Aymaras: people of the lake

An insight into the lives of Aymaras, indigenous people of the Andes and lake Titicaca in Bolivia and Peru; about their women, fashion style and admirable self-sufficiency.

After a 14km hike throughout the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), where Incas were born, we arrive to an Aymara community above Titicaca Lake at a height of 4000m. Eight hungry English, three Australians and one Czech invade one of tiny local restaurants and occupy its entire space. La dueña de la casa (the owner), an older Aymara woman, has panic as well as excitement in her dark eyes; excitement about the coming profit, panic how to feed such a hungry bunch of “gringos” (foreigners). Panic – excitement 1:1

The menu is long but the woman avidly confirms that everything is available (I guess she says so out of fear that we would run away if something was missing.) She advertises famous  Titicaca “trucha” (a trout), a local specialty made in 100 possible ways (you cannot make a difference in between them on the pictures, though). But as I say, we are hungry and we go for a couple of pizzas, extra large. (Panic – excitement 3:1). And the buzz begins….

The restaurant transforms into a bee-hive. Women from all neighbouring restaurants are rushing to ours and now I understand why all of them offer the same menu. The rule is that cooking takes place where customers are. If ingredients are missing at the place of action, they will come from a pantry next door, and at the end pizzas come to our plates not only from the kitchen of our restaurant but from all possible directions, resulting in a great success. We all eat at the same time, we are full, add to that a bottle of Bolivian red which painted rouge on our faces already burnt from hot altitude sun. The lady gives us a black or gold wide smile, happiness on both sides. (Panic – excitement 3:5) Mission “dinner” completed.

Mamitas

When meeting Aymara women on your trek, usually accompanied by a cute infant or even cuter donkey or llama, you greet them “buenos días, mamita”. I would easily have lots of adoptive mums here in Bolivia. Looking at them invites me for giving them a hug.

They have round smiley faces, deep wrinkles inscribed on their sun-burnt dark skin. They are plump, wihich is even intensified by their large colourful “polleras” (skirts), and have a décolletage of an impressive size, on which little Aymaras must have the sweetest dreams.

The first thing to spot on Aymara women is their outfit, all looking like two peas in a pot. The most remarkable item is their bowler hat, which you usually see on English men, looking quite funny on described-above Aymara women. This fad found its place in their wardrobes in 20s and have stayed there since.

The legend has it that the hats were initially brought from Europe for Europeans working on the rail, but were too small for them and were passed to indigenous people instead. However, they look small on Aymaras either, what they do not seem to mind, resulting that they are rather loosely laid on their heads than properly put, as to be blown off any minute – funny but definitely stylish.

Apart from the hats and polleras there is also a short jacket, an indispensable “aguayo” a blanket to carry kids, crops, shopping or all at once, and two long raven-black braids, usually tied together at the bottom. Single ladies can add a red flower to their hats as a sign that they are in a hunt for husband. I find this particularly useful and I wonder how many potential husbands I missed on a ride in the tube for example. As a western woman I probably have to transmit different signals, maybe Bluetooth to connect out iPhones first before we connect ourselves, exchange Facebook details, or give a “swipe right” on Tinder first and meet in the real world later.

Many countries, many customs

Passing by Aymara humble dwellings on a small island in the middle of the nature makes me think, what a range of different lifestyles there is on the planet. Especially when looking at children.
They are not even 5 years of age and they are already professional negotiators; “I’ll give you discount if you buy two”, counting coins quicker than croupiers in casinos, and a little Aymara lady in pink dress purses her lips and hugs a llama, because she knows how cute she is, and is ready to hold out a hand for cash in exchange for a photo.

Parents are very well aware that their cute offsprings can win western hearts more easily and that there is a lesser chance to haggle and bring the price down, and therefore they send kids to sell stuff instead (although in my case you can sell me anything for three times more and I’ll happily buy it. Poor co-travelers of mine who have sometimes searched my assistance because of knowledge of Spanish, but in the end I think I did them more harm than good).

There was something sad in it, though, lacking innocence and purity of childhood. On the other hand, seeing them play hide and seek in the fields and ride a donkey seemed idyllic, compared to western kids today constantly glued to smartphones, cyber bullied or stalked by a pedophile online who passes off as their peer.

 

I understand every “boliviano” (Bolivian currency) comes handy in this remote area and I do not blame them for ripping tourists off. On the other hand, do they actually need much? I marvel how wonderfully self-sufficient they are. Dishes they eat from made from clay, houses and furniture built with help of the whole community, clothes woven and food grown on the fields. They must laugh at us when we spend fortune on bio food at farmers markets or on a little package of quinoa, their daily dish they eat in kilos, which is now in fashion in Europe on the list of so-called “superfood”.

It’s impossible to say what lifestyle is better or the right one. It is simply different and thanks god for this diversity in the world. And for a chance to travel, witness it and take the best out of it.

