cost 120 USD and the animals were left to rest in peace. After that the backs of the benches were turned down and they formed a big table. The lunch was offered, it was amazing, the food so vast and vary accompanied with fruits later. After the dinner was cleared it was time for a party, the "boat nr. 4 trip" crew had their own boy band and so they started to play music. We also tried some sea urchin.

Everyone from any different culture had something to sing, I had to sing "Jaakko kulta herää jo..." song. My Russian friends song the communist song that goes in Finnish something like this "Sirppi ja vasara ne taivahalla loistaa", but as a young girls they were, they didn't recognize the song. And we are quite unsure if the band was actually singing it in Finnish. It took me quite awhile to understand the "Jaakko kulta" song too from their pronunciation. My Spanish friend started with the Macarena song, which he didn't know at all. He actually guessed that song is going to be for him. The song was followed by a party song that got all the people dancing on the table. After that we heard or rather saw quite a good version of Spanish national anthem. And also other people from all the different cultures or countries song something; some French, Canadian, American, Chinese and Vietnamese to say at least.

Performances were followed by a open bar floating party in the water, so if you wanted to join you just had to jump in. The crew throw always some liferings "pelastusrengas" in to the water for everyone to float with while drinking the local port wine that was offered for the brave ones. And of course, what else, I was one of the first ones to jump into the water - styling the entrance with a back flip from the roof of the boat followed by applause. After a while of floating and drinking we started to do more jumping with my Spanish friend.

The last stop was on Moon island. It was a beach island, not a resort and you had to bay 20 000 dong (1 USD) entrance fee. The weather was rainy so the beach didn't tempt that much but we entered to the beach and started to play some cards. Just before leaving the island we got a grasp of sun to put a smile back on our faces. While going back to the shore the sky fell loose and water was pouring like never before, okay, I admit, a bit of execration.

In all together we enjoyed the boat trip, thank you crew of the boat nr. 4!

After the trip I stumbled upon some reviews about these 4 island tours on Internet. Most of them described our tour really precisely in details, except that on those tours the reviewer didn't enjoy, what a pity to them. But I guess it is always the group and the friends who makes the atmosphere. We had also already heard about these boat trips from other backpackers the girls met in Hoi An and they told the boat trip to be the most fun thing on their Nha Trang visit.

After the trip we chilled awhile and confirmed our open bus tickets to Ho Chi Minh on the following day. We went to book something for the last day too but in the end decided to skip ostrich and elephant as well as expensive water park rides. After that we divided, the girls wanted to party and I wanted to see a movie with my Spanish friend. We chose to see Peter Jacksons movie District 9. The movie was entertaining but not quite what we expected. It could have been a bit better if would have understood the aliens speaking to each other because the alien language of the Prawns was only translated in Vietnamese. Luckily we were still able to follow arch of drama in the movie. The movie has surprisingly high 8.1/10 in IMDB.

Last morning in Nha Trang also my Spanish friends birthday started with a good two hours session exercising at the gym followed by some stretching. When leaving from the gym and walking across the street to buy some fruits for breakfast from a street stall, the saleslady popped up a question, where are you from? Followed by a statement, you are so handsome. Made my morning and got a smile on my face. The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the hotel lounge and diner before the open bus company picked us up at 7.30 pm towards Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh, formerly Saigon, is the biggest city in Vietnam in terms of residents and population density. The capital of Vietnam, the Hanoi is still bigger in terms of ground coverage. Some say that Ho Chi Minh and Megong Delta has nothing to offer except views of reality of the harsh local life in Vietnam. They are not favored by tourist or backpackers that much.

We arrived to Ho Chi Minh early in the morning, around 6 am. We had scheduled to meet with our Danish exchange student friend at the Ben Than market at 7 am. One thing to remember from Ho Chi Minh was that in the morning the park was filled with people exercising, walking, running, stretching and playing badminton. Close to the big roundabout in front of the Ben Than market main entrance we reunited with Frederik and turned our heads towards a bus station, more precisely just a street to get a bus ride to Cambodia, more precisely to the capital Phnom Penh.

