80-hour odyssey of flying chaos

We left our hotel at 6:30 am on Thursday the 15th, bound for the Bangkok airport for our flight back to Germany and our new home. Unbeknownst to us at the time, we were in for an experience unlike any we had before. We thought that our travels were story enough for friends and family awaiting our arrival. Who knew that one of our biggest was to come at the end of our trip? But it did and here's how it went...

We boarded our Moscow-bound Aeroflot jet full of sunburnt Russian tourists in vacation garb eerily reminiscent of the late 80s. With a 10-hour carefree flight behind us, we bunkered down for our planned 15-hour layover at the Moscow airport, a bit tired but excited at the prospect that we would soon be home.

When we arrived, we were guided to the new international terminal, a short bus ride away from where we had landed. Expecting to be impressed by pristine surroundings and posh amenities, our hopes were quickly dashed. This supposed international terminal doesn't have much going for it as we soon realized. The handful of eateries, which were pretty limited in choice, didn't accept any foreign currency or credit cards. If you didn't have Russian rubles in cash, you were out of luck. One would think that a logical solution to such a problem would be to frequent an exchange booth, but that would have been too easy. There were none around. If you played your cards right, you could change a bit of money at one of the two small duty-free shops, but that wasn't always a guarantee. Interesting...

We spent a night attempting to sleep on chairs not designed for such a purpose (immovable metal armrests make the ability to recline or sprawl oneself across them virtually impossible). Regardless, we made it through and eagerly waited by our gate for our boarding call. We looked up at the departures screen and couldn't believe our eyes. Our flight was delayed by nine hours. But, passengers were still arriving to discover the news, which seemed strange to us. One exclaimed that the volcano was really affecting all of the major airports in Europe. What volcano, we wondered. We focused our news junkie 'tudes on the Bangkok protests and we were oblivious to what was looming in Iceland. But, it was soon to affect us all.

Knowing that our 15-hour layover had now turned into 24, and then 28, the few snacks we had brought just wouldn't cut it. But, what's a foreigner have to do to get a meal voucher in this airport? Apparently, you have to wait 19 hours, ask four airport staff, be mocked by a passport control official for being "in transit" passengers and finally relinquish your boarding passes so that they can be taken out of sight and returned with the coveted meal vouchers. Fortunately, it only took another five hours until a more official meal voucher desk was set up for all stranded passengers.

Once Hour 28 came and went and we knew we were in for another wonderful night in terminal "nowhere", we found a lovely section of cement floor to rest our heads. Being "in transit" passengers without Russian visas meant that we couldn't leave the departures hall, a bit of a scary thought once you've spent over a day there without any end in sight. To make matters worse, none of the brand new flat-screen televisions actually broadcast anything but Samsung ads, and there is no Wifi or computers with Internet in sight. If that wasn't enough, no official announcements were conveyed regarding the current situation and the prospects of getting out of this place. The little information we did receive came from the battery-dying cell phones of fellow passengers.

We were awoken in the middle of the night by the PA system announcing the possibility of exchanging boarding passes to go to a limited selection of airports in Southern Europe that were still operating. With only a handful of flights still operating and nothing heading to anywhere in Northern Europe, we wasted no time and quickly changed our Dusseldorf-bound passes to Milan. Sort of hopeful, we tried to catch a few hours of sleep, enjoyed a meal voucher breakfast, and much to our pessimistic surprise, boarded the flight to Milan. But, our story doesn't end there. After 15 minutes, the pilot sadly announced that the Milan airport had just closed and asked us to deboard. With shoulders slumped, we disembarked the aircraft. Disillusioned and deflated, we mentally prepared ourselves for a week of Russian "hospitality."

One hour later, our hopes were revived with the prospects of rerouting to Rome. Waiting by the gate with bated breath, we eventually boarded the same aircraft again. After sitting on the tarmac for over an hour, we thought that our window of opportunity to leave Russia and land in Europe that day (or possibly ever) was gone. But, this story does have a happy ending. Believe it or not, 30 minutes later we were airborne and on our way to "Bella Italia." At this point, our odyssey was only in Hour 45, just over halfway through.

