A FEW THOUGHTS

After 4 days in Singapore I have a feeling that this is truly the city where “east meets west”, at least maybe from a business perspective. There is no secret that this well-functional, clean and safe city is based on being one of the major business- and financial epicentres of Asia. As a concequence; everything also cost more here than many other places.

Singapore is a city easy to be european tourist in as (guessing statistics here) 99% of the population speak very well english, all signs are in english and the culture is very much oriented to the west. You will also find a large group of expats from Europe, US or Australia here.

The city is easy to travel in. You have a very good subway system covering the whole city and it is easy getting from one end of the city to the other and also switching lines. There is also a large number of buslines covering the city, and a lot of taxis which all run on the meter. It is all very efficient, clean and safe.

In centre of town you can almost not walk a single block without passing a huge 200 store shopping centre. They are everywhere and most of them look the same. In the high-fashion centres, many located around Orchard Street, you find all the big brands of clothing, cosmetics, electronics and jewellry. If you are to find anything out of the ordinary you need to go to the more specialized centres as Sim Lim for electronics, Holland Village for handcraft or places like Chinatwon or Little India.

For amusement Singapore also has its Sentosa Island where you can go by Cable car (in the air) from Harbour Front. There you will find the Sky Tower, Butterfly park, The underwater world, amusement parks , a few hotels etc etc. I enjoyed he Sky Tower and Underwater World (plus of course the cable car ride over) but be prepared to empty your wallet especially if you are a whole family

I find Singapore to be a nice city to stop over in for 3-4 days to relax, do some shopping etc. while travelling between other destinations. I don’t mind going again and probably will )

Tomorrow morning I will be going to Kuala Lumpur again, by train, where I will stay two nights before I head back to Norway ..

Arriving in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo in the afternoon of the 2. January I got a little sceptic. The town seemed a little beaten up. I got the impression of a tourist town that was at its height 10 years ago and never really recovered..

The impression improved the next day. I found out by talking to some people that it had been a “hell of a party” on new years eve and that the city just hadn’t recovered fully from that yet. 5 days later I am still a little unsure whether the town has seen its better days or is on its way to becoming a new “tourist trap”, so I will focus on the good things I experienced here.

What a nature! I rented a car, 4×4 Toyota for two days. One of those days I went to the tip of Borneo and the town of Kudat. Driving through nice small villages, jungle and almost on the beach.. A remarkable trip I was glad I rented a 4×4 as that gave me some leverage on some areas compared to other cars I saw struggeling. On the list of adventures on this trip I can list; having a great lunch (nasim gorang) with 2 cokes for 3 USD, almost running over a lizard and a bunch of cows and dogs, another (approx 40 kg) lizard almost attacking the car and almost running out of diesel in the middle of nowhere. The last one was solved by buying a 5 litre can from someone standing along the road. This lasted until next city of Kota Belud where I found a gas station. Here the lady clerk at the gas station found it very funny me being on vacation alone driving a car with room for 7 persons. I tried to tell her that a man gotta “ride with style” but I think the joke got lost in translation.

The next day I drove up in the mountains. I had been asked by some nice people in the hotel bar the day before whether I wanted to go up Mt. Kinabalu. That would seriously have been fun I though but this was a 3d/2n trip and I was short of time. Looking back I am a little glad too as it rained heavy in the mountains for 3 days solid. But I got to go up to the Kinabalu Park and saw some beautiful nature and views along the way up. When I got up there and on the way down it rained heavy and was very foggy. But all in all, a nice trip anyway.

The next days I really didn’t do much; relaxed some by the pool, visited a couple of the shopping centres without doing any grand shopping, reading and just chillin’.. Thats a little bit what vacation is about too, right? I think for the future , if coming back here, there is definately more to do, more places to visit. But that will wait until next time.

Next stop: Singapore. More to follow…

After some time in a quiet beach town like Mui Ne in Vietnam it was nice to see a big city again. I arrived Kuala Lumpur in the early afternoon and got a cab in to the city some 50 min away. I was booked at the Prince Hotel & Residence, a very nice place with both restaurants, swimming pool, spa service and gym. So if you can afford a little indulgence I recommend it. It is also located very centrally, close to the Pavillion shopping mall.

In the evening I met my friend and former colleague Shahul for a nice dinner and walk around in the area. It was very nice to get some inside tip and guidance on what to see. Unfortunately there is always too much to see and to little time. Thank you for your hospitality Shahul.

