Taking off in a week

I have made no progress with anything basically :-P This just seems like such a relaxed trip, going mostly to familiar places and meeting with familiar people. This will be all so great - just an easy and relaxed get-away :)

Now I mentioned the weather, here is the proof:

....... brrrr?
vs.


Many of my friends have left the country, either for longer or shorter time. This in turn makes me itch for the airports :) Although it would be so much easier if I would not have to pack though, just drive to the airport and take off - maybe someday I'll be able to travel like that as well.

US trip 2009 - in less than a month

Next travel planning has started already some time ago :)

This time the road will lead to Hawaii ... well actually the plane will take ;) Full story behind the short winter vacation is that my freshman year roommate from UND came to visit me in Tallinn in May 2008. We hadn't seen/talked/written to each other for about 7 years or so. And suddenly she informs me in the beginning of the year that she will be in Sweden and would it be fine if she would stop in Tallinn as well. So she came to visit me for 5 days. Oh it was great, I had really nice time while she was here.

Some background information is needed: we both have our birthdays in February, hers is 17th and mine is 5 days later, we are same age. So she was saying of how an important and round birthday will take place next year and that her parents will organize a trip to Hawaii for her as a birthday present - she invited me to join them. My first reaction was: oh sure, like I could do that. After giving it some thought once I returned from my Asia trip I started to look for options of how I could join her in Hawaii. Finally I got the plane tickets right before Christmas :D

As my friend&co already had their flights arranged I just tried to get matching ones - I'll arrive in Hawaii on the 13th and will leave on the 20th. So just a week on the spot. Since I'm going to that side of the globe anyways it is a must that I stop by to see my friend Nikki and her family. I'll be arriving in Minneapolis on the 7th of February :) Will hopefully meet other people while visiting at the cities as well. Will see.

This time there are not many preparations to be made other than the flights and travel insurance (both done already). Of course I need to arrange the logistics and meeting people in the Cities but that is just peanuts to space (as Douglas Adams would say ;) ) It will be just traveling this time... not gonna be a backpacking trip as the few last ones have been - and that is totally fine by me :) It will be a great trip to spend some time with my dear friends on the other side of the globe - I can't wait.

Oh, the packing will be fun this time :) I'm going to Minnesota for a week where it is probably like -20C and then to Hawaii for a week where it is about +25C :D :D So I take my warmest jacket and then bikinis :D - that should do right?

shortish summary and generated thoughts on China & Vietnam

I've been home already for more than 2 weeks. I managed to live through illness (caught some nasty virus/flu), got back to work in a new wonderful office, were thrown right back in to fight with the construction people at my apartment and started a full new season pretty much the same week. So lots has been going on, hence the delay with the summary and final word. Majority of people have also requested a short version and overview of my trip - i'll be preparing that within weeks as well.

Things I will not miss:
- all the ugly snorting noises they make right before spitting, spitting by the way takes place everywhere. there are "no-spitting on the floor" signs up, but then they find bottles or other containers so they will still go through with the whole procedure only it will not land on the floor.
- all the ugly noises they make when eating, they eat with their mouth open and that is not helping with appetite at all
- extremely awful smells all over the place, well mainly on the streets, but also in certain eating areas and other public places. smell would be produced of rotten foods laying around in blazing sun or people using walls instead of toilets or general pollution in all its "wonderful" formats. in short: it is dirty-dirty-dirty there, just filthy :(
- the difference in manners in general, understanding on what is polite and what is not is so very different from Europe/Americas and other places I've been at. I can't see myself getting used to that, I try to understand, but it does not come easily.
- their inability to stand in line. such a common sense thing for the rest of the world, but not for Chinese people - strangest thing :)

Other things that I sorta enjoyed for a short period of time and someday when I get to experience them again I'll get this wonderful feeling of recognition:
- walking in the heat, having very high moisture percentage, there is no breeze and you are soaked from head to toe basically immediately. that was kinda neat :) I've never experienced anything like that before.
- explaining something for another person who does not speak any language that you do, so there is no common language, neither of you understands the other person. but after some mutual drawing, pointing on the map, saying words in English very slowly, looking up some similar phrases in the travel guide and reading facial expressions it all gets magically figured out :) seriously, this was amazing how the understanding always somehow appeared. true, more than once we were actually guided to a wrong direction :) but generally we were able to understand each other somehow, usually it took extremely long time - but it did happen.
- unexpectedness. as the American guy in Shanghai said: everything that can go wrong will go wrong in China in the worst possible way one can imagine. and he was definitely right. it adds this magical not-knowingness, can give you nightmares, but that is part of the thrill.

