Back to Hanoi ... and heading HOME! - April 27th, 2006

We reached Hanoi at about 5:30am this morning with an extra bag of "stuff" (the blankets and things that we bought in Sapa!) and since we couldn't check in we dropped off our bags at our hotel (waking up the long-suffering night receptionist who sleeps on a mat in the foyer!) and went for another walk around the lake. 

We rang Malaysian Airlines to confirm our ticket and the lady there said that the times of our connecting flight from KL to Perth had changed - so instead of leaving on Thursday - we now have to leave tomorrow at 2.40pm instead and the airline is putting us up overnight in KL. The boys are hoping that it's at a hotel in the centre of town because they love the shops there! So that's rushed things at this end a bit and we'll miss out on some of the more touristy things we'd planned for tomorrow. But we have walked the streets of the Old Quarter and can truly say that we have experienced Hanoi. So no regrets. 

We'd planned to go to the circus (russian trained so should be good we figured) this evening but found out that it's only run Wed - Sat. So were disappointed and instead dragged ourselves out to tea to a hamburger place that we'd promised the boys we'd go to before leaving VN (I know.... hamburgers in Vietnam - shame on us!). We sat on the balcony which overlooked the lake and much to our surprise the circus started performing their acts (just the aerial, acrobatics, magic and a variety of balancing and juggling acts - nothing exciting like the animal acts!) on a stage set up in front of us. BONUS!!! 

You see there's this huge conference on (People's Committee or some such - forget the name) and the flag (both VN and the hammer and sickle) are flying high off every building and all along the streets alongside enormous communist banners which line every main street. So there have been regular performances on these temporary stages set up at every cross roads around the lake (last week we watched choirs singing). So instead of going to the circus the circus came to us! 

It's with a sad heart we leave VN but we feel that we'd like to visit again. We've met the most amazing people and would like to visit again if possible.  

So... talk to you all when we're back home..... which probably means silence from Shamara unless you take the time to write to me.... sigh.... 

In the hills of Sapa - April 23rd, 2006

We're in the beautiful town of Sapa. The town is nestled partway down a valley surrounded by cloud covered mountains. Cascading rice terraces hug the sides of the mountains in every direction you look creating a patchwork quilt of every shade of green and brown. Rice, corn and sweet potato is grown on the curved terraces (where in past years opium was grown). It blows me away to think of the original hard work put in by the tribes people people who dug out those terraces on the steep hillsides. Now their families work hard, backbreakingly to produce food for themselves with a little left over to sell. We watched them use handplows with buffalos or shovels (like the SL mammatys), bent over in two in mud upto their knees preparing the ground for the seed. An amazingly hardworking lot. 

There's a mind-boggling variety of tribes in this area - the Black H'mong, Red Dzao, Zhai, Red H'mong and the Flower H'mong as well as the black Thais. They dress in black with beautifully coloured embroidery all over and it's usually the headdresses (amazing variety of scarves and hatlike things) that tell them apart. 

The women in these tribes not only work the farms alongside their men but they do the most exquisite embroidery which they have for the last 20 years been selling to tourists. Blankets, clothes, wall hangings, purses you name it they'll pull it out of their baskets and bags! They dye hemp black and then embroider patches of it then patchwork it with beautifully dyed pieces of blues, greens and yellows and create these gorgeous pieces of work. 

A common sight is an enormous group of Black H'mong women and children surrounding a hapless tourist yelling out "you buy from me"! 

I tried to explain to a group yesterday that I really can't buy from EVERY SINGLE person I meet! They just keep repeating "you buy something from me"!! They are so good-natured about it though - a gorgeous people, especially the very regal Red Dzao - that you tend to end up buying something. I have already purchased 3 bedspreads (at about $20 each!), handbags, mobile phone holders, cushion covers!! Sigh.... another bag needs to be purchased! Glad that we leave soon so we don't have to cart it all around with us! 