The next day I started with a swim at the hotel pool before going out to see the city. I started with the Petronas Towers but was unfortunately too late to visit the skybridge. Connected to the towers is also KLCC which is one of the large shopping centres in KL. Getting around the city is quite easy. You have both buses and the metro rail, but in 35 degrees Celsius it is easy to catch a cab and it is also quite cheap compared to european prices. Later I visited Chinatown in search for a good bargain but concluded there wasn’t anything I was looking for. I then headed for lunch at Michelangelo at the Pavillion. They served a wonderful Seared Tuna Salad As the new year was getting closer traffic in to the city was getting more and more hectic and I headed for the hotel for a break before the evening. I enjoyed the dinner at the japansese restaurant Enju at the hotel where I had both great sashimi, sushi, tempura and sake before going out to see the celebration. As expected, a large amount of fireworks went up in smoke (as it should) and people celebrated in the streets and in bars and cafes around the city.

2012 was started in a great way with another swim in the pool before making some reservations of flights and hotels for my further travels. As I was a little bummed by coming empty handed back the day before I decided to put my “shopping genes” to test. 3 shopping malls later I at least ended up with a new suitcase and a pair of pants. I don’t think I am built for shopping and decided then to await further shopping for my next stops.

I ended the first day of the new year with a dinner; panfried scallops with mango salad and wagyu beef. This was enjoyed with a glass of champagne and a glass of australian red before heading to bed.

Next stop; Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo. More to folow..

Mui Ne is a coastal resort town in the Binh Thuan Province of southeastern Vietnam. The town is close to the city of Phan Thiết.

After 4 days here I have surprisingly little to say about this place as my stay intentionally was only to relax and do nothing. And I belive that place is mostly about that… and surfing: regular surfing, kite surfing and windsurfing. You will see it all along the beach and many of the activities and services are based up around this. Besides that you can relax at the beach, by the many hotel pools, do spa treatments, eat good food and drink and rent a bike (regular or motor) and go for a ride. I did all but surfing

Mui Ne has a lot of nice hotels. You will find that some of the tourists here are russian and some of the hotels are also russian owned. I stayed at the Swiss Village Resort, a 4 star hotel with two swimmingpools, bar, restaurant, private beach and spa. They had nice rooms, very good service and I had a very pleasant stay. *** please see update at end of post***

I guess the most interesting part of the stay was renting a bike and taking a couple of trips into the countryside. I rented a brand new 135cc Yamaha bike for 3 days for 50 USD. For that they included a real stupid looking helmet I will not show pictures of. The only good thing was the all the other tourists had similar or other stupid looking helmets too.

Mui Ne is located just on the edge of a desert area with both white and red sand dunes around the city. Going out of town you will pass these if you get up to the main road some two minute drive above the coastal road. It doesn’t take many minutes before you are outside of the regular tourist area and actually drive just pass peoples “living room” in the middle of nowhere. You better drive carefully and be alert because you can be just as easily be surprised by a cattle herd or two as a bus driving in the middle of the road or a group of children on their (long) way home from school. Besides that the roads are quite good and it is easy to drive here. Going out of town you will also see the beautiful beaches, the sea and the many fishing boats. You will also pass cemeteries with fallen from both world wars and the wars/invasions from both France and USA. You might get stopped by some of the locals as they want to show you some local sites or just invite you for a cup of tea. One thing is guaranteed; a smile is most often met by a smile.

As I believe some of the greates values of travelling is to experience other cultures and ways of life, I believe that even short trips outside of the tourist areas are like “fuel for the brain” to give you some new sights, insight, appreciation and maybe even some wisdom in the end.

In one day I will leave terribly early in the morning to head for Ho Chi Minh airport and catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

***update 30 december***
Note to myself: in future don’t speak good about a hotel before you actually check out and leave. A lot can still happen. The last day at the hotel, I lost phone in my room, internet connection and water in the shower and sink. When contacting the reception they told me “phones and internet was working in the reception” and that the water would be fixed within ” a day or so”. When checking out at 3.30 am to catch my car to the airport they also wanted to charge me for the water I used from the minibar to wash and also accused me of stealing a towel. They only shut up when I asked them to search my bags. To top it all, I had to spend 10 minutes explaining that the car was pre-paid to the hotel. Swiss Village Resort? No, thanks! Not anymore!

More to follow…

The first that hit me arriving in Saigon was the heat. Compared to the”chilly” northern part of Vietnam where we had expeienced around 13-17 degrees we felt a slightly increase coming to Hoi An, but here we finally talked 30 degress Celsius. Even though walking around sweaty all day isn’t my favorite – thats the price to pay when you like the warm temparatures.

I got a cab from the airport and headed for the May Hotel which is centrally located in the Japanese area of District 1, a short walk from Lo Lei (street), Viencom Centre (mall) and a lot of nice restaurants.