Brazil: Sexy nation

In every ranking Brazilians are featured among the top 10 most beautiful people in the world. Fairly. During my stay in Brazil I discovered why. Thanks to their passion, confidence and way of life.

A “paulista” family (from São Paulo), mum, dad and kids, is seated in front of telly, with a soap opera on. A sexy young Brazilian chic on the screen is fed up with her life in the countryside where time stopped, and barely-clad because of the heat with slow cat moves washes sweat and boredom off her body, moaning the futility of life.
One day a stranger appears at the farm, with a caramel-tone skin, piercing eyes and raven-black wavy hair, and the gal’s life turns upside down. She gives him the kind of look with only one possible meaning and without surprise it ends it that way, in a passionate sex scene.

That’s how my stay in Brazil kicked off, a couple of minutes after I met my Brazilian family for the first time. And while I wished to be invisible, the dad did not even look away from his laptop and the girls carried on chatting as if an ad for washing powder was on the screen in front of them. You would not show this before 10pm back home, not mentioning at prime time, but in Brazil I was only witnessing an ordinary evening on a weekday.

Sex versus penance

The spark of sexual energy has followed me all stay long. Necessary to mention that I was in a country with the highest Catholic population in the world. I encountered some funny contradictions:
Sex is openly displayed, but pre-marital intercourse is a big issue. On the street a woman furiously tore off an ad for Tarot reading because a true Catholic shouldn’t descend to such profanity, but she was not wearing much on herself, with a big neckline offering a view into the depth of her “soul”. And on the beach you are banned from sunbathing topless but the bikini style is as if it was allowed, as it reveals more than it covers. Thong leads the way. My friend’s bikini, with a half butt uncovered, was sold in a category of “extra large”, and my shorts-like panties were sticking out like a sore thumb. (Now I understand what my dad must have felt like when he, shortly after the fall of the Communist regime, showed up on a beach in California among surfers in swim-wear long to knees with his Y-fronts popular back then.)

Sexy mix

Every year there are lists released with the most beautiful people in the world, and I guess there hasn’t been a case when Brazilians were missing among the Top 10. I cannot but agree. A subway ride is a pleasure, looking at all the beautiful people getting on and off.

The diversity is particularly impressive. The range of skin tones, hair styles and body shapes. In the 16th century in the period of sugar cane empire slaves from Africa were brought to the country to work on plantations. During the World War I there was a boom of Japanese immigrants, with Brazil being the country with the largest Japanese population outside Japan. When all these start to mingle, as love does not know borders, the results are pretty interesting. Brazilian-Japanese mix is my favourite.

Goddesses of Brazil

An old man, “Carioca”, as the Rio locals are called, resting under the shade of trees along Copacabana beach, started a conversation with me. He was impressed I am an European, not so much with my European appearance, though. With pride he praised the city he was born in, and the sensuality and beauty of Brazilian women. My blond hair and blue eyes didn’t win him over. I do not blame him.

I couldn’t have stopped staring at them either. With their grand boobs and even grander butt, looking like Venuses, they are true embodiment of fertility and femininity. They can have 10kg more than I do, which is nothing difficult here, with all these pasteis, empadas and pleasure in fast food, but still look awesome. They follow the “carpe diem” motto, when they sink their teeth into a hamburger, but with no worries about the calories because it all goes to the right parts of the body to their benefit.
And even if it is a bit over the top, a piece of flab is no biggie and they don’t hesitate to show it off in their sexy outfits. So you see them walking on Copacabana beach with a head up, chest forward, swaying hips and a message in their eyes: “look how beautiful I am”.

Men have their bonus points too. Tanned, dark-eyed, mostly tattooed. Some are well-built, when they spend good enough time rehearsing for World Cup on the beach. However, they have big appetite too and regrettably, compared to women, calories don’t go to preferred body parts in their case.

Go Brazilian
(nothing about shaving!)

Written by a heterosexual woman, you might expect more drools over Brazilian men. Sorry guys, ladies won. They earned all my attention and taught me a lesson too.

Once I am back from my travels, I’ll put some effort into reducing the impact of Brazilian delicatessen on my figure. I am an European so unfortunately the additional meat never goes to the right parts and I have to adapt to local culture where a piece of flab is not that happily celebrated.
However, I want to take a bit of the Brazilian confidence as a souvenir back home, accept and love myself the way I am (quite a challenge, right? It’s not always easy to be friends with a mirror).

So girls, when you walk on the street, walk like a Brazilian. Since the way you see yourself, you will be seen by others in return.
Show the world your inner goddess each of us has inside!

Lyon: Light the Darkness

Winter is not the most warmly welcome season of the year. It’s cold and dark outside and it does not invite much to poke nose out. That’s why it is also a period of light festivals which brighten our lives and hearts even at a winter time. I’ve personal memories of one of the biggest ones: Fête des Lumières in Lyon.