Their english is very very good - all learnt over the past 20 years from tourists! So they can't read or write it but the kids especially - the most beautiful young girls of about 8 - 14 - speak it very well! 

We've been on two treks - the first was about 7kms and took about 3 hours with a stop for lunch. The other was a full day trek about 17kms following very rural tracks that followed the edge of the rice paddies, through forested areas, past the doorsteps of tribal people's homes, across rivers and waterfalls! amazing, breathtaking scenery. 

Watching the people go about their daily business was humbling in a way. The children work hard too - tending the buffaloes, driving the ducks to water, carrying their younger siblings on their backs in slings and the girls learn the embroidery from their mothers. The girls marry at 14 so there's not much schooling as it's more important for them to learn skills from their mothers prior to their marriage. The men sometimes get hooked on the opium and beat up their wives using up all their earned money on their habit. It's a sad life but there's not much we can do. The United Nations money tends to find it's way into the pockets of the bigshots in the cities. 

We've been lucky with the weather too. The first day the clouds, deep in the valley and shrouding the hills, put on a show for us as we had breakfast. then the next day the sun was shining and the views were magnificent as we trekked - hot - but it was worth every second, and every ache and pain! 

We leave Sapa on the night train today... and it will be sad to go...

Magical magical Halong Bay! - April 20th, 2006

We've just had a gorgeous experience over the last couple of days. We visited Halong Bay. Imagine a landscape of over 2000 small limestone islets rising about 200m out of the greenyblue waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, shrouded in mist and you have a picture of the magical mystical experience we just had! It is undoubtedly the top natural wonder of Vietnam - also a World heritage site. 

There were 11 of us on a 16 person brand new chinese-like junk - pure LUXURY! Two days and one night cruising between the islets, seafood aplenty on the menu, gorgeous little berths, lovely little ensuites - so no sharing  (remind me to tell you about some of my toilet experiences here in VN another time!!), and just sitting around relaxing, admiring the view and swimming.... just bliss! 

We were very lucky with the weather - it had rained constantly the day before but the sun shone just as we approached the boat (3.5 hours drive east of Hanoi). There was just enough mist to give it a mystical feel. 

Halong translates as "where the dragon descends into the sea". Legend has it that the islands were created by a dragon that livd in the mountains. As it ran towards the coast it's tail gouged out valleys and crevasses; as it plunged into the sea the areas dug up by the tail became filled with water leaving only the high land visible. 

We got back to bustling Hanoi (a bit of a shock after all the quiet of the sea) about 2 hours ago and have to kill time before we get on a train to Sapa (the hill area where we hope to trek to some of the tribal villages) at 9pm. 

The ancient capital of Hue - April 16th, 2006

Yesterday we drove through the breathtaking scenery of HaiVan Pass to get here
and as soon as we crossed over it started raining so we couldn't really do what
we planned and visit the old Citadel last afternoon. A real contrast to the
stinking hot weather we hit in Hoi An. 
Perfume River (doesn't that name just conjure up wonderful visions?). The city
of Hue sits on both sides of the river which is crossed by a bridge (motor and
foot traffic). 
longer and heavier than in the Mekong down in the south. Most weighted down
with sand or rocks which they dig up (using solely man power) and transport to
designated drop off points. It was fascinating to watch as we cruised past. 
out of a fairy tale - think Sleeping Beauty. I know, wrong culture altogether
but these all look as if they've "been asleep for a 100 years",
slowly being reclaimed by the bush. 
Dynasty set amidst frangipani and pine trees. The tombs are beautifully symmetrical
and seem to harmonise so well with their surroundings. 
across and a totally serene feel. Just lovely. We wanted so much to linger but
unfortunately were with a tour group and were given limited times at each
place. 
bloodiest battles during the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam (I mean the
"American") War. A huge contrast to today. 
snuggled up in a sleeping berth carriage with 2 sets of "soft" bunk
beds. You actually get given a choice of hard or soft! 