Vietnamese Folktales - The Witness

An old usurer had lent thirty strings of coins to a poverty-stricken peasant. What with the interest which had accumulated, the peasant found it impossible to pay his creditor.
One day, the usurer came to see the peasant to demand his money for the umpteeth time. The house was empty. There was only a little child playing in the yard.
- Where are your parents? - asked the rich man. The child did not say a word.
- I'm asking you where your parents are? Just you look out if you go on being stubborn!
The child replied with deliberate slowness:
- My father's gone to behead living plants and plant dead ones. My mother's gone to sell wind!
The usurer racked his brains but could not understand what the child meant. He begged him in vain to explain to him what he had said.
- If you tell me, I'll release your father from the dept! - He let out as a bait at last.
- You are trying to fool me, sir!
- Not at all, upon my word of honor!
- Who'll be a witness to your promise?
- The gecko lizard crawling round the edge of that bowl!
- O.K! My father's gone to transplant rice seedlings and my mother to sell fans.
Now the old fox, who had no more intention of making a present to the father than of keeping his word to the son, returned to demand his strings of coins.
- Now you don't owe him anything, Dad - said the child - The other day he formally acquitted us of our dept.
- Wretched liar! - roared the usurer.
- I have a witness, don't forget!
The old miser went off to lodge a complaint.
- I don't deny the dept - the peasant said to the mandarin in charge of the enquiry - But my son positively maintained that the gentleman gave his word to acquit us of it.
The child was called, and he described what had happened.
- Have you got any proof of what you allege? - asked the mandarin.
- I have a witness!
- Bring him here, you liar - sneered the usurer.
- Your Excellency - said the child imperturbably - Sir here himself took as a witness a gecko lizard climbing up a column in my house.
- He's lying, Mr. Mandarin! The lizard was on the edge of a bowl not on a column.
The mandarin, who happened to appreciate wit and believed in fairness, burst out laughing.
- You're betrayed by yourself, you perjurious usurer. The lashes you are going to receive will teach you how to keep your word, even if it's given to a child.

umpteeth - indefinitely many; a lot of
deliberate - done or acting in a careful and unhurried way
allege - claim or assert that someone has done something illegal or wrong
imperturbably - unable to be upset or excited; calm
perjurious - the offense of willfully telling an untruth in a court after having taken an oath or affirmation

Vietnam Part II - Hué and Hoi An

More pictures of Hué and Hoi An can be found in picasa!


Hué

Hanoi was left behind at 6 pm in the evening. We knew that the ride to Hué, to our first stop on the way to south would be a long one, but not like this. It was supposed to be a 14 hours ride over the mountains, but after a breakdown for two hours at night and for four hours in the morning, it took us 20 hours.

So we ended up losing the first day in Hué. After founding a place to crash for 4 USD per person per night we went for a proper dinner. The receptionist suggested us a close by coffee house just around the corner on a bit shady and closed alley. And so we found Nina's Coffee Family Restaurant, where we ended up enjoying all of our meals in Hué because it offered the best Vietnamese cuisines this far we had tasted. And the warmest and friendliest atmosphere.

After the dinner we wandered around a bit in Hué, we crossed the river dividing the city in to a old part with Citadel and the Forgotten Purple City, and the new city to find a supermarket and a food market. We bought some funky fruits and cheap local white and red wines for approximately three dollars per bottle.

We walked back across the beautifully lighted bridge and sat down by the river shore. Awhile later an older lady approached us and offered a ferry ride along the river for 30 minutes for just two dollars total. The ride was nice, we enjoyed the wine, even though the local wine was a bit more of an spirit like than wine like. While on the boat, we also saw lots of lanterns been lighted up and released to float along the river to respect the lives lost to the river. It was beautiful.

After finishing our wines we stumbled back to the hotel from where we continued to a bar next door to chill for a while. We played some billiard, cards etc. while enjoying some big local Huda beers for half a dollar per bottle. Not a bit later than midnight we found our way across the corner back to our hostel, but it was a shame, I've been having this terrible coughing for a while now and it doesn't seem to get better even though I'm treating it now with Chinese herbal cough syrup. So it took almost till 4 am to fall asleep and I already woke up at 7 am because of started coughing again.

The day for tourism had arrived. We still ended up staying in bed till 9 am, even though we rested on the open bus for 20 hours it really wasn't that refreshing. I also had to respond to some emails and write some applications due to student welfare back in Finland, annoying that they know all the facts but they still don't wanna check them before harassing. But it seems that everything is okay now.