The last October Sunday we are honoured with one more hour of sleep but it is not for free. They steal one hour of light from our day and when I weight the pros and cons, we do not gain much in the end. A person like me who lives off the sunlight and counts down the days until spring comes again, hits the panic button.

Fortunately when a light festival is marked in a calendar, it makes it slightly more bearable. One might ask why it must take place in the cold period of the year when it is mainly an outdoor activity and that’s not what you usually seek to do in winter. However, it makes sense.

If sun sets at 8pm in summer and lets the blush of dusk play on the sky for another two hours, there’s not much time left to appreciate light installations of the artists. Whereas if it gets dark already at 4pm, instead of going to bed, you still have half of the day and the whole night to explore.

As light festivals usually take place before Christmas, the cities are already scented with mulled wine, which with a stall on every step, helps to keep warm even in cold weather and makes the pieces of art look even nicer.

Old tradition

Although light has been celebrated since the year dot and is the core of some of the biggest world festivals such as Diwali or Hanukkah, to a European like me light festival is linked more to a celebration of art, creativity and having a good time.

In most of the European cities they are still quite a new phenomenon (although one of the biggest ones in Berlin in October celebrated the 10^th anniversary this year.) That’s why I was surprised to get the answer on my question what season it was in Lyon. “Well, difficult to say exactly. A couple of hundreds.”

Merci Marie

Fête des Lumières has had time to root deeply in the Lyonnaise culture and become one of the main symbols of the city. It dates back to 1643 when the city was struck by plague and saved by goodwill of Virgin Mary. Showing gratitude by putting sign “Merci Marie” on every corner made me, the same name holder, feel quite welcome on my first visit of Lyon.

Earlier the city shined with candles lit in every window, today on four nights each year between the 6th and 9th December it glows with all colours. Creativity does not know its limits, from projection mapping on the historical monuments to lights flying on the sky, swimming in the water or rotating on the Ferris wheel in one of the biggest squares in Lyon, La Place Bellecour. The highlight is considered to be a to-the-detail-worked-out show projected on the Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon with the light precisely copying every single curve of the facade according to the rhythms of the background music.

Lyon Cathedral

Marie’s highlight

There’s so much offered over the festival that it is impossible to see everything and difficult to judge what piece of art cuts a dash the best. I, personally, had a time of my life dancing in the best club I can wish for – in a garden under the biggest disco ball I’ve ever seen hung on the Basilique de Fourvière.

City view from the Fourvière Hill

Located on the hill, it offers a view of the whole shining city which gives a chance to see all the light projections at your fingertips. Then you can descend back to the buzz of the city through the garden and lose yourself between the shades of the trees. Although the festival is visited by 4 million people every year and some venues are too noisy and overcrowded, here in the garden on the Fourvière hill with the mysterious dim light from the disco ball twinkling on the trunks, you can find a moment of peace just for yourself.

Merci Lyon pour l’expérience!

10 tips to feel HOME ABROAD

Over the past 7 years I’ve lived in 4 countries, 5 cities and 7 different flats. I very well know what it feels like to land in a foreign country where you don’t know anyone and people speak a different language to yours. That’s why I summed my personal experiences up into 10 points which hopefully help you to jump into your new life abroad more quickly and easily.

To build a new home abroad is not a piece of cake. It takes lots of energy and effort and sometimes it is a big struggle. However, it is also a great chance to turn a page in a book of our lives and start a completely new chapter. You get out of routine back home and you can experience again that unique moment when you were a little child and were discovering the world for the first time; when everything was new, exciting and you wanted to explore and try all what it has to offer. So take the advantage and enjoy!

1.  MAKE HOME

The very first phase of finding a place to live in a new country is a Mission on its own. You see plenty of filthy places where you would not move in not even your enemy, let alone yourself, or when it’s nice, it’s for unreasonably high price you cannot afford to pay. When you finally find a place, you enter between empty white walls and shabby furniture and you ask: I should call this home?

A couple of tips:

• Make it cozy  – head to the nearest home decor shop and hang a picture on the wall, put a candle on the table, simply put, convert it from an empty den to a place which is supposed to be inhabited by humans, and the most significantly: by you
• Bring something personal from home – it can be a paperweight you keep as a memory of your grandma, your favourite mug with red dots you are used to drinking coffee from every morning, or only some silly small thing but it makes a great difference when you have things you are emotionally attached to around
• Print out family photos and have them at sight – at the moments when you feel lonely or miserable there is nothing better but to remember that there is someone in the world who loves and cares about you
• Buy a plant – sometimes it’s not so easy to have a pet abroad but when you have a plant in your room, there is something “alive” what shares the space with you and you have something to care about

2. KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

Stroll the streets in your neighbourhood and explore what it offers and what kind of people lives there. Where is the nearest shop to buy groceries and the nearest park to go for a walk? Where does the bus that stops in front of your house take you? Is there a cozy café around which could become your shelter and when you enter the staff asks: ,,the same as always?” When you know the place where you live in, you feel a stronger sense of belonging there.

