The Lost Paradise

Hanoi, the lost paradise, seems somehow like an old traditional city which has been modernized fastly in the recent years. Its atmosphere is quite particular, since in the center its crowded and dominated by motorbikers, its buildings are not tall, streets not really clean, and seems quite chaotic.
See the crowd going here and there, most people take the bike and do not walk, you can easily imagine how the city looks alike.
It is said that once you want to cross a street in Hanoi, you have to start crossing straight away without stopping till you reach the opposite border. I agree. Since there are many motorbikes and each of them going at a different speed, once you stop walking its more dangerous because then the riders cannot predict how you will react... so just keep moving and pray to God you're not hit by motorbikes... :)

Other than this chaotic starter, which is also part of the city, and a hint to see how quick some asian cities have been influenced by the history of colonization, I found that there werent any foreigners around, almost... it was quite empty and this is one of the things I enjoy, because firstly, I dont want to mix up with foreigners when I am on a trip, and secondly, by all means you got to do one thing: SURVIVE.
Survive to the traffic, survive to communicate and try to understand most locals do not speak english, try to arrange your holiday in the best way possible.
Thats challenging and funny, in a way, cause being surrounded by vietnamese who dont speak english means by all means you have to make yourself understood about directions, foods, places to visit, etc... quite a nice experience :)
What I liked was that I could feel the atmosphere there, amazingly influenced by western cultures and on the other hand, still people not very comunicative, and I felt, some people a bit disgusted to see foreigners around.
I found that vietnamese can be very polite and easy going but as soon as you request something from them other than the things they can answer properly, they become a bit upset and staring offensively... a thing to keep in mind for my next trip :)

Still a lot of people in Vietnam were very helpful and friendly to me, especially the car driver who took me to the Ha Long Bai and Perfume Pagoda was very friendly even he didnt speak even a bit of english.

Hanoi is, despite my previous description, a unique place worth to visit. The people is unique and everyone seems rushing here and there. The night market is very convenient and beautiful, and you can find anything you need there, even kebabs for a few cents. The day market is fulled with lots of fresh fruits and food, and while walking around you can really feel how the vietnamese lifestyle is.

Hoan Kiem Lake, a huge lake where vietnamese go for exercicing everyday from 5.30am is a good place to listen to traditional vietnamese music while people does jogging, yoga and other activities. It is beautiful to see the sun rising in the early morning, when still darkness covers the lake but still can listen to the people walking around you even you cannot see their faces. The quietness and to see how much vietnamese people care for keeping a healthy life is worth to admire.

When the day starts the city becomes very busy and everyone rushes here and there. It is the time you can start walking around the city and visit as many temples as you can: the Temple of Literature, where the wisest students took their lessons, the Presidential Palace, the Tran Quoc Pagoda, located in a nice place surrounded by other small temples, the cathedral of Saint Joseph, surprisingly built and a good place worth to visit during christmas because it really reminds western countries christmas alike.

And also the Long Bien bridge, the oldest bridge build up on 1902, which used to hold 4 or the 5 main major rail lines in Hanoi and which was severely attacked and defended during the war at the end of 1960's.

Going outside Hanoi, the Halong Bay is probably one of the spots no tourist should miss.
It is unbelievably beautiful to spend one or two days just to see the bay on a local boat, stop around to see the beautiful caves and have a nice and quality relaxing time. An experience that I will surely not forget. The story of Halong Bay is quite interesting to hear, as it tells in the ancient ages, when the vietnamese were fighting chinese invaders, god sent a family of dragons to help them defend the bay. These dragons descended from the sky and started spitting out jewels and jade which turned into islands that transformed into barriers against the invaders.

And so the bay was named Halong Bay, which means "The Bay of Descending Dragons".

Such a nice history that even these days reminds me of Dragon Ball animation, for those who like manga, I found Halong's bay history matching the cartoon as there are dragons descending on a bay at the beginning and end of each chapter intro, surrounded by tall and curvy islands which I found in Vietnam so far.

Also, the Perfume Pagoda and other nearby temples, in where you have to go by taking a local boat, are amazing. Its views, its natural sights, its quietness, I really love to see those historical things that even today are still part of the vietnamese daily life.

All in all, Hanoi was a unique city to explore, surrounded by beautiful temples and landscape spots, worth to visit and explore. The chaos in the city is also unique and as a foreigner, I was very happy to feel its atmosphere, enjoy the local foods, the temples and the beauty of its people.

World citizenship

I like this country, the people, the culture, the quietness. I like Malaysia, partly because people talk to you as if they knew you for long years, they always try to make conversation and get to know about foreign people.

I like the interaction between malasians, malays, indians and chinese, and after some time I have realized not everything is perfect and sometimes indians complain about chinese, chinese complain to malays and malays complain to indians all the same.
But I still find it very interesting to see such an interaction, because even being a developing country, some cultural aspects are quite developed, and this interaction between races is quite uncommon to see, at least in Spain.

In Spain, chinese would usually hang out with only chinese, other immigrating races such as african, south american or arabian would likely do the same. There is still in Spain some sort of thinking that immigration is good for economical reasons, but when it comes to social integration, spanish system is messed up and its very difficult, for example, to integrate foreign children in schools and make them feel like part of the society.

This is one thing I found interesting in malaysia, and think malaysians should be proud of it. Since I came here for work also, and living in a foreign country, I am really glad that the integration has been fluent and easy.

