About Vietnam

Go here before it’s too late – you still have a few years so you don’t have to rush. It’s quite a lot of tourists already, but more the kind of advanced travelers and Backpackers, no mass tourism yet.
Places like Nha Trang, Mui Ne and Dalat are not crowded at all even a lot of tourists already. We mainly meet them on the buses between destinations and on arranged trips but the beaches are almost empty.
Coming here it’s only necessary to book the flight and maybe your first night at a Hotel for the rest of your stay it’s no problem to get Hotel rooms and also more cheaper this way because most of the Hotels listed on the internet are the more expensive ones. There are a lot of small hotels and guesthouses that are perfectly ok even as low as from $5 a night. It’s possible to live here for $10-15 a day food and accommodation included. Travel is also cheap; a bus ticket from Mui Ne to Saigon (200km) is $5 an air ticket from Saigon to Dalat (40 min) $40. A whole day trip with sightseeing from your hotel including lunch from $8. I met somebody who had traveled by bus from Phnom Penh in Cambodia to Saigon included river crossings and hotel for $12.
The only thing that disappointed me in Vietnam was the food; even the “west food” they try to make is no good. I was in a “Mexican Restaurant” and ordered some tortillas, salsa and guacamole but it tasted absolutely nothing…and the salsa was not salsa and the guacamole probably not guacamole but some other green stuff….or what about Spaghetti Carbonara with beef!!! I also experienced that the cleanliness was so so and generally not very good so best to be careful with what you eat..
Peoples knowledge of English is also limited which resulted in some problems when ordering…like you get ice tea instead of hot tea etc.
And it’s the sellers and beggars; people going around selling things you don’t need coming in to restaurants while you are eating can be quite annoying. It’s maybe more disabled people here than normal elsewhere maybe because of the war. It feels much better to give them money than buying some rubbish from the street sellers. In Saigon particularly there are also a lot of children going around selling chewing gum that can be quite difficult to get rid of but things like this you have to expect in countries like this.
Vietnam is a country with some beautiful scenery and not at all like I expected. I want to come back and then visit the North with Hanoi and Halong Bay. Hanoi is a much nicer city they say and also the capital. Halong Bay is on the world’s top ten list of special places and also Sapa Highland on the border to Laos and China. Also in the complete south of Vietnam on the border to Cambodia is an island, Phu Quoc, with some fantastic beaches.

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

Saigon is the biggest city in Vietnam with about 5 mill. inhabitants. Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam but after the war Hanoi in the north became capital. A few years after the war Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh after the late President of North Vietnam. HCM is the official name but Saigon is still in use.
HCM is situated by the Mekong delta and the Saigon river is running through the city. It's a busy, noisy and I would say a bit dirty city in most areas as you can see a lot of litter and garbage around along the street except for the main business area with foreign companies and embassies.
Thousands or millions of Motorbikes makes a mess and the few cars that tries to make their way through the streets constantly using their horn to be able to make some progress. The horns on most cars also seems not to be the original ones, but much stronger and louder which makes the noise unbearable. Particularly buses and trucks have horns that might wake up the dead.
Motorbikes are often parked on the pavement making it difficult to walk and sometimes it's completely blocked so you have to go out in the street to be able to pass. Along the street many are just sitting on their bikes to watch the daily life or to offer you a ride. It seems almost like these people are living most of their lives on the motorbikes...sitting there all day, sleeping and eating and drinking, couples in hot embraces etc.
For short distances it's of course much cheaper and faster to go by bike than Taxi but also more dangerous. Whatever you do try to stay away from the guys with these bikes with seat in front aimed at tourists, they are expensive and the only kind of people in Vietnam who will try to cheat you.
Saigon used to be a cosmopolitan city and during the Vietnam war the Americans had their headquarter here. After many years of little contact with the outside world Vietnam is now starting to open up and the city and the business is staring to come to life again and foreign businessmen and tourists are returning in big numbers. Vietnam is "hot" at the moment both for investors and tourists. If you have some money to invest, I have some good ideas!
I have been three times in Saigon now during my time in Vietnam and I must say that my first impression has changed some. I haven't met anyone yet who has had anything good to say about Saigon, everybody says; no good! This time I found some nicer places and cleaner areas than before so things are not always as bad as you first think.
A Taxidriver told us he was half Chinese. His father was a soldier in the war on the American side and he was killed at an age of 25 by the Viet Cong (VC) soldiers so he had never seen his father. A bit unusual story since China supported North Vietnam and had soldiers on that side but I guess that's how war is; it has many "sides".
It is not very many attractions in Ho Chi Minh except for the War Museum, Pagodas and some big Churches. But it's possible to take some trips outside Saigon to visit the underground tunnels where the Viet Cong soldiers launched their last big offensive against the Americans.
Saigon is also a perfect starting point for exploring the Mekong River Delta.