Now are the things I will miss for sure:
- experiencing rapid growth and change. it was visible everywhere in China and even in Vietnam, but in smaller quantities there. rapid growth in China stuck out most for me in big cities, things happen fast there.
- Hong Kong area. it was great, it was absolutely great. in Hong Kong I had the feeling that this is where everything happens, this is the center of the world and if you are not here you are nowhere at all. it was just so busy and multi-cultural, experiencing the vibes there just blew my mind. I want to return there and be part of it.
- nature of Vietnam: Halong Bay and Sapa were wonderful. I have heard great stories about beaches in Hue and further south - I'm sure I can't even imagine the beauty there.
- I have to say the food :) I liked the kitchen there, even more than in Peru - I think. Food was generally very good, variety was huge and it was mostly good and very enjoyable.

Compared to Peru - China and Vietnam are a lot safer for travellers. Apparently the charges are very harsh and there consequences are bad for your whole family - I got the impression that there is not that much crime around.

Education system seems to be quite a bit different in China (I don't know the story of Vietnam in that matter). Students are taught to remember facts and "think" alike (which means to think like majority does and not think like individuals, or at least it is not suggested to stand out with your own ideas).

Infrastructure was kinda impressive to me in China. For such a huge country it worked without delays or any major hassles, it was organized quite well and seemed to go like clockwork. I hope they get Maglev going longer distances soon enough :)

Allright, that is pretty much it for a short summary. Any questions are more than welcome and will be answered within.. umm.. say a week :)

History lesson - Vietnam

Here comes a "short" Vietnam history overview. Anyhoo, I went to the web and did some research, lots of information was also in Lonely Planet. First of all I was determined to understand the reasons and political conflicts around the American war in Vietnam. Here is what I discovered, early times are not covered very thoroughly, later times are written in greater detail.

This is also time for a DISCLAIMER: do not quote me on this information, this is just an attempt to organize the information and create a timeline for myself. If I'm terribly mistaken about something then please do let me know.

Vietnam was under Chinese domination for 1000 years. It started on the 2nd century BC when Chinese conquered the Red River Delta and ended 938 AD with the battle of Bach Dang River. Vietnamese independence followed seeing many enlightened emperors. On the early 15th century Chinese seized control again, although 1428 Vietnam saw liberation with Le Loi's victory over Chinese.

Year 1516 first Portuguese sailors arrived and were soon followed by Dominican missionaries. For 2 centuries Vietnam was divided between north where Trinh ruled (supported by Portuguese) and south where Nguyen Lords ruled (supported by Dutch). At some point Vietnamese expanded to Cambodia and Laos as well.

And now we get into the later history of 19th and 20th century. 1847 French Navy attacked Vietnam in response to Emperor Thieu Tri's suppression of Catholic missionaries, finally treaty was signed and 3 eastern provinces were given to French. 1872 French started to conquer other northern parts of Vietnam as well and by 1887 they had colonized the country.

Ho Chi Minh founded the first Marxist grouping in Indochina in 1925, then came Vietnamese Communist Party year 1930 and year 1941 followed League for the Independence of Vietnam aka Viet Minh that was dominated by Ho's communists. During WWII Vietnam fell under Japan, but they let French carry on their ruling there and did not intervene. The only forces opposed to both Japanese and French occupation was Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh, apparently they both got US assistance during that period. By 1945 Viet Minh controlled large parts of the country.

1946 the war with French started again. Ho Chi Minh fled to the mountains and stayed there for 8 years but even despite the massive US support that French received there was no victory and French troops surrendered. In May 1954, as per Geneva Conference, war prisoners were exchanged and Vietnam was temporarily divided into 2 zones. So it became so that south was ruled by fiercely anticommunist Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem and north was ruled by Democratic Republic of Vietnam. By 1959 north and south were at war again.

Now comes the ever so sensitive topic - American war in Vietnam. Topic that is not discussed over dinner table in the US. I can't remember anything on the matter in our history books - how was it portrayed to us during Russian time?

So here we go. The Americans saw France's colonial war in Indochina as an important part of a worldwide struggle against communist expansion. As I understand there were Vietnamese communists or VC's in the north as well as North Vietnamese army. First was more like a rebellion grouping, second was official army of the northern state of Vietnam. In the south there was Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Northern forces were trying to overtake south where French were ruling.

So Americans figured to come and assist the French. Americans would stay in Vietnam for the next 25 years, first as advisers and later as the main force. In August 1964 two US destroyers claimed to have come under 'unprovoked' attack near North Vietnamese coast. As a result - US President orders bombs to be dropped on North Vietnam. First US troops landed in Vietnam in March of 1965. So there were battles between American forces and Vietnamese communists or VC. January 1968 VC's held strikes in 100 cities around Vietnam and took over US embassy courtyard in Saigon. US counterattacked aggressively by bombing heavily populated cities. US aggressiveness traumatized the civilian world, many local civilians would join VC in anger. All the horror of the bombings, chaos, massacres and attacks on unarmed civilians by American troops - it was broadcasted all over the world and world started antiwar activities and movements.

