Dienstag, 20. Januar 2015
HO CHI MINH CITY/SAIGON
I have never been to the south of Vietnam and it was about time. Did I think Hanoi was hectic? Hanoi is almost calm, in a way sophisticated and nothing compared to the very westernized and full of life Saigon. What an experience it was to walk on the streets of Saigon, being overwhelmed by the traffic while feeling the 32degrees burning on your skin in January. I loved and enjoyed every second of these days.
Sonntag, 18. Januar 2015
VIETNAM: FOOD
There is no better food than Vietnamese food for me and I don't think I will ever get tired of eating it, ever.
Freitag, 16. Januar 2015
HANOI
I have lived in Germany for almost 17 years now and every time I go back to Vietnam, it is always to visit my grand parents and my big family. Never have I really travelled through my own country, especially with a backpack. It is exciting because I get to see Vietnam from a whole different perspective. And it is apparently very rare for a Vietnamese girl to travel alone, staying in mixed hostel dorms and living out of a backpack. It's considered weird. But I never said I was (a) normal (Vietnamese girl) either.
Mittwoch, 14. Januar 2015
CROSSING THE NICARAGUA - COSTA RICA BORDER
It was time for me to move on so I had to say goodbye to Anne, not knowing when we will see each other again. My trip is almost coming to an end while she is continuing and making her way to South America. I was sad but at the same time I was excited to discover new places and new things.
I left Ometepe with the ferry, took a cab to Penas Blancas, the Nicaragua - Costa Rica border which cost me 20$. A lot of backpackers would probably roll their eyes on me for taking a cab but on that morning I was not keen on traveling for 20h to the border in a more complicated way than necessary to be honest. So I took the more comfortable way instead of taking the chicken bus or a shuttle.
Getting out of the cab there was a man wearing an official looking batch holding forms in his hand and he asked for my passport. I was kind of confused (I never crossed a border by foot before in my defense) so I handed him the passport without questioning. He started filling out the paperwork and then asked me for money. "20$" - That's a bit much for writing down some words on that paper. I gave it to him anyway but felt a bit weird about the whole situation. As I walked on, I saw some more people offering the same things to tourists and then I realized it was a scam. As if I still had a lot of adrenalin from fighting the robber from the night before, my anger arose and I stormed back, screamed at the guy: "You asshole, you tricked me. Do you think I'm stupid?" I crumpled up the form and threw it back in his face and yelled: "Keep the money as charity, fucker!" and turned my back, walked off while everybody was staring at me. They probably thought I was a crazian. I was. (Pretty stupid for making a scene at the border, could have gone terribly wrong. Plus, the guy didn't get a word I said for sure. But angry Asian was angry.)
And then I was standing in line waiting for the bus to San José for 4h, in the brutal heat of 36degrees. Sat in the bus for 6h, slept 4h at a hostel close to the airport to fly 15h to Vietnam next morning, stopping over in Los Angeles for 7h, in Taipei for 2h and arrived completely exhausted in Hanoi, at 7AM.
Well, good morning, Vietnam!
I left Ometepe with the ferry, took a cab to Penas Blancas, the Nicaragua - Costa Rica border which cost me 20$. A lot of backpackers would probably roll their eyes on me for taking a cab but on that morning I was not keen on traveling for 20h to the border in a more complicated way than necessary to be honest. So I took the more comfortable way instead of taking the chicken bus or a shuttle.
Getting out of the cab there was a man wearing an official looking batch holding forms in his hand and he asked for my passport. I was kind of confused (I never crossed a border by foot before in my defense) so I handed him the passport without questioning. He started filling out the paperwork and then asked me for money. "20$" - That's a bit much for writing down some words on that paper. I gave it to him anyway but felt a bit weird about the whole situation. As I walked on, I saw some more people offering the same things to tourists and then I realized it was a scam. As if I still had a lot of adrenalin from fighting the robber from the night before, my anger arose and I stormed back, screamed at the guy: "You asshole, you tricked me. Do you think I'm stupid?" I crumpled up the form and threw it back in his face and yelled: "Keep the money as charity, fucker!" and turned my back, walked off while everybody was staring at me. They probably thought I was a crazian. I was. (Pretty stupid for making a scene at the border, could have gone terribly wrong. Plus, the guy didn't get a word I said for sure. But angry Asian was angry.)
And then I was standing in line waiting for the bus to San José for 4h, in the brutal heat of 36degrees. Sat in the bus for 6h, slept 4h at a hostel close to the airport to fly 15h to Vietnam next morning, stopping over in Los Angeles for 7h, in Taipei for 2h and arrived completely exhausted in Hanoi, at 7AM.
Well, good morning, Vietnam!
Montag, 12. Januar 2015
ABOUT BEING ROBBED
I have mentally prepared myself to be robbed while traveling because, well let's face it, it is very likely to happen. Having the dorm broken into and my stuff stolen in Santiago was already a disappointing experience which brought quite a lot of afterwards consequences with it, but then being robbed face to face is definitely a complete different level.