The Hué is the Buddhist center of whole Vietnam and it actually has more than hundreds of Pagodas, Temples and ceremonial Tombs to visit. All the cheap tours had already started around 7 to 8 am so we had no choice but to try to look for something by ourselves. We ended up starting from total of 40 USD to paying only of 22 USD for the whole day with a driver and car cruising us around. We visited the old Thu Than Pagoda, Tomb of Tu Duc, Tomb of Khai Dinh, Thien Mu Pagoda and the Old Citadel. Unfortunately we arrived to the last stop, the Citadel just a bit late so we had to settle to see it just from the outside. Which was actually okay for me, and to add, our driver had told us that the citadel is just a bigger version of the other tombs and pagodas.

While visiting the Tumb of Tu Duc we found and bought small satire and humour book about Vietnamese folktales with my Spanish friend. After the driver dropped us at the citadel, we walked back to the city and visited the fruit market to get some for midnight snack and for breakfast. We got back to the hotel around 6 pm where we rested for awhile before going to next door chill out at the club and to play some billiard and cards, and to listen some nice music.

We had a open bus to catch at 8 am, for our misfortune it wasn't the same kind sleeping bus, but rather a normal one. Luckily the ride from Hué to Hoi An was only four hours.

Hoi An

Hoi An was supposed to be a place for relaxation after almost 10 hectic days traveling. We arrived at noon and the bus dropped us directly at some hotel - probably paying some commissions or something for the bus company because we saw it happen on daily basis. It seemed expensive but luckily I had read from the Lonely Planet that the hotel actually had a dorm room for four people for 5 USD per person, but just if you know to ask for it, they don't offer it otherwise.

The hotel had a free drop off service and they drove us to the city center close to the river dividing it into small almost like islands. Close to the shore we enjoyed a proper lunch followed by a afternoon of walking around the city and the markets and enjoying the peaceful and calm riverside. We had some Vietnamese coffee which is actually very nice and a must to taste if any of you ever travel to Vietnam, and we also found a nice place with lots of traveler recommendations and stories written by customers all over the world, quite a lot actually in Finnish too. The place was called Mr. Kim's Café des Amis.

Before going to bed we played some cards and finally found our banana monster. My Spanish friends bananas had been mauled by a tiny mouse running around back on forth on his bed - some good laughs.

We also started to build up a horror story by everyone continuing the story with one sentence, and actually it got a bit scary with all the cold and rainy weather with squeaky windows clattering. After that we calmed ourselves with some Vietnamese folktales from the book we had bought.

We woke up at 6 am to book a day trip to My Son (pronounced as Me Sun) temple 55 kilometers away from the town. My Son means and translates to a beautiful mountain. The temple had been bombed by the USA military back in Vietnam war because of false intelligence stating that the Vietcong troops were hiding there. And so the beautiful temples turned into an amazing ruins that they are now. The temple is said to resemble the temple of Angkor in Cambodia but in a smaller scale of course. The temple was built in 400 AD by Java people and was used to worship Shiva, the main god, the god of creation and destruction, man and female in the same body. Also later the temple was combined to Buddhism with lotus flower shape pedestals and pillar decorations to prove it.

The temple was found by French explorers in mid 19th century. As one can notice from some of the pictures that none of the statues, except on has a head, it is because the French people cut all the heads and sent them to Louvre. From some of the pictures it's possible to notice the exceptional work of the Java people. The walls that look bright and new are actually over thousand years old, and the bad looking ones changing color only 25 years. Even nowadays, no one has been able to reconstruct the way how Java people built these temples and bricks without cement and whats the secret that keeps the tiles in perfect condition.

While visiting the temples my friend compared and quoted me as a Shiva, the perfect being, beginning and end. He also told that he had actually talked about me to our Norwegian friend previously that I'm one of the best persons he knows. Also the girls said that I'm one of the most patient person they know. It was really nice to hear that my friends thing so highly of me. I thanked them, and of course we smiled and laughed a bit with consensus.

After the temples we were dropped off to a river location, from where we took a boat ride with lunch back to the Hoi An on the way visiting one craftsmanship island village. After the temple ruins tour we were ready for the 12 hours overnight journey to Nha Trang.

Ps. I really liked Hoi An. The calm, relaxed atmosphere with streets only for walking, small street side food stalls everywhere. Actually in Hoi An we tried quite a few things from the streets like banana slice pancakes, special cakes made out of soy beans, coconut, mango etc., and also deep fried bread with minced rice-meat mixture. To highlight, the best was the hand made street spring rolls, I will hold a dinner party like that when I settle back in Finland!

Vietnam Part I - Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa

Some pictures of the journey can be found in picasa and facebook.

