So well many things happened, I try to make it quick. I ended up in Nah Trang in Vietnam, which turned out to be a super famous Tourist destination. I stayed there over Christmas with a Host from the US and many other CSer from Israel, Argentina, Singapore and China. That was something funny, as it was a very different Christmas. After maybe a week I moved on to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I did not really like Saigon, as it was not even close to the beauty of Hanoi. So I was looking for alternatives, and yet found a Host in a remote but big City in the very south, called Long Xuyen. I never heard or saw before, and that was what motivated me the most to go there. What was meant for a few days during New Year ended up for a month.... I stayed in a House where many generations of a Family lived. Started with the Grandmother aged 85 uncles aunties, cousins, sons and daughters down to 6 years. I was welcomed very warm right away, and everybody treated my like a good old friend. The first week we spend like going like everywhere in the city and with a high percentage of certainty I can say that I have seen everything :) Then New Year came and it was the most quiet I have ever seen in my life. Even though we went out for beers, there was NOBODY on the streets. The whole city was just dead empty, there was not a single cracker, or rocket launched, your heard nobody scream, while in your head you imagined all the enormous parties that would go on all around the Globe that day. It was definitely a funny experience. In the remaining weeks my main entertainment was drinking coffee, ah this Vietnam coffee is just the best I had in my life and I will miss it very hard. But also I helped in the Families own business, which was a design, print and copy shop. It was a very unique experience, and I had the chance to see Vietnam from a very different viewpoint. I made some good friends over there. In addition, I got to know how it feels to be at least a B-VIP :) As I was almost the only foreigner in the City, almost everybody who I walked passed by was talking to me. After a few days you just want to walk the street in silence, unrecognised :) Not that I hold it against the Vietnam people, it just shows how open and super friendly they are, and I now whish we in Germany would treat our guest like this. Yes I think we could take a big slice of that. Now "Luna New Year" came, and after it was over, I can say, its a mixture of Christmas and New Year. It is mainly a Family celebration, as EVERYBODY goes home, it doesn’t mater where you are. Yes there was also a big Firework (@10pm) where almost the whole city gathered, but that event lasted only for like 2 hrs. The main celebrations last for 3 days and they put a lot of effort in that, making Christmas look like a birthday party. Yet most of that effort goes within the Family, so from the outside it does not look to spectacular. Yet I was lucky enough to have seen it from insight. Now I moved on to Cambodia, and even though these two cultures are so close and have been intermixed during different wars in the past, it is very different. I am only here since 3 days and could tell so many crazy stories, but for now there is no time. Tomorrow I leave, kind of spontaneous, with a Russian Couchsurfer for a 3 weeks Cycle trip around Cambodia, which will be in many ways a very new experience. I will try to keep you posted.
Thank you!
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