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Reisefieber in Zeiten von Corona
Hotelpagen desinfizieren großflächig alle Koffer, Empfangsdamen weichen Zimmerschlüssel in Chlorlauge ein und Flugpersonal bedient nur noch im Reinraumanzug: Reisefieber erhält in Zeiten von Corona eine ganz neue Bedeutung. Bericht von einem Ausflug nach Vietnam. In letzter Minute.
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Captain of Lan Ha Bay
This is captain Te. Captain Te lives on a junk in Lan Ha and Halong bay, Vietnam. 20 years now that he is steering ships with tourists through the calm waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. His family lives somewhere on the mainland near Haiphong. Usually he gets one day off per month to visit them and send some money. One day per month. The remainder of the time he is literally laid back on his bridge with the inevitable thermos of extra strong Vietnamese green tea and a good measure of soap operas and movies running on his smartphone while he is navigating the ship with his…
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Northern Vietnamese Romance
On our hike today we ended up being the guests of an older couple of the ethnic Thai in the hilly region of Mai Chau, Vietnam. They had moved out of their house in the village to leave it to their son and his family. It would be bad luck for the house if someone died in there, the lively 64-year old man explained to us while he was moving around in his humble hut in the remote forest like a teen. Next he pulled out his flute enchanting us with some simple song, saying that for full moon he would enjoy playing for his wife in front…
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Hilltribe Women in Vietnam
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Rainy Mountain Market
Markets are much more than the exchange of groceries in the hilly regions of Northern Vietnam. For most people living in the mountains it’s one of the few chances to chat, to socialise, to find the potential one, to buy a goat or a buffalo and to get a new haircut…
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On the Indochina Rooftop
Some of my mountaineering guests were a bit reluctant, but in the end everybody came along – up the 3.143 metres of Fansipan, the highest mountain of Vietnam. By cable car. ? Accessible like this since February 2016. And it is SO worth it! We were just so lucky with THE perfect weather conditions and very few other visitors. It seems the brand new service draws the crowds from Hanoi on weekends and in the summer months. Apparently 35.000 have been here on the long weekend around the Vietnamese Reunification Day this year alone. People had to shuttle from hotels as far as Lao Cai that time. Nearby…
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Grab a Ride – One of the Last True Adventures of Hanoi
After Ubud and Rishikesh – motorbike madness one level up: Hiring a Grab driver in Hanoi! What I thought would be a quick errand at the other end of Old Town ended in one of the last true adventures Hanoi has to offer. ? Entirely fascinated by the possibilities the digital age nowadays offers I’m watching with curiosity on the live map how my “1 minute away” driver takes a lot of turns and loops before he arrives some 15 minutes later at the starting point of the trip – and this only after calling for a better offline (!) description. He looks like 12 years old, is…