Vietnam: Day 4 (Night Market Saigon)

We left our friend’s house and headed to the tourist area in district 1 to buy our bus tickets. We took a cab, but had to cross 10 lanes or so of motor scooter traffic. There are no lights, but there are ironic seemingly crosswalks painted everywhere. The flow never stops. Crossing the wide and loud street looks deadly at first, but you just look for gaps. As soon as you see one, you have to seize that opportunity and step off the curb. The gap will be filled momentarily. You will panic and you will be tempted to rush across the street. This is a mistake. You have to walk slowly and calmly, allowing the gaps to align, and you pass straight through what looks like an impassable wall. You must be aware of your surroundings, but usually you will be okay if you keep a steady pace and look for the gaps. There is something zen about it; a feeling; a rush. You wade through the mechanical river. It is like slowly walking over a waterfall or a set of rapids, along the stepping stones that jut out of the water.

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I Went to Hell!

SO..let’s continue..after Tretten through loveley Gudbrandsalen..
I recall places like Ringebu..Vinstra..Otta..up to Dombas..
gets a bit mountain region there..around Dovre-Hjerkinn..
then Oppdal..and there a got a ride with a farmer and his wife..
they took me to their farm in Leinstrand bit south of Trondheim..
He was really proud of his cows..they got milked by machines..
I stayed overnight..got some good food..and next day reached
Trondheim..quick sightseeing..I stayed in the Youth Hostel there..
Next day via Hell..Yes..Hell..but I only went through..never set foot
in Hell.because I got a ride from Trondheim directly to Steinkjer..
slept somewhere around Snasa..Norway has got lots of free space
and allmansretten means that you can put up a tent and do some
wild camping..you must stay a certain distance from the nearest house..
not burn anything etc…but point was..I did have no tent..
never traveled with a tent..next day i reached Mo i Rana..
slept in waiting room of railway station..no problem at all..
lovely scenery in this part of Norway..it’s such a lovely country..
next day I reached the Polarcirkel near Stodi..midnight sun was there..it never gets dark there between june-late july..lovely….
I recall hitch hiking was not easy around there..more later on…
https://www.riesto.no/english/arctic.htm
click midnight sun on left side..

some more links for anybody who wants to visit Norway
www.visitnorway.com
www.vandrerhjem.no/english
www.camping.no
www.visitstavanger.com
www.visitoslo.com
https://www.fjordnorway.com/en/

Trip to Scandinavia

Well…so one day I set off again..direction Norway..
first hitched a ride trough Holland..piece of cake really..
crossed the border in Hengelo..so then Germany..
Germany was and to my opinion is still a good country to hitch
a ride..these famous autobahnen get you going..you can make
distances really..so Bremen-Hamburg-Puttgarden..ferry to Rodby
I slept in a youth hostel somewhere in Germany..
Danemark is flat country..bit like Holland..Copenhagen..
well..that was a nice city..I stayed 3 days there..visited Tivoli
fun park..in the evening pub visit..and slept out in a park..
https://www.tivoli.dk/composite-3351.htm
second day..I went to Kristiania freestate..still exists today..
the police had nothing to say there..squatters..
I recall some good music..and I got tipsy there on some stuff..
https://www.virtualtourist.com/travel…ania-BR-1.html
from Copenhagen one can hitch to Helsingor..ferry to Helsingborg
so..Sweden..nice country..I have good memories of Sweden..
hitched towards Goteborg..nice town..but bit to stiff and clean..
ride towards Oslo..border in Svinesund is a huge bridge..
wawww..Norway..still my favorite country up till now..
what Europe is concerned..Oslo…was O.K..Karl Johan gate..
nice people..lots of young folks in the summer..
slept in an old house there….felt a bit weird though..
snakker du Norsk??..jeg..det er en vanskelig sprak..
did’n’t understand the language..left for Lillehammer..
I was going to visit a girl in Tretten..small village..
stayed overnight there..nice people..Lillehammer is known
for its open air museum Maihaugen..lots of farmhouses etc..
Danish…another language..I speak??with a hot potato..in my mouth…
real funny sounds..

link for Maihaugen museum+city of Lillehammer..
https://www.visitnorway.com/en/Articl…n-Lillehammer/
https://www.maihaugen.no/en/Maihaugen…en-Air-Museum/
I will continue my hitchhike tales another day..
I recall a lot..but I forgot a lot as well..oh yes..
the next time..I’ll tell you all..I went to HELL..
yes..Hell..it’s a little village above Trondheim
even on the road to Hell..there were flowers..ahah..
look here…
https://exviking.net/man/hell.htm

Trip to the U.K (1970)

