Trip from Saigon to Cambodia – Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap

It is never boring to travel in Asia ;) Also this time the red stamps were following me even when I was going on vacation! The story continuous....

I met Annette in Saigon and we explored the city a little bit including the War Museum, Notre Dame, Opera House etc. I was finally able to go into some bookshops where English books were available and bought a few.

We left Saigon on a bus to Cambodia and the first stop was at the boarder. All our passports were collected, checked for the Vietnamese Visa and we also got a Visa for Cambodia at the same time. After I got my passport back I saw that I got a red stamp on my Vietnamese Visa Extension, which said “used”. I got shocked as I requested a Multi-Entry Visa in Vietnam at the Immigration office in Danang. But at the boarder nobody was able to help me.

So we travelled in Cambodia and our first stop was Phnom Penh, which is the capital. It was not as hectic as Saigon or Hanoi, so I felt very relaxed with the traffic there ;) We also had a brilliant hotel booked in advance with a pool in a lovely side street, which was very quiet.

We visited the National Museum, the Royal Place, Silver Pagoda and the Tuol Sleng Museum.

In 1975 the Tuol Svay High School was taken over from the Pol Pot (Kymer Rouge) and turned into a prison known as S-21. It was very shocking, sad and horrifying to look at all the pictures from the prisoners who all got photographed with a personal number around their neck. There were over 2000 prisoners killed and only 7 people survived after the Vietnamese troops came in 1979 to free them. After seeing all these tortures it was hard to switch your mind back again into real life. We decided to have a rest and go for a coffee to let the impression settle a little bit. These pictures reminded me about the 2^nd World War and the Hitler Regime and for a German person this is not so easy to take in.

We finished the day with a stroll through the market, swimming in the pool and a nice dinner in Phnom Penh before leaving with another bus to Battambang.

It was lashing down when we actually waited for the bus to Battambang and we were happy to have our raincoats with us. The bus trip took over 6 hours and it was a bumpy ride!!!!

We were glad to be finally in Battambang at around 2pm. Then we went straight on a Tuck-Tuck and drove to the famous Bamboo-Train J This was one of our highlights – the train runs for 7.5km and it is so much fun – it is built out of Bamboo and you can take it off the tracks if another Bamboo Train is coming as there is only one track to drive on. Have a look at the pictures ;)

After this fun ride we went back on our Tuck-Tucks and drove 20km outside to the famous Killing Caves where the Khmer Rouge brought a lot of men, women and children and killed them by throwing them in 3 different caves. A lot to take in once again through this sad history of Cambodia. But on our way back on the Tuck-Tuck we stopped at a very small little “school” where a monk was teaching English. I asked him if I can take a photo and we got talking. After I told him that I am teaching English in Danang, he asked me and Annette to teach for a few minutes. The kids had fun and we as well. The kids cannot afford any English Language School so they come to the monks and they have to pay 5US$ per month for their English lessons.

The next day we got up early again and went on a small boat to go to Siem Reap. This was the highlight of our trip. The boat journey was so relaxing and we saw so much country life from Cambodia.

We had to close the left and right side of the wooden boat with a cover from time to time to protect us from all the branches from the trees when we drove through really narrow waterways. During this time we climbed on the roof of the boat where we had a stunning view!

We even so a monkey and we crossed the famous Tonle Sap Lake. The boat trip took 7 hours but it was worthwhile. We met another traveller from Brussels who was on a business trip and took some time out for travelling in Cambodia.

The highlight in Siem Reap was Angkor Wat. We decided to get up at 4.30am to watch the sunrise! It was worthwhile and the pictures are beautiful J But all these Japanese tourist which were all trying to get the best spot to take pictures; I thought I am in Japan ;)

We visited Angkor Wat, Bayon and the Ta Prohm temples and it was very impressive.

After a short lunch break we decided to go back and visit the sunset from the top of another temple. The most amazing thing for me was that you were on the top of a hill but you could not see any other temples at all as there is a huge jungle where all the temples are hidden – awesome!