So that happened in Ometepe, at 7PM, on my last day in Nicaragua. After our hike and an incredibly good dinner, Anne and me walked to the hostel where our traveling friends were staying. It is a dark road so I used my phone as a torch because we could not see anything. Suddenly we saw to our left side a man running down the field holding a branch in his hand approaching us. I sensed something bad but I could not quite assign this negative feeling towards a certain thing.
So this guy climbed over the wire mesh fence, holding the branch high, doing the stabbing moves towards me while pointing to my phone and said "Asalto, asalto". He was really focused on me and turned his back to Anne and I was just really really scared and could not believe it was actually happening. So many thoughts were running through my head, things like if it would hurt badly if he actually stabbed me with the branch, if I should hit him in his balls with my knee, if Anne is searching for things to hit him from behind (she was looking for the wallet to give him money but he did not care about it), if I should just give him my phone to not get hurt. I offered to give him money because I really did not want to give up my phone. But he would continue doing the stabbing moves, threatening me and went to grab my hand which was holding the phone. And since I really was not ready to give it up, I was holding on to it really tight and we kind of jostled with each other. Even though I was really scared of him actually stabbing me, after a good while of fighting over my phone, I got really angry. So I screamed "Fuck you I'm not giving you my phone" and it was a split second reflex when I grabbed the branch and broke it in half. The robber was flapper gasped and angry - I guess, and when he went to attack me with his hands, I started screaming. Then Anne started to scream from the top of her lungs with a very high pitched voice (girl can scream!) We both then stood in front of him and screamed as loud as we only could. So the robber panicked (we were really loud!) and slowly moved away from us a little bit. I took that chance and grabbed Anne's hand and yelled "Run" - so we ran for our lives, as fast as we could. Two things I screamed while running away were "Fuck you for not having a knife" (arrogant fool, that's what I am!) and "Anne, promise me you will never walk alone in the dark ever".
Needless to say, I was shaking and crying once we arrived at the hostel. It was really really so scary.
What a way to end my Central and South American trip. But thankfully this incident and the stolen belongings incident out of the dorm are not the first things I remember when I think about the time I had.
Gracias!
So that happened in Ometepe, at 7PM, on my last day in Nicaragua. After our hike and an incredibly good dinner, Anne and me walked to the hostel where our traveling friends were staying. It is a dark road so I used my phone as a torch because we could not see anything. Suddenly we saw to our left side a man running down the field holding a branch in his hand approaching us. I sensed something bad but I could not quite assign this negative feeling towards a certain thing.
So this guy climbed over the wire mesh fence, holding the branch high, doing the stabbing moves towards me while pointing to my phone and said "Asalto, asalto". He was really focused on me and turned his back to Anne and I was just really really scared and could not believe it was actually happening. So many thoughts were running through my head, things like if it would hurt badly if he actually stabbed me with the branch, if I should hit him in his balls with my knee, if Anne is searching for things to hit him from behind (she was looking for the wallet to give him money but he did not care about it), if I should just give him my phone to not get hurt. I offered to give him money because I really did not want to give up my phone. But he would continue doing the stabbing moves, threatening me and went to grab my hand which was holding the phone. And since I really was not ready to give it up, I was holding on to it really tight and we kind of jostled with each other. Even though I was really scared of him actually stabbing me, after a good while of fighting over my phone, I got really angry. So I screamed "Fuck you I'm not giving you my phone" and it was a split second reflex when I grabbed the branch and broke it in half. The robber was flapper gasped and angry - I guess, and when he went to attack me with his hands, I started screaming. Then Anne started to scream from the top of her lungs with a very high pitched voice (girl can scream!) We both then stood in front of him and screamed as loud as we only could. So the robber panicked (we were really loud!) and slowly moved away from us a little bit. I took that chance and grabbed Anne's hand and yelled "Run" - so we ran for our lives, as fast as we could. Two things I screamed while running away were "Fuck you for not having a knife" (arrogant fool, that's what I am!) and "Anne, promise me you will never walk alone in the dark ever".
Needless to say, I was shaking and crying once we arrived at the hostel. It was really really so scary.
What a way to end my Central and South American trip. But thankfully this incident and the stolen belongings incident out of the dorm are not the first things I remember when I think about the time I had.
Gracias!
NICARAGUA - OMETEPE PART II
We hiked up and down the volcano for 10 hours in total, through the jungle, the monsoon, all the mud and over falling trees. For sure it was the most challenging hike I have ever done and I did struggle while doing it. But then on top of the volcano, we sat at the crater which is now a lake, saw the mist, acknowledged all muscles in our bodies and everything just felt unreal. Both Anne and me were a bit lost for words, that was how unbelievably happy we were about being there and feeling we have accomplished a small challenge.
Abonnieren
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