I`ve been back in Norway for some time now.. I don`t now.. mabye one week?!?
And i sort of allready miss SE Asia and my beloved Minsk..
I guess you always will, to some degree miss what you don`t have so the important thing is to love what you do have AND miss what you don`t have..

I have now finished my lovley book which i have been reading the last weeks and i will recomend it to everyone!!
The book is called Shantaram and it`s basicly about this heroin addict who escapes from a maximum security prison in australia where he is serving time for a bunch of armed robberies.
He manages to get himself to Mumbai, India on a false New Zeeland passport and the adventure starts. In the eight or more years he lives there he basicly experiences everything.. he lives in the slums, he works as a doctor, he joins the mafia, he fights in afghanistan etc..
Read It!

It`s cold back here in Oslo, but i kind of like it.
It seems to be snowing about every other day and the teperature is between -5 and -15 degrees celcius.

I have finally started on my school application at Werterdals school of comunication where i`m applying for at spot in Art Direction.
For those of you who are unsure of what Art Direction is, this is a copy/paste from the schools website:

When you work as an Art Director you get involved in areas like generating ideas, visual design and project management for film, commercials and magazines.

An Art Director is in many ways a visual director. During the education programme you will create your own visual expression through animation, photography, illustration and film. Then you carry on to work with advertising and other communication assignments, and to develop ideas and visual storytelling for the web, television, magazines and newspapers. In all disciplines you will be working in both digital and analogue styles.

The education programme is three years’ study. You will often team up with others and be responsible for generating ideas and the development of concepts. You’ll learn important direction and production responsibilities in order to master the visual design and carry ideas through. The programme is for those who want a broad background for working with visual communication in many areas

This is the task:
1. Show us nothing. Tell, Draw, Glue, Construct, Design and/or show photos or film.

And Choose 3 of the following:
1. Show us the year you remember most between 6 and 16. Analogue or Digital
2. Do something you have never done before. Visualize
3. What should we trust? Create a photo story, maximum 10 images/30 Minutes of film.
4. Many animals extinct, create a new animal and show us how it lives. Use free tecnique.
5. Create an eitght-page book specifically for the person sitting at the checkout couter in your local store.
6. Create a communication solution that gets people to take things more lightly.

It feel good to finally get started, it`s a really good, fun and challenging task.

Here`s a recording of a live preformance of John Cage`s 4'33"
4'33" is John Cage`s most important work according to himself (and many others)
As Cage himself put it "there is no such thing as silence"
and i think his 3'44" emphasizes that in the best way.

I would like to share with you
the philosopher Arne Næss` six recomendations for a healthy debate:


1. Avoid tendentious irrelevance
Examples: Personal attacks and claims of opponents' motivation.
2. Avoid tendentious quoting
Quotes should not be edited regarding the subject of the debate.
3. Avoid tendentious ambiguity
Ambiguity can be exploited to support criticism.
4. Avoid tendentious use of straw men
Assigning views to the opponent that he or she does not hold.
5. Avoid tendentious statements of fact
Information put forward should never be untrue or incomplete, and one should not withhold relevant information.
6. Avoid tendentious tone of presentation
Examples: irony, sarcasm, pejoratives, exaggeration, subtle (or open) threats.

remember some of this in your next descussion or debate.

In Norwegian:

1. Unngå tendensiøst utenomsnakk
   Eksempler: Personkarakteristikker, påstander om motpartens motiver, årsaksforklaringer til argument.
2. Unngå tendensiøse gjengivelser
   Gjengivelsen må være nøytral med tanke på stridsspørsmål.
3. Unngå tendensiøs flertydighet
   Flertydigheten gjør at argumentet kan tilpasses kritikken.
4. Unngå tendensiøs bruk av stråmenn
   Dette vil si å tillegge motstanders standpunkt et innhold han ikke står inne for.
5. Unngå tendensiøse originalfremstillinger
   Informasjon som legges frem, må ikke være usann, ufullstendig, skjev og/eller holde tilbake relevant informasjon.
6. Unngå tendensiøse tilberedelser av innlegg
   Eksempler: ironi ,sarkasme, skjellsord, overdrivelser eller trusler.

The other day before dinner i got in a taxi and headed for a little snake village with small huts built on stilts on the water. first we got to meet the strong beautiful creatures and we god to say hello to a cobra as well but we didn`t get to pet him.. which is understandable ;)
Later on we moved on over to the table where the staff was ready to prepare a nice feast for us.
We gathered around a tray where the snakes arrived in a bag, alive.
The waiter placed a bunch of shotglases on a tray and a big jug of rice wine and one big jug of whiskey.
The next step of the ritual was for us to cut 10 cm alongside the snake and rip out the beating heart and eat it, with a followup shot of the rice wine or the whiskey.
And because we cut the snake above the pitchers the wine and wiskey was now pinky/red.