3. KNOW THE CITY

It does not mean to find an information office, ask for a map and visit the main touristic sights. Spare these for moments when someone comes for a visit, at least you won’t be bored to do it for the hundredth time and it will be something new for you too.

Better leave a map at home and just randomly walk the city. Take a side street instead of the main one. Be curious and peep what is behind the next corner. Look around and pay attention to details.

You might get lost but you will always find your way again at some point and you will be surprised that it is possible to survive without your smartphone. It will teach you to navigate yourself through the city and get an insight more of a local but only a tourist.

4. FIND HOBBIES

It’s important to fill your free time with activities you enjoy doing. Are you used to going to gym three times a week? Did you take a dance class after work? There is no reason not to carry on at your new destination too. Having a blank timetable also gives a chance to try something completely new, typical for the place or a hobby you always wanted to take up but hadn’t found the right moment or a proper course to start.

5. MEET PEOPLE

A new place cannot be enjoyed fully without a good company and friends. There is nothing nicer but sharing all these experiences and impressions from a new place with someone who is on the same wavelength as you are. Be open, smile a lot and be willing to meet new people.

If you are an introvert and loner like me, you can find making new contacts pretty difficult. However, it’s necessary to make some effort.

• Sometimes it’s necessary to get out of your comfort zone and open a conversation. Yes, this means to ask and respond a couple of questions all over again: where are you from? (this one often comes even sooner than the name), what’s your name?, depending if it’s Erasmus, an EU traineeship or other occasion, what do you study? what DG you work for? what’s your job?, where do you live (on campus?) and how do you like the city so far? This small talk can seem pretty shallow and frustrating but you have to start “somehow” and if there is a spark, it can lead to further questions and even a friendship or at least a company to have a beer with.
• At the beginning it’s worth getting over laziness and inhibitions, put the best outfit on and go out even when you better feel like spending the evening wrapped in a blanket with a book. When you stay stuck at home, you will never meet anyone.
• If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to the mountain. Be proactive and make the first step. Sometimes it’s difficult to find your place or have a deeper conversation in a big group. Pick a person who seems to be nice and invite him/her for an event going on in the city. You might feel awkward but it might also pay off. I asked one classmate out in this way once, we spent a wonderful day at a vintage market together and today she is one of the best friends of mine.

6. MEET THE LOCALS

International environment is fascinating and stimulating and it’s exciting to discover what people from other parts of the world are like. However, it’s a shame to stay stuck in an “Erasmus or European bubble” or hang out only with people from your own country. Try to meet people who come from the place which has just become your new home. Not only it will make you understand how things work a bit better, they can also show you some hidden gems and secrets of the city and make you feel more like a local yourself.

• A good way to get in touch with them is through a language exchange, when you speak partly your and partly his/her native language.  It’s mutually beneficial. You improve the language of the new country, they improve a foreign language they learn and by practicing you can have an interesting conversation and become friends. That’s how I personally met locals. Language exchange soon stopped being the case and we started to meet up for concerts and other things to do in our free time…and as a bonus the language practice carried on.
• This might sound silly but online dating also helps meet locals. Through dating you can discover nice bars and venues where to spend a night out as well as various parts of the city. Even if it’s not the best match, you still get something out of it. And if it is a success and you gain a new “friend with benefits”, you can explore many other interesting local habits which other foreigners will never have a chance to discover.

7. LEARN THE LANGUAGE

You don’t have to take classes at a language school or speak like a native speaker but it’s always nice to know at least the basics and be able to order a beer or ask for directions on the street.

Common language opens doors to other people’s souls and no matter your level, locals usually appreciate the effort than when you (in a non-English-speaking country) approach them straight away in English.

8. KNOW THE COUNTRY

Although you mind not find it necessary in your everyday life, it is always useful to know some facts about history, geography, politics, gastronomy or traditions of the country. It brings you closer to the culture and its people, you can get better understanding why is something happening the way it is or what the local people are like. It also strengthens the sense of belonging and makes you feel less like a foreigner.

9. TRAVEL

Don’t stay just at one place. No matter the size of the country, there are always other interesting places to visit. Some regions often greatly differ from the others and show another way of life in the country. Especially if you live in the capital, once you get away to smaller places you will feel like you crossed boarders and landed in a completely different country.

Back home we also tend to know well the city we live in but not as much the others around as we have a feeling that they are within easy reach and we can visit them at any time. Anytime often means never in the end. Sometimes you meet foreigners who have seen far more from your own country than you. Make it different this time and become a weekend tourist in your new homeland.

