Små gæster/small guests

    

Rap og Rup (der var også en Rip, som fik hjem med det samme) var for en kort tid pensionærer hos mig. 2 små kattekillinger, der alt for tidligt blev taget fra deres mor. Jeg tror ikke, at jeg var kommet af med dem, hvis de havde været her meget længere, men allergi og det at blive afhængig var det, som afgjorde deres skæbne. Jeg vil nok altid være i tvivl om det var det rigtige, at jeg gjorde. De har efterladt et stort hul i mit hjerte.

Dewey and Louie (there was also a Huey, but he got a new home right away) were for a short period guests with me. 2 small kittens taken away from their mother too soon. I do not believe that I would have given them away had they been with me much longer, but allergy and dependence was the fact that desided they destiny. I shall however doubt forever if it was the right thing to do. They had left a big empty space in my heart. 

Billeder fra Vietnam/pictures from Vietnam

Hvad gik der lige galt? 400 billeder var mere end jeg havde overskud til at beskrive - og beskrivelsen, den synes alligevel at mangle, men det må jeg se på senere. Her blot nogle af dem.

Til jer som læser min blog så har det været 6 måneder uden nyheder men det betyder ikke, at der ikke er sket noget. Jeg har lidt klar på skrivebrættet, som vil komme inden for den næste uges tid eller to.

What went wrong? 400 pictures were more than I could overcome to describe - and the description seems to miss anyway. I shall have to look into that later on, but some of them can be seen in the web album.

To you reading my blog it has been 6 months without any news but it does not mean that nothing happened. I have news ready on the board and it will be published in about 1-2 weeks.

Tagrender/gutters

Så er der kommet nye tagrender på mit hus. Herligt - nu behøver jeg ikke mere at frygte monsunregn m.m. Hele projektet gik ret smertefrit og jeg er ganske tilfreds med resultatet, og det siger jo en del. Håndværkerne har lavet et godt stykke arbejde uden at ødelægge andet end en af mine fine blomsterkrukker.

Now my house has got new gutters. Lovely - now I do not have to fear monsun rain etc. The entire projekt went well and I am quite happy with the result. That says a lot. The craftmen have made a good piece of work without destroying anything but one of my fine flower pots.

Mekong Delta

Tilbage til Saigon fra Mekong Delta efter en smuk tur, hvor tiden staar stille. Det er et meget frodigt omraade og folk lever et meget simpelt liv uden nogen form for comfort. De er tilfredse med dette. De har ry for at drikke en del, hvilket vel er den eneste adspredelse, som de har.

Hele gruppen sov sammen uden for i den tropiske nat (med moskitonet). En vietnamesisk familie havde lavet sig en forretning, hvor de havde opsat feltsenge og lavede mad til overnattende turister (dog for et meget begraenset antal, saa det blev mere privat, og vi var da ogsaa de eneste).

Vi sejlede dog foerst rundt til flere af de omkring liggende oer med endnu en baad helt for os selv. Tilsidst blev vi koert gennem et tropisk lignende skov paa primitive transportmidler til indkvarteringen. Det har i det hele taget vaeret en smuk oplevelse trods de af og til luvede omgivelser og det meget affald rundt omkring.

Vi besoegte Cu Chi tunnellerne taet ved Cambodia nord for Saigon. Det var et de steder Vietcong'erne ydede staerk modstand mod amerikanerne under Vietnamkrigen, og hvor man husker det beroemte billede af den lille pige, som loeber efter at vaere braendt overalt paa kroppen af en af de mange bomber, som amerikanerne smed i omraadet.

Vietnameserne synes ikke til at baere nag trods fortidens raedsler, og de er venlige og imoedekommende. Jeg kan kun anbefale, at man tager til Vietnam, som er anderledes positivt end forventet.

Jeg skal hilse og sige, at dette omraade var hedt og fugtigt, og jeg lignede ogsaa her en roed og opsvulmet ballon i dagtimerne.

Back again to Saigon from Mekong Delta after a beautiful trip, where time seems to stand still. The area is very vigorous and people live a simpel life without any comforts. They are happy with this. It is said that they drik a lot but I guess it is the only distraction they got.