After this we sat down around the table and waited for the food, with the pitches on the table and some shotglasses.. we had allready a good start of a good night.
Within 30-45 minuttes a bunch of plates arrived.. The feast had begun.
I guess i can call it a snake tapas.. the snakes came in different shapes sizes and tastes, the best was the peeled local snake, the victim of "the ripping the heart out alive" just minutes before.. many other snake/seaweed and snake/lemongrass combos was also good.. the less tasty parts was the stir fried snake skin (mostly because of the texture, the taste wasn`t bad) and the Cobra neck was less interesting.

Everything washed down with the whiskey and rice wine.
All in all, a really good night out.


Oh, and not to forget.. after the dinner, the local ball buster came out to try to grab all the guys buy their balls..

A trip to Halong bay is spectacular.
I had a 3 days and 2 nights cruise on a boat i can't remember the name of but it was a beautiful wooden boat with nice rooms and cheap beer.
The trip starts of in Halong city where we sailed slowly trough many of the the 2000 limestone cliffs in the 1.500 square km area.
We stopped somwhere in the middle here after a nice fish and squid lunsj and went kayaking around the islands trough caves and into lagunes.
After our last stop at a big cave which is named after something about an angel in love with a man who killed him self or somthing.. i didn`t really pay attention, we kayaked all the way back to the ship and treated ouselves to some beers on the sun deck before a nice dinner.
And after that i dont remember much more than that i climbed to the top of the mast like the real pirat that i pretended to be and jumped from the top of the boat.

The next day we drove (is it called driving when it`s with a boat?) to Cat Ba Island.
Where we stayed like they do on "survivor" but we had beer, wakeboarding, tubing, beer, food, volleyball, beer and food ;)

Back to the boat the next day for lunsj after breakfast on the island.

The Party

The Beach

The Boat

The Climb

You are standing at a junction in Hanoi, any junction trying to fugure out if you are going right or left trough the endless, colorful, loud and fast wall of traffic coming from all directions while you are trying to be at least a little polite in your rejection to the dozens of Cyclo and moto drivers honking, yelling and doing whatever possible to get your attention, you suddenly realize that a little boy has knelt in front of you and started shining your shoes in his attempt to make a coupple of thousand vietnamese dong.
Hanoi is a crazy city.

When you walk in Hanoi you have to share the streets with the millions of vehicles because the sidewalks are filled up with motos, shops, platns, sellers, trash, hairdressers and shoeshiners.
In the morning Lots of women come from their homes with the traditional wooden yoke across their shoulders. Balanced on one side is a pot of steaming soup. On the other is a pail filled with bowls, spoons, a little coal burner, small plastic chairs and a folding table. They pick their spot for the day, set up their supplies and voila they’re in business.

Hanoi is built in a facinating way.. if i remember correct, when they bought land here to build a house they payed per meter of sidewalk that they occupied. Which has had given the city an interesting result. Many of the houses have only a 2 metre facade but they actually strech 15-30 metres in towards the centre of the block..
Perfect if you want to find hidden treassures in the long deep narrow streets and alleyways.

Because i`m too stubborn to stop i ended up in Vinh, 200km more than i planned. But i just didn`t see the point in stopping when there still was daylight and the small town i was going to stop in seemed like crap!

Driving in this facinating country is.. Well yes, facinating.
Today i`ve driven on the 1A or AH1 (i think it`s the same road with two names)
This is the main highway of Vietnam. The road runs along the coast from Saigon to Hanoi and 90% of the strech is 1.5 lanes going north and 1.5 lanes going south wich means that you have about 6 meters of road..
..This road you are sharing with:

• Monster busses with engines from a spacecraft and the horn from Titanic
• Semi trailers with cargo containers
• Crazy mini busses swapping lanes like there`s no tomorrow
• Dumptrucks
• Pickups with either live or dead animals
• An occacional car
• Millions of motos transporting: Dogs, pigs, cows, windows (yes, glass), trees, beds, statues, lamps, rice, chickens, suitcases (i counted 12), refrigirators, semi truck tires, bricks, bicycles, broken motos, cages, stoves, bamboo, tv`s, coffee, flowers, doors.. yes, you get the picture.
  
• Cows and other animal trying to reclaim the streets
• Kids on bicycles
• Farmer walking along the road
  
• Very, very, very old women crooked like shimps with caines crossing the street.
• And.. today i also saw 4 little girls running arcoss the road with 4 machetes... clever.
  

After a little googeling i`ve decided to Skip Halong City because it`s supposed to be a shitty place and i`m heading for Hanoi tomorrow.
From there i can book a boat around Halong bay instead.

I think i was a little off on my earlier estimation on the distance i`ve got left.

