New Pictures of Hong Kong and Viet Nam

Endlich fanden wir etwas Zeit unsere Bilder zu sichern und gleich ein paar hochzuladen. Hier eine Auswahl:

Pictures of Hong Kong

Pictures of Hanoi

Pictures of Halong Bay


Jetzt ist es Zeit um Abendzuessen. Es gibt fried rice, chicken noodles und spring rolls...richtig typisch.  Danach gehts mit dem Nachtbus nach Hue. 11 Stunden dauert die Fahrt, aber ich glaube wir haben ein Bett da. Kann es mir noch nicht so vorstellen. Ich hoffe wir kommen zu ein paar Stunden Schlaf.

Bilder von Ninh Binh, und unseren Ausfluegen mit dem Velo und dem Motorrad folgen... =)

Ha Noi - Ha Long Bay - Ninh Binh

Der Flug von Hong Kong nach Ha Noi dauerte ungefaehr zwei Stunden und war sehr angenehm. Nur eine einzige Sache bereitete uns Sorgen: Wir uns jemand, wie vom Hostel versprochen, am Flughafen abholen?? Die Ankung in Ha Noi war dann auch ein kleiner Schock. Dutzende Leute hielten kleine Namenschilder hoch. Noch mehr Taxifahrer versuchten uns zu sich ins Auto zu lotsen, und unser Abholservice schien nirgends zu sein. Alles klaerte sich jedoch nach einem kurzen Anruf im Hostel schell auf. Und die einstuendige ins Zentrum von Ha Noi konnte beginnen.

Ha Noi war vom ersten Augenblick an genau so wie wires erwartet hatte. Der Verkehr ist einfach verrueckt, und unserereins wundert sich, dass es nich auf jedem Kilometer mindestens 5 Unfaelle gibt. Vorfahrt hat immer der mit der staerksten Hupe. So ist dann auch die Hupe der wohl meistbenutzte Schalter/Hebel in einem Vietnamesischen Verkehrsmittel.

Unser Hostel, das Little Hanoi Hostel, was ein Traum. Grosses Zimmer, Grosses Bett und super Badezimmer. So ein super Zimmer hatte jedefalls ich bisher noch nie in meinem Leben. Und das alles fuer 9 USD pro Person. Die Inhaberin war auch super freundlich, und warnte stets vor allen moeglichen Gefahren in Ha Noi.

Mein Fazit ueber Ha Noi stand schon frueh fest: eine super Stadt. So total anders wie alles westliche was fir bisher kannten. Am ersten Tag sind wir noch planlos umhergestreift und haben uns vor allem im Old Quarter aufgehalten. Am zweiten Tag besuchten wir dann das Mausoleum von "Onkelchen Ho". Schoen in Zweier-Reihen aufgestellt gins hinein und wieder hinaus. Einer der die Reihe nicht einhaelt wird genauso von de Wachen angeschnauzt wie jemand der die Haende in den Hosentaschen hat. Kommunismus halt. Wir aber haben uns nicht zu Schulden kommen lassen. Wir sind halt wie gemacht fuer das System. ;-)

Am dritten Tag mussten wir Ha Noi schon wieder verlassen. Die Reise ging nach Ha Long City, wo wir mit einem Schiff das UNESCO-Weltkuturerbe Halong Bay entdeckten und auch eine Nacht auf dem Schiff verbrachten. Ha Long Bay war atemberaubend obwohl das Wetter die Sicht doch einschraenkte und wir das Aussmass dieser 2000 Inseln im Meer nicht begreifen konnten.

Von Ha Long nahmen wir dann einen Bus mit den Locals nach Ninh Binh. Unserer Guide in Ha Long Bay hatte uns die wichtigsten vietnamesischen Saetze aufgeschrieben. Wir fanden den Ticket Schalter und schafften es in den kleinen Bus. Im Bus gabs keine Sitzplaetze und man schob uns schon kleine Plastikhocker hin damit wir im Gang Platz nehmen koennen. Eine Alte Frau schien dann aber zwei Jugendliche dazu zu bewegen ihren Platz fuer uns frei zu machen. Ein Glueck fuer uns, denn der Bus wurde immer voller, und bald standen die Leute in den Gaengen. Bei 4 Studen Fahrt sicher nicht so bequem.

