2014年4月29日 星期二

客棧日記 Guesthouse Diary – 風雲變色 Changing weather

4/27/2014

我們來了十多天,天氣一直很晴,也很温暖,除了早晚加一件外套,基本都是一件單衣。

但是由於天晴得太久,太陽把梯田的水一直蒸發,水霧越來越大,看起來就有點白茫茫的,所以我們一直在盼著一場雨….

早上起來,在天台刷牙時,看到眼前雲霧,真是嚇一跳,因為正常雲霧沒有湧到這麼高!!馬上梳洗完拿相機跑出去,看到好大好大的雲海!!!



雲海之美,在於它的千變萬化,瞬間即逝,每一秒都說不準下一秒的風景,只是看著雲霧的變化,已經很著迷。




上午我們陪著客人和導遊去哈單普,也順便跟著他們去趕集,一路上都很大霧。回來已經是一點多,一回到客棧就下起雨來,而且雨不小,夾雜著小冰雹下得時間不長。雨一停,雨霧散去,太陽趕出來,天空清澄得不得了,和早上完全是兩個景況!!


過了沒多久,霧又不知道從哪裡跑回來了….為什麼我看這風景一直看不膩?

By: Jo


We have been here for over ten days, the weather has been sunny and warm.  We need a jacket in the morning and at night, but most of them just wear a tee shirt.

However, since it has been sunny for a long time, the sun evaporates the water from the rice terraces and accumulated so much mist in the air, which looks a bit foggy.  We have been waiting for rain….

This morning, I wake up and brush my teeth on the rooftop, I am so surprised at the clouds that is front of me because the clouds does not usually come that high.  I wash and quickly grab my camera and run down.  This is the sea of clouds that I see!!

The beauty of sea of clouds is its ever-changing forms, it comes and goes in seconds, you won’t be able to predict the next second.  I am really obsessed with watching the change in the clouds.

In the morning, we took a guest and his tour guide to HaDanPu and then took a lift to the market.  It has been very foggy all the way.  When we come back, it is already past one in the afternoon.  It start raining when we arrive at the guesthouse.  The rain is heavy and with small pieces of hail…but the rain does not last long.  When the rain stops, all the fog is gone and the sky is crystal clear!  It is a completely different view than the morning!

After a little while, the fog comes back from nowhere… why I don’t get bored watching this scenery?

By: Jo






2014年4月28日 星期一

客棧日記 Guesthouse Diary – 徒步梯田 Walking in the rice terrace

4/25/2014

遊元陽最普遍的做法是包一輛車,讓司機帶你逛所有的景點,這種方法適合買了兩天票, 匆匆來又匆匆走的旅客們,基本上一天內就走遍所有景點。

時間稍為充裕的客人,喜歡散步的客人,都會喜歡自己徙步走一走。很能走的人可以從多依樹翻過山嶺走到老虎嘴,要走四個多小時,我是沒有這個能耐。

我們選擇了從陽光客棧,徒步在梯田中走,一直走到下一個寨子-岩子腳。

走梯田的秘訣是水溝,一層一層連綿的梯田,農民就是以水溝為路,穿梭於梯田間。從高處可大約看到路的走向,只要沿著水溝走,就是明路。包車的話觀景是從遠處看廣大的梯田,徒步的話可以近觀,也可以從不同的角度看到梯田。五月前後這段時間最好,因為農民正好準備耙田插秧,田裡的不只風景,還非常有活力,生氣盎然。


 從陽光客棧走到岩子腳全是下坡,輕鬆了走了一個小時。

岩子腳是一個很乾淨清爽的寨子,我們沿路逛了一下,可惜沒找到穿過寨子的那條路,我們就打算走村路上去。可以新的路雖然鋪得很好,卻是迂迴曲折,再回到大路上走回普高老寨,就花了我們兩個小時。

By: Jo
 





Most people who come to Yuanyang hire a minivan for one day, the driver will take you to all the viewing decks.  This method is best for people who purchase a two days’ ticket and come and go within two days.

People who have a bit more time, or loves hiking will choose to do some walking in Yuanyang.  Some people will walk from DuoYiShu to LaoHuZui, you have to climb over a hill and one way is around 4 hours.  I don’t think I can do it.