In general I prefer Vietnam compared to Cambodia as the people in Vietnam are more open, happy and the Vietnamese believe in their countries success in the future. Unfortunately you cannot get this feeling at all in Cambodia. It seems to me that the people in Cambodia are still living beneath the shadow of their history of the Khmer Rouge :(

Now the story of the red stamps is continuing – we arrived at the airport in Siem Reap at the Vietnam Airlines desk and the woman told me that my visa for Vietnam is not valid. I did explain the full story to her and she called her supervisor. The supervisor was a very nice man, who told me, that he has never seen that stamp before. He said he would allow me to get on the plane, but he is not sure what is going to happen when I arrive in Hanoi.

So I boarded the flight with a very strange gut feeling. Arriving in Hanoi and going through customers the officer said the same: “Our visa is not valid”. So I was escorted to another area where after a few minutes’ seven different officers were looking at my passport and discussing in Vietnamese what to do.

I explained the whole situation a few times and then I had to give them a lot of information about where I am living in Vietnam, where I am employed, and different phone no. etc.

After a while they got on the phone and the senior officer

waved at me I should come in their office and handed me the phone. I heard a familiar voice: Trang, she is our Operations Manager in ELI in Danang. She told me that she discussed the situation with the senior officer and I have two options:

1) 1) I can sleep at the airport overlooked by the officers and then Trang would try to arrange a Visa the next day

2) 2) I have to pay a high fee and an agency would come to the airport to produce the paper so the officers at the airport are authorised to issue a Visa for me for one month

Well, as Jan & John and the translators from our CSC program from last year were waiting for me in a Karaoke place the decision was quickly made. I paid the fee (don’t ask how much) and it took 30 minutes and I was allowed to enter Vietnam :)

What a story!!!! Never again I can tell you.

Last Day at Duy Tan University - Saying Goodbye

My last day at DTU today and my class gave me a lovely basket of roses, a lovely book and a heart shaped box :)

We had so much fun singing Karaoke today - "I will survive" from Gloria Gaynor, "Whenever, Whereever" from Shakira and ABBA "Dancing Queen" :)

Thank you to my students from K15CMUTPM!!!!

You are brilliant!

Off to Saigon, Cambodia & Fansipan (Sapa)

I almost cannot believe it myself, but I am off to my vacation today ;) Yippie!

So looking forward to meet Annette in Saigon and then going on our one week trip to Cambodia before we meet Jan & John in Hanoi. Then the real adventure is going to start with climbing up Fansipan!!!!

I will post pictures when I am back!

Oh and I have more news. I resigned from my University DTU here in Danang and I will work full-time for six month for the English Language Institute (ELI)! I am thrilled that it all worked out now and I will have a fresh start on the 11^th October, when I am back ;)

You can see some pictures from my last Cooperate Group I was teaching at ELI – Public Health Servants. Lovely group, I so enjoyed teaching them.

Have a look on the ELI website:

http://my.opera.com/elidanang/blog/

In the 2^nd week we did a Presentation course with them. You can even watch the videos there :)

0209 Independence Day – Trip over the Hai Van Pass

We had a national bank holiday in Vietnam on Thursday, so I decided to go on a motorbike trip over the Hai Van Pass in the direction of Hue.

I stepped out of my house in the morning to buy some baguette and every single house had a Vietnamese flagged hissed outside their home. It looked really nice (have a look at the picture on my street). The 2^nd of September 1945 is the day Japan formally stopped fighting and admitted defeat in World War II and Ho Chi Minh declared independence in Vietnam.

I met Tony (another English teacher) for some tasty breakfast in the “Bread of Life” before we went on our motorbikes up the Hai Van Pass. It is a stunning, very beautiful scenic road. The view is amazing :) We stopped in-between to take some pictures and I just enjoyed the scenery! This was one of the best motorbike trips I have had in my life :) The best thing is, that most of the cars and busses drive through the tunnel and don’t take the scenic old road. So most of the time the only people you meet are on motorbikes and it is not much traffic at all. Up on the top of the pass you can still see some bunkers, which are left from the American War. The way down to the other side is as stunning and it was so enjoyable to drive. We came to a small town called “Long Co” which we passed through. After another long ride on another road we found a lovely small village where we had some nice seafood directly on the beach.

