Monkey Island...

This weekend, we made a little company trip to a near island called Can Gio, an island formed, where the Saigon river hits the sea.
The main residents of this island, after humans of course, are monkeys. That's why it is called monkey island as well. The main park is called Lam Vien Can Gio, where you can see a beautiful mangrove forest, salt walter crocodiles and of course the monkeys.  It's around 2 hours drive from Ho Chi Minh City.

You have to be aware of the monkey, as they steal whatever they can. So hold on to your belongings, there shouldn't be anything loose on you. First victim was Trinh, she wore a cap, and it was gone after less than a minute after getting off the car. We got the cap back, but only in exchange for some food for the thief. Fortunately we were a bit more cautious afterwards and no other posessions have been missing again.
You can buy peanuts for the monkeys, and there you have to be even more careful, as the monkeys are watching and trying to steal the peanuts from your hands.

The forest there is really beautiful, and you can walk a bit through it.

My ladies had quite some fun there:

Then of course there are the crocodiles, which you can feed with eels:

After the monkey experience we headed a bit further south to the beach...

Well, actually it is not as nice as the above picture. The beach is full of garbage, the sand is dirty, and the water doesn't seem to be clean either.

Still, mostly locals come here for a daytrip, to relax from the city. And my ladies had some fun here as well.

Next to the beach there are restaurants and a market, where they sell fresh seafood.

It was really a nice trip, however sad to see how bad the beach was polluted. And a symbol for the general pollution in Vietnam. Since one week we have smog in Ho Chi Minh City, the worst ever apparently, and it is said to be coming from the burning forests in Indonesia. I think this is only half the truth.

Volcano Tour

Last weekend I was visiting the Philippines again. I somehow lost my heart to that country and to the people. Last march I was already spending a few days in Manila visiting business partners. Out of this, a friendship has evolved and of course friendships have to be maintained. So I met my friend Jomel for a day trip to the Taal Volcano in Tagaytay. Taal Volcano is an active volcano, however it has been quiet since 1977.
This was an unforgetable day! Jomel and I met in the early morning and drove from Manila to Tagaytay to have breakfast. From there we picked up a guide who took us to the village from where the boats ship you to the volcano island.

As mentioned in my post of my first trip to the Philippines, Jomel is a professional Photographer. So of course he tought me some new tricks and we made many photos. We were shooting with my 3 cameras: DSLR Canon EOS 60D, Mirror-less Fuji X-M1 and iPhone 6. Even with the iPhone you can make sensational photos, that's why I will mention each camera type under each picture.

On the way to Taal Lake - Fuji

View on the island from the shore - Fuji

The Marina :) - Fuji

We then took one of the boats to the island:

Our Skipper aka race driver - Fuji

Jomel and I really had a good time together:

Bromance - iPhone

 Strangely all passengers on other boats got life vests. We just got hats.

On the way to the island - iPhone

After arriving on the island or surviving the boat trip:

"We made it"- Fuji

Well, we didn't expect an even bumpier ride (literally) to the top of the volcano. Fortunately there are no photos of us horseback riding. I still think I would have sweated less, when hiking up to the top. Horseback riding will never become my favourite activity. Here our horse guides on their friends:

Horse guides - iPhone

But fortunately we were not the only tourists taking the horse option:

Another foolish tourist - Fuji

After arriving on the top, we could see the crater.

Crater - Canon

Crater - Canon

Crater - Canon

There is a little "village" on the top, where you can buy drinks, T-Shirts and other souvenirs.

Village - Canon

Furthermore, they have a few golf clubs up there, and you can buy golf balls and tee off into the crater:

Reusable Tee - Fuji

Of course I had to try this:

300 yards tee off - Canon

But there was some time to enjoy the view:

Jomel enjoying... - Canon

Crater - Canon

Selfie sticks are ruining everything - Canon

View on Taal Lake - Canon

Crater and red lava - iPhone

King of the world - iPhone

After we enjoyed the scenery and atmosphere on the volcano, we decided to hike down and not to mistreat the horses again.

Hike downhill through cooled down lava - iPhone

Our horse guide - iPhone

A lot of traffic! - iPhone

And after roughly 30 minutes we were down again at the bottom of the volcano, where we took back our boat to the main land.

Landing stage - iPhone

After returning to the main land, we had lunch which was simple, but delicious:

Some fish, some rice, some veggies, not much more needed - iPhone (of course)

Bye bye Taal Lake - iPhone

After that we continued to the Peoples Park in the sky, an unfinished mansion, which was built by Imelda Marcos.

The "park" itself is very touristic and crowded. However, the view is stunning, both towards Taal lake and towards southern Manila.

Panoramic view from Peoples Park - iPhone

Taal lake - iPhone

View on the southern tail of Metro Manila - Fuji

Inside People's Park - Fuji

After the visit to the people's park, we headed back to Manila.

Back to reality - iPhone

There we picked up Jomel's wife, Nanette, and spend a beautiful evening together.

Once again, thank you, Jomel and Nanette for such a beautiful day. Was really unforgetable!

Monsoon...

This week we have experienced heavy rain. Even heavy for Vietnam. I've been stuck in traffic for quite a while due to flooded streets. It was pouring down for hours, especially yesterday. Basically impossible to drive or to get taxis.
One wall in our office now is soaking wet, since the paint on the outside of the building is cracking up and rain gets into the walls directly. I've found an article about the trafiic situation with a lot of picures (click link): HCMC traffic turns exhaustingly crazy as roads become rivers

Currently it doesn't look that the weather will improve soon. Here some impressions how the rain looks from my apartment: