Sarah Toller, February 7, 1977 - June 12, 2007

This blog entry is dedicated to Sarah Toller who was a funny, strong woman who have been diagnosed with malignant melanoma. After many rounds of oncology treatments, she has passed away on June 12th with her loving husband and her mother at her side. I have found her blog website from the online medical community I often read and it tells about her fighting spirit since her first diagnostic until the very end.

Please join me in wishing Sarah and her loving husband Derek all of your thoughts and prayers.

I hope God is looking after you where ever you are...

Note: Please, wear sunscreen. Don't tan. If you notice a suspicious mole, see your doctor. If there is any suspicion, get the mole removed. It's the only way to know for certain.

Cruising around Hanoi

Upon my arrival in Hanoi, I was greeted by my wonderful Moony who I have not seen for over two months. We have kept in touch over email, internet phone and finally resorting to Skype as I have figured out how to pay with my credit card online. (Sounds weird for an IT guy with over 12 years of experience on computers)

I spent my first weekend finishing up preparing Moon's Student Visa Application for Canada and at the same time catching up with old friends from the school I used to work at. I have realized that I have arrived at a sensitive time as most of the teachers were suffering from end of year stress and they are seriously ready to leave Vietnam for their annual holidays back home in their own countries. I was also happy enough to see my closest friends who came to my farewell party in April and was more than happy to be at their farewell parties for the last few days. Some of them got new jobs in other countries, and some of them are heading back to home for good and one of them is planning his Hollywood movie script writing career on the beaches of Mexico.

My plan at this time, will be a waiting game for Moon's visa which I expect will take approximately one month and then both of us will be planning to head to Calgary to start our new chapter in our lives. She will be studying at Mount Royal College towards an education degree and I will be heading back to work in the hot Calgary Oil and Gas / IT economy. I also have plans to get back into the Volleyball action with the men's league on Thursday nights so of course there is lots of "getting back into shape" is required as the beer in Germany has made a little bit of a hill on my stomach :)

Enroute to Singapore & Hanoi

Finally after getting comfortable in Seat 62K (yes at the back of the frigging huge Beoing 747 airplane), I felt relieved that my European tour was over. Over two months of travels through 8 countries with one backpack, camera bag, money belt (A special pocket that I will never tell anyone), best friend since high school, it was time to head back to my second home in the northern city of Hanoi, Vietnam. On a 12 hour flight to Singapore and a 3 hour flight to Hanoi, there is lots of time to reflect on the last few months.

It has been a mind blowing event of my life and I am very grateful that I did this with Andy as it was an old high school promise I made with him. Ever since I have left Canada full time three years ago, I cannot express in words or emotions how much traveling has change my perspective and thoughts about life and most important how and why people live differently no matter what part of the earth you live on. Of course there are many similar things such as greetings, eating, watching football (I kid you not!) and sleeping however every country has a different set of cultural norms, a different set of daily etiquette, a different set of human-to-human interactions that we often find challenges our own mental well being and how we were raised.

I am happy that I managed to update the Passionate Traveler's blogsite as much as I can and in addition take many photographs of the places I went to however I realized that when I sit back and look at everything from the big picture, I wish I have found myself searching for more thirst of deep cultural exchanges and human interactions. I knew this was not possible unless I decided to stay in Europe for a longer period of time as it would facilitate the environment in which I can experience more of the cultures and it's long standing history. Two months backpacking through 8 countries has provided me with lots of stories and experiences however if I wanted to see more of it, I will have to come back and pick up where I left.

For those who don't know, I have quit my more than stressful IT management job from the United Nations International School of Hanoi before this trip as I managed to separate my feelings about my professional career to my personal well being. I was physically sick on a weekly basis and also mentally unstable as I was often caught between providing a strong IT support service for teachers & students and at the same time fighting against the evident bureaucracy of upper management who shown little support. Reflecting on these life events, I realized that they are only chapters of my life and it was time to close the chapter and start a new one. I got the professional experience I need and I know when I return back to Canada, I can continue my ambitions with influential events from my past. Taking this two month trip in Europe was perfect for me to gain back the energy and the mental stability that I have lost and now I can go back to those relationships I care deeply for and start a new chapter in my life.

Morning train to Frankfurt

Getting no sleep last night perhaps due to my newly excitement of leaving Europe and heading to Asia, I painfully had to get up early in the morning at 5:30 in order to catch my high speed train from Munich to Frankfurt.

I gave Andy and big hug and whispered some advice into his ear making sure he knows how serious my concerns about Africa were and told him to enjoy the new adventures that lies ahead.