In the south i`ve been driving zig-zag from place to place and back and forth but now, tomorrow morning i`m heading north.. and i realize now after studying the map that there is actually NO place between Huè and Hanoi worth seeing.. Ok, mabye not worth seeing, but the guidebooks says that everything between Huè and Hanoi got blown up during the american war and all the little "towns" has been built in a rush so therefore, nothing to see.

Huè was also blown to pieces but has been restored.

BUT.

There`s alway people to meet and who knows what happens, it looks like its going to be very different once i pass the DMZ and heading in to the north. Untill i get to Sa Pa, Hanoi and of course Halong bay.

uh-uh... just checked Sa Pa on Wikipedia:
"Annual temperature for Sa Pa town is 15.4°C, with a maximum of 29.4°C and a minimum of 1°C. The warmest months are July and August, and the coldest months are December and January. Snow falls in some years on the highest peaks"
-i think i have to buy some more clothes.

About 3000km Down, About 3500 To Go.
I Have Now Arrived In The Town Of Huè.
The Town Is About 120km From Hoi An Wich Means The Trip Today Was Short And Plesant.
In My Opinion, The best Way To Get To Huè From Hoi An Or Da Nang Is To Cross Over The Hâi Van Pass And Because This Is A Short Trip You Can Take Your Time To Stop And Take Pictures.
Huè Old Town Is Also A Part Of The UNESCO World Heritage List.

Following Is A Brief Descrtiption Of Huè From UNESCO:
Established as the capital of unified Viet Nam in 1802, Hué was not only the political but also the cultural and religious centre under the Nguyen dynasty until 1945. The Perfume River winds its way through the Capital City, the Imperial City, the Forbidden Purple City and the Inner City, giving this unique feudal capital a setting of great natural beauty.

New shoes from Hoi An.

Oh, i almost forgot.
If somebody wondered what would happen if i got stopped by the police.
Now i`m happy to tell you that i finally got pulled over for speeding on my way over to Hoi An.
So, instead of showing the my lack of a drivers licence i just took of my helmet and flashed my stunning semi-bright smile in their face and they said. "ok, you can go"
Mabye they got scared. I don`t blame them.

Buon Ma Thout And Around Picturepool.

My Main Man, Doung.

Linh Playing Metallica And Doung Making A Wierd Face

Dinner Time.

Kids At Lak Lake.

We Drove Past An Army Of Police Officers Pulling Over All The Motos Coming The Opposite Way From Us And When We Tured The Corner Out Of The Officers Sight Everybody Started Screaming And Panicing. Apperantly The Vietnameese Police Are Very Strict On Having Mirrors.
Problem Easily Solved, Just Pull Up At The Nearest House And Buy A Mirror.
In Vietnam Everybody Has Boxes Full Of All Kind Of Spare Parts.

Everybody Wants To Help When I Lost The Bolt That Holds My Footrest In Place.

Small Doung, Huge Tree

This Means Please Enter!

I-Can`t-Remember-The-Name-Of-This-Waterfall-But-Ill-Get-Back-To-You, Waterfall.

Actually The Water Was Turquoise, I Don`t Know Why I Couldn`t Get That In The Shot.

Typical Vietnam.

Yes, A Kitchen.

Eating Fish From The River Behind Ly.
And A Nice Roasted Chicken.

Locals Around "The Seven Waterfalls"

"Bridge" To Get To "The Seven Waterfalls"

Yesterday morning i decided to do the planned 400km in two days, in ONE day.
I had heard so many good things about Hoi An so i just couldn`t wait.
400km trough the most breathtaking redicioulusly beautiful scenery of Coffee plantations, pepper plantations and the most dense green jungle i have ever seen.
Passing trough the small minority villages (village people:p) stopping and looking around their tiny huts seeing again and again people living the simple life smile all the time.
After about 100-150km i got into the thick fog at about 800-1000meters aobove sealevel. and then of course, the rain came.. and it kept on comming for the next 200km!
The scenery was not any less beautiful because of the rain but i sadly did not take the time to take enough pictures. But i did take some, see below.
I had to get to Hoi An before dark.
When i arrived in Hoi An around 6 o`clock after 9 hours driving i was soaked and somwhere up in the mountains, freezing my ass of i decided that when i get to Hoi An i`ll check in to a nice hotel and relax.

I did check in to a nice hotel, but you know me.. did i relax?
Noep. I needed somthing to eat.. and what do you need when you eat.. yes, Beer!
And what do you want when you have had one beer?.. yes.. you guessed it..

A coupple of days ago was suposed to end quiet after a long trip around Buon ma thout, But i guess i couldn`t be more wrong.

