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31 May 2007

Vietnam after 4 days and 3 nights (English)

I am dissapointed. Though Vietnam might rather be famous as a holiday destination for backbackers and the rather inconvetional tourist, a lot of things here are not right.
There is no feeling of warm and heartful Asian spirit, everything is about money and how to get it from the foreign visitors. There is no smile, no "hello" or other form of human interaction not attached to the question of a certain form of consumption. This has already left a bad impression on me here in Hanoi.
The past two days (I came back today) were spent on a 3 days two nights trip to Halong Bay. There are numerous cafes attached to hotels which act as travel agencies and offer this kind of packages. What I found out on the trip was that prices for 100% the same package differ for more then 100%. Depeding on where you booked you paid between 25 and 75 Us Dollars. Luckily for me, I booked at the lower end of the scale.
Everything seems to be arranged, but nothing works out. I got to know about 5 tourguides during the 3 days and was mixed with new people for every event I took part in(the latter is no problem, btw.), the tourguides' English is really poor, just enough for very basic communication. The general attitute of people working in the hospitality business here is. as described above, "rip the foreigners off". As long as you are of no use for them, they are unfriendly and simply not willing to offer something close to service. But as soon as it appears necessary for them to find an ally in you (some people actually decided to complain about the poor situation), the guides became nicer and tried to persuade you (with one bottle of free beer, instead of the booked and paid for night on the boat in the bay) not to complain at the agency.
Another example is that a Vietnamese salesman in lack of proper change, would always change negative for the customer and during the package trip there are for sure no free gifts or other extras. Instead things that were promised in the nice folders (scuba diving, going to the National Park) were simply not done.
Complain right there is of no use at all, the guides simply have no means or will to change anything to comfort the US dollar paying customers.
I have to add that according to travel mates, who have been travelling in the South of Vietnam, this is only a Northern phnenomena and the South must be totally different.
I already complained about the locals I met here (and I feel utterly sorry about having such a bad impression at all, but it gets renewed over and over again as I go on spending my time here) they really have no interest in anything but your money and no means to communicate with you (due to my not existing Vietnamese and there barely existing knowledge of English). But the down point of experiences with locals was an occasion on one of the islands in the Bay, where we spent our first night: Walking around a lake, we were greeted by a group of about 3 to 6 year old boys, we friendly shouted back "Hello, how are you, I am fine" and kept on walking. Suddenly we realised that the 7 man strong group was running behind us and coming closer, we did not expect anything to happen, but suddenly one of the "the kids" grabbed in the bag of my pants and tried to steal something or at least play. But there was nothing to find, I did not react except for a shock on my face, as he prepared for a bunch and hit me right in my balls, so hard and unexpected that my beloved camera fell on the ground (luckily it still works fine, great Japanese quality). Well, you can imagine, I was not pleased, but still did not react in a harsh, yet rather surprised way and told them to go away. What they did, just to get some little rocks to throw them at us. Nothing happened further, but I am really dissapointed about my experiences here so far.
The only reason until now to come to Vietnam I discovered so far is the beauty of nature.
PS: The travel agencies which cannot be recommended for booking packages in Hanoi for trips to for example Halong Bay are Sinh Cafe and Kim Travel. This is at least the experience of at least 20 travellers I talked to these past 3 days.
Well, this is actually another reason to come to Vietnam, you get to know a lot of nice and quite interesting backbackers and other travellers, mainly from Europe and Australia, but also from Korea.
My next trip (also booked at Kim Travel), as I wrote earlier, is about to start in 1 hour. Let's all cross our fingers that it will be a better experience in terms of the guiding. The destination this time is Sapa, about 380 km north of Hanoi, really close to the Chinese border.
Later more...

28 May 2007

Hanoi (English)

Yeah, I am here. The first day of my trip is almost over. Time to look for an internetcafe and type some words.
When I arrived I could not believe that none of the stories seemed to be true. The airport was silent, almost boring, though I really liked the Asian-style architecture of some of the airport buildings there. There were also no Taxi drivers yelling at me, trying to pull me in their car.
I just choosed the next best one and asked him to use the meter. The 30 km ride from the airport to downtown was not very stressful, considering that I am used to some Asian traffic by now. Though I have to admit that you feel and see right away that there is quite a difference between Taipei and Hanoi. The "freeway" was in some parts not completed yet and scooters are allowed to use it (without helmet of course). The whole car traffic is packed to the left lane, as the right lane is occupied by slow two-wheelers.
Entering the city by taxi was a good choice, having windows around you makes it a lot nicer to be around here. Traffic is chaos and everyone honks his car or scooter horn as often as possible.
People here definately look poorer (as expected) and there is a lot more life on the streets. Some really nice Mediterainian feeling, with small bars offering chairs outside to take a rest and have a drink.
My experience so far is that people here a open-minded towards white foreigners, they like it to talk to you. An old man (maybe 70) sat besides me on a bench and told me about his children, in French (colonial influence, which is also captured in the architecture here and makes a lot of buildings look nicer then in Taiwan), and you see a lot of white foreigners walking around (most of them look like properly tanned tourits).
People's spoken English is a lot better in Taiwan, but here they try to speak it with a lot of passion as well.
You get offers at every corner and every minute; people trying to sell you fresh fruit, books or offer you rides on scooters or rikschas.
A book vendor was not satisfied with my offer for his copied version of the Lonely planet and actually threatened me after a while, that I should not meet him again, or he would hit me. That is something I never experienced in Taiwan and the general attitude of vendors here seems to be a lot more aggressive, or desperate.
But my general impression is still positive. I booked two trips out of the city and my hotel's travel agency, totalling about 100 US Dollar for 5 nights and all transportation and accomendation. I hope that the money is properly invested and I will experience a lot of interesting sights with my properly tanned travel mates.