I have chosen to walk from the Sunny Guesthouse, among the rice terraces, until the next village YanZiJiao.

The way to walk in rice terraces is to follow the water drains.  The rice terraces have many steps and the farmers basically use the water drains as roads to travel among the rice terraces.  You can see the rough path from above and basically following the water drains will take you to the right direction.  If you hire a car, you only see the terraces from far away, walking takes you much closer to the terraces and you can see them from different directions. I think around May is a good time because the farmers start transplanting the rice seedlings.  Apart from seeing the terraces, you also see farmers and buffalos working, it is a lively scenery.

From the Sunny guesthouse to YanZiJiao is an easy one hour walk, all descending.
YanZiJiao is a nice and clean village, we walk around a little bit but we cannot find the path across the village.  We decided that we should go back by the main road.  However, although the main road is well paved, it is so long that it takes us a full two hours to come back to PuGaoLaoZhai.

By: Jo





客棧日記 Guesthouse Diary – 國內網購 Online shopping in mainland China

2014/4/22

Lisa Danny 是一對異地戀人,約了到中國雲南來旅遊。


他們一共住了兩個晚上,第一晚上跟我們借電腦查看電郵。到了第二個晚上,本來晚餐吃得早,打算早點睡,他們又來借電腦,好吧,反正查一下電郵不用多長時間。

後來,他們要求我幫忙,事緣女孩需要買一張昆明到香港的機票,他們本來讓德國的旅行社幫忙訂,但結果等了三天,電郵回覆說他們沒法訂….於是,他們打算用朋友介紹的中國訂票網站「季季通」來訂,但網站上沒有任何英文,我幫忙翻譯需要輸入的資料。訂票終於成功了,有兩個小時時間安排付款,可惜,到了付款程序,只能用中國的帳號或信用咭,支付寶也只能用中國信用咭支付….他們當然沒有了。

因為這張票是香港快運的,他們想到就直接到香港快運的網上去訂票。這當然簡單得多,只要隨便一張信用咭就可付款可惜的是,女孩居然忘記了她的VISA的網上付款密碼結果交易失敗。

這還不簡單,再來一遍,男的來付。真是人算不如天算,再到香港快運的網站上搜這航班,讓人沮喪的是網站顯示航班已滿!!!

這航班已滿,無論如何訂不到只能改飛深圳但是還沒有解決在國內買票只能用國內的銀行咭付款的這問題,他們真的很無助。

看著他們這樣,在琢磨怎麼幫他們。我網購的經驗集中在淘寶,我明明知道淘寶上是可以用外地咭的,去試一下,幸虧連機票都可以淘,最終用上我的淘寶帳號,用他自己的信用咭,終於買好了票。

可以去睡的時侯已經11時多…..一個外國人原來要在國內買點東西也真不容易。

By: Jo


Lisa and Danny are a couple who live apart and they come to Yunnan together to meet up.

They stay here for 2 nights, on the first night, they used the guesthouse computer to check emails.  On the second night, we finished dinner early and plan to have a good night sleep.  Lisa wants to check her email again, well ok, it won’t take long.

Later on, they need help because Lisa needs to purchase a ticket from Kunming to HK.  She has asked the travel agent at home to book and it needs 3 days to process.  Tonight, she gets an email reply that they cannot book it from Germany… so, they want to book it on a China travel website.  The website only has Chinese so I help them translate the required fields to be entered. Reservation is successful and they have two hours to pay.  However, when it comes to the payment process, all the options require a China bank account or China credit card… of course, they don’t have one.

The ticket they want to book is operated by HK express, so they go to the HK express website to book the ticket.  This is much easier as you can pay by any credit card. Unfortunately, when it comes to finalizing the payment, Lisa forgets her verified by visa password…and the transaction fails.

Ok, easy, Danny can use his credit card to pay.  Oh my god, when we search for the flight again, this flight is already full.

The flight is full and there is no way she can get a seat… so decide to fly to Shenzhen instead… but there is still no solution for the payment on China websites.  They are really very hopeless.

