Mekong trip

As mentioned in my last post, we made a trip this weekend to the Mekong Delta.

It was a very early start. I was being pickup at at 4am at my place and met with my ladies at 5pm on the other side of Ho Chi Minh City.

Then we headed towards the Mekong Delta. Weather was nice and we saw a beautiful sunrise:

Of course there is always time for a selfie in Vietnam...

Lotus field

When we arrived, we first made our welcome drink ourselves from freshly harvested coconuts:

We have been very warmly welcomed by the family. They showed us their property, where they grow coconuts, mangoes, jack-fruits, bananas and chili.

Another little member of the family:

In order to see the chili field, we had to make a little hike, and cross the "monkey bridge"

Chili field

Dried bananas

Coconuts

Jackfruit

View to the Mekong River

Ripe green mangoes

The family prepared a very nice traditional lunch for us.

After we left the family, we continued to another place, where we could see a little plantation, where they grow mandarins.

This little guy accompanied us on the plantation:

This day was absolutely amazing! This is the real Vietnam. I've been told, that I have been the first foreigner in the village. Well, I could feel it a bit, as people were staring at me. One woman even touched me and wanted to shake my hand, as she never had seen a paleface/long nose, in her life before. 

The people are so friendly and have great hospitality. They don't have much, but they share as much as possible. This is definitely something unforgettable. I hope I can go back there once again.  

Holiday

Yes, I know, it's now more than a month, that I haven't posted anything. My excuses are: Much workload, but mainly, not much interesting to write during the days before christmas.

I went back home to Europe for christmas. First 3 days back to Switzerland to report to the Headquarters. Was really nice to see all colleagues and friends back there. We had a beautiful christmas party, and my colleagues James and Cecilia from China where there as well. Christmas and New Year I celebrated amongst my friends and family.

I realised immediately that I was being back in Germany, when a friendly older woman shouted at me that I was walking on the wrong side of the pedestrian crossing. I just friendly asked back, if she hadn't any other problems...

As well the political development in Germany is shocking. People all over Germany going on the streets and protesting against Muslims and Refugees. I'm really worried about the common sense  and openness in Germany. Obviously this is something which becomes very rare virtues and values.

Anyhow, I had very busy, but very beautiful times, with my friends and family. 

Played 9 Holes in a Golf Simulator, had nice lunches and dinners, went "ice"running, played badminton, enjoyed 20cm of snow and up to -18 degrees centigrade. Real winter in Germany - Excellent! 

However, when coming back to Vietnam, you miss them and your home even more. Of course you have to bare a few disappointments with so called "friends" as well, but that's life.

I got myself a GoPro for christmas, to make some "race" movies of the traffic in Ho Chi Minh City. Hope I can try it out soon. 

Well, on the 3rd of January, I was intending to fly back. But I wasn't successful. Coming to Munich airport, I was told at the check-in, that my flight from Abu Dhabi has been cancelled due to Fog. Maybe you have heard about this incident in Abu Dhabi (one plane needed 30 hours from Abu Dhabi to Düsseldorf because of that). So they told me to get in line at the ticket counter to rebook my flight. After almost 3 hours, I reached the ticketing agent (there was only one, and roughly 30 people ahead of me). Of course I tried to reach the Hotlines in Abu Dhabi and Germany as well, but without success. Unfortunately I couldn't fly the same day anymore, so the rebooked me on a flight with Qatar the next day. Ok, so we drove home again and came back to the Airport the next day. I could then check in after almost 1.5 hours since the booking was incorrect and had to be reissued by the original airline. Well, the positive thing was, that I could fly with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Beautiful plane! 

Flight to Ho Chi Minh City was basically without incidents. When arriving at HCMC, my boss from Switzerland was already waiting here. He spend almost the whole week here in order to meet some of our customers, agents, business partners and friends. We had a very nice time together (ok, what else am I supposed to write in a public blog ;)), but left me to clean up my apartment and emptying my suitcases only this weekend. 

One thing is currently very annoying in Vietnam, which is the internet connection. Apparently the overseas cable has been cut (2nd time this year), so the internet is damn slow. Depending on the provider it takes several minutes to open a homepage. Some providers obviously don't have such a bad performance (as our backup line in the office is much faster, than our regular line), but mobile network and home network is just crap currently. Cannot even do a Skype call in a proper manner. 

The coming weeks are pretty busy, but I'm really looking forward to them. I planned a little trip with my ladies next saturday to the Mekong Delta in order to see the real side of that area. Hope to make some nice pictures there.

Here the first shots of the new year:

A night out

Well, I haven't been posting lately since I was rather busy moving to my new apartment. I'm now living in District 2 in a compound, where mainly expats are living. It is quite convenient, since there is a pool and a gym as well. So far, I am trying to go swimming each morning before going to the office. The way to the office is now 20 minutes longer.

This week, my team and I did a little motorbike trip together through the city and had a picnic at the shore of the saigon river.

Ho Chi Minh City Rush hour 

Banh Mi Picnic

My ladies :)!

