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Showing posts from February, 2024

Vietnam North to South – Day 17: Returning from Cần Thơ

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We started the day very early, waking up at 4:30 because we were told that the Cai Rang floating market would die down soon after sunrise. We got to the river at around 5:15. The first sign that things were a little off was the sight of a cruise boat full of local tourists zooming past us. As the next few minutes unfolded, more and more cruise boats filled the river, and it became evident that the floating market had been completely hollowed out by overtourism. Instead of locals buying and selling goods on little peaceful boats, the heavily outnumbered salespeople steered their boats to the vessels full of tourists and cruised alongside them while offering fruits and breakfast foods.    

Vietnam North to South – Day 16: On the Mekong

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My dad and I woke up at half past six to eat a quick breakfast and check out of our hotel before embarking on our last adventure in Vietnam. Leaving our luggage at the reception, we walked over to the travel agency where we had previously workshopped our ideas for a trip to the Mekong Delta. Our driver and tour guide were already there.

Vietnam North to South – Day 15: A Day Trip to Vũng Tàu

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With our tour group gone, my dad and I have been looking for things to do around Saigon before our departure on the 27 th . After some googling, our sights fell on Vũng Tàu, a seaside city known for its beaches (which are of no interest to us) and for the biggest statue of Jesus in Asia (which is of interest to us). Having booked a cab the day before, we headed over at nine o’clock in the morning, arriving by the statue a little after eleven.

Vietnam North to South – Day 14: Ho Chi Minh City

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We spent the whole day today in Ho Chi Minh City, and I have to say it is quite different from Hanoi. Hanoi feels smaller, calmer, and more rigid, whereas Ho Chi Minh City is – as my dad put it – “what Bangkok was twenty years ago.” It feels distinctly more southeast Asian: the roads are busier and crazier, and the streets seem much more alive. Ho Chi Minh City is to Hanoi what New York is to Washington D.C. or what Hong Kong is to Beijing.  

Vietnam North to South – Day 13: Tây Ninh

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We woke up early in the morning to pack our bags and hunt for breakfast outside the hotel. We vastly overestimated our non-verbal communication skills and sat down at a local restaurant in the hopes of ordering me a vegetarian dish. Unsympathetic to our struggle, the waitress kept frustratedly pointing at the menu on the wall, which was written entirely in Vietnamese and was unaccompanied by any pictures. I suppose it did not occur to her that two foreigners might penetrate as far as Tây Ninh without being able to string together a single sentence in the local language.

Vietnam North to South – Day 12: North of Saigon

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Today was a real adventure, as my dad and I decided to split off from the main group and head to Saigon early instead of spending the day in Nha Tranh. Every part of the journey was an experience. Riding to the airport, we found that local taxi drivers love to play karaoke on their displays. While they likely don’t sing along (our driver, at the very least, did not), the text running at the bottom of the screen seems rather distracting. As do the music videos that accompany the songs, with cameramen focussing on the cleavage of female singers.

Vietnam North to South – Day 11: A Day Trip from Nha Trang

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Today was a free day dedicated to resting by the beach. My dad and I aren’t made for rest, though, and so we planned an excursion to a few interesting places south of the city. Taking along two other travellers from our group, we hired a cab for the day and headed to Từ Vân Pagoda in Cam Ranh. Built in 1968, the pagoda is a supremely kitschy complex, starring giant dragons of all colours, statues of Buddhist holy figures, and a whole temple built from corals and seashells. Most interesting, perhaps, is its “Road to Hell,” a long and narrow tunnel built of corals and winding its way past various allegorical depictions of Buddhist moral philosophy. The tunnels are hot, stuffy, and dark, so it is quite difficult to walk their whole length without sustaining an injury of some kind. From the entrance to the exit through the mouth of a huge dragon-like beast, the walk and crawl took us over half an hour.

