All quite normal, somewhere in the middle of nowhere

4.3 k
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I take the bus for a few hours to the coast. A small town called Nowhere. By motorbike to empty sandy beaches in the off-season. The first signs of Kamibiza appear in the form of large concrete castles. Old majestic wrought-iron fences from the colonial era are everywhere. They surround empty fields. Other walls stand in the air on 2 metre high stilts. Escher would certainly have liked that.

Posters against child prostitution hang everywhere. There are some helpers on the bus wearing T-shirts from a home for street children in Nowhere. I am worried. It is reassuring that child prostitution is being publicised. What is worrying is that it seems to be necessary. (more…)

Living and dying in Phnom Penh

Post
#233

2505

2008

Sun

21:04

day #

352

3.8 k
views

Phnom Penh is a city in black and white. Some shades of grey seem like colours at first. In the evening, however, I am sure that there aren’t even any shades of grey. Why? I have seen poverty. It’s worse here. Slums are guarded by rubbish belts. The millionaires’ mansions a block away are guarded by barbed wire and CTV. I’ve seen despair. Here it has only one eye. I’ve heard of genocide. Here the murderers ended up killing each other. I have heard of forgiveness. Here there is only forgetting.

Phnom Penh is black and white. Old Khmer Rouge sit in parliament. The elite help themselves to everything the people lack. The people lack everything and they shout at me all day long: give me your money! (more…)

Web design in the Mekong Delta

Post
#232

2405

2008

Sat

23:45

day #

351

3.6 k
views

Get up at six, leave at seven. Three hours by bus to the Mekong. Walking, boating, walking, eating, walking, boating, walking, bus, walking, ferry, walking, three hours by bus. I fall asleep again and again. The hours pass me by like a zombie on tranquillisers. The sun is shining and water lilies float in the brown waters of the Mekong.

The tour group is quite nice, a colourful mix, young and old and from all over. Not terror tourists, but people with interesting stories and questions. But I’m too tired. Switch on the MP3 player and go back to sleep. Some work in the evening, but I can’t concentrate. More than 6 hours’ sleep for the first time in three days. (more…)

Good Night, Vietnam!

Post
#231

2305

2008

Fri

7:12

day #

350

3.9 k
views

The wind has gone for good in Mui Ne. The full moon shines on the mirror-smooth sea. Once the wind is gone, the mosquitoes come. I haven’t even used a bottle of mosquito repellent in a year of travelling the world. I put up with swarms in the jungle of Fiji without a murmur. But the last night in Mui Ne is madness.

I watch a film and try to ignore the five mosquitoes on my arm. After that, the bites become murderous. I go to the wax bar three more times in the hope that the mosquitoes will eventually go to sleep. Rest wrapped in a sheet in a hammock on the beach. Mosquitoes bite through. 187 bites later, I wake the boss at three and organise a mosquito net. (more…)

Real capitalism in Vietnam

Post
#230

2105

2008

Wed

17:47

day #

348

3.4 k
views

What is it in Vietnam now? Communism is written all over the place, but it’s nowhere to be found. Uncle Ho Chin Minh is still God, but his sheep value money far more than a sense of community. Everyone fights for themselves. The democratic military dictatorship in Fiji was much more communist. Vietnam is real capitalism with an asterisk.

There are only two reasons why Vietnam remains officially communist: firstly, there is a better way to justify the expensive visas. Secondly, the Soviet stars make a good souvenir. Otherwise, only Quicksilver copies would remain. All Vietnamese run around with them today, the red stars are totally out of fashion for them. (more…)

Better to remember My Son…

Post
#229

1805

2008

Sun

15:14

day #

345

3.4 k
views

Just 50km south of Hoi An there is another world heritage site: My Son, an ancient Hindu cult centre of the Chumpa kingdom. Built between the 3rd and 15th centuries, the Chumpa developed masterly skills in mortarless brick construction. Some of the old temples still stand today.

in 1968, the Vietcong had a base here. The resulting US bombings took out 8 towers. Today – more or less – 20 tower temples still stand in an idyllic rainforest valley. Grass grows on the bricks. Old and new, it really smells of history here. UNESCO, I apologise for the mistake with Hoi An. (more…)

Forget Hoi An!