Nun sind wir also in Ninh Binh. Stolz darauf es hierher geschafft zu haben. Nur mit ein paar aufgeschriebenen vietnamesischen Saetzen und Zeichensprache. Fest steht aber jetzt schon: wir muessen uns mehr Muehe geben wenigstens die wichtigsten Woerter auch auf Vietnamesisch zu koennen.


Bilder folgen bei Gelegenheit ...

Leaving Hong Kong

We are currently sitting at the Hong Kong Airport. Found some random computers standing around, decided to write a short entry.

The last two days in Hong Kong were really great. The weather was really nice and we finally had a clear view from Kowloon over to Hong Kong island. We found some parts of the Island that were less touristic, where not everybody tried to sell us a tailored suit or a watch or a foot massage. We also went to the southern part of Hong Kong Island and even got to swim in the ocean and enjoy some beautiful scenery.
The room on the other hand...it was not as nice as the first one. But still ok. And we are slowly lowering our western european standards. Steph can even live with ants in the same room :-).

For now we need to go. Our boarding will begin soon.
We hope to upload some more pictures soon.


P.S. :
- to Steffi's mom: Steph finally eats bananas. She's slowly approaching monkeyness ...
- to Anonymous: Western and Asian food is readily available. We mostly stuck to Western food...the Asian food still scares us a little...In a few days when we are in Vietnam, we will just have to jump into the cold water and eat the local food.

Zurich - Hong Kong

Flight Zurich - London was really nice !! Steph and I got seats directly behind the emergency exit, which meant: LOTS of room for the legs =).
Arriving at London Heathrow, we were both a little shocked. Zurich Airport was quiet, nice and clean, London (Terminal 3) was loud and crowded. After waiting for 2 hours we could finally move to the gate. And there was the next surprise: instead of an Airbus A340-300, our plane was a Jumbo. This meant that there were not two seats on the window side, but three. This left us with an extra free seat between us and again we had a little more legroom.
Nevertheless, the flight was exhausting and we could not sleep at all. The food was not that great either and we were happy to finally arrive in Hong Kong late in the afternoon. There things went pretty smoothly. We immediately found our bus that took us down town Hong Kong. There, we also had no problem finding our hostel. A cute little place hidden in a huge building. The pros: our own bathroom, free wifi, nice staff, clean room. The cons: hard mattress , no window.
After exploring Hong Kong a little bit and finally feeding ourselves, we came back to the hostel and were just completely exhausted.  Unfortunately, due to the jetlag, we were again right awake after only 3 hours of sleep. So we just tried to kill the time, waiting for morning to arrive.

This morning, we  took the star ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. We pretty much just went through the list of Lonely Planet Highlights, i.e. the Peak, Wet Market, Bank of China Tower, the Escalators, Hong Kong Park ...

All of this leaves us with a first impression of Hong Kong and Asia. We have to admit, it is overwhelming, but we are slowly adapting. The contrasts are huge...nice bank buildings and expensive hotels next to really really run down places. Or the buildings are nice up to the second story (with Gucci and Burberry) and look very crappy further up. The weather here...it's ok. It's warm but also very very windy and very foggy. Like it says in Lonely Planet, clear days are rare.

Tomorrow we will move to a different hostel, close by, but not as expensive. Two more days in Hong Kong...will we grow to love this city?


P.S.: I have not been on any news or sport websites since we left...and I intend not to do so for the next four months :-D. Last sports I have from a TV in a London Heathrow pub: Arsenal leading 2-0 against West Ham.

00:00:00 hours till WHOAAAAM!!!!

We have been waiting for this day for a really long time. Now that it's here...it still seems unreal.
Are we mentally ready???? NOOO! :-D
We will be ready in Hong Kong :-)

Now...we need to leave for the airport...London Heathrow is waiting for us!

Cabin Crew Strike at British Airways

"Unite, the trade union that represents the majority of British Airways (BA) cabin crew, has announced its intention to take strike action from 20 to 22 March and 27 to 30 March 2010."

Latest information on the BA website.

Hopefully, the trip will start off well ...


UPDATE (15/03/2010)
"Not all of our flights will be cancelled due to the strike action between 20 and 22 March 2010."