10. BE YOURSELF

To be in a new country doesn’t mean that you have to completely change your lifestyle (unless you want to) or the way you behave. If you do not party till 6am or get wasted every weekend back home, there’s no need to start doing it at a new place.

There is a favourite phrase ,,what happens on Erasmus stays on Erasmus” and I’ve heard many times someone saying: “I would never do this back home…” I know it’s fun to experiment, get out of routine and enjoy life but I do not see a reason to become someone who I am not.  Wherever I am, I am always the same introvert and loner (sometimes I wish I weren’t), but it is simply me.

To conclude, EMBRACE the new culture and its people, have your MIND and HEART OPEN, MAKE THE MOST of your stay and even when things are not going smoothly, remember that this experience always makes you stronger and ready for life. NEVER LOSE HOPE and do not fotget that no matter in what part of the world you are, we human beings are all the same after all.

5 memories from Rome

I’ve been to Vietnam, Cuba, New York, South Africa or Dubai but for some reason I visited Rome for the first time only this summer. Rome is so talked about that I wanted to save a visit for some special occasion but it’s possible that if I waited for “the one”, I would end up not going at all. So I finally did, on the weekend in August, probably the worst time to visit Rome – because of the heat and number of tourists, and here is how this famous city impressed me, after all.

FOOD

I know this is quite obvious one…but how could you write about Rome and Italy in general without talking about food at all? If you are a woman you know very well the situations when you feel guilty about eating too much or having a dessert after dinner. When you are in Italy, you must feel guilty for different reasons…about not trying all these wonderful dishes Rome has to offer, being it pasta, pizza, coffee, gelato or tiramisu.

Italian cuisine has always been one of my most favourite ones and I regularly cook pasta and go to Italian restaurants, I enjoy it and dare to say that I know Italian cuisine well. And then I visit Italy, try Italian cuisine at the place of its origin and I’ve a feeling that I’ve never eaten it before – so wonderful and different it is.

For me personally it’s all about that simplicity. For example Cacio e Pepe, meaning cheese (Pecorino Romano) and pepper and that’s exactly and only what this Roman pasta dish includes. And you ask how come something so simple can taste so good?

It’s the same story with pizza. In Rome you frequently encounter a so-called white pizza Pizza Bianca. Unlike typical and favourite pizza rosa with a tomato sauce on the top, Bianca wears only a garlic-olive oil-herbs cover but tastes equally good. Toppings include mainly mozzarella cheese and one simple ingredient more and you don’t get why a pizza back home (when it’s not margarita) must contain so many other unnecessarily things when you can be absolutely happy with so little.

To recommend a place to taste Bianca, I would go for Ivo a Trastevere, a buzzing lively local-looking place with a wide offer of pizzas for a good price, situated in my favourite part of the city – Trastevere. While quiet and not particularly appealing on a hot day, at night it gains a completely different feel with full-to-bursting restaurants and bars, street markets and beautiful stone houses overgrown with flowers and plants lit by lanterns…

SUNLIT MONUMENTS

While I started with a food item because that’s what I remember the best (well, I feel a bit guilty, though), it wasn’t the very first impression I got from Rome. The first one was in a crowded bus, gesturing with an older Italian man who was trying to help me find the right stop to get off. I arrived at about sixish, sun was slowly getting down and I was staring at all the gorgeous historical monuments that showed up one by one on my bus journey, bathing in the light of setting sun. That was my first impression and every following day I was looking forward to the evening to experience again this spectacular view.

Gallery Cafe Bar 94 TELE

When you travel to huge and popular cities, there’s a danger of ending up in overpriced touristic venues that give you no understanding of the place although they promise the most traditional experience. So you better contact all your friends who have been to Rome to give you some tips where to go but you know, no one replies.

You walk the streets in an unknown city, stomach rumbling and you peep into one place, to another and you are not really sure if it’s “the right one” to stop for dinner. So you carry on walking a few steps more and suddenly you find it – it looks small, cozy, in comfortable semi-darkness – but full.

And then you realize that there is one room more in the rear. It has a piano, pictures hanging on the wall which you can take with you to keep the memory of that evening, piano stool or theatre seating to sit on and only one table which is only for you – and that is where you spend the first evening and have the first dinner in Rome – at 94 Tele. and in a way you’re happy that you didnt get any tips because these spontaneous moments that turn out great you will always remember.

UNFORGETTABLE MONUMENTS

You hear so much about Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, the Mouth of Truth or Vatican that when you visit Rome, you want to see them with your own eyes. And then you finally see it: Colosseum is packed with tourists and you are nearly boiled to death by shining sun, a beautiful lit Trevi Fountain lost somewhere under scaffolding (but Asian tourists still eagerly take thousands of pictures), for Vatican you have to get up at the crack of dawn not to be trampled down by crowds and at Bocca della Veritá you enjoy five seconds of suspense whether the mouth bites your fingers off or not when it’s finally your turn after an hour of queueing (no, you wont feel like Audrey Hepburn unfortunately).

