Vietnam

English below

In der Vergangenheit war Vietnam oftmals von Kriegen mit den Chinesen, Japanern, Amerikanern oder den Franzosen betroffen. Heute ist das Land weitgehend frei von Kriegen, sieht sich aber einer noch grösseren Bedrohung konfrontiert: Die Globalisierung!

Der wachsende Touristenstrom hat Vietnam in den letzten Jahren überrannt. Um darauf zu reagieren, werden in kleinen Küstenorten halt riesige Resorts aus dem Boden gestampft und der ganze Scharm vernichtet. Hinzu kommt der immense Abfallberg, der (meistens von den eigenen Leuten) in den Flüssen oder einfach neben der Strasse deponiert wird.


Davon sind die diversen UNESCO Welterbe Regionen nicht verschont geblieben. So war baden meist nicht wirklich angenehm, da man immer diversen Büchsen, Flaschen, Plastiksaecke und anderen Objekten ausweichen musste. Wenn man dieser “Zerstörung “ nicht bald etwas entgegensetzt, sehe ich für Vietnam nicht wirklich eine gute Zukunft voraus. Denn der Tourismus wird sich sonst schnell nach Laos, Kambodscha oder wieder zurück nach Thailand bewegen.
Nichts desto trotz hatten wir eine super Zeit, da uns Karin und Rolf (unsere Freunde aus der Schweiz) besuchten und wir eine unterhaltsame Zeit miteinander verbracht haben! Danke für alles Ihr zwei!!!

Nun geht es aber weiter nach Kambodscha und wir freuen uns schon auf die nächsten Abenteuer!

Vietnam has been another surprise. Since the very beginning I was expecting Vietnam to be my favourite county on this trip, but I guess that that’s where I went wrong. Haven't I learnt yet not to have expectations? It's hard though...


The one great part was that our friends Karin and Rolf came from Switzerland to join us for a few weeks and we had a really great time with them!

The problem with Vietnam is that it's a country that has basically been at war for as long as anyone can remember (with China, with Japan, with itself/USA....etc etc) and the last couple of decades have been the first war-free ones. The peace has brought the tourists here in droves, and the country and people were not, still are not, ready for them. For example, the UNESCO world heritage site-Halong Bay. Thousands of islands with massive peaks dotted along what must have once been beautiful water, but as there is no control the bay is overrun with cruise boats and the water is just one giant garbage dump. One person on our boat saw needles floating in the water we were supposed to be swimming in!!
Though some people there are very nice and helpful most of them want one thing- to rip you off. I get that bartering is part of the culture here but when you have to barter in a proper shop for a bottle of water because it’s quoted at three times the normal price to you, its gets tiring really quickly. I think it's also because of the influx of travelers that the Vietnamese have become very aggressive, even after firmly repeating No, they continue to harass and shove their wares in your face and grab your arm.

With that said, it wasn't ALL bad. Andi and I went on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone between what was north and South Vietnam and it was incredible. There was no much that I honestly had no idea about in the war where the Americans involved themselves. What also made the tour so special was that our guide fought in the war for South Vietnam and even had to spend 3 years in a "re-education" camp after the North won.


Also I mentioned before, it was great hanging out with Karin and Rolf, drinking beers at 7 am, Vietnamese cooking class, and experiencing "interesting" night bus rides together! :) Another highlight was Tam Coc-the one place we were able to step off the very well trodden tourist trail! It is called the Halong Bay of the rice paddies and was absolutely beautiful. And, Hanoi and Hoh Chi Minh City (Saigon)-finally the crazy in-your-face Asia we had been expecting. You risk your life every time you cross the street, but you just have to keep moving!!

All in all..Vietnam-disappointing? Yes. No. I don't know. Was happy to leave. Am happy to have done it.

Thailand Part 1

Deutsch unten

The First 10 days in Thailand

After the surprise of Singapore I was really steeling myself for Bangkok, expecting it to live up to its reputation. Everyone’s heard about how crazy this city is supposed to be (Hangover 2 anyone?) but once again we were surprised. I guess its thanks to South America that we found Bangkok quite tame, it was really easy to get around the city, we were hardly hassled and only got slightly ripped off taking a taxi home when tipsy at 3 am!



