El maravilloso viaje de Tobi a Vietnam

After my trip to Hoi An I decided to take a stop at the release site of our primates in Phong Nha and to see the famous cave there.

Unfortunately (there it is again) I arrived on Tuesday just a few hours ahead of a typhoon.
At the beginning it wasn't so bad, just raining all the time, which is not so special for Vietnam, as you might have read from my last blogs.

Phong Nha is similar to Cuc Phuong, it is situated in a mountainous area and as well is pretty far from every major traffic hub, so once there, it is not so easy to get away.
When I arrived the project manager and his wife were gone to take a short holiday in Cambodia, now that the release ceremony and all the stress connected with it, is over. So the only people in Phong Nha were the Vietnamese project assistent and the German volonteer Judith.

So yesterday after lunch we decided to take a short look at the release site to see if everything is still in shape after all the rain. We started to worry a little bit when we had to drive through several stream had appeared where used to be the street.

One was so deep and had such a current that we had to park our scooter and proceeded on foot.
We discovered that the situation was problematic and we should open the flood gates, unfortunately Judith forgot the keys at home (and I will blame her for that my life long ;)), so we had to go back to fetch the keys.
And now the, ehm, interesting part begins, as it was already pretty close to dawn and the typhoon got worse and worse.
We called the Vietnamese assistent and drove back to the hill. It was already raining so heavily that you seemed sometimes to hit a massive wall of water, even before we arrived to hill we had reached the point where a raincoat is useless, because your clothes already seem to be so wet that they won't take up more water (which proved to be soo false ;))

At the time we reached the first flood gate darkness had already fallen, so we had to open it only lit by the small light of our torches.
That's definitely something that belongs on the to-be-done-in-life-list. It is actually pretty much of a experience to walk around barefoot (as flip-flops are actually the kind of shoes made to walk in water which reaches till your hip) at night in the jungle during a typhoon.
But the floodgate had to be opened or the water would underflow the fundaments of the fence, so our choices were limited.

Two hours later we had cleaned all the exit canals (some were blocked by whole tree trunks) and opened all flood gates we drove home, which as well proved quite adventurous, because meanwhile the storm had grown to it's full strength and we drove in a slalom home trying to avoid all the branches flying around.
When we reached the village it got even worse, because there whole trees had fallen down and an electric line was cut, the ending whipping around. But somehow we managed to arrive safe in my hotel, just to see the next surprise, when parts of the roof fell down, fortunately in a section of the building where no one was at that moment.
Anyway, I was far too exhausted to care about that fact and nearly collapsed onto my bed, after we had our delicious survival dinner (two packs of cracker and four beer :))
When I woke up this morning the scenery had completely changed, the wind and the rain were gone, but where had been yesterday a street, now was a river. Which presented another problem, as we had no boat.
But with the help of a friendly priest, I could organised one, which brought me, my driver and the motorbike out of town to the highway which was build on higher ground.

So now I'm in Dong Hoi waiting for my bus to Ninh Binh. As I wasn't able to take a shower yesterday night or this morning (even if we had had electricity and warm water, I probably wouldn't have taken one, because I was so glad to be at least half-dry), I am pretty sure that I stink like a polecat, a status which will last for at least 24 hours more, since I am wearing the only pair of dry clothes that's leftover. Anyway the nightbus isn't actually known for it's cleanliness :)

I finished working in Cuc Phoung some days ago and I'm now travelling around in Vietnam. I made the plan some time ago, but I changed it nearly a dozen times and decided on the night of Tuesday that I would finally leave on Wednesday noon leaving my big bagpack in Cuc Phoung and fetch it on my way back to Hanoi.

I took the nightbus from the provicial capital Ninh Binh to Hue, the old imperial capital. This was a pretty weird experience, because I went by a sleepers bus, which had rows of beds instead of seats. Unfortunately beds, which were even for the Vietnamese everything but comfortable, so you can for sure imagine how it was for me ;)
But still better than sitting all the time, although at 7:00 am, the driver put in a CD of vietnamese pop music, which isn't particulary my favorite and of course he set at a volume, where it was nearly impossible to ignore it.

So when I arrived at Hue I was half deaf and literally pooped. Instead of half an hour break I had four hours, so I decided (which a little help of one of the ubiquitary motobike drivers) to visit the sights of Hue.
Surprisingly this was pretty cool and I saw everything important in four hours instead of the scheduled two days on my way back.
As Hue as a city is not so spectacular I won't stop there another time and I will go directly to Phong Nha, where another project of the FZS is located.

Anyway currently I'm in Hoi An and it's a really nice little city (UNESCO world heritage), because it has something most other vietnamese cities are lacking of, character.
I really liked it to stroll along the old quarter and sit down in one of the millions of small cafes and restaurant to have a coffee, a beer or just a fruit shake (which is exellent here and everywhere else in Vietnam) watching the riverfront.
Unfortunately the weather is horrible, it's been raining for four days more or less continually.
Okay, we still have 26 or 27 degrees, so it's bearable.

Hoi An is famous for it's tailors (every second shop here is a tailor), who can make you custom made clothing in as little as a day.
As it's pretty difficult to get a suit in my size even in Germany, I took the chance and ordered a complete suit. So after two fittings, which proved to be necessary, because the slim Vietnamese forgot to take in count the width of shoulders, I am the proud possesor of a new business suit.
Unfortunately (I used this word today really often ;)) now I'm challegened with the task of getting it home in a decent shape. Which is, considered the amount of luggage I already have, not as easy as it seems.

And even if I succeed I'm still faced with the challenge to maintain my weight (I actually lost 10kg here) which might prove even harder.

I saw him, the KING, the king of snakes.
I came early after the lunch break and was walking around to visit some of my favorite monkeys, so my view was fixed on the cages and not on the path.

But when I heard a noise in front of me I looked and saw a big king cobras making it's way into the bushes, just a few meters ahead of me.
Damn,I was pretty shocked, especially because it was arm thick and at least 3m long. If one of these bites all you can do is go to office and call all your friends to say goodbye, because you won't survive the two hours drive to Hanoi, which is the only place where you can get an antidote.

So for some time I was still up the next tree, when someone even mentioned the word snake. But now I have calmed again, especially when Tilo told me, that king cobra, despite of their size, really like to sit in trees ;)

The last three days I made a trip through the famous Ha-Long Bay and it was truely awesome.
REALLY touristy, but the scenery is just incredible.
We spent a night there on a junk and another in the national park of Cat Ba, where we did some cycling and cayaking.

Next time in Hanoi I'm gonna upload some pics to give you an impression, because it's hard to describe it.

So tomorrow I am heading back to Cuc Phuong and my daily routine. I just bought some things that make live there more convinient, for example real pasta, when you are fed up with all the rice; chewing gums, cheese, jam, cookies, etc.

As I am have mostly finished my project, I might get the chance to make another trip. I would love to see Hue and Hoi An (the other world heritage site). But it's more than 700km, so I have to go by plane, if I want to make it in 4 or 5 days. Anyway the ticket is just 40 Euro.

That's it for today. So take care till next time, when I am in Hanoi in about 2 weeks