Because i have this new "yes to everything" lifestyle i went with 2 locals to this resturant where everything was small, the chairs, tables, chopsticks, stairs was small.. the entire resturant was small. and of course, the people are small :D
Before i had even tried to place my huge ass on the tiny chair a big bowl of somthing was placed on the propane fired thingy at the center of the table.

So i asked Doung, What`s this?

"Aah, you know mister. This is leg, stomach, tounge and very good head"

-Head?

"yes, very good head"

-ok....

"And this, Rice Wine"

-Rice wine! Yes, good idea!

After too many bottles of rice wine and more than enough pieces of head and stomach this guy whitch-i-can`t-remember-the-name-of asked if we go to his friends house he said "him has cheap rice wine"

Let`s go!

His house was a tiny little shed at the end of a narrow pich black alley which i could never find my way back to. We sat down on the floor in his small livingroom about the size of two pool tables with a matress in the corner, and a picture of his mother in a gold frame a bit odd placed on the wall.

The man of the house poured me a shot of rice wine while i introduced my self, Khanh was about 30 years old, knew no english what so ever.

Ùc was about the same age and i guess he was the shy guy in the gang.

Tuan was the father of the house, with 7 doughters (one of the 3 weeks old lying in the only bedroom in the home) and 6 sons he was proud of what he accompliched.

And Hùng was probably only 17 years and was the funny guy who kept trying to teach me vietnameese whitch ofcourse brakes into a everlasting bellylaugh witch transforms into singing along to the karaoke machine blasting out of the windows from across the street.

«I'm never gonna dance again
guilty feet have got no rhythm

Though it's easy to pretend
I know you're not a fool.
I should have known better than to cheat a friend

And waste a chance that I've been given.
So I'm never gonna dance again
the way I danced with you»

And a little boy (Tuan`s son?), probably 10 years keeps coming trough the curtain which doubbles as a door with bottles of rice wine and i noticed the Tuan slips him a 5000VND bill.(26Cents)

Some food arrives on the floor but this time i have learned, i dont ask what it is.. just eat. Hung kept trying to teach me how to eat with chopsticks the vietnameese way which means i had to eat many pieces because that took me a while, but i didn`t mind because this was really good.. or was that the rice wine talking.

After hours of singing and learning vietnameese and having a serious discussion with Tuan, in vietnameese, i decided to call it a night...

Well, i guess my vietnamese isn`t as good as i thought.
I`m ordering a glass of vietnamese ice coffee with milk and five minutes later a huge plate arrives at my "table" with something i`m pretty sure is pork, and something that looks like some kind of meat but it tastes like egg, and something round like a sausage but it`s with a hole in the middle. And of course, this one i know: Rice w/fishsauce.

I knew that if you pronounce somthing slightly different in vietnamese they won`t understand you. But how can Ca phe sua da be a huge meaty dinner?

After about 160km i have now again concured the beautiful mountains and arrived in Buon Ma Thout in the central highlands.
And what does vietnamese central highlands mean?
Yes!! Coffee, Coffee and Coffee.

So tomorrow im going to find some coffee farms and some waterfalls and just criuse around in the beautiful scenery.

If you are thinking of taking the same trip, here i got some tips for you:

• If you arrive in No Chi Minh, buy you bike from Mr. Raven. Contact me i f you want his number.

• Make sure you have a front light and a back light on your bike

• Wear a helmet
• If possible, blend into the traffic when you see the police on the side of the road.
• If they try to pull you over, predtend like you didn`t see it and keep driving and the same speed, they probably won`t bother driving after you.
• Carry with you a 500.000 VND bill to pay your way out if you get pulled over.
• Allways have your "blue card" and vietnameese incurance with you, Mr. Raven will help you with that.
• Do not drive in the dark, it`s a 50/50 chance you will die ;p
• Make sure the horn on your bike works. concider buying a louder one.
• Bring basic tools and spare parts.

Repairmanual for Minsk 125: http://www.lotushanoi.com.vn/pdf/Minsk%20Repair%20Manual%20by%20Digby%20Greenhalgh.pdf

Sunrise at the beach in Mui Nè

I found this abandoned place in Mui Nè,
I think it`s suposed to be a hotel of some kind. I took this picture from the entrance steps facing towards the road passing by.
The round patio thingy on the water there makes me think of scarface, it looks like somthing he would have in his mansion.
And who the hell knows what the whatchtower is for?!?

My View When Driving.

Of course, the fruit ladies seen from my balcony in Saigon.

Liquid water, sinking boat.

This is my planned route when i get back to Vietnam.

I`ll try to get to the north of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) as fast as i can.

Since i`ve heard that the north (especially Sapa) is the most beautiful.

Today and tomorrow i`m packing to leave Oslo and i`m arriving in Ho Chi Minh on friday 8th.

Happy new year! Hope you all had a great christmas too.