Being here as an expatriate I should feel thankful not only for the local people who gets to know me and often talks to me, but also to my coworkers (Sergio, Emily, Paty, Jon and Bea) who are in the same situation and often do things together after work, dinner, trips and so on.

Also I want to say thanks to all my friends in Spain, for their support and quality time spent together anytime during the time I was there. I understood their fears of seeing me leaving Spain and I do agree that this change in my life has brought me a lot of good things, opened my mind and for sure this will be a good thing for my life in the future, wherever it is. I feel as a world citizen who can move over anywhere...

My world is changing and widely opened since I came here. Somewhere between, I am trying to deal with the fact wether I can stay in Malaysia in the future, move to Spain temporarily or go to work in a better position in another country. Time will tell, but certainly part of my life and my heart is in Malaysia now and thanks to all people I have met here, I am quite happy with it and my life.

But yet I dont forget simple things in my country, feel the wind coming over my face on a winter day, the spanish tapas, walks around the park or just go for a drink with friends on a quiet sunday morning.

I sometimes miss the light and warmth of a fire chimney, the hot chocolate cup with churros, the breeze on a windy day, the sunset near home and the unexpected call of a friend just to check how is my day.

It is uncertain what the future is going to bring me in the next months or years, as when I think about the future outside Spain I feel bit anxious and unsecure, but all in all, still on time, thanks to everyone who is around me for all these wonderful experiences!!

At the end, I know that no matter what and where, friends will be always there, and what makes us wise are for sure all the experiences we have in life. Once you feel the wish of changing your life inside you, let it grow, be patient, and move for it in the proper timing.

Some of the most wonderful experiences in our life happen not only all a sudden, but it is also in the effort, patience and support of our beloved ones that we finally can achieve what we have been longing for.

For all the above, thanks to all malaysians and friends to let me feel one of my wishes accomplished. No matter what race you are, interaction with you has been (and still is!) really a wonderful experience!

Creating human links

Pulau Tioman is the largest island on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It offers quite many different kinds of activities for its visitors, including trekking, jungle, cycling, spas and massage, swimming, snorkeling and of course, diving.

The island itself is located 32 kms from Mersing, and it can be reached easily by bus or plane from Kuala Lumpur. The bus to Mersing takes almost 6 hours to reach from Puduraya station, and then visitors take a speedboat to the island itself.

Last weekend, the first of April, I went with my friends to Tioman, as they wanted to take the diving license and I also wanted to relax and have fun out of Kuala Lumpur for a while.

This was actually my second time in Tioman: the first time I just spent the weekend diving for the license! So this time I could finally enjoy the quiet and clean beach and other activities to relax, since diving whole weekend to get a license its sometimes a bit tyring.

We were hosted in Berjaya hotel and resort, quite a lovely place with wooden apartments, huge swimmingpool next to the beach and many different services.

The hotel itself was nice as its built up malaysian style, and its gardens are beautifully lighted at night as if it was a balinese atmosphere. To walk around in the gardens and next to the beach at night time is quiet and relaxing.

Other than the sunburnt all over my body, what I can bring back from this weekend trip is, first of all, the good atmosphere and friendly company of all the group we joined. During weekend we were kind of divided in 2 groups, one wanting to get the diving license (beginner or advanced) and the other group relaxing and doing some dive for fun.

That made things interesting, because at the end of the day we could share altogether how the day was over having dinner and some drinks.

Secondly, I could realize Tioman island is more than I expected. The resort is very nice, its beaches are clean and the water is so clear and light blue, my favorite colour. You can just step into a few meters in the beach and soon you will see fishes coming around you as if they knew you for long. If you are lucky, you can even touch them!

We did some snorkeling and just a few meters down you can see the corals, fishes and sea nature surrounding you so closely.

The dives were impressing, especially the second one we did. We could see turtles, clown fishes, swim across coral walls and stones as if they were long corridors... all of them fulled with true colours, very nice and quiet.
One of the things that surprise me on diving is how peaceful and calm you feel under water. You can hear your breath, bubbles coming out, and the views are generally (so far) great.

The feeling of freedom, quietness and beautiful views makes you feel comfortable, moreover if you do dive with friends, its a very enriching experience.

There are so many things escaping to human knowledge... the world is not always the way we see it, because there are so many experiences and different lifes all around. The sea world is one of them, and not everyone is able to see and experience it, unluckily...

Sometimes these things happen not only in the real life and material things we can see, but also in human thoughts, feelings and backgrounds. There is a whole world behind each person, same as there is a whole world under water. A world that has been and still creating day after day.

The person we are now is a creation made of experiences we have been living until the current day. Living,interaction with others, not only world but also family and friends. All of them define our characters, our thoughts, our behavoir, the way we see ourselves and the way we see others around us. Besides, also time is one fact defining and leading us to behave differently.

And, even knowing so, human life, is still often unpredictible, but evolutive at the same time.

Most humans like to control the situations, feel peaceful, harmony, quietness. Most of them, in a certain way, can feel comfortable with their living, even if you dont know or are aware of knowing fully the life of the people close to us or the world surrounding us. But also sometimes things happen around us that change our views of this world completely, and also our thoughts.

In Tioman I found not only nice beaches and wonderful views which I expected, but also a place to relax, to think about life, to feel who I am, my human essence.

That was about 14 meters under water, surrounded by a wonderful world that has been lately opened to my soul, and yet undiscovered for me.