The entire cabin clapped when we touched down on the runway of Rome's airport. We soon found out that we were one of the last flights, if not the last, to land before the airport was officially closed. With the flight portion of our trip behind us, we focused our attention on our next mode of transport to take us to German soil.

To say that the Rome airport and its nearest train station were packed with people was an understatement. Were it not for the quick thinking and access to Internet of our German co-stranders, we wouldn't be writing this blog but rather be standing in a 200-metre line waiting for the only ticket booth at the Rome central station to serve us.

We caught a train to Bologna, waited an hour and jumped on the overnight train to Munich, knowing that it was likely fully booked considering the situation. Luckily, we found seats and passengers with a bottle of vodka ready to be shared, which helped to induce a record-breaking four hours of sleep.

Arriving a little groggy in Munich at 6:30 am, we staggered to the platform to hop on the next train heading to Köln. What a relief! Five hours later, one transfer to the Grevenbroich train and another short 30-minute ride, we were home. What a beautiful sight it was to see Axel's parents, Gudrun and Gerd. And if they weren't enough, Axel's sister Julia and nephew Tommy were also awaiting our arrival and we spent a happy, relaxing day together.


It's good to be home.

Happy Songkran!

We are enjoying our final days in Bangkok relaxing in our air conditioned hotel room as we closely monitor the political protests taking place in this city. We arrived three days ago to the sounds of protestors in the streets, grenades, gunshots. As the area where all of the tourists go was blocked off, we found another safe hotel for the night. Watching the scenes unfold outside on the news and the Internet from the comfort of our room was enough action for us. In all, 21 people died and the negotiations between the government and the Red Shirts is far from over. We just hope that violence isn't the only way that these issues will be solved. Before coming to Bangkok, we had a wonderful, albeit hot, three days in Battambang, enjoying both the cityscape and the countryside. Even though Battambang is the country's second largest city, you'd hardly know it, as we find it very walkable and much less touristic than Siem Reap. We rented a tuk tuk to take us to two beautiful temples. One is perched high on a hill and requires visitors to climb 359 steps to reach the top where some temple ruins from the 12th century can be found. The second temple also sits on top of a hillband provides gorgeous views of the Western Cambodian landscape which is very dry this time of the year. As so many religious sites during the regime of the Khmer Rouge, this temple was used as a prison and the nearby caves were used as execution sites. It is impossible to imagine what it was like to live in Cambodia from the mid to late 70s. One of the highlights in Battambang was going to the Phare Ponleu Selpak circus. The artists are all vulnerable children and teenagers who have been given the opportunity to excel in the performing arts. This enables them to support themselves and their families. The show was fantastic and featured amazing trapeze artists, contortionists, jogglers etc... This group is part of a larger organization that provides fine arts education to the local community, runs an orphanage and offers a daily free street kitchen for families in need. The circus always brings joy to our hearts because it makes us feel like kids again. Speaking of being a child again, today was the first day of the Thai New Year celebration called Songkran. Essentially, it is a three-day waterfight in cities all over the country. As soon as you set foot on the street, you are 'baptized' with a bucket of water. People armed with waterguns stand on the back of pick up trucks and spray the crowd, which, armed with water as well, strike back. The nice thing is that it is not just kids participating, but people of all ages. We even saw a woman in her 80s wielding a bright plastic water pistol. Everyone joins in the fun. And that is exactly what it is: pure fun. It is a fantastic way to ring in a new year especially when the thermometer reads 36 C. Tomorrow, we will head to a hotel close to the airport because we will fly to Germany early Thursday morning. It is hard to believe that our 100 days in Southeast Asia are coming to an end. It was an amazing adventure and one we won't soon forget.

Angkor Wat is the What!