Meanwhile power changed in US, peace talks were held with the north, all the while the war got even bigger in Vietnam. US started secretly bombing Cambodia in order to flush out VC sanctuaries across the border, Northern Vietnamese forces moved deeper into Cambodia. There were more attacks in Northern Vietnam and on the 17th parallel as well. Austria, New Zealand, South Korea, Philippines and Thailand sent military personnel to South Vietnam to fight with Americans. north Vietnam was supported by China and Soviet Republic.

In January 1973 Paris Peace Accords were signed between USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam and VC - agreeing on cease fire, withdrawal of US forces and release of US prisoners of war. As it turns out, throughout the whole conflict US never actually declared war on North Vietnam. Bombing of north stopped and US prisoners were released, but the war went on, only now South Vietnam was fighting North on its own, ARVN troops surrendered and fled quickly since they were not able to continue without all the support.

After taking over South Vietnam, the communists renamed Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. Years of changes followed: transition to socialism in South, widespread political repression, cruel imprisonment of people who had ties to previous regime, intellectuals/artists/businesspeople who had opposed the North were pestered and held in horrendous conditions and so on and so on.

When south collapsed, more than 100 000 Vietnamese fled the country. In the next five years about half a million others would follow. By now many have returned, having foreign education they are now helping in driving the economy forward. This is believed by many to be the reason why South Vietnam economy is doing better nowadays. As it goes, the people are divided in their hears as well - north has never forgiven south in co-operating with Americans against their own people and south has never forgiven north in imposing communism and pestering hundreds of thousands Vietnamese.

Vietnam is socialist republic, Hanoi is the capital and population is 86 million people.

Also check Peeter's comment on the history - Vietnami ajaloo kokkuvõte

day 40 - home sweet sweet home - 25.09

There were no problems with check in to the flight to Helsinki. There was a minor delay though, but only for 20 minutes, so no biggie. Flight was nice and smooth and they fed us twice :) The best part though was the fact that each seat had its own TV's and the entertainment program was quite extensive. I watched 3 movies, played some games and wathced 2 TV shows :D That is the way all long flights should be. And oh the joy when I got to pick up Finnish newspaper, and oh the joy when the person next to me ate his meals silently without slurping and loud munching, and oh the joy of returning home - that has always been my favourite part.

We arrived to Helsinki in time and I had 1 hour till my connecting flight to Tallinn. My next flight was fully booked and it had open seating arrangement. I've never seen open seating on an airplane before :)

I must say it is so great to return home.

There will be short history lesson and general summary coming up shortly, so stay tuned for a bit longer.

day 39 - desperately trying to get home - 24.09

Finally the morning came, I had not gotten much sleep and I would have killed for shower by now. Eleven o'clock flight check in should have started at 9, I get there and the news is that the weather is sill bad and more news to follow at 10. 10 rolls around and they ask me to stay in line after I have tried to explain them that I'm standby. Allright so I go and stand in the line as instructed, after standing in line for an hour they inform me that as I'm standby I need to wait till everybody is checked in and then go to the counter. Aaagh - so now you tell me that. Last person checked in at 11:23, so I rush to the line - there are still 3 people in front of me and 2 behind me when they announce that the counter is closed as the time is way past the departure time. Ou I wanted to scream. The line was moving so slow and it seemed that half of the check in ladies had no idea what they were doing as one of the managers was running between them all the time. So I asked them whose fault it is that they were not able to check everybody in in time - aaaargh, ridiculous.

Then they inform the last 6 poor souls that the weather is still bad and the whole flight might get canceled anyways so we should just wait. So we wait. All this waiting is so tiring and nerve wrecking. An hour later they still start to check us in. We are all standbys and luckily we all get on the plane.

Plane ride to Hong Kong was very bumpy, once we get above the city our pilot informs us that the traffic is very busy and we will be landing in one hour - so whole extra hour of circling in the air above the city, fun huh? Luckily 30 minutes later he announced that we will be landing shortly. The landing though was one of the worst ones I've experienced ever. During landing there was looots of free falling and then lots of shaking. At some point the plane was in free fall and at the same time shook so heavily that I was sure it would snap in half soon. My heart rate jumped to 200 for quite some time :) And the landing took forever! But we made it. Once we landed the plane I was the skies in the distance - it was all dark gray and looked evil, winds were strong as well and it was raining, I guess the severe weather has not yet passed.