As part of our traveling europe package, I used the last day of our 10-day western euro-rail pass to take the first training leaving Munich at 6:47 am in the morning and arriving at the Frankfurt International airport 3 hours later. This was not a problem for me as my flight to Singapore was at 12:30 pm allowing me some time to look around before boarding the 747 aircraft.

I was very surprised that I could plan this morning trip from the bottom of Germany and be able to make a flight in the north. This is what I wish Canada and USA would do as I give lots of credit towards the Europeans for their excellent planning and infrastructure of the train network.

Munich, Germany

Knowing that I will be leaving from Frankfurt to Hanoi the next morning, Andy and I decided that we would have our last meal together in a friendly Bavarian style restaurant in downtown Munich. The lively atmosphere / ambience with the huge wooden curved tables and 10 people sized benches certainly met our expectations of what this town would be like during the famous "oktoberfest" event. We both could see where millions of liters of local beer everywhere with big breasted women serving big jugs to thirsty locals and foreigners making this town a must do when touring Europe.

We both had a liter of beer each being greeted by a huge locally made traditional barbarian style dinner and we of us talked into the late night before heading back to the hostel a few blocks away. I knew this was an important night for both of us as our friendship of many years was still strong in our hearts. We certainly got a chance to talk about many things about life, and how much we enjoyed the European tour that we both made a promise to do.

The Sound of Music

After our wonderful day trip to Hitler's Eagle's nest, we took the 1 hour train back to Salzburg which where our Hostel was. North of Berchtesgaden and 150 KM east of Munich, Germany, Salzburg is home to a few main attractions, such as the birthplace and residence of Mozart, Festung Hohensalzburg Castle and numerous places around town used for the famous film "The Sound of Music".

We did not spend much time with the local attractions because both Andy and I needed to prepare to go our separate ways as our 2007 European trip is coming to an end. Andy wants to pursue a deeper cultural shocking experience by going to Africa and I need to head back to Hanoi, Vietnam to see my girlfriend and to help her with the remains of her Canadian Student Visa Application.


Funny, most of our euro dollars were spent on quickly made kabobs and surfing in the Internet cafe as most of the preparation works required access to airline websites, online banking, emails, and using skype to contact the people we needed to contact. Later, at night we would go and check out the local breweries and tried various German-Austrian local made beer and eat bratwurst or Currywurst dinners before heading to bed.

Hitler's Birthday Present

After our wonderful cultural exchange with Roland's family in the Austrian Alps, Andy and I finally reached one of the places that we wanted to go during our European travels. Berchtesgaden being the home of Adolf Hitler's famous Eagle's nest was a place for the Third Reich leaders for their retreats away from any of the WWII events. Eagle's nest was built by the Nazi party as a 50th birthday present for Adolf in 1939 at the top of the mountain overlooking Berchtesgaden. The views themselves shows endless opportunities to see the larger than life landscapes, clouds, rain, sunshine, and of course breathing the fresh air that the Bavarian mountains have to offer.

The Kehlsteinhaus also known as Hitler's Tea House or the Eagle's Nest, is a chalet-style building, which used to be an extension of the Obersalzberg complex built by the Nazi's in the German Alps near Berchtesgaden.

The Kehlsteinhaus was built as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler. The Eagle's Nest was meant to be a retreat for Hitler and a place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries. It was commissioned by Martin Bormann, with construction proceeding over a 13-month period prior to its formal presentation to Hitler in 1939. It is situated on a ridge at the top of the Kehlstein mountain (1835 m), reached by a spectacular 6.5 km (3.9 mile) road which cost 30 million Reichsmark to build (~ 150 million euros). The last 124 metres up to the Kehlsteinhaus are served by an elevator bored inside the mountain, reached via a granite tunnel; the elevator itself is surfaced with polished brass. The main reception room is dominated by a fireplace of red Italian marble, presented by Mussolini. Much of the furniture was designed by Paul Laszlo.

Although the site is on the same mountain as the Berghof, Hitler rarely visited the property. It has been suggested he only visited the Kehlsteinhaus around 10 times, and most times for no more than 30 minutes. It was perhaps because of this lack of close association with Hitler, the property was saved from demolition at the end of the war. It was subsequently used by the Allies as a military command post until 1960, when it was handed back to the State of Bavaria.

Source: Wikipedia

Click here to view the Passionate Traveler's photos in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

A weekend of memories...

After visiting the Austrian capital of Vienna, Andy and I have made promises to visit our police officer friend Roland in the southern region of Villach. Villach is a mountainous town like Canmore, Alberta residing at the base of many of Austria's Bavarian mountains. Roland has gotten a day off from his work on Friday and we have plans to meet him at the local train station from our morning long journey through the whole country and then into Bavaria. We have spent the day catching up and then eventually drove north to see his sister and his parents who live in the hills in a traditional style Austrian Bavarian house.

