Hanoi first impressions

Here some impressions from my first two days in Hanoi. Beautiful city, I really like it so. Absolutely not comparable to Bangkok, more to southern France maybe. But still with a very unique style.
Well, I will have plenty of time to explore it further, as I will be taking a two-weeks Vietnamese language class, starting tomorrow. Let's see how far I can get :o)

The entrance to the old citadel

 The temple at the biggest lake of the many lakes of Hanoi

View over another lake

 It's christmas :o)

 The old (1000 years) university of Hanoi

 A wise emperor

 traffic in Hanoi ... it's a bit exhausting, especially the continuous honk noise
The streets (mostly without name signs) are a bit confusing, too. So far, it takes me about 20 minutes from my hotel to my language school (by scooter) and about 45 minutes to get back (the to the school is pretty straight forward, but it's a one way and the way back is far more confusing)

 shopping street in the old town

 a small temple in the old town with tree being part of the building (very neat, they do that quit often here)

 One of Hanois many (seriously many) galleries

 Oh yes it's christmas ...

 Hoan Kiem lake at dusk

 Well, I let this one speak for itself ;-)

Short trip to Ayuthaya

As I changed my decision to go to Hanoi by train and not overland, I had two days to kill in Bangkok. As I have seen quiet a bit of the city in the first week that I stayed here, I decided to explore the surrounding sites a bit. So I went for two days to Ayuthaya, the old regal capital (destroyed  by the Burmese in the 1760ies)
See for yourself ...

Buddha in the Bhodi tree :o)

The three kings (or their respective ashes)

Ko Tao impressions

Besides being underwater Ko Tao is a nice but not highly exciting place to hang around. The whole island is more or less like one giant bungalow resort. But it still has pretty corners and when meeting a few nice people you can surely have a good time there ...

My new "awsome!" PADI diving friend and buddy Edvin :o)

Hanging out at the beach bar

Sairee beach

Miguel, Carin, Oliver

Malika

Oh, and it's raining again ...

And bye, bye Ko Tao

From Ko Yao Noi to Ko Tao

After a one day stop on Ko Yao Noi I took the bus from Phuket to Chumpon on the 28th of November which meant enduring eight hours of incredibly loud (and bad) Thai pop music.
Arriving a bit exhausted that way I stayed in Chumpon for one day checking out the nearest beach where I saw a couple of kite surfers. It was actually a nice to change to the typical beautiful south sea style beaches in Krabi. Reminded me a bit of the North sea back home.

After that I took the morning ferry to Ko Tao (quiet a rough ride) where I spend the last 5 days mainly with doing the beginner level diving course. Lacking an underwater camera and being a bit lazy I haven't made any pictures yet. Above water there's not much to see anyway. The island is like a giant bungalow resort with a couple of nice beaches and a few forested mountains in the middle. Since I met a couple of nice people from different countries, I'm having also a good time onshore. And hey, a nice beach, 30 degrees, the sea ... could be worse :)

A couple more days at Krabi and Phang Nga bay

After coming back from Ko Pu, I spend another three days at Krabi exploring the landscape by scooter.
It's been great for the landscape really is amazing.

Who sees the crabs?

Karst mountains

Not too shabby 

 Just a regular sight

After exploring a bit more of Krabi backcountry I ventured further North to the Phang Nga bay with its amazing rock islands (actually swam out to one of them , realizing how painstakingly slow a propulsion method swimming really is; it took me almost two ours to get there and back  to the shore)

View  of the island offshore of my resort when I started swimming ...

... and when I came back :)

Impressions of the bay from the ferry to Ko Yao Noi (see also next pictures)

Relaxing days on Ko Pu

So, the last 5 days I spent on Ko Pu at neat little bungalow resort under the trees, directly at the beach with really nice hosts and few other guests.
As I didn't do much else than lying around, reading, swimming and playing the guitar (and defending any edible stuff in my posession against the monkeys that regularly entered my bungalow) there are not that many pictures this time.

Fishing with Nath and his buddy (that's Ko Pu in the background)

The resort ...

The beach ...

Max on the beach :)

Next  I'll be heading northwards from Krabi

Krabi by scooter

As said, today I rented a nice scooter (150 Baht per day (4 Euro)). Fortunately they had a helmet in my size :)
So I went on a tour to the mountain jungle in the hinterland. It was a bit rainy (that's why they call it "rain"forest) but really nice with riding through beautiful landscapes, a cave with bats and big frogs, an adventurous and slippery jungle trail and waterfall pools t for a refreshing bath.

My bike

Rain

Into the bats' cave

Jungle (who sees the spider ...  almost ran into that one, about the size of my face)

More jungle

Nature's pools



Next will be Ko Jum ...