The whole group slept outside in the tropical night (with amosquito nets). A Vietnamese family made a living out of offering camp beds and cooking to tourist sleeping overnight (however a limited number making it all more private and we were the only ones).

First however we were visiting the surrounding islands by yet another boat of our own. We ended the tour to our distination on very primitive vehicles, which went through a beautiful area looking like a tropical forrest. The impression of the areas that we have seen has all together been beautiful inspite of sometimes dilapidated buildings and garbage everywhere.

We also visited the Cu Chi tunnels close to the Cambodian border and north of Saigon. This was one of the areas where the Viet Congs put up strong resistance to the Americans during the Vietnam war and the place from the photo taken of the little girl running after having been burned all over her body by one of the bombs thrown by the Americans in that area.

The Vietnamese do not however seem to have no hard feelings inspite of the horror of the past and they are friendly and obliging. I can only recommend a trip to Vietnam, which is very different in positive way.

I can tell you that this are was hot and humid too and that I have been looking like a red and swollen ballon in the daytime.

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City

Saa er vi landet i Saigon. Midt i en tropisk hede - luftfugtigheden er p.t. kun 50% men kan gaa helt op til 70-70%. Det foeles dog stadig ulideligt, saa jeg toer slet ikke taenke paa hvordan det kan vaere.

Vi havde en kort tur rundt i byen, som er meget arkitektonisk praeget af sin tid som fransk koloni. Vi besoegte det Vietnamesiske krigsmuseum, hvilket selvfoelgelig var en meget tramatisk oplevelse. Jeg naaede kopimarkedet. Noget jeg altid MAA se.

Der bor 9 mill. i Saigon. Det ser ud som om mindst halvdelen af de 40 mill. motorcykler er her, men der er mere styr paa trafikken end i Hanoi. Folk tjener ca. dobbelt saa meget her. Det virker heller ikke helt saa fattigt, men det er stadig uhyrligt dyrt for vietnameserne at bo her og mange flytter tilbage til landet.

I morgen gaar turen til Mekong deltaet, hvor vi bl.a. skal overnatte hos en familie, som det hedder sig. Vi skal aabenbart sove i det fri. Jeg tror ikke, at vi faar sovet meget.

Hver aften er der faellespisning. I aften foregaar det ude i Saigons hede.

We have landet in the heat of Saigon in the middle of the tropical heat. The humidity is 50% but can go up to 70-80%. It still feels unbearable though so I dare not think what it could be like.

We made a short trip around the city, which is very influenced architectural by the French being af former colony. We visited the Vietnamese museeum of war, which of course was a traumatic experience. I did the copy market. Something I always HAVE to do.

There are 9 mill. people living in Saigon and it looks like half the 40 mill. motorbikes are here, but they have control of the trafic here. The income of the citizens are twice that of the people in Hanoi and the city does not look as poor, but still the living expences are very high and many people move back into the country.

Tomorrow we are going to the Mekong Delta, where we are doing a homestay overnight sleeping outside. I do not expect that we will get much sleep.

Every night we have a get together for a dinner meal. Tonight it will out in the heat of Saigon.

Da Lat

Endelig lidt koelighed. Vi er nu oppe i bjergene paa et dejligt hotel, og for foerste gang i Vietnam oplever jeg, at der kan vaere stille nogle steder. Hotellet ligger lidt uden for byen i skoenne omgivelser.

Naesten alle har vaeret syge - sikkert pga. de oester som vi fik paa en af oerne, som vi besoegte igaar. Heldigvis spiser jeg ikke oesters, saa jeg er vist sluppet.

Har vaeret paa markedet i byen. Fandt kopimarkedet - godt. Herefter lejede vi et gammelt tog og var en tur ude i oplandet. Det ser ud som om at det er et meget frodigt omraade, hvor der er oceaner af drivhuse og markeder med blomster og groensager.

Jeg har gjort en morsom betragtning. Mange forretninger har kun et begraenset udvalg og naar det gaelder toej, er der kun en del af hver - ikke noget med flere stoerrelser, saa kan man ikke passe den stoerrelse, som der er, er det bare aergerligt. Ioevrigt er det mere eller mindre umuligt at finde toej, da de kun har til bitte smaa tynde mennesker. Man foeler sig som en hel elefant her.