So when you leave Rome, yes, you will say it’s a beautiful city full of beautiful monuments –  but you will keep a sweet memory of anything else but Colosseum, the Mouth of Truth and so on….

TIBER RIVERBANK

So what are actually the places I do remember? I was particularly impressed by the area by the river Tiber. And it’s probably not very surprising. Just notice that through almost every city flows a river and in almost every city the area by the water is one of the liveliest and the most popular. People have always been attracted to water for some (known, unknown or different) reason.

Although river life is nothing new to me, it felt different in Rome. The first thing that caught my attention was a colour of the water. It’s probably due to the bottom but that fast flow of greenish rapids was nothing similar to slow dirty smelly oil you would expect in big cities (and by which you enjoy hanging out anyway because it’s simply this inexplicable charm of water). To the cleanness of water add also a river bank lined with majestic full-grown plane trees, offering shade on hot days and one venue next to another offering Aperol Spritz or ….that delicious food (you see, I come back to it again, I can’t help it).

Some places seem maybe too posh but there’s such a variety of them that when you walk a bit you must find one where you feel comfy and not out of place – for me it was the one with soft big sofas and outdoor book shelves, for others it could be a water pipe sanctuary, a bar with live music or a table football paradise.

So this was my weekend and memories from Rome and it’s very likely that if you were to share yours, it would be very different. There are so many ways to enjoy this city and so many I’ve still not experienced…but after all, it’s still – Rome.

Omnes viae Romam ducunt.

Truth about Neuschwanstein

Nature or humans (or aliens sometimes) created a couple of extraordinary places in the world you marvel at and you cannot believe that something like that can be found on the Earth. But this extraordinariness is unfortunately often the main reason to better avoid it in the end. If you want to see it with your own eyes, there are thousands of others who will do the same at the same time…

Germany is a country which is still greatly overlooked by tourists. For people from Eastern Europe it is usually that big country they have to cross without choice on their road trips, for people from the West it is not as attractive as Spanish beaches and fiestas, Italian food or French wines and romance. Not many people know how cool Germany can be and how much it has to offer. However, there is still one place every tourist has to tick off on a travel list: the Neuschwanstein Castle.

They call it the 8^th wonder of the world. When the king Ludwig II of Bavaria built this picturesque kitschy princess castle in the late 19^th century in a still life of majestic green mountains and crystal clear waterfalls with panoramic views, there is no doubt that the 8^th world wonder was born.

World wonder, isn’t it?

Do you marvel?

Today it is still the same castle in the same breathtaking surrounding but with 61million visitors altogether and 6000 visitors on a single day! And yes, you truly wonder: how come so many people can fit to one tiny bridge without collapsing into the crystal clear waterfall under you?

The problem of Neuschwanstein is that you can enjoy the spectacular view mainly from one point and that is from the Mary’s Bridge. If the tourists were dispersed all around the castle, there would still be too many of them but at least they would not be packed at one single place.

In this case you just step on the bridge, you shoot a glance at the castle, you make a picture together with a couple of Asian tourists on it, you find the quickest way to get out of the bridge and your long-awaited Neuschwanstein trip is finished, you can tick it off as a mission completed.

What you will also see…

What a view!

So is it worth a visit?

I am not here to tell you…someone tells you “definitely”, others “no way” and I say: yes, it is really beautiful, but … (and I was prepared it would be touristy!) It is just that you won’t see anything else or nicer to what you already well know from the famous photoshoped postcards.

If you still decide to go, here are some pieces of advice: take a parachute with you. There were almost as many skydivers as tourists but they make these lovely colorful dots on the blue sky, they glide in between  the mountains, they can nearly touch a tower of the castle and I bet that when you visit Neuschwanstein in this way, you can truly say: I’ve seen the 8^th wonder of the world.

What a view!

If you are not a skydiver, head to a little town Füssen situated 5km from the castle, sit in one of many sweet shops (there is one next to another) and order the biggest ice-cream sundae they have (the menu is so wide that you don’t know which one to choose and even though you love the one you have, you end up being jealous of your partner’s and also neighbour’s one because they all look simply amazing).

In this way you will complete your Neuschwanstein trip with a happy smile on your face saying it was a truly amazing experience, definitely worth it.

A happy tourist

Restaurant that changes lives

„Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime” is a Chinese proverb that inspired a Vietnamese-Korean, Jimmy Pham from Australia. However, for Jimmy this wasn’t enough.