July 1st in Bangkok

As much as we were enjoying Bangkok we didn’t want to spend 10 days there while we waited for our friend Karin and her boyfriend Rolf to arrive from Switzerland so we hopped on an overnight bus to Krabi (southern Thailand). The bus ride wasn’t all that bad (we were able to score front row seats so Andi could put his leg up) and the only shit thing was that they dropped us off at a tour agency instead of downtown, but we’ve been on the road for a minute so weren’t silly enough to believe them when they told us the hotel we wanted was closed and that we wouldn’t find a room for cheaper than 300 baht, or even take their 50 baht taxi ride into town. We shouldered our packs and went to wait on the street for a songthaiw (truck taxis where you hop in the back). We did end up finding a great room for cheaper and settled into that guesthouse with another German couple for the night.

The next day we took the boat to Koh Phi Phi where I got absolutely destroyed by the sun and spent the next afternoon/morning hiding in the room trying to protect my blistering skin! :( When I did finally venture out to join a sunset boat tour taking in “The Beach” from the movie with the same name guess who I ran into? Rob Drapala! It’s a small world it is! So after our respective boat trips we met up with Rob and his friend and drank half a bucket too much and danced like mad men on the beach…..
The next day it was already time for us to go so we hopped on another boat to Railey beach-where towering limestone cliffs jut out from the beautiful water (don’t I sound like a guidebook? Ha). And just relaxed taking in our beautiful surroundings.

Then it was onto Ao Nang for one more night before we caught the overnight bus back to Bangkok and hung around the airport until our friends arrived!!!

So nun sind wir definitive im asiatischen Kontinent gelandet (Singapur zähle ich absichtlich nicht dazu). Bangkok war zu unserer Überraschung eigentlich sehr zivilisiert und wir fühlten uns sofort wohl hier. Auch die Tatsache, dass die Hotels und das Leben im allgemeinen sehr billig sind, kommt uns sehr entgegen. Wir haben dann gleich mal eine typische Massage genommen um den “Stress” des Camperlebens ein wenig abzuschütteln (anm. Der Redaktion: ohne Happy end...).

Glücklicherweise habe ich noch eine Bekannte in aus meiner BMW Zeit in Bangkok und so haben wir uns mit ihr und einigen anderen wunderbaren Menschen getroffen. Bier Ahoi!

Am nächsten Tag sind wir dann mit dem Bus nach Krabi gegangen und dann weiter auf die Insel Ko Phi Phi. Der Ort selber war nicht besonders und es hatte (zu) viele Touristen. Das Nachtleben und die Aussicht auf das Meer waren jedoch erste Klasse! (Was Roni am eigenen Leib zu spüren bekam

Wir sind dann bald einmal nach Raley gegangen und haben auch hier noch ein wenig die Schönheit der Insel genossen und relaxed.

Danach kam noch ein kurzer Abstecher nach Ao Nang hinzu bevor wir uns wieder auf den Weg nach Bangkok machten, um unsre liebe Kollegin Karin und ihren Super Freund Rolf in Empfang zu nehmen.

Obwohl wir Rolf zuvor noch nie gesehen haben, wussten wir bereits nach wenigen Sekunden, dass er ein super Typ ist und wir viel Spass haben werden!

In diesem Sinne, auf nach Vietnam!

  

Singapore

- Deutsch unten
- Pictures below

Singapore was a surprise. Ok, I guess because I had no idea what to expect. I'd heard the stories-not allowed to chew gum, massive fines for littering etc etc but somehow I still expected it to be a crazy Asian city. Instead, we got a beautiful, multi-cultural, humid as hell city thats SO CLEAN! And to top it off, we were couchsurfing again and the place we stayed at an absolutely amazing view over the harbour,Singapore Flyer (like the London Eye)and business district.
Unfortunatly Andi's buggered up his back and has been in pain the last few days but we did venture out and checked out Chinatown (ohh the shopping!!!) and Little India before getting lost trying to walk back to the apartment. Kirk, our couchsurfing host, also took us down to the east coast food hawker stalls for dinner which was so delicious and cheap and then back in the city we strolled along the street next to the canal, stopping for a beer at the legendary Harry's bar before making our way slowly back home.
It's so nice and refreshing to see a city like that with so many cultures living peacefully together-the rest of the world really needs to start taking some notes!

Singapur! Oftmals hört man davon aber erwägt nie, dorthin zu gehen. Daher war dies der perfekte Ort für uns. Bereits als wir gelandet sind wussten wir, dass es eine sehr edle Stadt mit vielen verschiedenen Kulturen ist. Der Grad an Sauberkeit übertraf teils sogar die Schweiz! Wir hatten das Glück, dass wir beim einem Typen bleiben konnten, welcher in einem Hotel im 24 Stock wohnt. Daher beste Aussicht auf ganz Singapur und das mitten in der Stadt!!!