Vietnamese Music

There is a special type of music in Vietnam you can hear in many Coffee bars or Cafe's sometimes also live. It's something I never heard before and it went straight to my heart. I don't know how to describe it other than a bit melancholy or sad. Normally the instrument is only a single guitar and sometimes a saxophone. I think if you heard this music you would never guess it came from Vietnam and the language is not easily regognizable in songs. You might maybe rather think it came from South or Latin America and it must be a mix of cultures because it doesn't sound particularily Asian at all.
I have one name and maybe you can check it out; Khanh Ly.

Mui Ne to Saigon

It's only about 200km to Saigon but it takes 5 hours to get there by bus so it doesn't go very fast even the roads are not too bad. It's because of all the things that are going on alongside and on the road. The road is like an endless street with shops, businesses, farms and houses on both sides so obviously it's like driving through a densly populated area all the time. Going by bus is cheap in Vietnam, this trip costs $5. Most buses don't have toilets but they will stop if you are in big need. They also have breaks usually after 3-4 hours.
After Mui Ne we passed through the town Phan Thiet. This side of Mui Ne is green and fertile again and we passed many, many Dragon fruit plantations which seemed to be the main crop in this area. The fruit trees are in all stages of development, some fields are ready for harvesting and some are in flower. They are using extra light to make the day longer to open the flowers in order to produce fruits all year round.
Closer to Saigon it was more Bananas, Maize etc and also some tree plantations only for making wood/lumber.
We arrived in Saigon after dark without having booked hotel but it didn't take us very long to find one.
My stay in Vietnam for this time is coming to an end but I still have some more topics to cover on this blog so keep on visiting!

A Sidenote on Coffee II

Here in Vietnam is the only place I've been able to drink black coffee without any problems. When I get black coffee home it almost turns my stomach inside out and it doesn't taste good at all. Here the taste is round and good and not as acid as most other places...so today I bought some packets of coffeebeans and I also got this coffeefilter I talked about in an earlier post on top.

Mui Ne

It was a 5 hours busdrive from Nha Trang to Mui Ne, half the way to Saigon. This area is completely different from Nha Trang which was green and fertile right to the mountain tops. First we came to an area with "stoney" mountains and hills and no much people living there and almost no vegetation, only bushes and stones. Later it became even dryer with cactuses and sand and scattered wide Ficus trees. The soil was dry and lack of water made this area not very usefull for any agriculture so it seemed the biggest business here was graveyards that covered very big areas. It was Buddhist cemeteries with graves like small houses and also Catholic cemeteries not very unlike the other.
When we approached the seaside there were big sanddunes like small mountains and along the seaside it was kilomtere after kilometer with beaches and almost no people except for some fishermen.
Mui Ne is only a road/street by the seaside with a lot of small Hotels and restaurants. The beach is not so broad as in Nha Trang and the Coconut trees are just some few meters from the sea. It's just like I imagined it with a few coconuts floating on the waves. To make it perfect we bought a coconut and drank the juice trough a straw.
We lived in a Bungalow less than 10 m from the sea but maybe 2.5 m higher. It was quite windy and the Coconut palms were swaying in the wind and the big waves constantly hammering against the shore. I like the sound of the waves and the wind in the Coconut trees but my friend was a little bit afraid talking about Tsunamis....of course we would be in trouble if a Tsunami came but I tried to tell her that it was not very likely even though it was an earthquake with fear of Tsunami in Indonesia just a few days ago and not very far away.
I was sitting outside the bungalow in the dark; a big Coconut tree above me and I could see the white tops of the waves as they hit the shore....looking up I saw the crown of the Coconut tree with nuts and the stars around. Listening to the "eternal" sound of the waves makes your mind and soul to relax. Even the wind is strong and the night is late, it's warm and I don't need more clothes than necessary to be decent.
Now I understand why some writers and painters found places like this to do their work; it gives peace of mind and new inspiration.
For a frozen soul from the Arctic region this is like Paradise...if you close your eyes for other problems because nothing and nowhere is perfect in this world, but it's close to it. There is always a backside and that's maybe a consolation for you frozen inhabitants of the north that have to stay there.

