Xin Chao from Vietnam :) Dec 2013

So now im in Vietnam, after Philippines. When i came to country i was reading somewhere that Finnish people can visit country for 15 days without visa so i was thinking to save money and time in beginning and just go throught border and get visa after 15 days. So just fast to Ho Chi Minh city. I was planning to spend just one night in Ho Chi Minh city but like last time in Vietnam i had problems getting money on atm so had to wait couple more days there.

So after couple days was heading to Mui Ne because i was reading there could be regular surfing although it was more kitesurfing place. I was reading quidebook and got image that its more like small and calm place  but not really, quite basic tourist place, expencive board prices and dont think that so good waves for surfing so decided i dont want to pay those prices on board. Kitesurfing there is probably very nice but expencive and for my talent of surfing looked way out of reach now.

So i did basic thing that usually in Asia: renting motorbike and went to see fishing village which was nice, can recommend that :)

But that place didnt feel my kind of place so soon i continued to Dalat because i was reading there could be some kind of climbing there.

But when i came to Dalat every climbing office said that its too wet season that they dont have any climbing activity now so no lucky on that also.

But when i came to Dalat there was this Huan from Dalat easy riders, which is motorbike club who take tourists to ride on different parts of Vietnam and he was trying to sell me 3 days trip through mountains. First i was thinking im not going because price was little high for my budget but then i was reading so good experiences on internet about that trip so i was changing my mind and agreed that trip. Route would be Dalat-Buon Ma Thuot and end would be Nha Trang so nice way to get back to coast also.

So next day me and Huan started with Huans motorbike and yes that was right: so incredible mountain  views and we were stopping so many interested places, coffee plantasies, rubber tree plantations, silk factory, carpenters place, brickyard, temples, waterfalls and many kind of interested places, dont even remember all of them but really good picture about Vietnamese handicraft works basically, hard to imagine better way to see so much in so little time so it was really incredible and views were all the time awesome and people so friendly, loved that!!!!

And first night was nice because we were sleeping on locall house in little village, was so ingredible to see again Vietnamese village life: some elephants there, pigs, chickens, bulls, men playing volleyball, little boys following me and exited again when i take pictures of them and show those to them, again huge success :) 

Some places was seeing women making dinner in real fire on dark evening, just cant give you that imagine really, those are experiences you just have to experience by yourself, i never forget feelings of Vietnamese little villages, some say they are primitive but i think they got something that people in cityes has lost very long time ago!!! And Vietnamese dinner, oh boy, food is so good there :)

All together have to say that that was also one of best experiences that i have had in Asia and can really really recommend Huan for Easyriders for your quide, if you read this Huan, THANKS A LOT!!!!

And now im in Nha Trang and realised that my 15 days free being in Vietnam is soon full so i thought i continue my visa. Exept that wasnt really visa i have, just somekind of permission to be country and thei said me that i should have taken real visa on border that you can continue. Now afterwards visa is more expencive and takes more time so i have to wait here so long that my visa is ok, thei said it takes week to get visa, so im trapped here atleast week now before can continue north. Just my luck. But tell you later how my trip continues...

Tarlac and San Fernando La Union. Dec 2013

Well after Banaue when i came back to South things were really going out of hands. Suddenly so many adventures that its hard anymore to give whole picture. Whole thing started when i was first trying to go back to Manila and was planning to go somewhere south on islands. That time i was in Tarlac when something bad happened, There was really strong Typhoon hitting on south part of Philippines. (Think it was Ylanda?) Luckily you couldn't feel that on Tarlac but everything was destroyed and lots of people dying in south that time, so it was really bad and no point to travel there.

But that started reaction of happenings to my life that it's still hard for me to realize. 

First thing was that because i didn't know what to do i stopped in Tarlac trying to think what to do.

And after i hanged there i was becoming friends on large family and that ended that was living with them weeks all together.

small part of family playing cards :)

During that time i had so many incredible experiences on local life that would take really long to tell everything. I think i give short list experiences that i had and tell more about some of them later.

But during that time i had these experiences just as sample:

1. Balut egg (which is unborn chicken)

2. being judge on Ladyboys beauty content

3. Dengue fever and being week on local hospital

4 Driving car in center of Tarlac (Finnish trafic is so lame)

5 Being invited on local wedding, which was really expensive (Husband was air pilot so they had money...)

So there i was, in Tarlac, living with family. On evenings they like to play all kind of gamble on balcony, mostly by cards.

and sometimes there was street party, i was only white man dancing with beautifull Philippines women 😍 i miss those times... 