He decided to teach not only to fish but also to build own fish shops. And that’s how KOTO started. KOTO stands for “Know One, Teach One” and it is a non-profit organisation and a restaurant in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

When you come to a KOTO restaurant, you are embraced with a friendly atmosphere. Colourful walls with photos of smiling Jimmy and his ‘KOTO family’ look cheerful and modern design and the service give it an international feel. KOTO customers are treated with a wide range of traditional Vietnamese dishes and fusion cuisine and the staff speak to you in fluent English.

Some might seem a bit shy but they are friendly and act professionally. You would never guess that a young waitress that offers you an English menu might be an orphan who grew up in very poor conditions and as a kid used to live and work on the streets.

with Mai at KOTO restaurant

Story of Mai

One of them is also 17-years old Mai. Mai has six siblings and from the age of 6 she was selling chewing gum to support her family. She worked on busy streets of Hanoi from 7pm to 5am, often was harassed or chased by police. For all this trouble she earned about £1 a day. Still it was worth it.

 “Every little bit helped. When the weather was bad and we couldn’t work, everyone went hungry.”

Mai’s father was a panhandler and sometimes he took Mai with him to beg for money. But later he fell very ill and he died. “We could afford only a coffin, not even a meal at the funeral”, Mai remembers the sad times.

But the hardship did not come to its end for Mai and her family. One day Mai’s mother collapsed at work and they found out she had a late-stage kidney failure. Mai’s mother sought treatment while the rest of the family worked to support her. When Mai didn’t work, she took her to the hospital on her bicycle. But in the end they refused to treat her.

Mai today

It was at the time when Mai had already started studying at KOTO. She was working hard to be accepted and it made her very happy she made it into KOTO. However, she had to face a difficult dilemma whether she should carry on and pursue her dream while her mother was so sick.

 “But she told me that if I had the opportunity I had to grab it, so she could die in peace knowing that we will have brighter futures and wouldn’t have to live miserably from day to day as she did.”

When her mother was hospitalized, Mai didn’t know about it. They didn’t call her, since she was busy with her studies at KOTO.  When she came back, she had already passed away.

 “No last words, she passed quite peacefully.”

While listening to Mai’s story makes you cry, she talks with calm. She is close to tears but her voice is firm and you feel the immense strength coming out of her.

 “Since I couldn’t bring my mother back, I decided to study even harder and make her even prouder.”

And that’s how Mai’s life journey at KOTO kicked off.

 Facing a challenge

Over the course of two years, KOTO trains their students in hospitality. They take cooking or front of house classes, learn English, and they are also taught skills “for life” so that they were good citizens and were able to improve their lives as well as the lives of those around them.

cooking class at KOTO

“We teach them how to give back and become a good person, be proud of who they are, be proud of being Vietnamese, and these values we install in them together with the vocational training is holistic” says Jimmy Pham, a KOTO founder.

Studying at KOTO is far from being a piece of cake. Trainees have to not only learn things they have never done before but also adopt a completely different way of life. From a chaotic and rough world of the streets they come to the environment where they have to follow rules and live up to other people’s expectations.

 “When I first came here, I was very gangster-like. I didn’t want to listen to anyone. I was punished so many times and it made me really angry”.

Vietnamese cuisine

 Through food to a brighter future

The reason why KOTO operates in a hospitality industry also has its symbolic meaning. In Vietnam food is a core of Vietnamese culture and food brings family together. And that’s Jimmy’s plan: to build a family.

When you visit KOTO, you truly feel like at home. You see that trainees are not only class-mates for each other and trainers only teachers for their students. They joke together, share things and experience, and anyone who lags behind, everyone will help to pick him up again.

with KOTO trainees at their residence

„They are not only students, they are my friends. You get extra 120 little friends and that’s something you cannot buy,” laughs a kitchen trainer Kiet Van Pohl , who helps at KOTO as a volunteer and gives cooking classes.

When trainees graduate from KOTO, they are fully equipped to enter real life and find a job, being it in a restaurant, a bar, a hotel or travel agency. KOTO boasts stories when their graduates were employed in five star hotels with the highest standard of service in Vietnam, or set up their own businesses.

“When I was little I always wished for a perfect family. Now I want to become a chef so that I can help my brothers and sisters,” Mai wishes.

But whether trainees succeed depends only on their own will, determination, courage to dream big and belief that their dreams can come true. 

Documentary film about KOTO can be viewed at:

RISING HOPE: a documentary

Last year I was lucky enough that 1. I met one of the best friends of mine, originally from Vietnam, 2. I received a grant from a non-profit organisation One World Media, which supports young journalists to cover stories from  the unreported world. Which country I would go to was quite clear then. The documentary film “Rising Hope” below is the result of my adventures in Vietnam. 

Through this post I would like to thank to my friend Duong Tran,One World Media and KOTO (the organisation the documentary is about) for giving me this unforgettable life experience. The film could never be done without you. You gave me a precious one month when I had a chance to become a part of this incredible culture, meet its friendly people and learn a lot about life.