Island Trip

We took a boat trip out to three different islands north of Nha Trang. First we came to a small island where the biggest attraction was an Ostrich farm and a Deer farm where we could feed the animals. It was ok but my biggest moment was when i discovered a Dragon fruit Plantation and a lot of Mango trees. It was no fruits now but it was the first time I saw a Dragon tree....even I'm a Horticulturist I didn't know it was a cactus/succulent plant, so that was great.
The next island was big with high mountains. It was also a nice beach. This beach was on the inside and therefore no big waves as at Nha Trang beach so it was easier to bath and swim.
We followed a path upwards and came to a waterfall but no much water at this time of year (dry season). For me it was nice anyway because we walked through the jungle with so dense forests and bushes that it was almost impossible to walk outside the path. The main vegetation was small leafed Ficus trees, like Ficus Benjamina.
It was quite a few small islands around and most of them uninhabited with some nice beaches with absolutely no people.
The last isalnd we visited was Monkey Island with a lot of small monkeys everywhere which we could feed. They were quite naughty as monkeys are so it was best to look after your things. They also had a performance with dogs and monkeys which was quite funny.
It was nice to be out on the sea for a whole day with a lot of fresh air and feeling the scent of salty water again.

NHA TRANG

A nice small city on the beach...or the beach in the city...You can step right down from the street to the beach. From most hotels it's only a few minutes walk.
The beach is not crowded at all and every time we've been there we have several hundred meters of beach for ourselves. Today it was Sunday and only some local people sitting on the beach fishing, some tourist lay sunbathing on hired chaires and the tourists from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh preferred the shade under the Palm Huts.
It's a beach without the normal tourist things like Water Scooters and all kind of thing like that...just one place to buy some drink and small food otherwise nothing...not even anybody looking after or keeping watch like on other beaches I've been.
The waves here are spectacular and flows 10-15 meters in over the beach. They are nearly 1 meter when they hit the beach and the power in a wave is tremendous...it almost knocks you over. It's nice to play in the waves and beeing pushed up on the beach or only standing there and getting your feei washed and sometimes your whole body.
When the sun goes down the locals are coming to the beach. They are walking along or sitting there under the Coconut trees and watching and listening to the waves that hits the shore. It's strange, you'll never get tired of watching the waves or the sound, it's something magic.
It's a great place if you are tired of crowded and "overtouristified" places. Maybe the restaurants in this town aren't so great and the nightlife and things like that, but it's real and a lot of things to do. You can take boat trips to islands, trips up the river and even trekking through the jungle and up to mountains.
Tomorrow we are going to Monkey Island.

