sitting still we move more than visible to the eye: November 2007

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

"snack-time"

It's time for a snack on the beach.......

Steaming pots with all kinds of creatures are surrounding me.

On the market its another story....I bet you can all think of one, but what about this one: dried sea horses nicely packed in pairs of two.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Ms Dang Viet Nga

There once was an adventurous women who did whatever she wanted.

Starting as a personal project "the crazy house" is now starring as tourist destination (that even functions as guesthouse with fairy tale rooms you can sleep in)

Saturday, November 24, 2007

catchin' the light

Feels like these boats have caught the sun in their net for a while to let me enjoy it.... Now you can too!

tunnelnetwork

Viet Cong controled a large rural area near Saigon.....

Cu Chi tunnels with a length of more than 200km and I crowled only 100meters.................ufffff

Too bad I missed the fake tunnels. Why fake? According to our guide, the tunnels had been made more wide in order to fit "hot-dog eating Americains".

fisherman boat

I hope to be able to tell you in the near future that I have been paddling one of these boats....

It's a Vietnamese fisherman boat...

Love the simple bathtub shape made of palm leafs.

(Mui Ne/ Vietnam)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Being inside an actual tourist atraction means a certain peace.... you notice this as soon as you leave one..............once safe you are now offered thousands of rides: " where you go?" " what you do tommorrow?"

Tofu making

Rainy Can Tho

My view from a plastic chair.

Can Tho (Capital of the Mekong)... its raining and we have just been sitting outside like the locals do. The man of the tv-shop, the place where the rain hit us,

spontaniously offered us a chair.

Killing Fields

The blood soaked regime that was Khmer Rouge and one of its most mean leaders Pol Pot, knew no love. Wanting to turn the country into a agrarian utopia, human rights did simply not excist...

Flower?

Boy in Mekong

Boy walking on the roots of trees, the only parts still above the water. Flooded rice fields are surounding him.

electric monkey

In the middle of city: Phnom Penh (Cambodia).....
oehe oehe (this is my jungle)

Monday, November 12, 2007

Ankor Thom

Over-grown

Who needs transport

..............

Collecting pink

Shortcut

Encore...... Ankor??

Tuk-tuk driver

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Fat boy

Out of the airplane entering Siem Raep, I was exposed to around 10 man seated around a half-moon shaped table. In front of them a line with 2 international flights requiring visa. The speed was just amazing as they were seated there handing each other all passports and papers, that treavelled from the left to the right of the table touching every single hand....
Believe it or not but this system (future part of THE olympics) was fast. In the second row our names were sang on a melodie and we could pick up our visa.

When I left the airport transporting my backpack like a "fat boy" dropped on my trolley (it still had its flightcover on and looked like a green pile with just one handhold) I entered a new interesting scene... Treaded like a popstar people were waving with signs and yelling. Acting like a popstar I went looking for the safety of a bodyguard and at a counter I found a motorcycle service. My driver lifted the fat-boy back and I followed him trough the croud of taxis, tuk-tuk drivers, hotel people etc. Leaving the mess another motorcyclist who somehow followed me apeared to be carrying a sign: " Miss myrthe, Hilton guesthouse" no-one knows why he knew that I might be named Myrthe...anyway, he finaly was the one taking care of the misshaped bag driving me on his motorcycle away from the airport.

Mountain village

Xinxiang: as I am unfolding my-self trying to get out of an indeed charming and cosy minivan (ones flexibility must increase when allowed this much space in vehicles...)
my eyes start wandering the streets. They stroll into the taxis where they immediately notice the security cage the driver sits in: against crashes. It looks more like they expect the passengers to behave like dogs... or maybe the drivers themselves might do so...

Two days ago I arrived in Shijazhuang, the place where New Times is settled. New Times is the organisation that helps me to find a (volunteer) teaching job.

Accompanied by Jenny (from New Times) all the way in the minivan experience, we now are waiting for a car to pick me up and bring me to the mountain village school where I will be teaching the next 3 weeks.

As promised there comes the car and when opening its doors 4 man come out! Jennys services stop right here and I am delivered to these 4 man, 3 of them appear to be english teachers, but they whisper something like "sorry, my english is poor"...
After 10 minutes the car stops in front of some giant shopping mall where I am guided through by mister Li (one of the 4) . I will need some stuff here for in the mountain village and that is why mister Li as personal coach now is guiding me through the process of grocery shopping....hilarious. But I felt not realy at ease.

When the shopping fun is over, I enjoy the senery. I sit next to the driver with all the english teachers silently sleeping and mumbeling in the back and wonder what 3 weeks of silence will be like......

As soon as we arrive at the school my luggage is taken out of the car and carried away. We all follow my luggage and walk into the office of the headmaster who gives me a warm welcome in Chinese. Than a new face walks into the room, another english teacher.... a girl, she translates the headmasters speech and tells me she will stay with me, the 3 weeks in this school, cause apparently I need someone to take care of me.....

2 of these weeks have passed by now. The english teacher: miss Zhang, has been looking after me day and night, but she has not been the only one......

Also......the whispers of the man in the car, became louder and more frequent and soon they where proper conversations......the man where just shy.

Just like these man most of the people I meet here pass this phase of being shy and mumbling.
And just like miss Zhang people take care of me and overwhelm me with their hospitality.
I made friends with a lot of teachers and have been invited to their houses, met their kids, had dinners, gifts and all kinds of food brought to me... Apples are a real common and populair Chinese gift, so imagine by now I can start an apple store.
You are never allowed to refuse any gift or food as that will make them feel realy embarrassed.

From the look in their eyes, their warm heart seems never ending. Their honesty and simple way of expressing seem so pure. It still touches me the same way everyday and is one of the only things I am not "used to".
I even received free stuff from shop owners in the village; have been, individualy, welcomed by 3000(!) students (that took me 2 weeks...yesterday I had the last new class...the 38th); and invited over to their houses.

I have sung in all 38th classes; danced in some; I have been asked to model for countless pictures: cellphones, cameras I even did some proper shoots with students, entire classes, teachers and families.....

Cambodia

Traveling has always made it easy for me to write.The use of traffic somehow creates "wordbombs" in my head that explode uncontrolled.
Floating on the wide brown Mekong, yet again my brain is 3 steps ahead, making it hard for my pencil to follow.....

Cambodia. It has been about a week and the country has lived in me day and night. In bed I still see the faces, feel the traffic crossing with its motos; hear the voices of children selling books (mostly coppied lonely planets); people begging; tuk-tuk drivers pushing you to take their ride.

Now heading to the border with Vietnam, by boat, staring at the brown water that doesn't reveal anything, I realise that Cambodia is still as big a secret to me as this surrounding water I'm floating through right now. I only heard the fist tones of the song that makes this country. But missing most of the concert the impression is not less. Having seen capital: Phnom Pen and the massive Angkor I've seen masterpieces. I pitty they were touristic places that didn't give me that much of a feel for the people.... you can tell things by their faces, yet you don't know the stories behind their stare.