And I have to give my special thanks to Mai and Trung, heroes of my film, for being so welcoming and open, and for sharing their strong life stories with me. Every filmmaker is proud when he gets emotions into his work and makes the character shed a tear. In this case it was me who cried when I listened to their stories. They truly inspired me, made me grateful for what I have in my life and gave me courage to carry on even when times are not the easiest.

Cảm ơn! 

Vietnam: Market Wonders

I started describing my impressions from Vietnam according to my senses. When it comes to Asian markets, I would have to use all. It attacks your nose, tastebuds, ears….yet I decided to devote this post to sight because my eyes marveled the most – at all the colours, variety and amount of products. I think in this post not many words are necessary. Pictures don’t say it all, though they say it the best. 

SIGHT

Vietnam 

 

Would you know what to buy?

Silk: pride of the nation

How to get an European butt…why don’t we sell the Asian one?

Bit creepy, isn’t it?

Shoe street….you cannot buy in this street anything else but…shoes

 

Poor Cinderella

Some like it hot

Paradise for vegetarians

It all look like one thing: “leaves” but all have a very particular taste

Onion and garlic and garlic and onion

How Vietnamese cook

Meat

Meat again

Meat …third time lucky

Will you find the vendor among all the products?

Women you simply fall for

…in this case you fall for the coconut

whatever you buy, you must share

Thailand 

Floating market 

Markets do not limit themselves only to the ground … they are also floating on the water and move from one selling spot to another. 

Go bananas!

Traffic

Women work, sell, bargain…

…men….

Kitchen and restaurant on the waves

In the end it’s all about eating

Woman with W

Mangos with M

Railway market 

When a floating market is not enough, there must be something even more special…

At the beginning it all looks like an ordinary market

Then you realise that it stands on the track

Attention, train is about to depart

When it passes, everything goes back to normal

Asian markets will never stop to suprise me…

…I will never stop to wonder.

Blog posts on Street Life in Hanoi through senses Hearing and Smell&Taste 

Street Life in Hanoi II

The stimulation of senses by Hanoian streets continues… 

TASTE & SMELL

…and what else can stimulate these too but Vietnamese food? 

Vietnam is a food paradise and one post would not be enough to cover everything from Pho, spring rolls to papaya salad… Although my taste-buds were celebrating, as a vegetarian I would not be able to give you a well-balanced report. Therefore I will tackle a slightly different subject and that’s how Vietnamese people prepare and consume their delicious dishes.

Again it’s about streets. I thought I knew what street food is like even before coming to Vietnam. I’ve tried some for example in Camden Town in London with one little stand next to another, with Spanish paella served in one and a kangaroo burger in the second…. Well, only Vietnam showed me what “street food” actually means and this is not to say that I expected to eat a kangaroo burger in Hanoi.

In Hanoi there are not even any stands, the only thing that is needed to put their culinary skills into practice is: a street. When a Vietnamese woman cooks, she sits on the doorsill, lays a cutting board on the pavement, starts cutting pieces of raw meat and puts them into a massive steaming pot standing on the ground in front of her house. So this is “street” food – literally.

And in the same way it is also consumed. In Hanoi you have a feeling that there are many kindergartens (and it would make sense with such a high number of cute Vietnamese children around) because you see tiny colourful stools, mainly red and blue (blue for little boys and red for little girls of course) simply everywhere.

But there’s something weird about it when you realize that creatures sitting on them are not those cute kids but Vietnamese blokes sipping beer. (Maybe even more surprising than this is that these little stools are not disposable and when men get up, they still keep in one piece and welcome another butt).

In Vietnam food is linked to many values and food brings people together. That’s why sharing is the best way to enjoy Vietnamese food and try as many dishes as you can. This is how it works: you meet up, nestle on one of the tiny seats, and on a desk in front of you start appearing little (but many) bowls full of different local delicatessen. With chopsticks in one hand and a glass of Tiger in another – Mot, hai, ba, YO (Cheers!), party can begin!

If you don’t have enough time, it’s not a problem at all and street food can be combined also with fast food. Hanoian streets abound with street vendors who you recognize easily with their typical Vietnamese hats on and colorful juicy fruit in baskets on their shoulders. Some are not only vendors but rather walking restaurants.

When you spot them and you feel like the meal they offer (often they have the name of a meal recorded and play it through a loudspeaker), you can stop them and they prepare the meal in a sec just in front of you. They carry with them all the equipment, including those little seats so even when it’s fast food you can enjoy in all comfort…of the streets.

For Vietnamese people streets are simply the centre of any activity, place where people work, eat, socialize…and I am not surprised. There’s so much going on! You don’t even have to go to the cinema because what you see on the screen of a buzzing street of Hanoi you may not have seen in any movie.

Blog posts on Street Life in Hanoi through senses Hearing and Sight