From Da Lat to Nha Trang

We left DaLat in the early morning in bright sunshine. The road was narrow, steep, bended and bumpy. Unlike the road to Ho Chi Minh that was a bit better this road took us through a kind of different landscape and scenery as it immediately started to go downwards through small villages that clinged to the mountainside. The vegetation was mainly Pine trees. Small scale farming where almost the only crops that are possible to grow in the hillsides are coffee and tea with some scattered Banana trees and red Poinsettias in between.
After 1.5 hours continous descent we came to a town on a small plain and a little while after it started downwards again, the road twisted down the mountainside and it was a magnificent view.
Coming all the way down it was big aresa with Coconut Trees and rice paddies. When the wind is blowing through a rice field you can see all the green colours you can imagine. We passed through a rice fields and Coconut Palms for a few hours through small villages and towns. The bus had to slow down all the time for motorbikes or goats or cows crossing the road. It was Saturday and we also noticed several weddings that were underway. Schoolchildren to and from school in their uniforms, The boys in blue trousers and white shirts and the girls in the traditional Ao Dai of white silk. When they were cycling they had to hold the "front panel/piece" of the dress with one hand.
Approaching the seaside the road suddenly turned in to a new motorway which took as along the coast for a while to the seaside city of Nha Trang. We stepped off the bus and straight into a hotel for $8 a night. The Hotel is ok, the room was nice and clean and the people nice.

Costumes

The Triangular hat made of Palm leaves is used in many countries in South East Asia but not many countries are so much associated with it as Vietnam. It’s very much used mostly by women and especially outside the big cities. The “non bai tho” gives an excellent protection against the strong sun.
It is fastened under the chin with a broad cloth which also can be drawn up to cover your mouth and nose.
The mouth cover’s main function is to protect your skin against the sun but nowadays it is also a way of protection against dust and pollution when riding motorbikes.
It seems a strong habit many places and often even nighttime after dark you can meet young girls and women wearing the cover and I wonder why…no sunshine and no pollution but still they wear it.
The traditional silk dress Ao Dai, trousers and a skirt outside with split all the way up is said to cover everything but at the same time reveal everything. Two long slits along the side allows the gown to have two free floating panels in front and at the back of the dress. It’s elegant and at the same time cool in the warm weather. Some places I’ve seen it used as school uniforms completely white but also restaurant personnel, flight crews etc are using it but mostly then with white trousers and another coloured skirt like blue or red.

A Side Note on Coffee

I think the Vietnamese knows what to do when it comes to making coffee. Vietnam is the biggest Coffee producer in the world after Brazil!

To Ho Chi Minh City

I'm on my way to Ho Chi Minh City from Da Lat by bus. It's a beautifull early morning leaving Da Lat. Just outside the city, it's a breathtaking scenery with Pine forests, Agave plants deep walleys and mountains. Except from the Agave plants and some other tropical trees the place reminds me of my homeplace in Norway.
Here are small farms along the road and people live scattered around and not so much in villages. The small farms are growing all kinds of vegetables, some Bananas and other fruits but also some flower production like Orchids, Anthurium and flower bulbs. Some things I can't recognise from my bus window although it doesn't go too fast...the road is not very good and also always a lot of motorbikes to consider. I think the average speed is closer to 40km/hour than 60km/hour.
The houses are special and quite nice, long and narrow, 2-3 floors and in bright pink, violet, blue or green colours.
It's almost unbelievable that a terrible war could go on for such a long time in this beautifull country with such nice friendly people. But it wasn't so much the Vietnamese people's war. The country became a victim between the two superpowers the USA, the Sovietunion and also China.
One of my best friends here was a child during the war and he remember it very well...the bombs and the fear. His uncle's whole family were wiped out and killed in a bomb attack.
After one hour drive we are still on a plateau around 1000 m above sea-level, but it's starting to go slightly more downwards. The vegatation changes a bit and more and bigger coconut palms appears, more bananas and the Pine forest diminishes. Now the Coffee plantations starts to dominate the landscape and this time the black/red/green coffeebeans are spread out on canvases along the road and outside the houses to dry in the sunshine. Some house entrances and surroundings are completely covered by coffeebeans so in order to enter the house they have to walk over the beans...but don't worry..it's being processed and burned before you drink
it.
We are passing through some villages and towns with busy markets. Only the main road is tarmac, other roads are dirt roads.
Vietnam is a predominantly Buddhist country but also more than 8% christians, mainly Catholics. Along the way I can see quite a few completely newbuilded churches, passing some Christian graveyards and some houses have a Maria/Jesus statue on the open third floor.
After 2.5 hours it suddenly starts to go steep downwards again and the road is twisting down the mountainside. The vegetation changes again and now it's more big tropical trees, more jungle like. Coming down it's a lot of Ficus trees, still bananas and coco nut palms, some Durian palms and Papaya trees with big, fat nice tempting fruits.
As we are approaching Ho Chi Minh City the roads are getting better and the bus speeds up a bit but still it's not a road you would call anything like a Motorway.
Ho Chi Minh City is busy and noisy with all the motorbikes and the few cars which tries to get through...using their horns all the time.
Stepping out of the bus, it's like a heatwave hitting you, narly 30 degrees and sunshine. Men on Motorbikes are offering you a ride but I go for a Taxi this time.
Later that night I had a ride on a Motorbike for one hour around the city, sightseeing. It's refreshing because of the high temperature although some pollution from thousands of bikes....also not being used to riding Motorbike your bottom starts to hurt after some time.