I arrived in Hanoi! (English)

Only a few hours later and I am here: Hanpi, the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. I did not do much yet, except for booking a 10 dollar hotel and arriving here.
I live in the old city centre and will get to know the area now...

26 May 2007

Vietnam, I am coming (English)

I will be in Vietnam for a trip from next Monday till the beginning of June! I hope that I can shoot some nice pictures and find some great curiosities to share with you.
Vietnam must be a very beautiful country with a very friendly population.
My home base will be the capital, Hanoi. From there I will start my discovery of that fascinating country...

"Remodelling" (English)


Due to some unexpected road conditions it was necessary to get my scooter to the garage trust and get the front of my "knight rider" remodelled again...The good thing about Taiwan is that the total damage of the "remodelling" was less then 25€. But definitely no reason do look for another similar reason...

24 May 2007

Combat the negative stereotype of Germans (English)

The text below is written by my Irish friend Duncan, as he put it on youtube.com:

In 1983 the German Government, in an effort to combat the negative stereotype of Germans being no fun and too serious created a special 20 year program for recently born babies to make them grow into more fun adults. Recent graduate Mr. Florian Gobel was the 26th baby selected for the program. Dr. Helmut Kohl, the German Chancellor at the time, still speaks of it as his most worthwhile contribution to the German Nation and humanity itself, even topping the destruction of the Berlin Wall, which also occurred during this period. Some might argue otherwise....




21 May 2007

台灣的天空為藍,台灣草地為綠 (中文)

就如這次KmK學生報紙的題目<首次 >„de eerste“對我來講有某種程度上特別的意義。尤其我將要離開我第一次留學的地方。雖然我的記性不是很好,但我仍然希望能分享一些<首次>來台的經驗與想法。

<首次>來到台灣

與許多留學生的經驗很像:台灣位於世界知名的國際舞台,大多數的朋友把<在台留學>誤認為<在泰國留學> (荷蘭語之Taiwan Thailand 發音相似,所以誤會是有可能發生的)但是荷蘭的同學們大可放心,我認為除了泰國同學以外,在台灣留學應和大多數在其它國家留學之國際學生的經驗差不多

在機場的感覺五味雜陳望、怕、好奇心、悲傷的感覺交錯混雜,尤其當你登機之後,<首次>一個人搭上旅程漫長,距離遙遠的飛機,而且你最少將留居台灣一年。.

<首次>在台灣上課

第一次在台灣上課之前,國語中心會要求你參加<華語文能力測驗>,並根據考試的結果安排你的學習課程。但請不用擔心,假若你發現這次考試的結果和你實際上的中文程度不符,你可以跟老師提出說明申請,並且改換課程。

<首次>留居台灣上課使每一個留學生感覺極為緊張,那是因為你還沒適應台灣的生活環境,加上文化差異及習慣不同等種種原因,但是你可以藉此機會,與那些跟你一樣的國際學生做朋友。

<首次>在台灣遊玩


其實通常一般人<首次>出去玩的經驗將比<首次>上課的經驗早一點,而KMK為有水準的學生報紙,我不才,所以不能直接說到這個話題。在台灣,有很多提供娛樂活動的管道,像台灣24小時的便利商店文化,你可以隨時找到ClubBarMTVKTV...等這類活動的資訊。台灣的Club商家較為開放且發達,中級的Club都提供<喝到飽>的活動,你只要付一次錢,就可以無限暢飲所有酒精類的飲料。更有像荷蘭的KroegCafe 的地方,而且台灣的辣妹隨處可見,令人無法忽視

<首次>聽到台灣國語

台灣跟中國大陸有一些部分不是如此,若是沒去過兩岸比較的話,可能無法感受到,這裡限制說台灣的國語,國語就是普通話、中文或漢語。但是最近台灣的政府不太喜歡含有<><>這兩個字的詞。上面寫到的<華語文能力測驗>不久前才為此更名。