We had stunning weather during the morning and the afternoon until we drove back over the Hai Van Pass. We were half down the mountain, when it started pouring rain. But if you live here in Vietnam you get used to these tropical downpours :) If you have a proper raincoat with you it is not bad at all.

And what are the latest news from the teaching front?! There is a lot of work ;) Which is good!

I have been teaching the “Da Nang’s people’s committee” for the first time last night. They are all public servants and we had such an enjoyable lesson. That was the best lesson I had since I am teaching in Vietnam. It was great the rapport with the adults and their experiences at work. We had the topic “Coping with stress” which was very close to my heart as you can imagine from previous IBM times ;)

Next week I will be teaching 22h! These are the longest hours so far and lets see how I can cope :) However I thought as I am going on vacation soon, it is good to work a bit more beforehand so I can spend some money in Cambodia as well.

I will be teaching a Medical Company next week that is coming over from Laos. It’s exciting for me as I have been teaching “only” Vietnamese so far and I am so looking forward to meet these people.

Hope you are all well back home or wherever you are right now! Looking forward to hear from you all again soon :)

New English teaching classes - Trip to BaNa Hills

More then two weeks are already over since I have started to teach the new classes in the University and in the English Language Institute. A lot of new impression ;) In the University I have unbelievable big classes – up to 43 students! I can tell you, this is a challenge of a kind ;)

Teaching in ELI twice in the evening is very refreshing. I have only 8-10 students between 16 – 45 years old. Very nice class and you can even discuss topics properly :) I really like it. However you cannot compare these two places. The students have completely different backgrounds and both places have pro’s and con’s. I think it is good for me as a teacher to experience both so.

Yes and there are news about the paperwork, seals and stamps for the work permit – the story continuous I can promise you…..now I don’t even know where I need to get the stamps which are missing and on which paper exactly they need to be stamped on…..no comment!

Just met an American guy in a bar tonight and he told me it took him up to one year to get all his documents together until they issued a work permit to him….Am I surprised?? No not really…… so patience needed :)

Last Saturday I went on a trip to BaNa Hills Mountain with my motorbike and Mai & Tony came as well along with their bike. The way to the mountain was anything else then pleasant – the streets were unbelievable busy, dirty – a lot of trucks, sand on the street and so on…..madness! Glad we returned in one piece all of us. But the trip was worthwhile! You have a stunning view from the cable car on the way up – we could see even Son Tra Mountain with the white lady Buddha and DaNang! And there are so many lovely mountains around BaNa Hills, it is an amazing scenery. I really liked it. Unfortunately it got a bit cloudy up the top and in the afternoon it even started to rain. After the rain it cleared up again and the view on the way down with the cable car was amazing so.

In-between we had to wait for over an hour to get down from the hill again as the cable car is not running all day. They have in total 4 breaks of an hour each and of course it is all written in Vietnamese, so we had no clue!

Does this surprise me? No, not anymore! We looked at rooms in both hotels up the top and it is worthwhile to stay there one night at some stage.

Must be an amazing view in the morning if you wake up and look out of your window :)

I did spend a lot of time on planning the trip with my visitors which are coming over in 6 weeks already :) Can’t wait!

Will meet Annette in Saigon and then we travel to Cambodia by bus. Starting in Phnom Penh, then Battambang and Siem Riep with Angkor Wat before we take the flight to Hanoi where we are going to meet Jan & John :) Then we have booked a trekking tour up to Fansipan next to Sapa. Fansipan is the highest mountain in Indochina with 3143 meters!! This is going to be a challenging hike and we sleep one night in a tent up on the way to the top :) Ohh… but I am so looking forward to it!

And after 3 month I finally started running again!!!! Yes, yesterday evening after 6pm I gave it a try. 30 degrees still outside, over 80% humidity…..I was as wet as I would have come out from the shower with my running gear ;) But it felt soooo good! I made it at least to 30min, which wasn’t so bad. And I loved it to see the coastline with all the lights on and the white Buddha on Son Tra mountain!!! I was thinking, I should have started running a long time ago in Da Nang! So now there is no excuse anymore, I will continue running on the beach ;)