Knowing their situation, I am thinking how to help.  My online shopping experience is mainly from Taobao, and I know that Taobao accept any credit card for payment.  So, I go to Taobao and try it out.  Luckily, you can buy anything including flight tickets on Taobao.  Finally, they use my Taobao account with Danny’s credit card and successfully book the ticket.

When we finish all these, it is already 11pm.  As a foreigner, it is really not easy to purchase online in China.

By: Jo




2014年4月26日 星期六

客棧日記 Guesthouse diary - 趕集買菜 Shopping in the market

2014/04//23

那天去牛角寨趕集純粹是旅遊觀光。但其實,在客棧的其中一個主要工作就是要到市場買菜,於是趕集也是工作之一。

元陽景區近年旅館發展得很快,多了很多客棧,但是飯店就很少,所以客人的三餐(除了包車玩足一天外)都是在客棧解決。

叔叔最少每隔一天就會去買菜,當然碰上墟期,菜會特別多,能買到好東西的機率也高一些,所以趕集是重要的工作。


據我們這十天的觀察,買菜最困難的地方就是估計所需的份量,特別現在是淡季,客人不多,但有很多沒有預定的客人。菜如果買得太少怕應付不了沒有預定的客人,有時侯結果是太多吃不完,我們就自己盡量吃掉,最攪笑是我們吃得比客人還豐富,感覺怪怪的。

勝村離多依樹約半小時車程,是我們平日買菜的地方,昨天是勝村的墟期,明顯比平日熱鬧。今天是新街鎮的墟期,新街鎮是元陽的老縣城,可熱鬧了。我們一大早送客人到新街鎮,自己順便去趕集。這邊產品更多樣化,很多東西在勝村買不到的,都得在新街鎮買。比方說,牛奶,面包,餐巾紙之類我們覺得很簡單的東西都要開一個小時的車到新街鎮才能買到。





除了客棧所需的菜和日用品,我還讓店裡的彝族阿姨帶我去買彝族的刺繡用品,讓她教我一下,入鄉隨俗, 繡一個什麼玩一下。




今天買了大包小包的,逛得我都很累,亮在客棧一個人待著,還打電話問我們是不是在外面吃午餐! 哈哈,他電話打得好,剛好讓他上來幫忙拿東西!!


by: Jo


Going to the market at NiuJiaoZhao is a tourist activity.  However, in reality, one of the major tasks at the guesthouse is to do shopping at the market.

Tourism developed rapidly at Yuanyang in the recent years, many new guesthouses opened.  However, there are very few restaurants, so guests usually eat all their meals at the guesthouse.

Uncle Tang goes to the market at least once every other day to buy food, when it is the market day, the market will have a lot more products, and it is a better chance we get good stuff.  This is an important task.

Based on our observation in the last 10 days, the most difficult task is to be able to forecast how much food is required.  This is the low season in Yuanyang now, we do not have many guests.  However, we must stock some food in case that are walk in customers.  If we end up with too much food, we have to eat them, it is very funny sometimes when you see that our meal is so much better than the customers’….

Sheng village is about half an hour from DuoYiShu, where we go shopping most of the time.  Yesterday was a market day at Sheng village and it is busier than a regular day.  Today is the market day at XinJie town (the old main town of Yuanyang) and the market is so filled with people and very lively.  This morning, we take two guests to XinJie town while we also visit the market.  The variety of products here are much better than Sheng village.  E.g. you will not be able to buy bread, milk and even nice paper napkins in Sheng village. Whatever you think is very easy, we have to drive for an hour to get it.

Apart from food and grocery items for the guesthouse, I also asked the helper at the guesthouse, who is from Yi tribe, to take me to the market to buy embroidery supplies so she can teach me to do some local embroidery work.