As for our flight BA717 from Zurich to London Heathrow:
The flight is planned to operate by Jet2 on behalf of British Airways.

So... we should be fine and can leave for our trip on Saturday just like we planned it! :D

Sony DSC-HX1

One of the items almost every traveler takes on a trip is a camera. Capturing images of the people you meet and the places you visit is of utmost importance.
Since all we had was a 5 year old Sony and a 7 year old Minolta (both compact cameras) it was clear that we needed something new. Something better.

Our first thought was to get a DSLR, the Canon 500D. It is a great camera and equipped with a 18-200mm lens it would have suited our needs perfectly. Unfortunately, the camera together with that lens weighs over 1 kg. Too much for the trip we planned. Moreover, due to its size the camera would not have been easy to store in our backpacks and carrying it around our neck all the time was not an option either.

We soon agreed, that we would have to get something lighter, something we could preferably carry in a case attached to our belt. A bridge camera would have all that. After reading hundreds of reviews on the internet we finally made our choice in a photo shop store in Lucerne.

The Sony HX1 (pics below) was what we wanted. It has a great 20x optical zoom, allows us to take sweep panoramic pictures and record movies in HD quality, shoots 10 frames per second ...
After a few days of testing, we definitely don't regret buying this Sony camera. Now we just need to find a case for it :)

UPDATE: case found and bought =)

Another small companion :-)

We have been searching for a daypack for quite a while now. We did not want to take another 3rd backpack along, but still wanted something that we can take on a walk around a city. It had to be big enough to carry a water bottle, some extra clothes and maybe some snacks. But it had to be small enough so we can pack it without loosing any precious room in our big backpacks.

Fortunately, this year, Sea To Summit came out with a the Ultra-Sil Day Pack Ultralight. This seems like the perfect solution for us. It's so tiny and so light, it's absolutely perfect. Hopefully it will also be comfortable to wear around town... we will see ;-) For now, we are happy :-)


To see more pictures, check out this page.

A special date and new disappointments

Today's date:

01022010  =)

Nothing special happened today. Although, we almost booked a hostel in Hong Kong. The Hop Inn. Great location, great rooms, great reviews...until I wanted to pay... took out the credit card...and right then, somebody booked the last room.
Oh well. It wasn't meant to be. It's not the first disappointment, and it will surely not be the last one.

And the trip hasn't even started yet ... =)

Internationaler Führerausweis

Für Australien wird ein Internationaler Führerausweis empfohlen. Das ist lediglich ein kleines Büchlein im A6-Format, aus billigem Papier. Das Foto wird dabei nur mit zwei Bostichs festgemacht.
Gültig ist er für 3 Jahre, aber nur zusammen mit dem normalen Führerausweis. 

Preis in Luxembourg: 8 Euros (ungefähr 12 Franken)

Preis in der Schweiz....Ach wenn man das so einfach zusammenfassen könnte. Einmal mehr erhebt da jeder Kanton unterschiedliche Gebühren.

Kanton Zürich: 15 Franken
Kanton Aargau: 25 Franken
Kanton St. Gallen: 30 Franken
Kanton Schaffhausen/Thurgau/Basel: 40 Franken

... die Liste ist wohl hier noch beliebig zu verlängern... bevor dann hier am Schluss ein Kanton seine Bewohner richtig ausnimmt...

Kanton Luzern: 50 Franken !!!

Und da ich leider noch immer im Kanton Luzern wohnhaft bin...hab ich wohl einfach Pech gehabt :-(

vietnam...here we come :-)

I'm seriously impressed that it only took them 1 day to issue my single entry one month visa!!!

Let's hope the vietnamese embassy in belgium works as efficiently ;-)


















UPDATE:
The belgians tried...but of course...they couldn't keep up with the swiss. It took them a little over a week. But at least they got it done within the two weeks that they promised.

The important thing is...we both are now ready for vietnam!!! yay :-D

frozen katzensee

unfortunately it was not cold enough to ice skate on it :-(

Katzensee 2010

our little companions

they really ARE the same size... ;-)

i blame penny too. baaaaaaad penny !

No. 8

Dwayne Wade ... although he was beaten by Dirk ... still made No 8 in Spiegels Fotostrecke about the best NBA Players of the last decade...

amazing!!!

and what makes it even better...a surprising No 1 I did not expect :)