One time i had possibility to be in birthday where was all kind of games:

Me and Aileen :)

When i had been on Tarlac for a while i traveled to surf place called San Fernando la union. Was planning to learn surfing but that was really hard. But when i came on evening to my house there was Birthday party of my new friend Debbie. Debbie and his friends Irene, Jenny and Raymund were inviting me to party and it was really fun: they were all asking questions for me together so was hard to try answer them all in same time 😂

Me, Jenny, Debbie,Irene and Raymund :)

Later we went to beach where was bigger party, still remember when we were singing together Bob Marleys song "no woman, no cry" on warm evening 😍

They were so friendly and we had so good time there, even just awhile :)

But from there i went back to Tarlac to see my friends there for awhile again. 

On that time there was beauty contest of ladyboys in Tarlac and my friends wanted me to be one of judge on that competition. First i refused but my friends wanted me so much there that i agreed finally. 

So there i was, one of the judges in ladyboy competion:

It was quite experience and hard part was they looked scary good 😂 And they were talented: they had made them own costumes and like beauty contest there was many rounds, acting, swim suit, evening dress and so on. And i had to give points like professional: concentrate on costumes and giving points there, acting, speech and everything had to give points. A fine experience although i rather judge on real women still on next time :)

But after that i got fever and i found that one mosquito which bited me on San Fernando la union was carrying Denque fewer and i went so bad that i was one week in local hospital.

But finally i recovered and my friends on Tarlac was invited to local fly captains wedding and they took me there also. It was really really fancy: cake was my size and all quest were yelled by name when they arrived, like old times in kings castle!

But unfortynedly i dont have pictures from there but can say was fancy, and every guest got present, a small pocket clock!!!

But that was about my time on Philippines, from there i decided to go on Vietnam, but thats new story :)

Sagada, Philippines Oct 2013

This trip started smooth, in beginning i was covering from jetlag on my Finnish friend Henrik's place in Manila. I was there a couple days, mostly going sauna with Henrik and his friends and sleeping :D

Sauna itself was in 28th floor so it was quite nice view to city after sauna :) But after recovering couple days i thought i continue to North and my route has been now Manila-Tarlac-Baguio-Sagada and now i'm in Banaue.

Basically there wasn't nothing specific happening before i came Sagada where i was meeting small group of young people on different countries. I was hearing that they are going to see huge cave there and i asked if i could join with them.

They accepted me but they were leaving on 5 minutes so i run to guesthouse, i grabbed my torch and camera and run back. We were walking there and i was taking pictures on way there and when we reach entrance of cave my luck was hitting again: my battery on camera was running out and didn't have another battery then :(

So i was giving my mail to people hoping they could send me some pictures, for now i have got just one:

Well there is prove i'm in cave. Cave was actually really huge, i was asking from guide how deep is cave after we were climbing down really long time and he said its deepest 500 meters underground.
I liked cave because not like other caves i have been there was difference: not lights on wall at all so only light was just our torches, so it was more spooky. On roof was hanging hundreds of mean and raging bats eyes shining, ready to hit our neck artery. Sometimes there was underground pools where you could swim and some parts had to go through pool to get deeper.

Sometimes was little scary to go down because land was slippery and you could see that if you fall you don't know how deep you fall, some hardest parts was with ropes but mainly just one rule, don't wall :)

But after that i came here in Banaue, to see rice fields which are over 2000 years old.

Was nice place but on way there i saw strange pig-transportation device:

So i was going around seeing different rice fields with my driver Jun.

But in Banaue is also more than just rice fields, we went to visit also ancient village, or what was left of it, just couple of houses, but i think there had been traditional food celebration and tourists before me was main dish:

And i also found my future wife there:

And we went also on hot springs and on way there i stopped to help local smith to keep embers alive this manual blower when smith was hammering iron:

From there i traveled back to South towards Alaminos and little village called Lucap which is gate to 100 islands national park where i was couple of days on island hopping. Islands are beautiful there and was snorkeling there even not so good place for that, i think.

