Ende

Dear friends, dear family

I have arrived happily and safely in Germany. The last 2,5 months were a great experience and I'm glad that I could share some of my impressions with you on this blog. Thank you so much for Your interest - it was a lot of fun putting the stuff online knowing, that there were people out there actually interested in reading it. (or at least pretending to) Thank You!

Maybe I'll publish a little review of my trip in the next time. Check back in 2 weeks to find if I managed :)

All the best to you, so long and thanks for all the fish -
Yours David


Deutsche Version:

Liebe Freunde und Familie,

ich bin glücklich und gesund wieder in Deutschland angekommen. Ich habe 2,5 Monate tolle Monate hinter mir und ich bin froh, dass ich ein paar Eindrücke mit Euch teilen konnte. Ich möchte hiermit Euch allen für Euer Interesse danken. Es hat viel Spaß gemacht, die Infos reinzustellen, weil ich wusste da waren wirklich Leute da draußen, die es interessiert hat ;) Dankeschön!

Vielleicht stelle ich hier bald einen letzten Reisebericht rein. Checkt den blog dafür nochmal in 2 Wochen.

Ansonsten alles Gute und bis bald
Euer David

Sapa

Hi there,

here come now our (Arno's, Steve's Hanh's and my) impressions of Sapa in form of a picture album.

Sapa Picture Gallery

Sapa is a beautiful village in the north of Vietnam, a few Kilometers from the Chinese Border. The climate is refreshingly cool, which we all really appreciated after weeks of heat in Hanoi. Sapa is very hilly, actually having the highest mountain in southeast Asia (over 3400m). There are rivers, waterfalls, ricefields and a rich traditional culture stemming from the 5 ethnic minority groups that live there and still produce many of their beautiful multicolered textiles. (Much to the enjoyment of the local tourist industry).

We went there by train, which took us a whole night in a sleeping wagon. (which produced some rather funny moments and pictures ;) There, we had a tourguide who went with us on a small rocky path down the valley. The first day, after hiking around, we enjoyed cocktails in the afternoon and Apocalypse Now in the Evening. The second day we hiked even more, a few of us (I amongst them) got severely sunburnt, but the day was still marvellous. (Although we had to endure feeling like a tourist, normally pleasing our ego's with the idea that we - as volunteers - are more local and integrated.)

Yea and now I'm back and happy. We just watched Golden Eye ( a pirated Chinese copy in english, good quality though) and had dinner at the Italian place. Still can't believe I'll be leaving soon. Work is going well and some students already organised farewell events. I guess that's all for now.

CU all soon and have a nice day
David