Bikes and Scooters

Motorbikes and Motorbikes and Scooters and Scooters and just a few bicycles and cars. That’s the traffic picture. It’s difficult to get used to and at first it feels like a bl…y mess, but after some time I must admit that it’s better than cars. Even it’s a lot of them swarming around everywhere it’s quite easy to cross a street, easier than if it was cars and this is a city with no traffic lights at all.
Already my first day here I had a ride on the back of a Motorbike and later it has became many…at first I was scared but now it's ok. There are a lot of small accidents though, but most minor injuries because they don’t go very fast. Dalat City and surroundings is also a place with elevation; hills and slopes and sharp bends so you have to be carefull. That’s why most bikes here have manual gear because in these conditions they say that automtic wouldn’t work properly.
So you think you can drive a Motorbike, right? Yes, I'm sure you can but it's not just to dive into the streets here. You must learn how to navigate between hundreds of others and they are so close to you that you could tell which aftershave they use..if they use....
My Housemaid told me she had an accident a few months ago, somebody drove into her Motorbike and she got a fracture in her skull and had to spend more than a week at Hospital and for a long time she lost her sense of smelling. Now she has started to wear helmet when driving, but it’s very few doing that.
Everybody rides Motorbikes both young and old, women and men. Some have a basket mounted in front, not so much for putting groceries but for smaller children. A lot of times they also go three on a bike and parents taking their children to school, the smallest in front of you and the biggest sitting behind clutching desperately to father or mother.
I live about 20 min walk from the center and most times I like to walk, but it’s no problem to get a ride if you want. All the time bikes are slowing down beside you and they ask if you want a lift and a ride to the center cost 10000 Dong and that’s about 4-5 NOK or half a dollar.
It’s also incredible how much goods and things they can transport on a bike. All the time you can see bikes loaded with all kinds of vegetables or so much bananas hanging around everywhere that you hardly see the one who is driving.

Fish and Coffee

Ok, ok...My idea today was to tell you about Motorbikes and Scooters but because of a request, I'll go for the fish and the coffee.
Every lunchtime it's fish. All other dishes like meat and vegetables changes from day to day but the fish is always there. The fish is dried and I mean really DRY. Its redish colour comes mainly from the Chilisauce which softens it up so it's easier to eat and also more easily breaks into pieces.
The fish is 10-15 cm long and is whole with head, skin and bones. Everything is eaten and I have never seen anything like bones or things being spitted out.
I like to try all kinds of strange food but I must admit that fish is not my favourite food and therefore I haven't eaten it yet, but I promise I will before I leave. It shouldn't be any problem because I have eaten quite a lot of strange seafood before such as Sea Cucumber...if you don't know what it is; look it up and you will understand what I mean.
Another thing that's always on the lunchtable as well is Tofu. That's a Soybean product and is eaten almost everywhere in South-East Asia. It's nutritious and good food if you like it or are used to it. Tofu is also not among my most loved dishes to put it that way.
After lunch we always have some fresh fruits like banana,small tropical apples, oranges or watermelon. That's normal but what I haven't seen before is that they dip some of the fruit in a mixture of chili and salt and that makes an interesting clash of tastes...personally I found it crashed a bit too much.

