Reaching Vietnam and Perfume Pagoda

Reaching Vietnam, as usual for our travelling days- sleep deprived and shabby, our first experience that picked us up a little was becoming millioneres in the money exchange counter. And this was only our two-days budget. :)

What a difference though from the Philippines. Tourists everywhere. After 3 weeks of hardly seeing any westerners, being suddenly surrounded by them, left us rather depressed. It is the authenticity and the local culture that we are looking for after all.

Whether it is possible to get immersed in the local culture, like we did in Philippines, remains to be seen. One of the obstacles seems to be the difference in Vietnamese culture. It is understandable that after a long and difficult history with the Western countries and the many wars, the Vietnamese have turned more closed and suspicious with the foreigners, after all- didn't this also happen to us Estonians. Communication however is very hard here- we do not understand the Vietnamese accent, and they almost never understand what we are saying. They always nod their head and say "Yes", yet they haven't understood at all.

A typical experience so far... In one cafe I ordered a a double espresso from the menu. The waitress said, "Yes". After 15 minutes I repeated my order. "Yes". After another 20 mins I decided to ask one more time. "Yes". When another 20 minutes had passed Lii asked if they do coffee. "Yes". When I asked for the menu to show my order I was however (finally) informed "No, Vietnamese coffee only." I do not know what she thought I had been asking her- perhaps she thought I had been telling her "Espresso- fast." Or rather, "Double fast!" She must have thought me very strange indeed. Anyway- the Vietnamese coffee was a very unique tasting experience, sweet and somewhat chocolaty, and we are already beginning to like it.

The first hotel that we picked from the Lonely Planet, where it had been described as "new", was in fact so new that it hadn't yet been completed. This left us a bit nervous. The reason- we were very reluctant to do a simple operation of crossing the road. Traffic here is mental. Dominated by motorcycles, lacking in any road rules, and most of all- nobody will give a pedestrian way. If you want to cross the road you have to simply walk into traffic. Your instinct is to close your eyes, make a prayer and run but the only way to accomplish this task is rather to walk slow and try to look at the approaching drivers, pleading this way to them not to run you over. However I am pretty sure that after a while we will start to like this madness, as we have with all the other excitement (read- threats to your life).

Finally we found a hotel. With a bath, tv, fridge- completely unaccustomed luxury! Ahh! :)

For the next day we had booked a trip to Perfume Pagoda. The weather wasn't great, the sky was dull and gray and it was drizzling rain most of the time, but the scenery was beautiful and we enjoyed the trip regardless.

The Perfume Pagoda or Perfume Temple is in fact a vast complex of Buddhist temples and shrines built into the limestone Huong Tich mountains. It is the site of a religious festival which draws large numbers of pilgrims from across Vietnam. Source

Perfume Pagoda is located on the limestone rocks of Huong Son Mountain and can be reached after 70 km or 2 hours driving out of Hanoi.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

The highlight of the trip was the one-hour boat ride on the Yen Vi river in order to reach the Huong Son Mountain.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

We took the cable car up to the mountain and trekked down through the jungle on the way back.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

Somebody had also left some beer to the Buddha.

It is thought that the first temple was a small structure on the current site of Thien Tru which existed during the reign of Le Thanh Tong in the 1400’s. Legend claims that the site was discovered over 2000 years ago by a monk meditating in the area, who named the site after a Tibetan mountain where Lord Buddha practiced asceticism. [Wiki]

Our impression of the temple was that it somewhat went against the message of Buddhism. The guide was showing us trees to touch in order to become more wealthy, or to have many children, the temple was surrounded by little stalls to sell different items to tourists. People flocked in, took a few photos, some made a few bows, some left money for the donation, but the general atmosphere was that of commercialism and adulation instead of spiritual peace and quiet space to reach the truths within.