Post
#228

1705

2008

Sat

20:07

day #

344

4.6 k
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Everyone has to go to Hoi An. An old town, a historic ensemble, carefully renovated. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and proclaimed the highlight of every visit to Vietnam by every travel guide without exception. Today I arrive in Hoi An and need a whole two hours to develop a completely different opinion: Hoi An is the most pathetic world heritage site I have ever visited.

Just counted: I’ve visited 18 UNESCO sites so far on this trip around the world. Since last year, my home town of Regensburg has also been a World Heritage Site. The sites are selected on the basis of their outstanding historical significance in conjunction with actual history. That’s exactly why I’m shouting to the world: Forget Hoi An! (more…)

Bach Ma National Park

Post
#227

1605

2008

Fri

22:22

day #

343

3.9 k
views

My landlady organises a Xe Om for me in the morning to the Bach Ma National Park, 40 km away. The French feudal lords built almost 150 villas here within 10 years from 1932 as a summer retreat in the mountains. Just 20 kilometres from the sea, the peaks rise up to 1500 metres. Steep mountains, green rainforest, shrouded in high clouds.

Entry is almost free. But I have problems getting to the summit. There are two options: walk 16km through tropical rainforests in the midday heat, or try the national park minibus. 20 euros for 9 people. But Bach Ma is quite unknown, and it’s low season: I am officially confirmed as the only guest in the 22,000 hectare national park. (more…)

In the old royal city of Hue

Post
#226

1505

2008

Thu

22:37

day #

342

3.7 k
views

I’m going to treat myself. A whole penthouse dorm on the fourth floor with a view over the old royal city of Hue. For me alone. I just about have the four euros a day. You can get some WiFi at the top, I work the whole first day. There are good restaurants, I try far too many. In the evening I’m almost too stupid to work with a bloated stomach. The DMZ bar is buzzing, but I get tired quickly.

In the morning, I set off for the old royal palace. The Vietnamese rulers of the Nguyen dynasty reigned here from 1805 to 1945. Hue is a citadel. High walls and a moat surround the city. The palace is a citadel within the citadel. At the very centre is the sanctuary: the innermost citadel housed the royal concubines. (more…)

Flowers in a war zone

Post
#225

1405

2008

Wed

19:32

day #

341

3.9 k
views

At six in the morning, we set off on the bus to Dong Ha, the last major town before the Demilitarised Zone. We want to spend a whole day visiting the former border between North and South Vietnam and some of the worst battlefields of the war. Two hours later we are in Dong Ha, 30 minutes later I have a room, breakfast, a motorbike and Jörg has his evening ticket to Hanoi.

We don’t want to travel in a group, so we treat ourselves to a private guide for $15 a day. Quang is 50 and has lived through the war. Hopes were high, but before we see the first tank he tells us stories of glorious Vietcong concubines killing GIs. That may have been the case, but he puts it all across quite comically. (more…)

Night train to nowhere

Post
#224

1205

2008

Mon

23:58

day #

339

3.5 k
views

We take a taxi in the rain to Phan Thiet railway station, 30 kilometres away. Jörg has bought his ticket separately and we have different compartments. The journey takes us through endless rice fields. Last night was short, we were well rested. I fall asleep quickly. But not for long.

There are a whopping 9 people in my six-person compartment. One is a baby in a swing in the centre. It cries almost the whole night. That’s not so great, but what’s really cool is the young, overburdened mother. She keeps nagging the baby loudly. The apathetic young dad plays the Vietnamese hit parade up and down on his Sony mobile phone in the corner. I can’t get no sleep. (more…)

Kite until you drop

Post
#223

1005

2008

Sat

21:08

day #

337

3.7 k
views

The wind has been blowing all week. I’m starting to believe that my “wherever you are, the wind should be gone” curse has also been blown away. I can’t remember being on the water for at least two hours a day for a whole week in 10 years of kiting. But that’s exactly what Mui Ne is.

I could really grow old here. Designing a few homepages on a deckchair on the beach in the morning. A few hours of kitesurfing in the afternoon. Go out for a good meal in the evening. Then a beer in the Wax Bar next door. A film to fall asleep to and off to bed. If this is what regularity looks like, I would probably never get bored of it. (more…)

Dragon tamers and wind animals

Post
#222

0805

2008

Thu

19:44

day #

335

3.9 k
views

The days follow a fixed rhythm. Get up late in the morning, walk 20 metres to the beach and keep your nose to the wind. Breakfast and hijack the neighbour’s WiFi. Two hours of work, nose into the wind again. Set up the kite, talk shop and head out onto the water. Today, the wind was really blowing for the first time. And Windfinder reckons there’s more to come.