Er hat uns jeden Abend ein wenig die Stadt gezeigt und wir waren wirklich sehr positiv überrascht über den Standart hier in Singapur! Die Bilder werden hoffentlich ein wenig einen Eindruck von Singapur widerspiegeln. Nächster Halt ist nun Thailand. Hier sind wir nun schon angekommen und es wird sicherlich viele interessante Geschichten darüber zu erzählen geben. Bis dahin wünsche ich allen einen schönen Sommer.



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Einfach nur schoen!

WA

English below:
Nach 4 schoenen Monaten wird es nun Zeit, sich von Australien zu verabschieden. Wir haben sensationelle und schoene Erlebnisse gehabt. Wirklich beeindruckt hat uns jedoch die Freundlichkeit der Menschen hier in Australien. Alle waren immer sehr hilfsbereit und wir haben Freunde fuers Leben gefunden. Aber auch die Natur hatte (vor allem in unserem letzten Abschnitt) sehr viel zu bieten! So haben wir neben unserem Camper eines Tages ein Krokodil gehabt oder haben waehrend dem Schnorkeln Bekanntschaft mit Haifischen gemacht! Als ich die 2 Dinger um mich herumschwimmen sah, bin ich die 100m zueruck zum Ufer in geschaetzten 5.3 Sekunden geschwommen. WELTREKORD... Scheisse es hat ausser Roni niemand gesehen...


Ansonsten kann ich allen Travelers die Westkueste nur empfehlen! Traumstraende, nicht zuviele Touristen, Super fuer Wassersport, kurz gesagt, ein Traum!
Ein paar Impressionen findet Ihr im englischen Text




Western Australia-WOW! If not for the ridiculously annoying flies everywhere I might have thought we had driven into paradise.

Driving west of Katherine we ended up meeting two Germans and a British guy when their tire exploded and they were forced to stay at the rest area we were at, and even having to go through many nights of sober socializing (oh the horror haha!) we spent the beginning of our western experience with them and made up for the sober nights especially in Broome!

Broome. Ah Broome. Originally an old pearling village there still isn't much to it, it is very touristy but there is a beach there that makes up for it all. Cable beach rocks.

We were lucky enough to stay at a campsite right next to the beach and we spent the evenings staring in awe out at the ocean, and the first night a dolphin even made an appearance as the sun was disappearing! Perfection!

Then, as tempting as it was to stay and hang out with the guys, it was time for us to move on. Along the way we stopped at Karijini national park which was definitely a highlight of Australia! We had hummed and haa'ed about going because it seemed everyone and their dog was going and we've been trying to stay away from places like that but we had some time and so made the very well worth it detour! 

 

From Karijini it was onto Exmouth (Cape Range National park) and Coral Bay for some amazing snorkeling right off the beach! In Exmouth we even had a very scary experience with some sharks!! We were alone so there was no one there to tell us that they should have only been reef sharks and no interested in us humans, but they were interested enough for us!

After that we camped at a place called Qubba/Blowholes where we met Gavin and Tracey, two Kiwi's living in a big converted bus traveling around Australia, and Steve and Trixie two "East Coasters" on vacation. We had 2 great nights with them there, eating insane amounts of delicious fish (they were all spear fishers and had freezers full of fish!) Then it was down along the west coast direction Perth. Our favourite spot was probably Cliff Heads, an area that Gavin and Tracey had told us to go to and there we met Ian. A cray fisherman who lives there in his fisherman's hut.We met the "community" there and had an absolutely amazing time, the only thing that was too bad was we had to leave since we had to give the van back!

After that it was onto Perth, the final stop on our Australian journey. Here in Perth we were able to couch-surf for the very first time (we'd been hosting in Zurich before) and we ended up staying with Jeff, a REALLY cool guy that we got along with very well making our first couch-surf experience definitely an unforgettable one! Perth is also a very beautiful city! (not that we saw a ton of it, but what we did see we liked very much!)

Now, it is time to say goodbye to Australia and start our Asian journey! We are both really looking forward to getting to Asia (we are especially looking forward to things being cheap again!!) and one of our best friends from Switzerland will be joining us there for 3 weeks!! Yay! Bring it on Asia!!! :) :)