Even later that evening we found the Buddha statues everywhere where the didn't belong- bars, clubs, restaurants. In other words- so far this Buddhist country has seemed very much like any Western one, when it comes to spirituality. Looking forward to visiting some monasteries later on. Also I hope with all my heart not to be prejudiced towards this country, whether it is because of the regime of Communism, which of course evokes some of our own national scars; or the recent events to do with Thich Nhat Hanh's monastery, which naturally can leave one outraged (I have asked now about a dozen of book-sellers if they have any books by Thich Nhat Hanh and to my surprise no Vietnamese have heard of him) ; or just a comparison between the countries we have seen before. Our aim is to be travellers, always with an open mind and heart, never judging or comparing but seeing things as they are. Also seeing ourselves and our own weaknesses. We are grateful to Vietnam for their hospitality and are looking forward to exploring its beauty, truth and spirit. If it is our own beauty AND ugliness we find- then we will be doubly grateful for that.

Esimesed muljed Hanoist

Saabusime Hanoisse hommikul, jalle uks poolikult magatud oo seljataga.

Lennujaamas raha vahetades-valja vottes saime kohe miljonarideks:) Vietnamis on hinnad pohiliselt kumnetes tuhandetes dongides. Esialgu tundub koik jube kallis:)

Inimesed on siin ka teistsugused. Filipiinod olid vaga abivalmid ja sobralikud, aga Hanois oli juba bussist valja tulles selge, et siin on teistmoodi. Kui oma kotte bussist valja rebisime, ei pakkunud mitte ukski inimene oma abi. Aga noh, olimegi liiga ara hellitatud juba.

Hotelli valisime Lonely Planeti jargi. Kohale joudes avastasime, et hotelli ehitus on veel pooleli. Lonely Planetis oli margitud, et on uus hotell, ju nad eeldasid, et raamatud ilmumise ajaks on hotell valmis (raamat ilmus 2006), kuid arvatavasti on ehitajad liiga palju suitsupause teinud.
Onneks leidsime samalt tanavalt uhe teise sobiva hotelli, kus on isegi vann..juhuu.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

Meie hotelli tanavalt

Samal paeval kohvikus istudes avastasime veel uhe pohilise vietnamlase joone- ukskoik mida neilt kusid, nad naeratavad ja noogutavad, olenemata sellest kas nad ka tegelikult aru said mida sa kusisid.
Hille tellis endale muuhulgas ka double espresso, talle naeratati ja noogutati ja nii jaimegi seda ootama. Kuna seda ei toodud pidi Hille seda veel mitu korda meelde tuletama, jalle naeratati ja noogutati. Ootasime edasi. Kuid mida ei toodud, oli double espresso. Lopuks palus Hille minul ule kusida, et akki ei saa nad tema aktsendist aru voi midagi. Ja siis selgus, et seda neil ei olegi:) no oleks voinud siis ju kohe oelda..

Nuud ei saagi enam kindel olla, kas vastus on jaa voi nad lihtsalt ei saa aru.
Uldse on siin menuudega nii, et pooli asju, mis neil menuus kirjas on, ei ole. Toitu tellides samas kohvikus naitasin napuga vahemalt kolmele toidule enne kui moni saadaval oli:)

Inglise keel on kohalikel vaga tugeva aktsendiga. Mina lihtsalt ei suuda eristada kas inimene raagib vietnami keeles voi inglise keeles. Kui otsa vaatab siis eeldan, et inglise keeles, kui ei vaata siis arvatavasti enda keeles.

Ja liiklus...liiklus on siin hullumeelne. Tuhanded ja tuhanded motikad, ainsaks reegliks signaalitamine, et endast marku anda.

From Vietnam

After the storm

Here's just a quick note to say thank you to all the people who were concerned about our well-being because of the flooding disaster in Philippines. We are at this moment safe and well in Hanoi in Vietnam.

We were in Manila at the time of the storm, this must have been our luck, because although we were battling on the streets with the winds and logging our feet in above ankle deep water, the city must have given us more protection, and must have been better equipped to deal with the flooding (a very common problem in Manila). We were actually shocked to hear about the extent of the disaster in the news, especially cause this country and its people really grew so dear to our hearts.