Today, we shop for a long time, and buy a lot of stuff.  Mat stays at the guesthouse on his own.  He even calls to see if we will have lunch before coming back!  Haha, he calls at the right time, because we are almost home and he can come up to help carry our shopping baskets!

by: Jo





客棧日記 Guesthouse Diary – 劍哥

2014/04/21

客棧每天都是過了下午五點以後才會有客人到,因為元陽離開任何一個城市都是至少大半天到一天的路。

昨天傍晚,來了一個桂林陽朔的小帥哥阿劍。人就看眼緣,除了因為他來自陽朔外,反正就是我們都挺喜歡他。他開著自己的車一路玩到元陽,中間很多客棧他看了也沒住下,到了旁邊的水雲間,門關著,他就想算了,沒去拍門。結果,很有緣地住了我們陽光客棧。

他自己開的車,叔叔帶著他和我們去一個不是很多人認識的景點哈單普。車停在路邊,走路約20分鐘,不知道的人是絶對找不到的。走到了懸崖邊,看的還是多依樹梯田,但是角度不一樣。在哈單普看的是大片的梯田和雲海,必須在早晨雲海消散之前來。雲海變化萬千,有時厚有時薄,時高時低,飄得近的話會在梯田上懸浮著,有閒情的話在這裡真能呆上好一陣子。





我們接著陪阿劍走了幾個景點,他繼續上路,我們就抄小路回客棧。

約好了,到陽朔一定找你!!!


by: Jo




Because Yuanyang is more than half a day or a full day travel from any nearby city, guests almost always arrive after 5pm.

Last evening, a young guy ah Jian came from Yangshuo, Guilin.  Sometimes, you just like someone when you meet the person the first time, we all love Ah Jian when we saw him.  He travelled on his own car all the way from Guilin. On the way down, he visited a few other guesthouses and still decided to look further.  He arrived at the Jacky’s guesthouse next door, door was closed, he did not bother to knock, and ended up here at Sunny Guesthouse!

He drove his own car, uncle Tang is the guide today and took us with him to a rarely visited spot.  We have to walk 20 min from the main road, it is hard for tourists to find this place without a guide.  We stand on a cliff and look at the Duoyishu terrace from a different angle.  Here we see vast spread of terraces and the sea of clouds, you have to come in early morning before the clouds faint away.  The sea of clouds are changing every second, sometimes high sometimes low, sometimes thick sometimes thin.  When it floats inwards, you can see the clouds floating on top of the terrace, so beautiful.  I think you won’t be bored watching this for a few hours.

We continue on a few viewing spots and leave Ah Jian to continue on his own way.  We walk back to the guesthouse by a small trail. 


Bye and we will see you when we go to Yangshuo!!


by: Jo





2014年4月24日 星期四

客棧日記 Guesthouse Diary - 牛角寨 NiuJiaoZhao

2014/04/17

今天和瑞士來的兩個男孩一起去趕集。

在元陽,各村莊寨子按曆法分配各自的墟期。到了墟日,商販在市集擺賣自家的貨物。

今天的市集在牛角寨,牛角寨是元陽主要販賣牛隻的地方,一條一條牛縛在路邊販賣,買了牛的放車上載走。

除了牛,也有各種家禽畜豬雞鴨,賣蔬菜肉類的攤子,和各式日用品。

其中一個攤子,是一個醫生,在市集內診症這也不算,最最嚇人的是我們看到一個牙醫,就在路邊當場拔牙鑲牙,把我們嚇個半死。而且他非常不友善,我們多看兩眼就被駡,更不用說拍照了!

兩個瑞士人想買紀念品,這就欠奉了….






By: Jo

Today, we went to the local market with the two Switzerland tourists.

In Yuanyang, each village get assigned their respective market dates according to the Chinese calendar.  On the market day, vendors from all over Yuanyang gather at the market to sell their products.

Today, the market is at NiuJiaoZhao, most of the cows are being traded here.

Apart from cows, other live stock and poultry are also sold here, such as pigs, chicken and ducks.  There are also hawkers selling food, and grocery items.

There is one doctor in the market, serving the patients.  The most scary part was, we saw a dentists on the street, removing and planting teeth just right on the street!!  He is not a very friendly guy, yelling at us watching, of course, no chance for a photo!

However, there is no souvenirs in the market, where the two Switzerland tourists could buy…


By: Jo




客棧日記 Guesthouse diary - 大自然和音樂 Nature & Music

2014/04/16

昨天黃昏,來了兩個瑞士男孩,一進來就顯然被梯田的景色吸引著。

他們把包放好,要了兩杯茶,借了店裡的吉他,就坐在客棧的觀景台,自彈自唱...充分融入
在這片自然景色中,看著的我也忍不住要把這圖畫捕捉下來。

Yesterday before sunset, two guests from Switzerland arrived and were immediately attracted by the scenery.