Cram several dozen spectacular thousand-year-old temple complexes into an area the size of a small Canadian city and you've got Angkor. We've just spent three days (far too short) to behold the remnants of these Angkorian capitals that were built between the 9th and 12th centuries AD. Alone, each of these complexes takes your breath away, but to see that one country houses such historic relics is astounding. Even though the temples are spread out over a vast land area, the majority are accessible by bicycle and that's what we used for two days. What's nice about bicycle travel is the chance to go at your own pace and stop where you like. The park is lush and green, even in the dry season, which makes for lovely surroundings. The only issue is the intense heat, unlike anything we've experienced before on this trip. With temperatures approaching 40C by midday, temple visits in the hot sun leave you drenched with sweat and in desparate need of water. But, it's a small price to pay for such beautiful sights. We hope to post photos soon.


We've stayed in Siem Reap for the last five nights. It is a town centred around tourism due to its proximity to the Angkor Archaeological Park. For this reason, it boasts tons of Western restaurants and five-star hotels, which probably detracts from its original charm. But, it has been a very relaxing place to rest our heads for a few days. We've taken advantage of the cheap price of cocktails and beer, visited the handicraft markets and even took in a traditional Khmer dance performance. We've had the opportunity to stay at a lovely family-run guesthouse called Bou Savy, which has a peaceful central courtyard and complimentary breakfast.


With only nine days left in our 100-day journey, we are having nostalgic feelings of the beginning of our trip and wish we could go back to that level of excitement. But, we're also looking forward to what lies ahead.

Today, we head to Battambang for a few days before continuing onto Bangkok for our final week.

Minding the heat in Phnom Penh

We've arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia after a smooth 7-hour bus ride and a surprisingly uneventful border crossing. We were overwhelmed by the intensity of the moto drivers who swarmed us when we arrived, trying to get their next fare. They were pretty relentless, but we made it through the crowd in one piece and managed to find a nice hotel about two blocks away that has air conditioning (it's essential considering that it's about 35 C during the day and doesn't really cool off at night). 

We wandered around the central part of the city until dusk. There is a lot of green space near the riverfront. We saw the Liberation Monument, which commemorates the defeat of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, and Independence Monument, which celebrates Cambodia's independence from France. But the best part of our walk was seeing the mass groups of locals doing aerobics in the park to music. We admire how exercise is such an integral part of daily life in Southeast Asia. Every day, in either the early morning or late afternoon, many people gather to play badminton or Thai football, do aerobics or simply go for a vigorous walk. It's really inspiring.  

The other interesting local activity we observed was some kind of Buddhist celebration on the riverfront where people were gathered to pray in small temples, placing incense sticks and beautiful fresh flowers in small temples while traditional musicians played live music.  

For dinner, we found a local restaurant and enjoyed a yummy Khmer dish consisting of rice noodles with coconut curry. It was served with a huge bowl of fresh herbs, pickles and cold tea. Yummy!  

Since we had to get up at 6 am to catch the bus, we're pretty wiped and ready for bed. Tomorrow, it's off to the Killing Fields and the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) to learn more about the genocide that took place here only 31 short years ago, wiping out almost 1/3 of the population.

Markets Afloat

We just finished the second day of our two-day Mekong Delta tour and are enjoying a nice dinner near our hotel in District 1 of Saigon. Although our tour was jam-packed with tourists, we met a lot of nice people and enjoyed boating down the Mekong River. We got to see how they make rice noodles the traditional way, we walked through a tropical fruit orchard and crossed what is called the Monkey Bridge, which is essentially one large bamboo stalk spanning a small pond. On our way back to the city, we saw the Buu Long Pagoda, a beautiful yet strangely placed structure on a busy highway surrounded by Buddha statues and flowers.   

Having sampled local banana rice wine and red wine over the last two nights, we'll likely avoid doing so tonight as we have to get up before 6 am to catch our long bus ride to Phnom Penh. Cambodia awaits us and we can't wait...