From Philippines 2

Downstairs in our hotel lobby

From Philippines 2

From Philippines 2

We spent Saturday night in our hostel, all internet connection was down, we had no way to hear any news, our clothes and our spirits were soaken but the hostel organized a lovely wine and cheese evening for us and we were blissfully and now almost shamefully unaware what was going on around in near-by areas. And when we left on Sunday morning the flooding was already subsiding from the city.

From Vietnam

Leaving to the airport in the morning

All our deepest, sincerest condolances to all the Philippines people. Our hearts and minds are with you!

Salamat!

Now that we have already left the many gorgeous islands of Philippines, I would just like to say a few words about the wonderful people living there.
Filipinos, or Pinoys as they call themselves, are Asias smallest and shortest nation but also one of, if not the friendliest.

Always smiling, curious, helpful- there is little not to like about the Pinoys. Random passers by were always helping to lift our baggage to taxis, whenever we stopped on the street lost for two seconds there were helpful people around us straight away to tell us where to go and what to do.

Filipinos also have an almost psychic way about them. For the first weeks we thought that either they are psychic or we have perfected our latent witchhood talents. We never had to ask out loud what we wanted. Suddenly the Pinoys were already fulfilling all our wishes and answering all our unasked questions. Later we noticed that they use a lot of facial signalling in order to communicate (their trade-mark being a lift of the eyebrows, the exact meaning of this eludes us to this day). So yes- the Pinoys might be a bit psychic and we might still have the Estonian witch genes in us, but the main reason is probably that they are simply extremely observant. Aware of the other person, their body language, tone of voice, facial expression, to such an extreme, that in their case its almost an art-form. We found this amazing!

Pinoys are also passionate lovers of music and singing. To our amazement almost every single one of them was a good singer, starting from a cleaner in the toilet, to a tricycle driver or guide and ending with a tipsy boy in the bar singing karaoke. Even if they spoke with a soft voice and a rough English accent, when they opened their mouths to sing, their voices rang strong and beautiful, with no accent at all.

All in all, it is impossible not to fall in love with this tiny nation, and this we did with our whole hearts. The Pinoy charm, clever little twinkle in their street-smart eyes, and constant aware, hospitable and friendly behaviour, will always leave them dear to us. We will return to the Philippines.

But till then- Salamat! Thank you!

Trekking in Batad

From Philippines

Yesterday we spent the whole day trekking in the little tribal village of Batad and the surrounding Cordillera mountains. Here are a few pictures from that wonderful (though oh so tiring :) ) day.

From Filipiinid

Oma pikka matka alustasime mae otsast, kuhu soitsime jeepneyga. Meil oli kaasas ka giid, kes naitas teed ja jutustas kohalikust elust. Koigepealt laskusime labi dzungli alla Batadi kulla.

From Filipiinid

From Philippines 2

Matkates oli paris palju ronimist.

From Philippines 2

From Philippines 2

From Philippines 2

From Philippines 2

From Philippines 2

Batadi kula elanikud

From Philippines 2

From Philippines 2

Riisipold

From Philippines 2

Riisipoldude vahel kondides vaatasin korraks mujale ja astusin teelt korvale ning vajusin mutta. Siin pildid saabast ja sokki pesemas.

From Philippines 2

Lopuks joudisme vaga kifti joa juurde kuhu plaanisime ka ujuma minna, kuid vaga kivise pohja tottu siiski loobusime.

From Philippines 2

Kohtusime ka uhe 'old tribal man-iga' , raaksime paar sona juttu ning vordlesime oma tatoosid:)

From Philippines 2

Kogu matk kestis ca 8 tundi. Hotelli joudes olime vaga vasinud aga onnelikud.

Ohtul kaisime veel kohalikus baaris karaoket laulmas, aga sellest ajalugu vaikib:)

Banaue rice terraces

All good things come to an end. So did our time on our beloved Alona beach. We had a fantastic time there and we will miss it.

From Philippines

After another sleepless night and travelling day we were back in Manila. Sun was out and the place looked much different.