Their family were excited to meet us and have given us a place to sleep for the weekend. Over the course of the next few days, we had many exciting things to see such as climbing a couple of mountains, taking a tour on the diagonal mountain train which later took us through 1.5 km into a mountain resembling a hotel-cafe mountain house up high on the plateau. This was indeed a fresh air quiet beautiful area in which the three of us had lunch and celebrated peace and great friendships.

Another day we had a chance to take an elevator up on a very high communication tower which lets people see the whole region and the towns / farmland / mountains the filled the valley views. It certainly felt like it was being on the top of the world. Later after suffering from mild reddish sunburns, we found a nice spot on the beach of a huge lake which provided a refreshing swim and a chance to show off from the swimming diving board into the lake.

Roland's family was great as his mother and father provided us with home cook meals with lots of local food such as cheese and sausage meat. We even had the chance to walk and drive around checking out the marvelous landscapes that made Villach a lively beautiful Bavarian place to live.

It was sure a great weekend of memories and I will never forget the times I have spent with everyone there and got a chance to know them on a personal level. I hope one day that I will have free time to visit everyone again.

Click here to view the pictures from Villach and the southern region of Austria...

Street Food in Vietnam

I have found an interesting comment on the social website facebook with respect to the street food which makes one of biggest Vietnam's charms to the world.

Sadly enough I heard through the social website that all the street food vendors in Hoi An have been eliminated and the other cities are expected to follow:

Health Ministry to get tough on food hygiene

08/06/2007 -- 8:35 PM

Ha Noi (VNA) – The Health Ministry (MoH) is planning a nation-wide crack down on food safety violators and the building of standards for food hygiene in general, said a Health Ministry official.

At the top of the list of a new MoH plan is a public awareness campaign on food safety, to be followed by a system to manage food hygiene, a programme to analyse the risks of food pollution, a system to examine food poisoning and food transmitted diseases, a greater number of food inspections and the doling out of stricter punishments to violators.

The country's medical sector is also expected to become a major contributor to the initiative by boosting scientific research and application of hygiene standards in the area.

The new directives come hard on the heels of the recent detection of carcinogenic found in brands of soy sauce sold in markets across the country.

The culture of Vienna

Our next stop after Budapest was the lovely cultural capital city of Vienna, Austria. Vienna for many years has been known for it's art and architecture. Andy and I took a local street bike tour around the tourist aspect of the city visiting many landmarks and famous monuments of Mozart and Strausse. During one day we spent a whole day and visited the Museum of Technology which was the home of well known inventions and gadgets throughout history. The coolest gadget that should be noted here was the hearing aid collection showing from previous decades. There was one hearing aid that I should have gotten was the one that was located in a suitcase and the cables ran outside of the box to the ears. Can anyone picture me with this?

Click here to view the Passionate Traveler's photos from the city of Vienna...

For those who don't know much about the city of Vienna, here is a description from Wikipedia:

Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, including theatre, opera, classical music and fine arts. The Burgtheater is considered one of the best theatres in the German-speaking world alongside its branch, the Akademietheater. The Volkstheater Wien and the Theater in der Josefstadt also enjoy good reputations. There is also a multitude of smaller theatres, in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts, such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret.

Vienna is also home to a number of opera houses, including the Staatsoper and the Volksoper, the latter being devoted to the typical Viennese operetta. Classical concerts are performed at well known venues such as the Wiener Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Wiener Konzerthaus. Many concert venues offer concerts aimed at tourists, featuring popular highlights of Viennese music (particularly the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss).

In recent years, the Theater an der Wien has become widely known for hosting premieres of musicals, although it has recently devoted itself to the opera again. The most successful musical by far was "Elisabeth", which was later translated into several other languages and performed all over the world. The Haus der Musik ("house of music") opened in 2000.

Many Roman Catholic churches in central Vienna also feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung with classical music and organ.

A variety of architectural styles can be found in Vienna, such as the Romanesque Ruprechtskirche and the Baroque Karlskirche. Styles range from classicist buildings to modern architecture. Art Nouveau left many architectural traces in Vienna. The Secession, Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station, and the Kirche am Steinhof by Otto Wagner rank among the best known examples of Art Nouveau in the world.

The Hundertwasserhaus by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, designed to counter the clinical look of modern architecture, is one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions. Another example of unique architecture is the Wotrubakirche by sculptor Fritz Wotruba.

