Asia Trip - 26.4.-11.5.2008

Today Tida took me on his motorbike to see the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, also knows as the Killing Fields of S21. During the Khmer Rouge Regime they killed here more than 20000 people and all over in Cambodia there were more than 2 Million poeple killed by the regime. We also visited a high school inPhnom Penh that was used as a prison during that time. The afternoon we used to drive out on the countryside to visit his grand parents, they live very simple, just a bamboo hut, no running water or electricity. Then on the way back I had the chance to see some of his friends which was fun because they spoke a little english.

One of the most memorable things today was the baby duck egg that we ate after supper with Tida's family...

I took a small boat down the Mekong River into Vietnam, my first stop was Chau Doc, a small city close to the border with Cambodia. People here were quite friendly and I ended up spending my evening with a bicycle taxi driver, he showed me his favourite place for coffee, later a local 'bia ba ba ba' bar and the place where he lives.

Next morning I took a local bus to Cantho, also a small city in the Mekong delta. I ended up staying in a family run guesthouse, the people there were so friendly that I ended up spending the evening with them. I also became friends with their daughter Jenna who is studying English which was great for me since I can not speak vietnamese...oh yeah the guy on this picture is Ho Chi Minh, he was the leader of the Vietnamese army against the USA.

A cruise on a small boat upand down the river and canals was on my list for today. We stoped at two floating markets. Amazing how these people live here along the rivers and how their daily live looks like.

I took this picture in Ho Chi Minh city, also called Saigon. It's a puppet in a prison cell that the americans used during the Vietnam war.
Saigon is a very busy city, millions of motorbikes and over 10 million people live in this bustling city. I just enjoyed wandering through the streets and watching people doing business on the street, drinking coffee and just live their daily lives.

Next day a day tour up to the CuChi Tunnels about 90minutes north of Saigon. The communist guerillabuilt this tunnel system during the war with the americans. These 200km were one of the reasons why the americans could not win this war. Today they use the tunnels as a big tourist attraction...

I spent 2 nights in Dalat up in the highlands of vietnam.

One day I went hiking in a park close by, the trails were quite challenging and without maps and signs it wasn't that easy to find the right way. These two guys brought me back on the right trail up to the peak.

Nha Trang, back down at the coast I stayed a night in the beach city. the scenery was quite nice but I didn't like the atmosphere in Nha Trang...

So next day I took a train up to Hue. The trains here in Vietnam are pretty good, they sell lots of different food on the train and it's easy to get in contact with the other passengers.

In Hue I found this guy...Nazi-Budha?!

A night bus to the capital, Hanoi! In the picture you can see the Mausoleum from Ho Chi Minh...Hanoi has a nice atmosphere, esspecially the old quarter is fun to just spend some time on the streets.

I met this young man in a park at the lake, he's smoking a pipe which is famous here in northern vietnam.

The weekend I spent down in Halong Bay. Amazing scenery and a good night on the boat.

Next morning the boat dropped us off at the harbour and from there we took a bus back to Hanoi. Currently I am in Hanoi, I applied for the Chinese visa on monday and got it yesterday. I am one of the few lucky people that got the visa this week, the chinese changed their visa regulations on thursday and since then it's almost impossible to get that visa. But I got it and so I'll be off to China tomorrow! YEAH!