Now, you'll probably expect that the coffee is terrible, but it's not...it's only strange. I mean the coffee is good but it's made in a special way. The first time I ordered coffe I didn't know what to do with the things they put in front of me.
I ordered white/black coffe...and it was.
The coffee cup is small and on top of it they put a metal filter in 4-parts. It takes quite long time before the filtering is done and you can remove the filter. I said my coffee was white and black...on the bottom of the cup or glass is a layer of thick milk and the coffee doesn't mix into the milk when it's filtered down so you'll have two layers, one white and one black..looks nice and then you mix it. Alternatively you can have white/black coffee with ice. Then you'll get a glass with ice and after the filtering and mixing is done, you pour the warm coffee over the ice. Really Good!
Here are Coffebars and Cafes for almost every 10 meters in some streets and probably hundreds in this small city, but still no Starbucks, Blendz or Cafe Nero with their Espresso, Cappucino, Cafe Mocha etc.
When I think about it; it's no McDonalds, no KFC, no Subway and no 7Eleven either. It's incredible that I was so lucky I came here before one of those.
I think CocaCola is the only one that's impossible to beat!

Winter in the Tropics

I have never lived in a tropical area before and I must admit that I had never expected it to be so cold.
It's a bit special here though because we are 1500 m(4921 feet)above sea level and the last 2-3 days it has been only 16-17 degrees C and very strong winds. In Ho Chi Minh(Saigon)300km from here its 22-30 degrees so quite a big difference.
December and January are the coldest months here but nice days it's still around 25 degrees.
So when the temperature drops to 16 you feel cold and especially inside the house because it's no heating. It's sometimes better to go out and if you feel too cold the only sensible thing to do, is to go to bed. Some people dress more like it's 16 below zero than +16, with big winter jackets and gloves or mittens.

It's 10 o'clock night now and every night this time there is a man passing along the houses in our street shouting something like "waimiai, waimiai...aimi" I don't know what it means and I don't know what he is selling and it doesn't seem the business is very good, not in this street at least. There are also other street sellers during day with different ways of telling that they are here, like children's toys that makes a noise when you squeeze them.

I have been ill during the weekend with stom pain and feeling sick. I have probably eated something I shouldn't or something that wasn't clean. At work I'm eating together with the workers and I think it is not always the things are clean enough. Breakfast I have in my office but at lunch we are sitting 10 people around each table in a big dining hall. One person are handing out the chopsticks and the strange thing is that for one or the other reason while doing this they are always holding the chopsticks....yes, right..in the end they shouldn't. Well, as I have said before; it's incredible what we can get used to.
I should have told you about the fish they eat every day...that's one of the things I stay clear off....and the coffee, but I think another time.