One island i tried little bouldering and was taking nap after that on beach, under the rock, listening waves sounds :)

When i woke up there was young people coming in picnic there and they invited me join with them, was nice :)

But that was it, was planning to go more south after that but then something happened. But i tell more about that in next time :)

Vinh Long, Vietnam. Feb 2013

So after Phu Quoc i traveled first to Can Tho where i was visiting to see Floating market but just my lucky it was just beginning of Chinese new year so actually there wasn't nothing but couple boats selling fruits, fish, pancakes and stuff like that but i bet it must be awesome when there is lots of boats, was nice to go there still little before sunrise so watching sunrise on river was breath taking experience.

Sun Rise in Mekong

some boats in floating market

these i bought on market, so fresh.

Later on evening i was seeing also Chinese Dragon dance but my part of town wasn't so massive party still, but i still got idea, dragon dance was really acrobatic :)

When i came Can Tho i was meeting woman who arranged homestays so i was booking home stay for couple days. On that time they were really home stays yet but later years when gone back Vietnam they seem to be more like family hotels, but now i'm talking about real homestay where you actually live with family.

So thing was that home stay was in Vinh Long, North from Can Tho.
I think it was something called Thuy Nga homestay.

So i traveled to Vinh Long to home stay. It was, again, one of best memories to live someones house.

It was really countryside and again there was just one woman who spoke English, same that arrange that homestay. Because was Chinese new year they had party where was lots of so good food that still i get tear to my eye, just to remember that. And of source local liqueur , on plastic cans.

before eating

So there we were: me and local men, around round table, eating and drinking liqueur. And they were so friendly people there. System to eat is that you have food cup and stick and food is deserved middle of table so everyone is taking food to them cup something and eat then, EXCEPT me: they were constantly filling my cup so my job was just eat as much as fast i could, sometimes i tried to talk someone something but because they didn't speak English they always was giving me shot of  liqueur and laughing same time. 

and then party :)

So very soon i realized how to balance my talking: eat more, talk less, unless you want to be really drunk fast :D

After eating i took nap on hammock when men still were eating and drinking.

After nap i wanted to take pee, so i asked where is toilet. Men where shoving little building little far, i went there, opened door and it seemed just like shower room, not with real shower but buckets. But not really toilet on the floor. So i asked woman who was keeping homestay where is toilet. And she shoved same room.

So when i explored more better i realized: it was shower room and also toilet. Thing is that there is not really Indian style hole on the floor, instead floor was falling to one corner where was this tiny tiny hole, so you just do your things to shower floor and then water and hope that everything is going towards that hole.... After that Indian toilets were feeling very luxury :)

"toilet" left up corner you barely see tiny hole?

Next day we went some of them relatives house where was similar party, i thought that toilet was just my family's thing but there was also similar, so i ques that's normal there. As always, i didn't had to take food myself, they were filling my cup again, and of source liqueur .

Later me and some young boy of family(hard to say because no English) went to see with motorbike some grandfather who liked me very much and also wanted to end 1.5 liter liqueur  bottle with me. Of source too big job and he looked really disappointed, like it would be some kind of honor thing not to finish it. I said boy with me to tell grandfather that if i come Vietnam again i finish that bottle with him and he was better mood then :)

These Vietnamese were so friendly, when one day i was loaning family's motorbike just to look countryside i just had to pass any house little slower and they were shoving hands that they invite me to dinner, but wanted to stay my family, would be rude just change place without warning.

So it was fun, only thing was language barrier and my opinion is that Vietnamese are not so good to ques when you try to show hand marks so there wasn't much joy neither. 

But that was basically it, from there i think i traveled to Ho Chi Minh City and was flying back to home in Finland, that was end of my 3 months trip in Asia, including Nepal,Laos,Cambodia and south Vietnam. I went back to home mind full of stories, very happy, knowing that this was just 1 of 3 trips on Asia, all of them taking 3 months. But i tell you later of my second big trip ;)

Zi Izlands :) Cambodia-Vietnam Feb 2013

After Killing fields in Cambodia little more nicer places. When i was Phnom Pehn i already started to wonder should i continue to Vietnam or do i go to southcoast to see islands. I already was thinking of skipping islands and go Vietnam but then i meet this girl on guesthouse who recommended Koh Rong island which was that time just starting to development and would be still quite oriental. So i tought this is some path i have to follow now. So next morning towards coast, and after one night in Sihanoukvill i was taking boat to Koh Rong.