They put their bags in the dormitory, asked for two cups of tea, borrowed the guitar, and sat down at the viewing deck of the guesthouse.   They were singing and playing the guitar, fully immersed themselves into this spectacular scenery.  I was watching them and captured this wonderful picture.





by: Jo 

2014年4月23日 星期三

小工偷懶日記


今天如前幾天一樣日出前就自動醒來,看看紅霞不算很美就沒把jo叫醒,不過,待多一會Jo 也得要醒了,因為今天她要和店裡的人去趁墟,也順道載兩個客人去新街坐早車回昆明,不能遲。

七點多,一伙人都出去了,我自己一個留在客棧看店,突然間覺得很自在,像這客棧真的是我開的,跟據前幾天觀察所見,早上基本上沒客人的,那我就到廚房弄自己的早餐,到底弄煎蛋烘吐司?還是練習造pancake好呢?想一下,就趁沒人時造pancake吧!失敗了也沒人見嘛!麵粉、水…  咦?找不到糖!那就用盬好了,加點新鮮韭菜,轉造咸薄餐也應該不錯…第一塊出來: 除了粉漿太濃、韭菜太生、味道太淡之外,也算能吃:P 對於從不炒菜只懂泡麵烚菜煎蛋的我,沒浪費倒掉已經很好了!到第二塊就把第一塊的不足修正,味道已經比得上街外的(自我感覺良好),只是賣相還要改善,多試幾次應該就可以造給客人吃,不用唐叔叔那麼辛苦每朝為客人製作早餐.

吃過早餐,拿著咖啡坐在客棧觀景平台看著梯田,看著兩個小孩在田邊不知玩什麼,遠一點水牛的倒影也正反映在還沒插秧的水田上,加上太陽的倒影和遠遠的雲海,換上還是遊客的我,肯定會回房間拿出相機拍下來,但我現在只是靜心享受這份閒適…

看著遠處雲霧,口呷著咖啡,腦子空空的,心裡突如其來的想脫掉襯衫躺下來晒太陽,這裡海拔1800米山區,可能因為紫外線比較大又或早晚較冷又或民風習慣吧,就算是搬磚砌屋的,我也沒見過赤裸上身的,沒關係,反正還沒想完,我已經脫掉躺下來了!看著藍天白雲,浸浴在晨光下,偶爾吹來微涼的風降降溫… 閉上眼睛,小孩、水牛都不見了,我也漸漸消失,世界只剩天和地…


By Mat

2014年4月19日 星期六

如不記下來怕會忘記的小趣事 (三) Little things that I don't wanna forget (3)

Belle cafe

到了順化,去參觀皇城。
順化的皇城在戰爭時被破壞得八八九九,所剩無幾,大部份是廢墟。

沒多久就逛完,心有點鬱悶,到處瞎逛。

看到了一家挺別緻的咖啡店,是稍為西式的那種,就進去了。

點了兩杯咖啡,坐著看街。

突然發現,不知道什麼時侯,店裡放著一些英文老歌,就是那種耳熟能詳,啷啷上口的,應該是看到我們來了(沒有其他客人)才放了

感覺很輕鬆舒服,一洗心中鬱悶!!




by: Jo


Arrived at Hue, we went to visit the Hue Imperial Palace.
The Palace was damaged badly during the wars, and most of it is now ruins.

We finished the palace very quickly, feeling a bit bored, and decided to just wonder around.

Saw a nice and cozy cafe, western style, we sat down there.

Ordered two coffees and sat down to watch the street.

Not sure when, the cafe was playing some very old English song, those you would be able to sing any time. I guess they played these songs for us (there were no other customers)…

This has made my day, feeling so pleasant!!


by: Jo





2014年4月13日 星期日

越南美食精華遊

在越30天,其中一樣讓我每天都快樂的事便是美食,讓我來分享一下!