Yeh. So I was in Hong Kong finally. I have learned by now to check everything twice and then one more time and then cross check again just in case. So I found the Finnair counter and asked them to review my booking for tomorrow. The guy sits and stares at the computer for the longest time with a puzzled face. Finally he informs me that there is a booking, but it is not confirmed. So I ask him to confirm it (whatever it means) and he tells me that it is not possible, because my ticket is not valid anymore. My ticket was unchangeable one and it was with yesterdays date. Oh uh. So I ask him for advice of what I should do now, he suggests me to turn to Vietnam Airlines as they are responsible for that. And the whole time I don't really understand how can I have a half made booking without a ticket :) As he gets tired of trying to explain me the complicated ticketing system of the airlines he makes some phone calls and stares at the computer screen and then announces that all is good for my check in tomorrow morning. Ahum, snap and all ready? I'm a bit skeptical, but I don't have any strength nor will to argue with anybody anymore. So I give up, we'll see tomorrow morning what will happen.

Now I just want to munch on the chocolate I bought and rest for a bit. I'm so sad that I'll be missing a whole day of my vacation, it was planned for getting many things arranged before heading to work, won't happen now :( I guess I need to sacrifice my weekend for the tasks now :(

day 38 - last day in hanoi - 23.09

Or so I thought :(, complete story a bit later.

Final packing action took place in the morning. I don't know how, but I managed to fit everything in :) My big bag must weigh about 30kg though :) Checked out of the hotel, ordered airport taxi for 3:30 and headed to the Army Museum. I wanted to see the army museum as I heard from other travelers that it portrays the war and occupation quite well. Just in case I read the history section in the travel guide beforehand - I'm glad I did that as the museum was not that comprehensive at all. It gave some insight to the situation but many principal reasons for certain events were not explained at all, simply the event was shown, but why it happened and who initiated was not explained. So I was very glad I had done my homework.

Since the discussion with other travelers and some questions bought up in the bus ride to Halong Bay I started to ponder about the timeline of the events and reasons behind the political and war actions taken. I wanted to get a clear overview of the events and reasons behind the events - so hence the museum visit. As I did not get what I wanted from there I did some research on the net as well - I'll have a separate entry for the history lesson a bit later as it is still in progress :)

After the museum I walked around in the area a bit, stumbled upon some well guarded memorial by Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum building, walked by the mausoleum as well, but as the body is in maintenance at the moment then did not bother going in. Found the stadium of Hanoi - it was all closed and deserted for all I could detect. Stumbled upon Literature pagoda - this one I chose to explore as well. Then my time was up - walked back, had quick lunch and shower at the hotel (this hotel I stayed at was super nice, they would help with anything one needs). Then headed over to the airport - getting all sad that my vacation is over.

At the airport first I got my big back bag wrapped in plastic and then headed over to the check in area. It was strangely empty, on a closer look I notice an information sheet saying that the flight has been canceled due to severe weather, typhoon Hagupit has taken over Hong Kong and all the passengers are automatically rescheduled for the next morning's flight at 11:05 - argh, this means I'll miss my flight to Helsinki! Other passengers were mostly rerouted, but as I was holding two separate tickets (Hanoi -> Hong Kong and then Hong Kong -> Helsinki -> Tallinn) then they were not able to reroute me. All they could do is to rebook me for the same flights with a one day delay. Which means that I'd be leaving Hanoi at 19:10 on the 24th and flight from Hong Kong would be on the 25th - so I'd get home a day later. Oh I was devastated - I had planned one day for just relaxing before heading to work, so that will not be happening.

Just in case I contacted my travel agent as well to see if she is able to change the tickets or something so that I'd still get back at the initially planned date. After about 2 hours of discussions and checks and double checks it became clear that my best option is to leave the next day - but I might be able to get on an earlier flight on standby (the one they originally suggested, at 11:05). As I was double checking my ticket I noticed that they had not re booked my flight out of Hong Kong - grrr, meaning that Finnair would simply think that I never showed up. It was whole new hassle to find the lady, explain it all to her that there was mistake and ask them to take care of it. About 45 minutes later I had a new printout where the flight to Helsinki was changed as well, glad that I noticed!

So then I went to a cafe and tried to figure out what should I do next. I also checked the weather information, turns out that the storm is heading towards northern Vietnam :( So basically I need to get out of here as soon as possible, otherwise I'll be stuck still. I figured that I should try to get on a first flight the next day and get to Hong Kong somehow, there I would be able to communicate with Finnair at least, in case some flight is overbooked now or something - I'd be right on the spot for information and I would not need to get it done through some third person who can barely make herself understandable in English :(

So I decided to stay at the airport in order to start checking the flights early on. That was one horrible night :( First of all they closed all the floors except the first floor, so I ended up sleeping on cafeteria chairs. Second of all there was no air conditioning in the building so it was extremely hot. Then there were cockroaches and rats running around all over the place, cockroaches were on the table I sat at and climbing on the chairs and everywhere - oh it was freaky. At some point all the lights got turned off as well. OOOh it was just bad, bad bad bad I say.