Vietnam North to South – Day 10: Nha Trang

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We left for the airport very early in the morning, as there are not very many flights from Hội An to Cam Ranh. Having left our hotel at the ungodly time of 4:30, we arrived in Nha Trang by ten o’clock. We first stopped at our new hotel by the beach, after which we boarded our bus once more and did a little sightseeing. Our first stop was the two centuries old Long Sơn Pagoda, which is famous for its massive seated white buddha. Inside his pedestal is a little shrine with decorated walls and constantly burning incense. While unpleasant in the midday sun, the walk up to the Buddha statue does offer some respite in the form of other attractions, such as a giant lying Buddha.

Vietnam North to South – Day 9: Hội An and Mỹ Sơn

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In the morning, we visited a silk workshop just outside the historic centre of Hội An. The demonstration was interesting: we saw tiny silkworms grazing on macerated mulberry leaves, and their larger cousins slowly preparing to weave their cocoons in wooden frames. After boiling the cocoons, the women working at the shop deftly unpick them and prepare the material for spinning and sewing. Although I enjoyed the show, we spent another hour at the shop, which I felt was rather excessive.

Vietnam North to South – Day 8: From Huế to Hội An

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Today was a day spent in slowly making our way from Huế to Hội An. We made a leisurely start, leaving our hotel at nine o’clock in the morning. After some two hours on the road, we stopped by a small touristy village of pearl fishers, where we took pictures of the quaint stilt houses and ate caulerpa lentillifera (also called sea grapes). We then proceeded to a proper seafood restaurant, where I ate clams with lemongrass and chili. They were very good, and I managed to scrape out an entire coconut with my spoon.

Vietnam North to South – Day 7: Huế

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In contrast to the hectic itinerary of yesterday, we spent the whole day today in one city. After eating a leisurely breakfast, we boarded a “dragon boat” on Perfume River and sailed for about forty minutes to the Thiên Mụ Temple, founded in 1601 by the Nguyens. Its most impressive sight is its seven-story pagoda, which directly overlooks the river and serves as an entry point to a much larger complex. Besides the usual temples, this complex also contains a functioning monastery and a few historical exhibits. Perhaps the most interesting artefact is the car driven to Saigon by the Monk Thích Quảng Đức, who immolated himself in protest against the anti-Buddhist persecutions of the staunchly Catholic president Ngô Đình Diệm.

Vietnam North to South – Day 6: The Imperial City of Huế

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We woke up at 5:15 in the morning and left our hotel half an hour later. Checking in for our flight to Huế was simple enough, and although the ride was a little bumpy, we made it to the city in good time. All of us, however, were quite hungry by the time we had left our luggage at the hotel, so our guide arranged for us to order some bánh mì. We did this from the bus, as it could not enter the road of the bakery due to holiday closures. Instead, the food was delivered to us on motorbike. Mine was underwhelming. I had asked for a vegetarian version, and what I got was a baguette filled with peanut butter and sugar.

Vietnam North to South – Day 5: From Hạ Long Bay to Hanoi

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Our ship left Halong Bay in the morning, though not until we had made a small boat excursion to a nearby cove. Our local guide clearly hoped we would see monkeys there, to attract which he bought a handful of bananas. No one was more disappointed than him when the monkeys failed to turn up, and he munched on his bananas with an air of resigned gloom. The sun briefly came out as our ship headed back to the port, but the clouds set in once again by the time we got there, breaking into light rain as our bus returned to Hanoi.

Vietnam North to South – Day 4: Arriving in Hạ Long Bay

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We left Ninh Bình at quarter to eight and rode almost 200 kilometres to Hạ Long Bay. Known for its many limestone islets, the bay is a very popular destination: there are around five hundred boats providing transport and accommodation to tourists. The bay’s name means “Descending Dragon.” Legend has it that when fighting off foreign invaders, the local Vietnamese were aided by dragons who spat jade into the water to form a defensive wall. Seeing the beautiful landscape they created, the dragons decided to settle down, and they live in the bay to this day.

Vietnam North to South – Day 3: Tràng An

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We left Hanoi in the morning, riding our tour bus for almost two hours to Hoa Lư. Known as the ancient capital of Vietnam, Hoa Lư was elevated to prominence by local warlord Đinh Tiên Hoàng, who successfully unified the region following the expulsion of the Southern Han. His short-lived Đinh dynasty was succeeded by the Early Lê dynasty of Lê Đại Hành, which continued to rule from Hoa Lư. While the Đinh lasted only twelve years, the Early Lê did not do much better with their paltry twenty-nine. The ruler of the subsequent Lý dynasty, Lý Công Uẩn, then moved Vietnam’s capital to Thăng Long, now called Hanoi.