除了起初的一兩天,怕腸胃不適應,或沒有選擇的情況下,我們才吃了幾次餐廳。

在越南,其餘的時間,我們都是吃路邊攤,按人氣指數來選擇,一定錯不了!!!


咖啡
一開始很担心越南咖啡一定要有煉奶,會很甜。
發現可以不放煉奶,只有少數比較高級的餐廳會有鮮奶供應。
起初到胡市,很不習慣他們都喝冰咖啡,冰咖啡除了不要奶,也要特別說明不要糖,冰的黑咖啡我還是蠻喜歡的!
沒多久,我們就決定自己買一個滴漏杯,和咖啡粉,可以自己滴自己喜歡的咖啡,加鮮奶。離開越南前,再多買一個,和補給一包咖啡粉,下面的旅程又可以繼續歎啡….



PHO
牛肉粉我們在胡志明市吃很多,除了牛肉和粉,最愛金不換!!
除了生牛肉,牛腩pho也很出色。


春巻
在越南吃春巻,好像從未失手。
無論是什麼餡,都很美味!!



法包
早餐吃法包,通常我們會點一個扎肉的,和一個炒蛋。我們還是比較偏好熱食,一個蛋就開心半天。


BUN
Bun Cha 是一碟檬粉,配一碗魚露,魚露內有烤的肉片和碎肉餅
Bun這字也常出現在吃粉的地方,做的是湯粉,有牛肉的,雞肉的….
在河內時,湯粉的菜變化比較多,也有更多選擇,還會配油條一起吃,反正,我們吃過很多,都超好味的!



米紙巻
在順化一帶,最美味的就是用炭爐烤的香葉牛肉,和豬肉串,自己月薄薄的米紙,加上大量的蔬菜巻起來吃,肉烤得香之餘,口感又清爽!!



甜品
越南的甜品,有種是凍的,像珍多冰般,混合各種材料。
熱的也是有各種不同口味混合,但我們還是很愛她們的湯丸!!



BO BIA
雖然只在一個地方見過,卻印象深刻。
話說,在越南一個奇怪的現象就是所有食攤都是很單一化的,一條街上賣的都是幾乎同一種類的食物
在河內的西湖邊上的堤,我們走著走著,每幾十呎便會看到一輛單車,上面放一個白色木箱,寫著BO BIA,箱子關著,不知賣的是什麼葫蘆。
終於,其中一人向我們叫賣,打開箱子,原來是香港懷舊小食「糖蔥餅」。
如果你還記得,糖蔥餅是一片麵皮,包著糖蔥”,椰絲和芝麻。
越南的也一樣,只是她們是用刨來刨出新鮮的椰子絲,咬下去非常爽口,加了很多分。



美食還有很多,不能盡錄,大家自己在相簿中尋找吧!!



by: Jo

如不記下來怕會忘記的小趣事 (二) Little things that I don't wanna forget (2)

在沙壩的兩天健行團,團中有四個德國來的年輕人,都很年輕....

一個女孩名叫Lili,特別多惹笑的趣事。

雖然不認識她,但相由心生,很多性格還是可以從外表看得出來。

她嘛,就是那種生性樂天,傻大姐,不拘小節,小事糊塗而又烏龍百出的那種人。心地善良,永遠在笑,除了看到被拴著的狗時深深不平!

第二天走的路不遠但就很難走,有一段是濕淋淋的泥濘,我們穿行山鞋的也滿鞋泥濘,但Lili從第一天下午就決定穿人字拖...

沒多久,她的人字拖就嵌入泥濘中,很快她就決定放棄,赤腳行走。

又到了另一難點,我們要在梯田的田邊行走,就像走獨木橋一樣,很難平衡,如失平衡,就會掉到灌滿水的田裏。她無計可施之下,只有赤腳走入田裏,涉水而行,還自得其樂,讓大家為她拍照!!!

反正無論怎樣,她都覺得很好玩!




by: Jo



In the two days trekking tour in Sapa, we met a group of four German, very young. 

One of the girls is Lili, she is so funny.

I do not know Lili, but somehow your appearance reflects your personality.

She is a very happy person, nothing bothers her, but just also very absent minded.  She has a kind heart, always smiling, except when she sees dogs on chain, she is really unhappy.