除了這些最近的情況之外,台灣的人民就有一些語言上台灣的特色因為台語沒有<捲舌音>所以台灣人大多數說中文時也不會刻意發音出, 這類的聲音。我在花蓮(台灣漂亮的東部)也聽說過 說成 的問題。<法國>的發音就變成 Huaguo我聽了很久才知道對方在說什麼

除了發音上面的特色之外(這個在中國大陸的每一個省份應該也有各自的習慣用語),台灣的中文就受到了許多台語跟日語的影響。


<首次>說到政治

每一個國家都有其歷史文化及政治色彩上的特色。就像很多人認為和德國人溝通最好不要說到<第二次世界大戰>,但是基本上你不要怕和受到現代化教育的德國人談論這個問題。就如和台灣人說兩岸關係是一樣的,現代的台灣人一談到這個問題,基本上都會說世界上沒有一個國家不受中國大陸發展的影響,而台灣不過是影響最大的其中之一罷了。每天都有傳播媒體跟政治人物談論這個敏感問題。在路上,尤其是碰到年紀較大的人,經常會找機會跟外國人分享他們的意見。在台灣的政治社會裡,以兩股勢力為主,分別以顏色劃分為代表藍色的<國民黨>,以及以綠色代表的<民進黨>根據歷史上的發展,北台灣的人民偏向支持藍色的國民黨,中部與南台灣的人民則偏向綠色的民進黨。如果你看台灣政治的地圖,可以看到北部以藍色為主,而中南部則為綠色的勢力。這個情況讓人聯想到<台灣的天空為藍,草地為綠>的畫面台灣人民對政治方面的意見,可以說是因為他們希望有平安無事的未來,不管兩岸關係最後發展為何,最重要是為了人民的安全與經濟發展但是,仍有不少人懷疑台灣的未來會如何發展

在台灣留學的經驗,對我的生活有極大的影響。但是其實到現在,我還不完全了解是怎麼樣的影響。在台北當留學生很方便,台北是一個方便又現代化的大都市,但是不管你對中國大陸的看法如何,台灣不是中國。這是我在北京、武漢及深圳旅行時明顯感受到的不同。

Quiet Taipei (English)

Taipei is actually more then just a noisy, crowded and polluted metropolis. There are some spots in the city that have a nice sphere and let you relax after a hard day of classes or work.
One of them definitely is the Da'an Park (大安森林公園):

I spotted this house on my way to the park in Wenzhou road (溫州街).

Old people can be frequently seen in the park, either chatting, exercising Qigong or playing some kind of boule.

Right on, Taiwanese people love it to socialize, even at high ages. Other social activities in the parks are dancing and sports.

I simply love it to take pictures of Taipei 101...

Hold your rifle tight...(English)

This picture was taken on a toilet of the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU).
And what does it mean?

別發抖!
握緊槍再射
Don't tremble!
Hold your rifle tight and then shoot


Haha, any more explanation needed? Or is it obvious enough about what kind of "rifle" this board is talking about?

19 May 2007

Pitch and Put (English)


Well, sometimes it is time to spend some time in a more sophisticated way. Sometimes it is time to do sports that you cannot do wearing high-heels. Sometimes it is time to shoot the ball beyond the hedge!
Pitch and Put the large version of Mini-Golf for older children with the demand of a lot of fun. This session of Pitch and Put was the first time for most players taking part in our group, which resulted in a collection of funny scenes, a lot of laughter and the conscience that golf becomes more boring, the better you play it. After whole 9 out of 18 we got used to how to play and the hilarious moments of shooting the ball for only 50 cm or not hitting it at all became rare.


Stuugggi isch Möischda! (Deutsch)

Eigentlich sollte heute im Schatten des höchsten Gebäudes der Welt, der grandiose Abschluss einer unerwarteten Saison mit der Stuttgarter Meisterschaft gefeiert werden. Aber leider musste die blöde englische Lida zum gleichen Zeitpunkt das FA-Cup Finale veranstalten. Das bedeutet, dass sämtliche Sportbars in Taipei mit entsprechendem Publikum vollgepackt sind. Auch die einzige Sportbar, die die Spiele der "besten Liga der Welt" (spiegel.de) ausstrahlt war ebenfalls überfüllt. Dies hatte zur Folge, dass die Türen geschlossen worden und es nichts wurde mit der Live-Übertragung.
Hauptsache gewonnen, sagen wir dann mal! Stuggi is Meister, das ist doch schonmal was wert!
Schade, dass Mainz abgestiegen ist und vor allem, dass die Betzebuben es in der Zweiten Liga so schön finden und gar nicht mehr zurück in die deutsche Köngisklasse wollen.


Hier kommt ihr nicht rein, die Sportsbar "Tavern" in Taipei platze aus allen Nähten



Gedrückte Mienen, statt Fußball, Bier und Meisterlaune, gab es nur Hamburger mit Pommes und Cola. Später wurde zuhause beim Live-Ticker mitgefiebert.