Saigon - A city of many faces

As we drive along the roads in our completely unnecessary cushy sleeper bus, we watch daily Vienamese life unfold. People lounge lazily in their stores awaiting their next customers. Men herd cattle across the busy roads as vehicles kindly swerve to avoid them. Hoards of school children with their crisp white, navy blue and red uniforms gather at the end of another school day, bound for home. Women in conical hats brave the afternoon heat to sell the wares they carry in baskets precariously balanced on their shoulders. And motorbikes galore cram the streets, making use of every available inch of asphalt to hurry to their next destination. It's organized chaos, but it works.

In Saigon, we stayed with a family in their small guesthouse. In fact, they only have one room to rent out. Their flat is down a side alley off of one of the main tourist streets. We found it when the woman of the house greeted us as we descended the bus, asking in broken English if we needed a room. The family sleeps downstairs in an area that also serves as their kitchen and living space. The family consists of  a husband and wife, their son who is disabled and cannot walk or talk, and their grandson, who is two years old. Their other two sons live nearby and one just got married on March 10. The mother proudly showed us a special photo album of her newly married son and his wife in various poses and wedding outfits. It's customary for a married couple to dress up in various wedding costumes, including the actual bridal gown and tuxedo before the actual wedding day and have their photos taken. We've seen many couples doing this in almost every major city park we've passed in Vietnam. 

Although our room was a little noisy since our window cannot close and faces the busy alley below, we really liked the experience of sharing space with this very kind family. They were excited that we stayed for three nights.

Yesterday, we did an organized tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, a famous Vietnamese War landmark. Used as a hideout for local people, a military post and a communications hub, its intricate network of underground tunnels span some 250 km and are organized into three depths, each built for specific purposes, whether it be daily life, preparing for battle or hiding from the enemy. Although the trip was very touristic and we felt a bit like herded cattle as we were shuttled from sight to sight, it was still impressive to see and imagine what the war was like. And a highlight was having the opportunity to crawl through one of the narrow tunnels (Netty required Aki's moral support to make it through just one small stretch of the pitch black claustrophobia-inducing passages). Considering that the Vietnamese are smaller than the average Westerner and even though they enlarged the size of the tunnels to accommodate tourists, it was still pretty narrow. 

That afternoon, we went to the War Remnants Museum, a propaganda-filled recount of the Vietnam War and it's aftermath. The curators didn't leave out any of the gory details. The images and stories on display are chilling and the mood imbues a feeling of how horrible war can be.         

Today, we embarked on a two-day Mekong Delta tour. Our first day was spent cruising the Mekong River and making various stops to observe village industries, including the making of coconut candy and honey. We also enjoyed tropical fruits, traditional music and cycling on Unicorn Islands. We're spending the night in Can Tho, which is one of the bigger cities in the Mekong Delta. Tomorrow, we'll check out the popular floating markets along the river and head back to Saigon around suppertime. The following day, we're off to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, our 7th and final country on this trip.              

Sledding in Mui Ne???

Yes, we escaped the Canadian winter, so to get our fix of wintersport, we went sledding. We had to rent a scooter and drive about 40 km to get to Vietnam's most famous sledding hill. Two young girls awaiting our arrival offered us homemade plastic sleds and after some hard negotiations, we agreed on a price for the rental and were ready to ascend the hill. We were exhausted and out of breath when we reached the top, but at the same time, were exhilarated by the thought of our much-anticipated downhill race. We mounted our sleds, said a final prayer, took a few last-minute pictures and off we went...

As it turns out, sand is not as slippery or as fast as Canadian snow and going downhill was actually not much faster than climbing up the slope. Despite the lack of adrenaline rush, what surrounded us was nature's beauty at its best.

Mui Ne is famous for its red and white sand dunes, which are 10 and 40 km outside the city, respectively. Travelling on our own by scooter was one of the day's highlights as we were able to see so much more than simply the final destination. Apart from the dunes, there is not much else to do in Mui Ne that appeals to us. 

So, tomorrow we take a bus to Vietnam's largest city, Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City as it's officially known). Less than a week left in this country and then it's off to the last one of our journey.