The first day I used for just walking down Lo Lei to the Ben Thanh market and back as I needed to get some more mosquito spray. Also here, as well as in Hanoi, the traffic is mind blowing! Scooters, motorcycles and cars everywhere. One thing is the number of them, but looking at the traffic it seems a 100% out of control as everyone is going their own pace, shifting lanes with no prewarning and quite often you also see someone going in the opposite direction of everyone else. The use of the horn is also different as it is here used for multiple purposes (1. signaling “here I come”, 2. signaling ” you are in my way”, 3. signaling ” you are an asshole”). However, in this mayhem and chaos there is also a certain sense of order. Considering norwegian driving where I would argue we are very good at keeping to the traffic regulations and not doing very much unexpected to the extent that we may get a little unaware and rigid ( But still, I think I prefer the norwegian traffic..) Here you find the opposite; there are limited rules or ways to follow them so every person in the traffic actually have to think for himself and constantly be aware. And it actually works most of the times.. A very good example is when you as a pedestrian want to cross a street or intersection; walk calmly but firm in to the street, slow down to let the cars pass but let the scooters and motorcycles decide for themselves to go in front or behind you. If you just do this very calm and firm with no sudden moves and no stopping you will be crossing the streets with no problem while hundreds pass by you in what seems to be total chaos. A little nerve wrecking the first times but in a while you are ok with it. You almost feel a little like Moses splitting the sea..

The second day I started with a real ” walkabout” in town seeing some various sites, parks and the city in general. It’s a big city so it is somewhat limited what you manage in a day but I feel like I got to see my share. I want to limit the time spent on the famous sites so it osn’t all stress. The rest of the time is focused on just relaxing and experiencing the vibe of the city. In the afternoon I was a little tired so I took a break by the hotel pool for a few laps and some water gymnastics This evening I felt for some sushi and stopped by Daikokuya just next to the hotel. There you can both have a table or eat at the bar which is sometimes nice when you eat alone. I went for some tuna and salmon sushi and some tuna maki rolls. It tasted good but I must admit I was a little surprised as they already spiced it up with wasabi, so the extra I put on was maybe a little bit over the top

Later I went for a beer at Sheridan which was an irish pub close by. Here I was lucky enough to meet Hideo Ono, an expat computer engineer from Japan living in Ho Chi Minh. He convinced me he knew the best sushi place in the town and wanted to show me. I was up for the task of a beer and a small snack so I accepted and we went up the road to the japanse restaurant “cam-on” (“thank you” in vietnamese) where I was greeted by the kind owner (which I still suspect to be a real-life samurai) Yosuke Hirayama and the chef. They all made sure I had a great time tasting the best sashimi ever. The fish was so fresh! Together with the food I was served very good drink (mild wine) made of sweet potato and some sake. I was very pleased of this great hospitality and kindness. Aftwards they invited me to a bar close by with live music and beers. I had a very good time and we had some very nice conversations. Thank you so much for your hospitality !

I was a bit unsure how christmas eve in Vietnam would be, whether anyone would celebrate or not considering that the main population are buddhists. Entering the day of christmas, the city is filled with families out for shopping and in the evening it was clear it was building up. The city was full of people on scooters, cars or by foot. Everybody was in town. You could see christmas trees, decorations, santas in every form and shape and there was christmas tunes being played everywhere. So it is clear that despite religious beliefs, christmas is to be celebrated all the way into the night with as much noise as possible

As I was leaving the next day, my christmas eve was “limited” to a nice dinner at a lebanese restaurant “Beirut” where I had nice talks with the owner Prem Yadav over a meal of lamb. Afterwards I took a quick stop at the pub before heading to bed.

The next day I was picked up by the car arranged by the hotel, and headed for the beach town of Mui Ne some 200 km away.

So long Saigon, More to follow…

Here is a good example of upper, middle and lower class in society…

After arriving Hoi An the first afternoon was spent getting some nice local food, walking the streets looking around and just getting a bit familiar with the place before taking an early evening. The next day started with a good breakfast at the hotel before entering the city.

Hoi An is famous for the tailors and for in general being a very nice and quite town. This is however expected to change somewhat over the next years as they expect tourism to increase here. One of the topics on our agenda was visiting a recommended tailor for maybe buying a suit and a couple of shirts. If everything seemed good and the price was reasonable I would maybe go for 2-3 suits. So one of our first visits this day was with the tailor looking at design, fabrics and details and takinhg measurements. After some two hours or so looking at all this and discussing price we lef, having payed a deposit and agreed to come back for first testing the next day. It feels ok (compared to previous experiences in bangkok) going to a tailor somebody have good experiences with from before. after this we webt to a shoemaker closeby to get fitted for some handmade leather shoes. After an hour of looking at design, taking measurements and discussing price we paid a deposit and ordered some shoes with agreement to come back next day for testing.