My kite was always a little underpowered. Today everything fits from two o’clock. I’m hanging comfortably in the harness, don’t have to pull anything, just let myself drift. The waves outside are up to 1.5 metres high because of the wind. It’s also quite gusty, I have my problems with the ups and downs out at sea. There’s a lot to learn from cruising alone. (more…)

Kitesurfing in Vietnam

Post
#221

0605

2008

Tue

15:42

day #

333

4.5 k
views

After almost 10 weeks and three countries in the doldrums, I finally get to kitesurf in Vietnam again. Windfinder predicted good wind from Sunday and was right. We came back at exactly the right time. My three friends can do their kitesurfing course and I’m finally happy again without too much effort.

There were heavy thunderstorms the previous night. Apparently Vietnam doesn’t work much with water power. As soon as the rain came, the power went out for 24 hours. It’s hard to work with flat batteries and no internet. My lot is even cruel. I have no excuse not to kite all afternoon. I set up the kite at eleven o’clock. After the first light winds, the kite falls out of the air and builds beautiful line nests. (more…)

From heaven via hell to the sea

Post
#220

0305

2008

Sat

23:41

day #

330

3.3 k
views

The last day in biker heaven in Da Lat takes us directly to a communist toboggan run. We speed down into the valley to a waterfall, then up to the second ride. For the first time in Vietnam, a person drives carefully. In this case, far too carefully. A Vietnamese man blocks the toboggan run at 5 kilometres per hour, a path on which you don’t encounter ghost drivers every minute.

Back at the hotel, we saddle up our bikes and take an alternative route back to the sea. My sense of direction usually puts us on the right roads. But we still have to keep asking. The maps are too bad and the signs are extremely sparse. We drive through cloudy rainforest mountains on mogul tracks through the Vietnamese highlands. (more…)

In the biker heaven of Da Lat

Post
#219

0205

2008

Fri

19:06

day #

329

4.2 k
views

Da Lat is something like the Vietnamese St. Moritz. It’s the only big city in the country where hotels don’t have air conditioning. It’s chilly at 1500 metres. At the beginning of the last century, the French were thrilled by the opportunity not to sweat for a few days. They built 2500 villas, followed later by a small Eiffel Tower. Today, Da Lat is also very popular with the Vietnamese and quite crowded.

We are here because of the roads. First thing in the morning we saddle up our bikes and ride into the surrounding countryside. Again, it’s difficult to see or enjoy anything. A lot of Agent Orange has been sprayed here. It’s blinding. Surviving an American invasion increased our belief in our own immortality to infinity. The driving style of the Vietnamese is accordingly. (more…)

Roadkill Vietnam

Post
#218

0105

2008

Thu

21:52

day #

328

3.6 k
views

On the very first day, I seem to have punctured my tyre. In the morning I patched the tyre, then set off for the mountains with minimal luggage. The first 80 kilometres are boring, but then the mountains begin. Due to a lack of signposts, we get lost and end up on a very small road to Da Lat. I don’t know whether the road has potholes or the potholes have roads. We often travel at just 20 km/h.

The first pass is a nice climb. After half an hour’s heating we are in the clouds. It’s getting cold in Vietnam for the first time, my clothes are too thin. Wisps of cloud cling to the steep rainforest slopes. Red earth burns under black clouds, Jörg’s exhaust pipe in front of my smart new history jacket. (more…)

Mui Ne: It can always be worse

Post
#217

3004

2008

Wed

23:01

day #

327

4 k
views

Like everyone in Asia, the bus to Mui Ne is too early. This time 15 minutes, exactly one missed breakfast. The bus takes a full five hours to cover the 200 kilometres to Mui Ne. Endless street settlements pass by the window. Then the in-bus entertainment begins and I can’t understand the world any more. “Vietnam is looking for a superstar” is on TV.

Everything is interchangeable – songs, interpretation, presentation, make-up, dance. Everything is the same everywhere. Global dumbing down. Only the almond eyes indicate that we are in Vietnam. A small, proud country full of great history defeats a giant. First prize: the freedom to be an individual. Just as equal as the rest of the American world. (more…)

…or simply Saigon?