01 marts 2011
Sagde jeg lidt koeligere. Det har vaeret braendende varmt idag men sidst paa eftermiddagen begyndte solen heldigvis at gaa vaek. Jeg har vaeret lidt skidt idag men heldigvis gik jeg ikke ned som de fleste andre i gruppen. Vi havde en lille tur til centrum i formiddags bla. til the Crazy House, som er en af de 10 mest tossede huse i hele verden. Derefter gik turen til en af den sidste konges paladser, hvorefter vi blev sat af paa markedet. Desvaerre havde jeg ikke overskud til at shoppe. Imorgen gaar turen saa med fly til Saigon.

Finally some cool weather. We are up in the mountains on a nice hotel and for the first time I experience that Vietnam can be silent some places. The hotel is outside the city in nice surroundings.

Almost everyone has been ill. Probably due to the oysters that we got on one of the islands that we visited yesterday. Luckily I did not eat any oyster so I seem to be okay.

I have been to the market in town. Found the copy market - good. A this we hired an old train and went for a tour out in the country. It looks like a very vigorous area, where there are lots and lots of greenhouses and fields with flowers and vegetables.

I have noticed something funny. A lot of the shops only have a limited selection and only one of each peace when it comes to clothes. So if it does not fit you - bad luck for you. They do not come in diffent sizes. Furthermore it is almost impossible to find clothes for europeans, as the Vietnamese are very tiny people. You really feel like an elephant.

March 01, 2011
Did I say it was cooler here. It was burning hot today but in the afternoon the sun luckily hide away. I had felt a bit miserable today but fortunately I did not went down as most of the group. We did a small trip to the center of the city this morning among others things we visited the Crazy House, which is among the 10 most crazy houses in the world. After this we went to one of the palaces of the last king of Vietnam. We ended the tour at the market. Unfortunately I did not have the energy to shop. Tomorrow we will fly to Saigon.

Nha Trang

Det var uhyrligt varmt i Hoi An p.g.a luftfugtigheden. Det er ogsaa varmt her men stranden var et godt sted, hvor det har blaest paent meget i eftermiddag. Bor paa et groent hotel - har aldrig set noget lignende. Det hedder ogsaa "det groenne hotel" og er lyst og venligt indvendigt. Der var indendoers swimmingpool lige neden for min altan.

Vi havde lidt sight seeing, da vi ankom inden vi kunne faa vaerelserne. Jeg tror, at alle er ved at have nok af at fare rundt hele tiden og eftermiddagen har ogsaa vaeret fri. Vi faar en masse historie at vide, men jeg har svaert ved at hitte rede i alle de informationer, der gives. Det er rart at tage en tur, hvor man kan lade hovedet blive i skuffen for en gangs skyld og saa bare foelge med maengden.

Byen ligner lidt Hanoi med smaa usle butikker men med solen til forskel. Dog kan man her se en udvikling igang, idet der er gang i byggeriet med skyskrabere - desvaerre. Om nogle aar vil Vietnam ligne alle andre steder i vesten.

Imorgen staar den paa strand og vand og motorbaad hele dagen. Vi skal vist til en lille oe. I aften spiser vi sammen kl. 20 - haaber det bliver ved vandet (vores hotel ligger taet ved vandet). Jeg har set, at de er ved at lave klar til at aabne med en del spisesteder og nogle boder.

It was more than hot in Hoi An because of the humidity. Here is also hot too but the beach is a nice place where there was a wind all afternoon. Living in a green hotel - have never seen anything like it. It is also called "The Green Hotel" and is very bright and friendly. I had the indoor swimmingpool right under my balcony.

We did a little sightseeing this morning until we were able to get our rooms. I think that everyone is getting tired of running around all the time and the afternoon was free. We are told a lot of history but I have difficulty in absorbing all the information, but it is nice to be on a tour where you can relaxe without having to organize all the time.

Tomorrow it will be all about beach, water and motorboat all day. I think that we will be going to a little island. Tonight we are all eating dinner at 8 - hope that it will be by the water (our hotel is close to the water). I have seen that a market is opening with places to eat and small booths.

The city looks a little like Hanoi with lauzy small shop however the sun makes a difference and you do see that construction is going on, as they have started to build sky scrabers - unfortunately. In a couple of years Vietnam will begin to look like the rest of western world.