In the second day of trekking, the roads not far but quite hard. One part of it is very muddy, even we have mud all over the trekking shoes.  However, Lili had decided from the afternoon of day 1 that she prefers to walk using flip flops.  Very soon, Lili's flip flops were buried in mud and she gave them up and walked bare footed. 

In the next part, we have to walk  on the rims of the rice paddies.  You need to balance or you will fall into the rice paddies, full with water.  Instead, she decided to just walk inside the rice paddies, with her feet in water.  We are all laughing and having so much fun, and she even requested a photo of her walking in the rice paddies!!

Whatever happens, Lili said "we have fun!".


by: Jo






莫說隨心行 (上)

多年來一直夢想隨心行,以為這次能全面實現了,但一個月下來,發現牽絆還不少呢!有大有小,有外來有自找的… 

1)越南簽證時以為一個月就足夠,沒理由花兩倍錢拿三個月的,結果放棄了下龍灣爬石的機會才勉強一個月完成 

2)以為緬甸老撾越南中國陸地相互連接,只要去到邊境,走過對面就是另一國家,剛剛才發現,緬甸的落地簽證,只限於坐飛機到首都才有機會,其他所有陸路關口都沒機會成功辦理的,有的都只是一日往返跟團臨時簽證,限定邊境關口五公里範圍之內跟團活動一天!只是給遊客所謂“到此一遊”而已,對我們來說當然沒意思… 所以明明眼看緬甸國土就在旁邊,也不能進去 

3)出發前,我們比較不同的旅遊保險商,發現全港所有旅遊保險,單次的最多也只能買180日左右,再多就不保; 另外,也有一種叫全年無限次旅遊保險,而且保費竟然只是180日的一半!!可能你會問: 那還有誰會買180日的?!所謂魔鬼就在細節中,詳閱下發現原來全年無限次旅遊保險有一個重要規定,就是每次不能超過90日,90日內必須回港!!好,就算我肯花雙倍錢買一半日子的,卻又發現180日的有另一相反條款是: 中途絕不能回港! 就是說如果不幸旅行開始了10日我因任何原因回出發地一下,我餘下的170日保障也全部中止,再出發也得再花幾千塊買過了!真的不能不佩服設計保險的人!是什麼腦袋才想得出這些苛刻的條款,無論是90日內一定要回來和180日內絕不能回來,對我隨心而行來說也是非常非常大的限制呢! 

以上這些都是已發生,而我十多年來旅行經驗都沒遇到過的牽絆… 然而,我人還在第一個90日旅程中,種種原因卻令我一定要開始計劃下一個行程,而“牽絆”一開始便跟著而來…

By Mat

2014年4月11日 星期五

如不記下來怕會忘記的小趣事 (一) Little things that I don't wanna forget (1)

在天堂洞的步道上看到一對男女,蹲下來在昏暗的燈光下研究相機,我側身走過,瞄了一眼。

走了沒多久,再遇上。

男孩請我幫他們拍合照,我欣然答應,他們用的是我多年前用過的CANON300D,好不熟悉。

舉機準備拍攝,觀景器內顯示「FULL CF CARD」,於是我告訴他們"card is full",但他們英語不太好,可能不是很明白。

每到這個時侯,亮出場。

他先打開SD card槽,指示是card的問題,再打開LCD顯示屏,播放照片,然後指著數字"98/98",男孩應該是明白了,連聲多謝。

我覺得他也挺有意思的,應該是不知道為什麼相機不能拍,自己解決不了,想讓別人幫忙,索性請別人幫忙拍一張,自然水落石出!!

by: Jo



I pass a couple on the walkway of Paradise cave, they kneel down to fix their camera in the very dim lights.  

After a while, came across them again. 

The boy asked me to take a picture for them, yes, of course.  They are using Canon 300D, which I used to have years ago, very familiar touch and feel.

I pointed the camera and ready to shoot, the view finder has an alert "FULL CF CARD", so, I told them that the "card is full".  Apparently their English is not very good and cannot understand me. 

At this point, Mat plays his role.

He first opened the SD card slot to show them that the problem is with the card. 