Post
#216

2804

2008

Mon

19:15

day #

325

3.4 k
views

Saigon is schizophrenic, crazy, diverse, full of contrasts. The Americans have driven out the Vietnamese. Now they count in dollars. Vietnam is communist. Everyone fights for themselves on the streets. I walk the streets of the neighbourhood early in the morning. Endless poverty next to glittering shops. My millionaire status awakens the greed in many eyes that are narrowed with dust.

Many of the cyclo-rickshaw drivers are said to have been in the service of the Americans and, 40 years later, outlaws with no right of residence. I don’t know if the story is true. What I do see is that a striking number of them are quite old. But hardly anyone speaks English. A grey-haired, half-blind Vietnamese man with half my body weight drives me through Saigon for four hours. (more…)

Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh…

Post
#215

2704

2008

Sun

22:06

day #

324

3.8 k
views

Britta probably didn’t realise how right she was about the song before she decided to leave us. I arrive shortly before nightfall. Seven taxi drivers communistically share the driving of my trolley. It takes ages for them to realise that my will to take the bus is stronger. None of them speak English.

Nevertheless, I arrive quickly and my first impression is that the Vietnamese love twinkling lights. Everything looks like a Christmas tree and twinkles. Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh. Merry Christmas and welcome to real communism. My hostel is in the centre of the city. (more…)

Bangkok for the third time: For designers

Post
#214

2604

2008

Sat

20:33

day #

323

3.6 k
views

In Bangkok for the third time. By midday at the latest, it’s pouring with rain every day. The rainy season arrives just in time for my departure from Thailand. The thunderstorms don’t bother me much. Humidity was higher before, temperatures anyway. And in the morning you can at least breathe for 3 hours halfway free of smog. I throw myself into the last few days.

The most important thing: visa for Vietnam. The embassy needs two days for this and wants a rather uncommunist 65 euros for the visa. That’s why I’ve already sent in my passport with an agency from Krabi, which really made my stomach churn. I don’t have a place of residence in Germany at the moment. If the passport gets lost, that means massive problems. But the passport is there, with a visa. (more…)

Laptop funeral in Krabi

Post
#212

2104

2008

Mon

23:44

day #

318

4.5 k
views

Krabi is the first reasonably large town in a good week. As soon as I arrive, I grab a motorbike and ride around looking for laptop shops. What I don’t want is large displays. The prices are almost at European level. But I have no choice. I have to buy a new one now. Repairing the old one would take a month and cost the same.

After a good day of searching for the best deal, I decide in favour of an Acer Aspire. Keyboard: English with Thai. Up to five characters per key. Definitely a good reason to improve my blind typing. The laptop runs Windows Vista. Nice bollocks. You have to confirm four times to delete an icon in the start menu. (more…)

Speedboat across the Andaman Sea

Post
#211

1804

2008

Fri

19:23

day #

315

4 k
views

On our last day on Ko Lanta, we treat ourselves to something special. For a good 20 euros, we take a speed boat across the Andaman Sea to Ko Rok. Ko Rok was recommended to us by Lanta Fun Divers. They were right. At last the water is what you imagine paradise to be like: Turquoise, 20m visibility, hundreds of thousands of fish, white sand.

Despite the calm sea, the crossing is quite rough. I’ve never driven a speedboat before, but now I understand why these things need 100 litres of fuel over 50 km. A lot of energy is lost just by the constant hard impact on the water. At 70 km/h, the wind becomes a wall. The idea of taking my kiteboard and a rope with me was absolute rubbish. (more…)

Ko Lanta: Fun Divers

Post
#210

1604

2008

Wed

22:05

day #

313

4.1 k
views

We continue on to Ko Lanta with a broken laptop. The arrival is beautiful: we are showered with flower necklaces and powder on our faces for the Songkran New Year celebrations. After missing two of my clients, one of the many pushers takes us to the Blue Andaman Beach Resort. The journey there is the longest waterfall of my life.

Tom shoots a picture with the camera of his life. Can’t show how wet it was. Open TukTuk. A new bucket of water every 10 metres. Despite the rain cape, everything in the rucksack gets wet. Tom splashes a gay man in the face, but gets a kiss from a whore. I love incoherence. I’ll add something about his parents now: Tom had a water pistol. (more…)

Ko Phi Phi: Thailand gone bad

Post
#209

1304

2008

Sun

16:31

day #

310