From Philippines

Yet big cities will have to remain as necessary stop-overs and connection points, our mind was set on going onwards north on the island of Luzon, to the world-famous rice terraces of Banaue.

From Philippines

From Philippines

The Banaue Rice Terraces are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the Batad indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". Source

In order to reach Banaue we took a 10 hour night-bus, this was an interesting experience. Lii spent her time taping the window with McGuiver tape, because the rain kept pouring in from the windows and soon also the roof. I was meanwhile strengthening my leg-muscles to keep the seat in front and the local lady sitting on it, in an upright position. The seat was completely loose from the floor and the lady kept banging to the floor side-ways. She did not move however, she even kept sitting on the very edge of the seat, leaving me with the impression in the end that she was actually enjoying the whole thing and I was just trying to ruin her fun. The bus was keeling from side to side, needless to say we got no sleep so we were even glad to see a local tout meet us at the station and organise our living quarters and days activities.

Lii lisab:
Bussisoit oli toesti uskumatu. Esimesel tunnil hakkas aknast juba nii palju vihma sisse sadama, et minul, kui akna all istujal, oli uks puksisaar taiesti labimarg. Samuti hakkasid inimesed bussis kohti vahetama, et leida kuivemat kohta. Vee sissevoolamise pidurdamiseks hakkasin akent teipima. Seda voib kull oelda, et MacGuyveri teip on oma nime vaart. Teibitud aknast enam vett sisse ei tulnud. Kuid nuud hakkas bussi laest vett tilkuma. Tapset sissesadamise asukohta ei suutnud me tuvastada, ilmselt oleks pidanud terve bussi lae ara teipima, et pidama saada. Hakkasime juba vihmavarju avamise peale motlema, kuid onneks jai vihmasadu vaiksemaks ja vaike tibutamine meid enam ei morjendanud:)
Teine nali oli, et meie ees olev toolirida oli porandast lahti ja iga kord kui buss keeras voi pidurdas, soitis see toolirida siis kas ettepoole voi korvale. Meid pani imestama sellel toolireal istuv vanem naisterahvas. Hoolimata koigest ajas ta ennast peale igat kukkumist jalle reipalt pusti ja sattis ennast sinna uuesti istuma. Meie oleks tema asemel kindlasti kohta vahetanud, kuid teda see ei paistnud morjendavat. Ju oli siis harjunud..:) voi ei suutnud meie hinnata seda toredat karussellisoitu.

The view from the room made the whole trip worth-while...

From Philippines

After a few hours kip we had arranged a short tricicle trip to the rice-terraces. The sun was shining again, our driver was humming a tune and the stunning scenery took our breath away.

From Filipiinid

From Philippines

From Philippines

From Philippines

From Philippines

From Filipiinid

It was indeed unbelievable, a true marvel, to think that men had built such ingenious structures. As for the travel itself- well! Road is not a word to call the rocky mud we were travelling on. Half-patched and paved, full of mounds and rivers of mud dripping from the mountains, an occasional snake our driver was spotting- it was more like a roller-coaster in the side-car of a motorcycle on the edge of the mountain. Our knuckles were white for holding on to our lives and our sides and heads will show the bumps and bruises the next day. And then it started to pour down rain and the whole road back we were driving against the river of mud, hoping on one side not to be crushed by mud-slides and on the other not to be forced to slide off the mountain by all the vehicles going past us on a single-line "road". The adrenalin was running high both for us and the driver who kept doing "whoo-hoo" sounds and was singing loudly and merrily.

From Philippines

From Philippines

From Philippines

What a ride! What a day! Alive! :)

Chocolate Hills

From Philippines

From Philippines

From Philippines

From Philippines

Chocolate hills

there are 1776 hills spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometres.
They are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, hence the name.

From Philippines

From Philippines

Tarsierid- pisikesed loomad hiiglasuurte silmadega

From Philippines

Kohalikus loomaaias

Huvitav vaatepilt- uhes puuris on ahv, kass ja koer:)

From Philippines

From Philippines

Joekruiisil

From Philippines

'Native style'

From Philippines

Kohalik rand