And it was nice place: they were building bungalows and on beach there were some bars but not so much people yet on island and clearly things were just starting there. I was searching  flat that was 15 dollars/night, thought its expencive but took it anyway, near the beach, and ques what i did then? 

Those who know me might ques: i was taking my hammock and went straight to beach, was putting hammock so that i have nice sea view, was watching for a while blue sea and of course after that little nap, that's why i came here, to relax!!!

When i woke i was continuing chilling until there came one Turkish man who wanted to make deal with me: he would take picture of me if after that we change parts and i take picture of her on my hammock.

I agreed because i realized all my memory cards were full already, i had space to take just one picture on island. 

So he was taking pictures of me and mailing them to me afterwards and i took couple pictures of her.

chilling in Koh Rong

Of course i don't remember his name anymore, my memory :D But he was funny person, i thought i'm with bad memory but he was incredible: on one evening he was losing so many objects: his t-shirt, tiger balm, sun classes and some more objects.

So i was hanging with her and for time to time we were searching those objects during evening, some found, some lose :D

But finding him was also good because he had found little cheaper house so i was collecting my stuff and was moving same house witch was 8 dollars night. Place was anyway more like my style, was more far on beach where all bars were, behind facade, middle of locals stilt houses, was nice to watch locals life on evening and all noises from beach didn't hear that place. Only voices were grasshoppers voices and aggregate running so there is electricity on evenings.

Stilt house was also classic in funny way: the walls were 1 cm slits on wall boards and also the floor so you could see inside from anywhere :) no fan, toilet and some kind of shower was outside.

There was just mosquito net and bed and they were still building that house on day time :D

So on evening we decided to go see another side of headland with "mister Ahmed", thought jungle to see more calm beach and was beautiful beach: couple kilometers of white sand beach and jungle, there was also couple bungalows and just few tourists but bungalows were expensive, over 30 dollars night without any comforts.

On beach was just few people so was nice to take sun set pictures and then we go back to our side on darkness with fishing boat.

So i think i was there 4 days, doing nothing specific really, just relaxing on hammock. One day i was walking more far on beach and after little jungle found long beach were one locals house but basically private beach, just very far was some expensive bungalows again.

But was very long beach so i found private part there, hammock there, chilling again and swimming naked :D

But after 4 days i was feeling that maybe chilled enough here so i was taking boat back to Sihanoukvill.

Boat trip was taking about 2 hours and i was listening reggae on the way. One songs words were encourage start living today and not tomorrow, like "go and live"

So i was listening that song and watching red sun set on ocean and was smiling in big time: here i was doing it!!! No waiting to live tomorrow, i was living on moment, extremely happy :)

So from Sihanoukvill i was taking bus to Vietnam and thought that because i was starting to explore life on islands i continue on same way: was planning to go Vietnam to Phu Quoc islands.

Couple nights in Ha Tien but after that boat to Phu Quoc islands. On beginning i was 3 nights more expensive tourist place but didn't feel my kind of place, although  i was found on boulder rock on beach where i made about 6 boulder routes, that was fun.

One day i was renting motorbike, wanted to go south island and went to An Thoi.

On An Thoi i saw just one tourist who lived there. Man from France. (I think name was Didier)

Place was feeling good: no tourists and almost no one speaks English so of course  i wanted to move there. So we made deal with Didier that next day i move on same hotel and we explore island together :)

So next day i was renting motor driver to An Thoi, but because i was there time was over mid day already so Didier had gone somewhere explore already so i was renting motorbike on hotel and went explore myself island.

So i was taking my hammock and driving on quiet beach that i saw on way to An Thoi and was taking nap on beach.

Lisää kuvateksti

There was just couple fishing boats, couple cows and sand road where someone was driving time to time but still quiet and calm place.

So when sun was setting i had to go swim naked again and after that to hotel.

On next day i was meeting Didier again and couple days we were exploring islands together with motorbikes, were checking couple beaches and one evening we were taking sun set pictures near fishing village and little boys from village came to hang with us :)

we found place "where pepper grows" so been there :)

Sun set near fishing village :)

After 5 days i had to continue to main land if i wanted to see more Vietnam before going back to home, but thats new story :)