I woke up at 8 am after a six hours of restless and shallow, but not a sleepless night. I guess I was a bit worried because I didn't have a place to stove my excess luggage for the vacation period and we were leaving to the airport in one and half hour. Past night was also my last night in the NUS UTown Graduate Residence. In the morning I was calling through number of my friends to find out who had booked the accommodation over the vacation period and would be home around December 20th. And in the end I found one, just minutes before leaving to the taxi. Actually, when the taxi came, we still had to wait almost 15 minutes to for my Spanish roommate, again... but thats already quite normal, everyone knows that he'll get lost or etc.

And so, off to the airport. I shared a taxi with my traveling buddies to be for the next month. My Spanish roommate and two lovely girlfriends from Russia. We arrived to the airport just in time before closure of the check-in and boarded the plane just 5-10 minutes before takeoff. The flight took three and half hours, and actually I can't recall if was I sleeping or not, presumably I was. I can only recall my crazy Spanish friend using an orange plastic back tied to his ears to cover his eyes, so funky looking.

I had applied for visa before hand through an Vietnamese immigration site, but we got a bit screwed. We bought the multiple entry visas because the price difference between single entry was so ridiculous low, only 5 dollars. But after paying the tickets, we received the receipt and confirmation email which stated that

*Note:The fee you have paid is NOT included stamping fee at Vietnam airport: 25 USD for single entry and 50 USD for multiple entry.

and again we realized that nothing comes for free. After buying the visas, I also realized that Finns can actually go to Vietnam for fourteen (14) days for free without a visa like Russians. However, I ended up using the visa application, because I wanted a new cool looking visa into my passport instead of just a basic stamp.

Hanoi

On the flight, I also checked out a place for us to stay from the Lonely Planet, an affordable backpacker accommodation called Backpackers Hostel. After landing, we hailed a meter from the airport and drove to the Old Quarter of Hanoi to check in at the hostel. When arriving to the door a guy jumped at us and started asking about if we had a reservation which we didn't have, because otherwise it was full. He then offered to take us to a different hotel, just a bit further away which was supposedly part of the same group and we followed... We bargained the price of the room and also the trip plans he tried to offer. After an hour of discussion we ended up paying 222 USD each for a two days one night trip to Halong Bay, two days two nights trip to Sapa and a open bus tickets valid for month which we'll use to travel to south, all the way to Ho Chi Min (Saigon). The open buss tickets were perfect for us, we can jump off at any place we want and continue the trip later when we would like to advance.

The first night was spent in Hanoi, we walked around the Old Quarter for couple of hours, enjoyed some local cuisine with couple of beers on the side, and finally went to bed around midnight.

Halong Bay

We had a long day upon us, we woke up just before 7 am and headed down for breakfast. The ride from Hanoi to Halong harbor took around four and half hours with a 25 minute break at a tourist gift shop place, from where we bought these whole pineapples, the best ones I have ever had so far!

Not for the fainthearted... Also on the highway we saw an accident that had happened just a bit earlier; on the middle of the road there was a young lady lying under a mattress and a fallen scooter a bit further away. But unfortunately for us some guy just lifted the mattress to check her situation and we saw that all the guts and brains had spread over the pavement. There was no police or ambulance coming at that time, luckily there were at least some people decent enough to cover her remains with the mattress. May she rest in peace.

The girls had heard about the Halong Bay boat trips previously. They were told to be famous with backpackers partying overnight at the boats. There was about sixteen of us boarding the boat. First started to head out towards Halong Bay while enjoying a very good lunch. After lunch we visited the Halong Bay limestone caves which were quite beautiful, even though already a bit too touristic with all the lights and stuff for my taste.

After the caves we headed towards a floating village with at least fishermen and fish farmers living there beside the tourism workers. From the floating houses we rented some kayaks and paddled out to the sea to feel the views and the sea for almost an hour, the most amazing thing in a while! After the kayaking we continued towards one of the bigger inner islands, which actually had roads going inside. We anchored the boat there and enjoyed a really nice dinner. We were also given a permission to go to swim there, but the water didn't look so inviting in the cold ocean air after the sun had set. Almost everyone gave up sooner or later, we continued chilling at least till 1 am.

The wake up was around 7 to 8 am. After the breakfast some of the others went swimming while we were jumping flips and tricks from the boat railing. We got back to the shore around noon and headed for lunch at Halong City. Around 5.30 pm we reached Hanoi and our Hai Nam hostel. We spent the next couple of hours wandering through the city while looking for a book store. I bought some allergic medicine and we also bought some fruits to go, and actually I found this small foot stall on the street that sold local döner kebab, it was like a pita kebab inside a paquet - just perfect!