HCMC Skyline

On the way home we had a little race :)!

The HCMC Rush hour traffic definitely not fun on a motorbike. On the weekends, or at night, driving is definitely more easy going. But still, you always have to be prepared, that an idiot is driving in the wrong way on your lane. This is what makes it a bit dangerous sometimes.

Daily life

Basically every evening I have to cross the street to get home. Sometimes there is not much traffic, today is what a bit more than usual. Here a little impression how to cross a street in Ho Chi Minh City:

This is an easy one. There a streets with 3 lanes, which you sometimes have to cross and the speed of the vehicles is much faster. Fortunately I don't have to do that regularly.

Saigon Nights

Since I need now to get used to the roads and streets in Ho Chi Minh City, I just took a little drive through the city, to get acquainted and to know my way around:

Will probably do that more often, since the traffic is rather smooth and the city is very interesting at night!

The sound of Ho Chi MInh City

Imagine you are standing at a red traffic light amongst many other motorbikes. The traffic light jumps to green and all the bikes accelerate. That's the sound of Ho Chi Minh City (and probably all other bigger cities in Vietnam). Since saturday I'm not a spectator anymore but a participant! I finally got my scooter! May I introduce you to James (in honour to Captain Slow):

It's a brand new Yamaha Grande. 125cc, 4 Stroke, 8.2 HP, 9.7NM, Air cooled. This model is exclusively made for the vietnamese Market. And of course made in Vietnam.  

Since saturday I already drove more than 70km with it. I had to pick it up in Binh Dhoung, around 25km away from Ho Chi Minh. 

My first impression is very good. Drives really nice and comfortable. Seat suits my big old bottom. 

Now being part of the traffic here, driving is completely different than in western countries. Forget Rome or Paris. This is piece of cake compared to Ho Chi Minh. People do not look to the sides or to the back. And even though most of the bikes have mirrors, the Vietnamese obviously haven't understood the principle of it. Vietnamese like to change the standard mirrors to custom mirrors, and tend to adjust them, so that they can rather see themselves instead of the traffic behind. They really have a selfie culture here.  Bearing these things in mind, you are somehow prepared for the traffic. Traffic rules are in general the same as in Europe. Except, you may overtake on any side of the road. And forget about the lanes. You can easily fit 5-6 bikes next to each other in one lane. 

You shouldn't be scared within the traffic, but you should always watch out. When you get used to it after a few km, then it starts to make fun. 

Yesterday I quickly went to the Russian market, then wanted to drive home, and it started to rain. Rather long and rather heavily. So I waited until it was better and decided to drive when there was only a fews drops left falling from the sky. Bad decision! As soon as I was on the main road, the rain started again in all of his vietnamese beauty. Put on a rain jacket before leaving. This kept at least my upper body rather dry, but my jeans and sneakers were soaking wet after maybe 200m. Fortunately getting wet here is not a big thing, since it's warm rain, and it is not cold at all. So you are just wet. 

Since Ho Chi Minh City is a maze of one-way-streets you cannot take the direct way to home. So I had to take a detour and this road was completely flooded, which meant, I could test the off-road skills of James. James did very well! Nevertheless it's a funny feeling to drive through 5cm of water for a few 100 meters. At least James was pretty clean, when I reached home. 

In my opinion driving a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City is something one should do as a lifetime experience. Looking forward to have many trips with James!   

A day out (or two)

The last 2 days, I took some time to discover the surrounding areas of Ho Chi Minh City.

Sunday I went to the Mekong Delta. Honestly, it was very touristic. It was more like being on a sales tour. Everywhere you had to try something and could of course buy the products. And it was all crowded by masses of tourists of course. However it was interesting to see and you have to spend more time there, than what we spent, since the Mekong Delta is a huge area. Here some impressions:

After the trip on the river we went to see a Buddhist temple:

Today however was much more interesting. First we went to to the Cao Dai Temple. It is the spiritual and administrational center of the Caodaism Religion.

After that, we went to the Wildlife at Risk Rescue Station in Cu Chi. Here they rescue and treat injured animals and try to set them out into the wild again, after they have recovered. Unfortunately some of the animals can never go back to the wild, as they have lost a leg or other body parts, so they stay in the sanctuary.

This NPO is only financed by sponsors and donations. Currently they give shelter to over 150 native vietnamese animals. After that heartwarming experience, we continued to the Cu Chi tunnels, which used to be one of the main military bases during the American War (This is how the Vietnamese call the Vietnam War, seems logic).  

Basically people lived completely underground. And why did they choose this location? Because the soil is mainly clay, so the tunnels are stable, and the proximity to Saigon (the US Military Headquarters during the war) and water supply from Saigon River. Of course it is a mixture of a museum and a propaganda event there.

I tried the tunnels myself, and I'm happy to say, I fit :)!

Even though I haven't seen much of HCMC yet, it was good to go out for a change and see a bit more of Vietnam. Looking forward to see more and more and going towards the North of this beautiful country.