Vietnam North to South – Day 2: Hanoi Take Two

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Our tour group began the first full day of our Vietnam trip by walking around the old city of Hanoi, taking pictures of fruits vendors, fishmongers, birdmen, butchers, and many more. Our first proper historical stop was Hanoi’s oldest temple, Bach Ma, which is called the White Horse Temple in English. The shrine was founded in 1010 by emperor Lý Thái Tổ, founder of the Ly dynasty. Legend has it that the emperor struggled to construct a citadel in Hanoi, his buildings sinking into the marshy ground as soon as they were finished. Finally, a white horse led him to a suitable site, tapping its hoof on a piece of solid ground that would become the foundation for modern Hanoi.

Vietnam North to South – Day 1: Alone in Hanoi

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My redeye from Delhi arrived close to five in the morning, and I did not catch a jot of sleep. Once I got to my hotel, however, I did not feel particularly drowsy, and instead of napping for a few hours, I started sorting through my photos from India. This exercise lasted for as long as it stayed cloudy outside – that is to say – until around eleven, when I grew bored of the very mechanical editing process and decided to go out.

Southern Delhi and Other Bits and Pieces

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On my last day in Delhi, I managed to cross off the last few items on my sightseeing list. I began by packing my luggage, all the while congratulating myself on having remembered to ask the hotel to do my laundry in advance. That finished, I ordered an Uber to Akshardham, a massive Hindu temple east of the Yamuna River. The opening hours of the temple are not well advertised, and when I arrived by the front gate, I learned it was still closed. For a few minutes, I took pictures of the temple from afar, when suddenly an autorickshaw driver approached me. He reasoned with me that since the temple would not open until ten, I had better come with him and see other sights. I had to admit the soundness of his reasoning and gave him my next address.

Agra and Fatehpur Sikri

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On my penultimate day in Northern India, I went on another guided tour. My cab picked me up at six o’clock in the morning, and we met the guide in Agra after nine. Our first stop was Taj Mahal. While it may seem counterintuitive to begin an excursion with the most spectacular sight, it makes sense when one considers the sheer number of tourists who start pouring in throughout the day. Even at this hour, the place was bustling, and my guide hurried forward at breakneck speed in a futile attempt to beat the crowds.

Central Delhi

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Today was another sunny and busy day, with my explorations broken up by three meetings early in the afternoon. I started the morning by catching an autorickshaw to Shri Laxmi Narayan Temple. It was built on the initiative of Mohandas Gandhi with the goal of serving all castes – a very progressive idea for the time. Although quite glamorous and expansive on the outside, the interior of the temple is not overly ornate, with little to attract the eye beside the statue of each shrine’s main deity.

Northern Delhi

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On Tuesday, I had an appointment at Ashoka University, a relatively new institution whose vision has attracted major investors and academic heavyweights. Modelled along the lines of American liberal arts colleges, it dubs itself the Harvard of Haryana, the Yale on the Yamuna, and several other slogans I cannot remember. I was surprised to find the campus quite small and cozy, housing only around 3,000 students. Nevertheless, it has already grown significantly since the time my friend Sparsh studied there, and is now expanding by another whole campus.  

Jaipur in a Day

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I booked my Friday trip to Jaipur online after discovering that the Taj Mahal – a portion of which serves as a mosque – closes to visitors on that day of the week. Since I did not want to visit Jaipur or Agra over the weekend for fear of encountering a horde of tourists, my window for scheduling both day trips shrank considerably, and I realised the need to slot Jaipur very early.

My first few days in Delhi

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As soon as my traineeship in Geneva was over, I flew to India. I do not have a job yet, and so I figured that a week spent sightseeing and networking might be just the right thing for me. Even if it doesn’t work out this time, perhaps making a few contacts will lay a good foundation for the future; it would be nice to live in India for a few years getting to know the country properly.

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