SO..let’s pick up again..middle march 1970..
hitch hiked to Ostend..ferry to Dover..didn’t get seasick
Dover was busy..as always,I guess…got a ride quick enough..
all the way to London..big city for me..I was really impressed..
slept in Youth Hostel..I believe Holland House (Kensington)
just lazied around in Hyde Park..some crazy dude was telling
the world was coming to an end soon..2 days London..
was enough for me…big place to get out..tube towards outskirts..
hitch hiking was a piece of cake..never stood long..these good old
British,you know..i remember Coventry..Leicester..Derby..
Stoke on Trent..Leeds..York..and Newcastle upon Twyne…
what happened inbetween..sorry..don’t remember..but it was O.K..
I clearly remember one ride with some monks towards Alnwick…
they wanted to convert me,I believe..they took me to the monastery..got food for free..
after that…Edinburgh(Scotland)didn’t stay long..slept in the outskirts…
some young kids were wondering..what I was doing there in my sleeping bag??
I always carried a small camping gas with me..lovely to make my own coffee in the morning..hitched towards Stirling..
and all the way into the Scottisch Highlandstowards Fort William, Inverness…didn’t see the Loch Ness monster..
did not hitch higher up…stayed in Glen Nevis youth hostel one day..
nice place Scotland..lovely scenery..hitching slower then U.K.though..
went to Oban..down to Campbeltown..ferry to Ireland..don’t recall from where..
hitched to Dublin..nice country Ireland…very friendly people..
funny accent..they roll their R’s..slept in a park in Dublin(Trinity?)
good Guiness in these Irish pubs..they like to get drunk..and sing..
no wonder Ireland won several times Eurovision contests
back to U.K..I think it was Holyhead..these damn ferry’s cost money
back down towards London again…Dover..back to Ostend (Belgium)
If you ask me..the U.K.was O.K..hitching alright..always got away..
very good sense of humor as well…so..back home in may 1970..
I left 3 weeks later towards North Cape (Norway)
tell you later about that…one of my most beautiful trips in Europe..

P.S..link for Scotland https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/index.html

First Trip to Amsterdam (1969)

I’ll start with my first trip..
1969..I guess it was in july..i got sick of my Dad’s alcoholism
packed a rucksack..and hitched to Amsterdam..no problem..
Woodstock mentality..at least 1500 hippies sleeping outside
in Vondelpark..there was a place called Paradiso..where gigs
were held almost every day..saw a rockband there called Brainbox..
still remember it..Amsterdam was great..the love-ins..sit-ins..
my first joint..met a beautiful Dutch Indonesian girl who lived on a
houseboat(=Bella)on Brouwersgracht..no electricity on that boat..candles..
after 2 weeks Amsterdam..my gypsie blood took me back home..
I worked a bit in the black(painting some house)and left for Italy..
end target was Venice..but i ended up in Dubrovnik (Yougoslavia)
Hitch hiking in Germany was easy..Austria as well..Italy O.K..
Yugoslavia..well..some Germans took me from Gorizia (Trieste)
towards Zadar..lovely coastline..and dirt cheap food..
it was still great Yugoslavia under Tito..I usually slept rough..
I recall Dubrovnik as a very clean city..went back up via Beograd..
autoput (highway) to Zagreb..and back home via Austria-Germany
it was 1970..and I planned a trip to the U.K..Scotland-Ireland..
I’ll tell you all tomorrow about that adventure

P.S..Paradiso Amsterdam still exists..it’s on Weteringschans..
https://www.paradiso.nl/web/English-Agenda.htm

https://www.dubrovnik-online.com/english/english.php

Vietnam: Day 3 (Diving, in retrospect)

I forgot to weblog my third day in Vietnam. I went scuba diving. They took me out early in the morning on a glorified version of the banana-shaped fishing boats that are omnipresent on Pho Cuoq. It was a sunburning hour and a half boat ride to our dive sight, but it was worth it. There was a divemaster for every two recreational divers and we were paired up with a woman from Vancouver. All the divemasters are foreigners staying in Phu Cuoq for employment.

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Vietnam: Day 2 (morning coffee)

I woke up at around six hundred hours (Vietnam time, of course) this morning, still a little jet-lagged, but substantially refreshed. Still a little used to my old institutionalized self, I was surprised to find myself covered in mosquito nets, with all my belongings next to me in a big safe. I spent a few moments lying there in order to let my mind get a better grasp on its surroundings and reset my (Swiss-made) circadian clock.

I went outside and laid down on my hammock just as thew Sun was rising over the jungle palms. It was a breathtaking sight and it reminded me of an idea I’d had looking East on a November morning in Montreal.

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Vietnam Day 1

The following being an account of my travels in Southeast Asia, Starting with my overly complicated and lengthy trip from Montreal to the Pacific island Phu Cuoq:

I have finally obtained my long-awaited state of cathartic release. I feel overjoyed as I realize this, sitting on the beach of an island on the south-eastern coast of Vietnam. The last 48 hours, in addition to the last 4160 hours spent in gruesome mind-numbing rehabilitation, have been torturous. Fortunately, all of this only added to the catharsis.

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