The Last Day of 2006

I have stayed in Vietnam for 11 days now and it's time for some more reflections and thoughts of the life here. Due to an earthquake on Taiwan earlier this week the internet connection has been very s l o w, and still is.
The last years I have celebrated Christmas different places; last year I was in Ireland and the year before in China. One year I even celebrated Christmas Eve on an airport in Moscow, Russia that was by far the worst included the ones I have been sick! For anybody who has been there an experienced their (lack of) service will understand. So in a way I'm getting used to it, but this time maybe a bit different because I'm alone.
Outside it's around 24 C and partly sunny and it looks like it will be a nice evening/night.
I have lived in China for some time and I thought I was used to living in South-East Asia, but Vietnam is definately another piece of cake.
Chinese food is famous and rightly so. Vietnamese food is not that very different when it comes to ingredients, but they don't make it that nice and the menues in the restaurants are quite "thin" and it looks the same evrywhere. In most Chinese restaurants you get a big book with photos of the dishes and you can have a good read for quite a long time. Also the dishes here are considerable smaller...but also the people are smaller.
Shops is another story as well. In China you can get (almost) whatever you want. Here I still haven't found a shop I can buy milk and butter. There are a lot of small shops but they all seem to have the same things I don't need or I don't know what is. Luckily I have a housemaid 3 days a week who do the shopping. She came back with milk from Australia; the kind of milk that lasts forever, but the taste was mamahuhu to put it in Chinese.
The butter she found was homemade in a little tin that once had contained something else, luckily I don't understand what.
Last night I was out buying some DVD's. Not very good and updated selection but I choosed 4 so I had something to do this weekend. One of them was ok, the other ones I just have been back to the shop to change. One of the DVD's inside was something completely different than on the cover and I didn't understand a thing.
The two others were dubbed in a special way; one person only telling parts of what the Characters in the film said, like retelling the story...I think no good even for Vietnamese and no subtitles. I hope I have been luckier today.
My story today may seem to be a bit negative, but it's not meant to be like that. I like this place anyway and humans are very adaptable to various conditions, at least I am.

Christmas

It's Christmas time but I don't feel much like it. In fact it's getting warmer and nicer every day now. It's not what I'm used to from Norway where it's the darkest and coldest time of the year.
Today is like the warmest nicest day you will ever have during a Norwegian summer!

Although I've only been here less than a week I already know quite a few Vietnamese.
Nearly half of them are Catholics and the rest Buddhists or nothing. I talked with a woman at work yesterday and she said she was to Church together with her children on Christmas Eve and that the Church was packed. I said; oh, so you are a Catholic...then she laughed and said: no, I'm a Buddhist but I like Christmas and I like to go to Church and listen to Christmas carols and last year my husband even was Santa here for the children.
I felt a bit ashamed because I didn't go to Church mostly because I'm not a Catholic.
I think here is a Protestant Church as well, but I don't know where yet.
But I feel good in another way because it seems people are getting very well on with each other whatever religion they belong to.
From my time in other countries I have a lot of friends belonging to various religions and it's somewhat funny that my closest friends are Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Catholics and Communists.......
My question is: Why is there wars going on everywhere?????
Millions of years and humans are still so stupid....we can go to space and make incredible inventions but still we are f...ing idiots, sorry.

Welcome to My New World

I arrived in Vietnam the 19th of December 2006. It was a warm welcome in many ways both because of the warm weather and the always smiling people.
I stayed in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for a night and then continued to Dalat the day after. Dalat is a city in the Southern Highlands north of Saigon around 1500 m above sealevel. It's a beautifull place with mountains, lakes, waterfalls and forests and a comfortable climate, not cold and not very hot either.

Dalat is going to be my home for some time as I'm starting to work here for Dalat Hasfarm http://www.agrivina.com as a consultant and advisor for their flower production.

Saigon was hot, noisy and busy. The man from the company who came and picked me up at the airport surprised me by having special knowledge about Norway, my country. He asked me if I lived far from Rosenborg which is the best football team in Norway. Unfortunately I had to disappoint him but I said I had a brother who lived there.
He also knew about the Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder and "The World of Sophie".
Sometimes the world is not big at all.

Dalat is a 40 minutes flight or a 4-5 hours busdrive from Saigon. It was sunny and 25 degrees C. I was very well received by evrybody at the company and they all did whatever possible to help me out and get settled there.

My first impression; A beautifull place with beautifull people. I'm living in a big house on the outskirts of the city. The city is hilly and streets are up and down and bended. The traffic consists mainly of motorbikes and scooters...in thousands, but not many cars and that's good. It seems everybody has a bike, old and young, women and men and boys and girls.
Here are lots of small nice hotels and an abundance of Cafes. A cafe is a mix of bar, pub and cafe but doesn't serve any food. Unlike the Chinese the Vietnamese seems to drink a lot of coffee as well.