Feeling somewhat aroused by the good experienc and the good bargains we made we decided ro celebrate with lunch, a cocktail and a mojito! Not a bad plan! I recommend the Mango Room for very good food. After this we decided to head back to the hotel for some R&R before the evening. This was well accomplished with a great aroma massage at the hotel spa.

The trying of clothes over the next few days makes me realize how much work and adjustments are necessary to get it right. The next couple of days are spent on trying clothes, visiting cafes reading books, talking and surfing internet. The evenings in Hoi An are spent having good meals, visiting small local pubs and chatting with the australian owners, or having drinks in typical backpacker-pubs with a mix of european, australian and american people having fun.

Although there are some pubs and bars open, one of the nice things about Hoi An is definately the quietness in town during the evenings as the town is almost fully closed for traffic, the shops close and they play soft classical music from speakers in the streets.

The last full day in Hoi An is spent with the last fitting of clothes, a long break at The Cargo Club (reading, surfing, talking, lunch, beer, mojito and dessert) before we successfully picked up our clothes and headed back to the hotel. In the evening, once again we experienced a great meal before we met up with fellow travellers Gemma, Mark and Emma for a few drinks.

Leaving Hoi An we had booked a car at the hotel who took us to Da Nang airport for the flight to Ho Chi Minh. As the airports officical opening was planned for the first day of christmas, everything wasn’t all ready but we got our flight with Vietnam Airlines and arrived in Ho Chi Minh an hour later. Here, me and my friend Torbjørns paths split as he was going to Thailand and I continue in Vietnam and Malaysia. ..

More to follow…

Leaving Hanoi we got on the night train to Da Nang with the plan of getting a taxi there to Hoi An which is just 30 min away. We had booked what was called “soft berths” on the train so we could catch some sleep. This was considered to be the best standard and we actually chose to take a train taking 4-5 hours longer just to get that (as our first choice was full).

Arriving the train station we quickly found the train and our beds. It was a 4-man cabin and we were lucky enough to get to share with a nice german couple (as opposed to ill smelling old man or family with small kids crying all night). The standard wasn’t all that, but it was ok we figured. The rumour told us that there were no food or drinks on te train so I quickly decided to get some refreshments and some “ill-tasting coconut flavoured peanuts” from one of the many older women on the platform selling fruit, sodas, beer etc. We later found the train had a “restaurant cart” selling some kind of soup, some water and so on but we passed…

As soon as the train set in motion I got the feeling this would be a long trip. We talked for an hour or so but quickly headed for sleep… for a couple of minutes.
The morning after, around 8-9, I decided to give up getting any more sleep after a total of approx 3 hours throughout the night. Short beds, old train, sudden stops and smoking from the other cabins going through the “AC” on the train.. Anyway, in the morning I was of course to experience the good side of the trip; watching the countryside pass by, the houses, people, animals, the ricefields, the ruins from past wars and interesting scenery in general.

After some 20 hours we arrived Da Nang to experience some 30 cab drivers waiting outside the train station. We quickly found an “eager representative” and agreed on a price for the trip to Hoi An. Poor guy, he had obviously found his calling in life but it is safe to say that him ambitions of cabdriving was more to a big city like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh as he agressive drove his toyota on the countryside roads honking ten times at every poor bicyclist and fellow drivers while he listened to his techno music…

Arriving in Hoi An we said farewell to our german friends and the cabbie and entered Hoi An Pacific Hotel. No secret that this was an experience , but I have no regrets More to follow…

My first stop on this winters journey to Asia is Hanoi, Vietnam. It instantly struck me as noisy town with an insane traffic where cars, motorcycles, scooters and people try to co-exist in the middle of the street. The only thing missing are hens and roosters but they use the sidewalk… Insane as it is, I still find a charm in the madness and it is fun to experience. People are nice, serviceminded and friendly. But to get into a more relaxed vacation mode, we are now headed for the trainstation to catch the night train to Da Nang and from there go to Hoi An.. Before I leave, here are a couple of photos from Hanoi:

Just one more day now, and then I am off to Asia for a 4 week vacation.

 

Starting with a flight to Hanoi, I have booked two nights at a hotel there. Two weeks later I got a flight from Ho Chi Minh to Kuala Lumpur.  Two weeks later I have a flight back home from KL. Everything in between is open and to be decided as I go along. As last year I will only use my carry-on backpack;  ”Lowe Alpine TT Carry-On 40″; a really smart backpack with smart compartments for both clothes and gear.

 

 In the “gear section” I will be bringing the following:

silk sleeping bag

bed sheet against bugs

extra bag for additional luggage along the way

compression back for laundry

mosquito net and duct tape/hooks

compressed day-backpack

security wires and code locks for the luggage

Teva sandals

Merrel vibram shoes

black caps

mosquito spray

transparent plastic bag with fluid toiletry

transparent plastic bag with other toiletry