While i am backing up my pictures...

...on my server, i thought i will write a few things while they are fresh in my mind.

It is still quite early on our trip (almost a week here) but there have been so many images and experiences that worth much longer. We have now travelled half way through Vietnam and we have just approached the north (heavily ex-communist part).

We have properly stopped by 4 places all together and travelled throught many more. There are very few things reminding me that there was a war here a few decades ago. A few more that this was a communist countly up until recently.

But what is certaintly stands out in Vietnam is its people! I am not sure how i can describe this best. I have travelled in quite a few places before and i have appreciated hospitality and generosity, but what i have found in Vietnamese people is something beyond my expectations to the human race! :-)

I enjoy visiting historical sights, trying local food, and trtavelling through jungles. But what i love the most, is taking a bike with Kim and ride through the small sandy towns, stopping by a small local 'cafe' attached to a house and having a chat with merchants, school kids, carpenter and pensioners. They are not used to interact with tourists (tourists usually hang out in the designated tourist areas) so they are very welcoming to chat over a coffee (if i find some time later, i will dedicate a whole post on Vietnamese coffee and the local coffee cullture). Verbal language is not a barier as we seem to connect in different ways (here i have to say that Kim's Vietnamese have been very helpful many times), and i realise that what i find attractive in these people is a missing part of my childhood. This is very hard to explain in a few lines.

Vietnamese people are geniounly friendly, peaceful, smiley, gentle, stylish, honest, enthousiastic and down to earth. The whole nation...by nature! This is an incredible strength...almost contegious! And i am talking about a nation that has gone through very dark times in it's rescent history.

Up until a week ago i knew very few things about this nation. Now it is all here, unfolding slowly in front of me and i find myself - after a long time - very open to new things... very receiving. I was saying to Kim yesterday that i feel that they have much more to offer to me that i have to offer to them. She smiled and said that it's not like this, that there are many different ways to see one thing. And i find myself discovering new ways of thinking. Ways that were always there but i never knew they existed.

Isn't this that travelling teaches you after all?

PS. Excuse any spelling mistakes. Some keyboards are in Chinese, sometimes i type quickly and others i don't know howm to spell. :-)

Merry Christmas from Hoi An!

Chuc Mung Giang Sinh

As the title says: Merry Christmas!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Xmas!!! We wish you all the best!!!

Our Xmas eve was in the train on the way to Hoi Danang/Hoi An.
The train experience was very interesting. So at 7pm we jumped on a very old train with cabins containing 2 bunk beds each.
We shared our very little cabin with a lovely vietnamese family (a dad with his daughter and the grand mother).
The night in the train was quite nice , although for some reason, the dad didnt sleep the whole night and his mobile didnt stop ringing!!! Can you imagine Kostas mood in the morning? :-)

Around 5 in the morning, the sun appeared and then the view from our cabin window was just in one word AMAZING!!! The train was going through small remote villages, rice fields, jungles... It was just so good for the pleasure of our eyes...

And then after 17 hours we arrived in Danang which is 40 km far from Hoi An, where we spent the rest of our Xmas day...

Merry Chrismas to all of you..

Love love love...

Last night in Saigon

After having spent 3 days with my family in Saigon and Ben Ton, we will experiment the night train tomorrow to go up to Hoi An to continue our vietnamese adventure.

I am so happy to be back to Vietnam.. I really love being here.. I came many times in Vietnam my home country, but everytimes it's still an amazing discovery.

Kostas agreed with me that vietnamese people are very friendly and soooo smiling.. it's very nice to see people smile all the time...

We will upload some pictures as soon as we can.. so far we have probably taken hundred of pictures capturing very emotional moments.. we will share these moments with you soon :-)

So tomorrow it's our last day in Saigon... "Saigon dep lam" = "Saigon is so beautiful"

Touch the Delta...

Short drive (3 hours) out of Saigon and we are off to the Mekong Delta visiting Kimchikaki's cousins. They live by the river front at a small remote fishing village (Ben Ton) full of coconut trees and smiley faces. We set off and arrived early morning with the Kunns. Once we landed I jumped on the bike and went for a ride to a food market. I walk around for hours and i was fascinated by the variety of smells and foods i came across. Ashamed, but i can't name (not to mention about tasted) half of the vegetables and fruits i saw. Also funny as this must have been the most popular moment of my life, up until today. I don't think that this village has seen a tourist before, yet a not asian! Eveyone was stopping to wave at me, people were smiling and kids were running after me shouting 'hello'. I felt like a pop star! :-)
I would have stayed there for the whole day - if not for the whole of my life :-) - but the heat was unbearable (even for a greek) and i found a shelter at one of the millions internet cafes of the village. (this is not a joke, there are so many internat cafes that i am pretty sure that there are more pc's than tv's in this village. And i am talking about a remote place, in the middle of Mekong Delta! Most incredibly, i am sharing a room with another 7 kids at the moment and i bet they are all under 10 years old!!! Go Geeky Viet Youth!!!)

Ok, i am off back to the sun and the heat again, back to the market to taste more colourful fruits i can't name, back to mix with the dust on the side of the road and of course back to beg for some more fame! ;-)

PS. Kim's asleep, Vietnamese water ain't no good for her belly! :-(

Colours and smells!

Bikes, hornes, heat, smiles, markets, foods, people, colours and smells...
Saigon is a packed up busy city moving in slow motion.
I have never seen so many motorbikes in a road and so many people on the sidewalk. Yet, everything seems to be moving slightly perfect...slightly slow...sligtly smooth. The whole city to function in a wondeful way, in such a perfect balance and harmony that it feels like if one excelarates or slows down a tiny bit, everything will fall into pieces!
Saigon makes London rush hour seem like a countryside walk.

Last Minute as always...Happy Birthday Chichi!!!!

Pants, cameras and chargers, tapes, books, money, drawing book, oh yes...and passport.
A few more hours to go and i am still looking for my rucksack around the house...no clothes at all, just pants...the rest will be purchased on arrival.
Shame cause it's Chichi's bday and we both rush to pack. A few weeks ago, i was planning to have everything ready by yesterday...but as always...last minute!
A sip of wine...Happy Birthday Chichi!!!

So far away but so close now

The radio has started playing Christmas songs, London town is decorated with festive lights and Santas, all over the shop windows, are welcoming the rushed shoppers.
Yes, it's December, Christmas is a coming but Kim and me will be not be here this time...sorry Santa, we will be traveling to Indochina!

15 nights to go, Saturday evening and we are both with a laptop each, side by side, researching for the remote village, the minority tribe, the English speaking retreat and the historical event.

From Saigon all the way to Hanoi. A quick nip to Halong Bay, north to the the Yunnan borders, off to Vientiane, a few days meditation at a Buddhist monastery followed by a long journey through the Mekong river to Angkor and all the way down to the Mekong delta.
All on paper nothing on stone!

Will both try to keep this space alive. By the time we set off, we will be updating with more information. Let's call this a quick introduction. Back to researching now!