In the 1990s, a number of quarters were adapted and extensive building projects were implemented in the areas around Donaustadt (north of the Danube) and Wienerberg (in southern Vienna). The 202 m-high Millennium Tower located at Handelskai is the highest building in Vienna[citation needed]. In recent years, Vienna has seen numerous architecture projects completed which combine modern architectural elements with old buildings, such as the remodelling and revitalisation of the old Gasometer in 2001.

Most buildings in Vienna are relatively low; there are currently (early 2006) around 100 buildings higher than 40 m. The number of high-rise buildings is kept low by building legislation aimed at preserving green areas and districts designated as world cultural heritage. Strong rules apply to the planning, authorisation and construction of high-rise buildings. Consequently, much of the inner city is a high-rise free zone.

Source: Wikipedia

Communist Terrors

One of the reasons why Andy and I choose to see Budapest was that the city was under Soviet Communist occupation for numerous years before it broke down into today's democratic rule. As both of us have been born, raised and lived in a democratic country, it was important and carious for us to see the other side of the political spectrum.

There were two famous places within the town that both domestic people and international tourist can visit to remind themselves the horrors and terrors that the Soviet regime did for many years.

House of Terror is a museum located at Andrassy ut 60 in Budapest, Hungary. It contains exhibits related to the two dictatorial regimes in 20th century Hungary, fascism and communism. It is also a memorial to the victims of these regimes, including those detained, interrogated, tortured or even killed in the building.

With regard to communism and fascism, the exhibition contains material on the nation's relationships to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It also contains exhibits related to Hungarian organisations such as the fascist Arrow Cross Party and the communist ÁVH (which is similar to the KGB in the Soviet Union). Part of the exhibition takes visitors to the basement, where they can see examples of the cells that the ÁVH used to break the will of their prisoners.

Much of the information and the exhibits is in Hungarian, although each room has an extensive information sheet in both English and Hungarian. Audio guides in English and German are also available.

The background music to the exhibition was composed by Ákos Kovács. The scoring includes the work of a string orchestra, special stereophonic mixes, and sound effects.

Source: Wikipedia

The last place that we went to was the Lenin Statue park which was located just outside of the City (go figure) and hosted numerous figures & Communist monuments dating back to the Lenin era. Click here to view the Passionate Traveler's photos at the statue park...

Relaxing in Budapest

Taking the overnight train from Praha to Budapest was fairly quick as Andy and myself were quite tired from the friction and travel tension we experienced on the last day in Czech Republik. Arriving at 8:00 am at the main central station was the perfect time as we were caught in the lively morning traffic of locals heading into work and watching them buy their fresh pastry and coffee on the way. Surprisenly, the metro system in this old communist occupied Budapest was quite efficient and was easy to follow all the way to the hostel.

We stayed at the Green Bridge hostel (ja... next to a Green Bridge!) which was one of the only hostels that we stayed at did not use bunk beds. This certainly gave the perception that we were sleeping and socializing in such high ceiling rooms.

This was the only place on my European circuit that we got a chance to watch new DVD movies on such comfortable pillowed couches with butter popcorn and drank the local brewed beer. There was about 7-8 guys from different countries and we all watched Sin City and the first movie of the Matrix series. It was an awesome kick ass night as it was the only "guys night" we both participated in and that any women who was there or tried to talk with us got shut out very fast!!! It was quite hilarious because half way through the movie, a Canadian woman from Toronto wanted to hang out and drink with one of the guys from England at the end of the couch. She started talking "What sup, how was your day today?" and immediately, the guy grabbed the remote control from the table, pressed "mute" and told the girl to "shut up" and said to her that this is a guy's night only "so bugger off"!!

After she left the room, all of us laugh so hard and continued to watch the gruesome and stomach twisting Sin City which most of us never seen before.

The next day, we did a little walking tour and visited Europe's biggest Jewish Synagogue which was a few minutes away from the hostel. It was a nice building with lots of artifacts and history but the main chamber hall was the most breathtaking spiritual and religious Jewish place I ever been in. It was also my first time wearing the Jewish Yamuka (Spelling?) as it was part of the traditions for all men who are entering the Synagogue.

Other activities such as a rented bike tour (with a fellow Canadian from London, Ontario who is currently studying for his Master's in Philosophy) and visited many landmarks throughout the city. One cool unexpected event was watching a local river moving company moving a frigging huge concrete industrial component up the Danube river. The whole process took 4 tugboats and a crew of more than 100 workers to move this large part through the center of Budapest. During one hot afternoon, the three of us found a cool and refreshing water park in which we just relaxed, swim and drank the local beer until all of us turned into baked red Canadian potatoes.

Click here to view the Passionate Traveler's Photos from the city of Budapest...