After 8 pm we were picked up for the night train to Lao Cai and Sapa. We were promised our own cabin for four but we ended up in a six person prison cell. I didn't think it was that bad, but I'm quite good in adapting. The train departed at 9.50 pm and we arrived to Lao Cai at 6.30 am after a somewhat rested night. From there we continued 35 kilometers more with bus to Sapa through snaking mountain roads. We enjoyed our breakfast at Sapa Summit Hotel. At 9 am we were assigned with our guide to be, a young lady called Si from the Black H'Mong tribe. For the trekking we got a small, but very nice addition to our group. We were accompanied by one Danish girl, Serbian-Spanish guy and an older Swiss lady.

Sapa Trekking - day 1

And so we started trekking towards the villages and the home stay cottage in Black H'Mong tribe. After descending three hours and crossing the gorge with the main river, we then arrived to one of the bigger villages of the Black H'Mong tribe. There we enjoyed our lunch and visited one primary school, where nowadays they actually teach English for the children. Our guide told that she had learned her English speaking skill just from the tourists. On the way down we gazed upon on some of the most beautiful views before enjoying a lunch in the village, and after lunch continued to another village a bit further away for the home stay.

The views on the way down were amazing, snaking mountain rivers and vast rice terraces ascending to the mountains and reaching the clouds. I tried to capture them with my camera, but one really can't imagine the whole feeling through a lens. We arrived to the home stay around 2 or 3 pm. There we first enjoyed some local green tea and after that just walked around for two hours circling in and out the village and roaming the close by trails. They also served us some fries with fresh garlic which was very nice from them. We also saw lots of kids returning from the school with donated Unicef backpacks.

Around 6.30 pm we enjoyed a perfect Vietnamese dinner with the host family of the host stay. The food was amazing, it varied from different dishes of tofu to chicken and pork, from rice spring rolls to fried vegetables and cabbage salad etc followed by some self made rice wine - which in my opinion was one of the most nice ones to drink. After the dinner we started chilling out together, listen some reggae from my laptop and play some card games together. We also tried and actually managed to take some pictures of the stars after the sun had set. Around 11 pm we all called it as night and hit the sack.

Sapa Trekking - day 2

After a well rested night, maybe the best one in a long while, we finally woke and got up around 9 am. The host family had prepared a breakfast for us consisting pancakes served with running honey and bananas, muy bien! After the breakfast we packed our bags and got ready for the journey ahead. We knew it wasn't going to be as long as the first day, but we hoped that the views would be different and the route a bit harsher.

We had a decision to make: up to the mountains or continuing by the contour towards bamboo forest, another village and a waterfall. Because of all the smog gathered and a high possibility of rain, we decided not to risk going to the mountains.


The trails of the second day were amazing, we spent the day walking across rice terraces, jumping over descending mountain rivers and trying to find a steady ground while ascending and descending muddy trails. Everyone except me dipped themselves or their shoes in the muddy rice terrace fields. We also trekked our way through the bamboo forest. I also crossed this very old and squeaky suspension bridge over the river gorge with my Spanish friend. The trail to the bridge was the first clue to realize that it wasn't used anymore, it was the steepest mountainside without any footage and secondly because the bridge was actually closed with rusty barbwire from the end we entered. But we managed to throw the backpacks over and to squeeze ourselves through it.

After crossing to the other side of the gorge we climbed up a while to catch a lunch before a bus ride back to the Sapa Summit Hotel. Here I had the best noodle soup I have ever had, and of course I added some more chili to spice it up, or it just might be that I had a proper appetite after the days of walking. We showered at the Summit Hotel, visited the village and markets of Sapa before dining and taking the bus to Lao Cai to catch another night train back to Hanoi.

Back in Hanoi

The night train arrived to the Hanoi station around 5.15 am, from there we shared a taxi and dropped the Serbian-Spanish guy at the bus station before continuing to our tour hotel, Hai Nam. There we refreshed ourselves a bit before visiting the Vietnam's founders, president Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and palace area. I wouldn't had though that it would actually be impressive to see preserved remains or body of someone, but it was.

The rest of the day was spend wandering around for six hours just exploring the city and the views before catching the open buss at 8pm towards south.