Then, he turned on the LCD screen and played the photos.  He then pointed at the numbers "98/98".  Now the boy understood and thanked us for the help. 

I think this is a good tactics.  He could not figure out why the camera cannot shoot and needed help.  To get help, what is better than asking something to take a picture with his camera!! Nice try!

by: Jo







2014年4月8日 星期二

宗教 Religions

分享兩個在越南的宗教小記

高台教是19251225日在越南正式創立的新興宗教,總部在越南南部的西寧。還記得我們在胡志明市有一天的當地遊被攪錯了嗎?結果我們到不了西寧的高台廟參觀,只在下午去了古芝地道。

到了峴港,這裡有高台教的第二大的廟宇,自然去看了。

去之前,我們沒有做資料蒐集,這些資料都是事後讀的….廟的外表沒什麼,有點中西合璧的感覺,但進到內殿,被嚇一跳,因為廟的祭壇後方是一隻很大的眼睛,在一個大的藍色球體上說實在的,我感覺很詭異,也立即想到二十世紀少年。

據維基百科所載,這是天眼,是象徵高台神的符號,是神的左眼。






我們知道六點會有祈禱 (每天0000, 0600, 1200 1800會有祈禱),在那邊等著,信徒身穿白袍,赤腳走入廟內,過程也是諗經之類,站或跪。


其他教義我沒有看得很懂,就不搬字過紙了,有興趣的可請教谷歌老師。

*****
占婆 

占婆族其實是很久以前在越南中部和柬埔寨一帶的民族,其宗教很接近我們之前在吳哥窟看的印度教。在會安附近有一景點「美山」,就有一建築群,但因去年已到過了偉大的吳哥窟,所以這次略過了。

也是在峴港,到了占婆博物館,這博物館不是很充實,我們唯一的發現是原來占婆的印度教,和柬埔寨看過的有些變化。

印度教主要的神話角色都差不多,但面貌不盡相同,好像占婆的比較圓潤可愛。另外,我們最大的發現是在柬埔寨的印度教,往往會出現「林伽」, 是男性的性徵; 而在占婆族的印度教裏,他們創造了很多女性的神,當中也包括了用女性的乳房所代表的女性神,照片中的眾多乳房就挺有趣的。


by: Jo


Sharing some observations on religions in Vietnam

Cao Dai is a new region founded on 25 Dec 1925 in Tay Ninh, a city near HCMC.  Remember our one day tour was screwed when we were in HCMC?  We miss the visit to the HQ of Cao Dai temple in Tay Ninh as a result, and ended up only to Cu Chi tunnels.

When we arrived in Danang, we noticed that the biggest Cao Dai temple outside of Tay Ninh is here, so we must not miss it this time.

Again, we did not do any research before going, all the information I have here is collected afterwards. The outlook of the temple is a bit of a crossover of oriental and western architecture, but nothing too special about it.  But I was a little bit shocked when I got inside the temple.  There is a huge blue sphere behind altar with a big eye on the sphere.  Honestly, I find this a bit scary and also made me think about the Japanese comics “20th century boys”.

According to Wiki, this is the symbol of Cao Dai, the left eye of God.

We know that there will be prayer time (everyday, prayer time at 0000, 0600, 1200, 1800), so we waited.  The followers wear white robes and enter the temple bare footed.  They are praying, standing and kneeling down.

I don’t think I can understand everything about Cao Dai, if you find it interesting, learn more from Google.

Champa

Champa is the people who settled in Central Vietnam and Cambodia many years ago.  Their religion is very similar to the Hindu religion we saw in Cambodia last year.  There is a tourist spot “My Son” near Hoi An which has a few Hindu temples but we have skipped this since we already seen the Angkor Wat last year.

In Danang as well, we went to visit the Cham museum, which is not too informative but we noticed something interesting and different from what we saw in Cambodia.

We see most of the familiar Hindu gods but their appearance are slightly different.  Looks more rounded and cute in the Champa world.  In addition, with Hindu in Cambodia, you see a lot of Linga (man’s sexual representation), while in the Champa world, they created female version of some of the Hindu gods and in particular, they uses the women’s breast to represent the female god.  This is not something that exists in Hindu in Cambodia.                                  

by: Jo