Here we are in the Imperial City of Hue and the weather is the pits!


Today we decided to bite the bullet and take a boat ride down the


The boat ride was magnificent. The boats on the river here are much


We kept passing old ramparts and mysterious old buildings  straight


We stopped off at the extravagant tombs of the emperors of the Nguyen


Huge lakes and ponds beautified with lotus blooms, with ornate bridges


Tomorrow we go on the DMZ tour to visit the sites of some of the


Then tomorrow night we catch the night train to Hanoi. We're all

Beautiful Hoi An - April 10th - 14th, 2006

We caught Vietnam Airlines on Monday to get here - pleasantly surprised by the nice plane and the fact that it was on time etc.

Hoi An - well, what can I say? We're in love with the place and if it wasn't for the constant stream of young women saying "Hello where you from? You come my sister's/mother's/cousin's shop" we'd probably move here permanently.

A world heritage listed old town, with beautiful wooden buildings that can transport you back to the days (during 17th-19th centuries) when it was a major international port.

Today, it's a town solely catering for the tourists. It's mostly become famous for it's tailor made garment manufacture. The tailors here whip up anything from a simple top to a wool greatcoat in a day!! There's "cloth shops" back-to-back on every street and everybody seems to be touting for one of them.

We talked to a man who'd left Hoi An to go to the U.S. 27 years ago – he said that at that time there was no work here and people had to find work elsewhere so he's happy for the economic boost the town's getting due to tourism. But we feel that it's spoilt with so much commercialism.
 
What we love about it:

** the gorgeous old houses with faded paint in soft yellows, blues and pinks, which intersperse the magnificent wooden dwellings, with creepers spilling over the balconies. Needless to say I've used heaps of film rolls since we got here!

**riding a motorbike (yes, all 4 of us on a 100cc bike) to the beach and around the town. You see the locals piled onto bikes all the time (3 adults + 1 child!) but none of them has a bottom quite the size of mine - so it must look hilarious to them! We have got giggles and stares galore.

**the life on the river - the boats here are different from the Mekong Delta - steered with one oar rather than two long ones.

**getting kidnapped by a lady who promised to show me her shop so I could return the next day to get a pedicure - but instead I found myself sitting down with one lady performing a pedicure on one foot while another proceeded to "demonstrate" (ha ha!) a leg wax done with string (fascinating procedure!). The next thing I knew they'd sent someone to locate Ben and the boys and all of a sudden I found myself paying for a pedicure, 1/2 leg wax, hard skin on the sole of my feet shaved off AND a haircut (an awful one!) for Ramesh!! It was quite disconcerting at the time - but a very funny experience in retrospect. Ben had a ball haggling and then chatting with about 3 girls the whole while! The girls were waiting for me to finish so I could go to their "cousin's" shop to get measured for some clothes!

**the beach - the white sanded, palm lined Cua Dai Beach stretches for 30km. We loved watching the locals who were gathered in groups, sitting on mats, chatting, eating, drinking, playing in the surf. It was like a great big party by the time the sun went down. Apparently this is common on full moon nights (it was either a full moon or almost one when we were there last night). There were hardly any tourists around except for us and a few others.

**The fact that most locals (usually the girls) can't swim. So, similar to Sri Lanka, they go in the water fully clothed! (in dresses, jeans, anything). So you can imagine the girls look far less decent than the westerners in their skimpy bikinis when they get out. It was a great atmosphere. The boys enjoyed playing with the local kids and loved cooling down.

Things we don't enjoy:
**getting hassled everywhere you go by people selling you things – anything from Tiger balm, to clothes, to fish (AS IF I'm going to be cooking!!).

**getting hassled on the beach to buy fruit, peanuts etc. That I found the hardest to take because you feel trapped when sitting down rather than being able to smile and keep on walking!

Well, that's it from me today.... I actually wrote a far more verbose email last night and it disappeared into cyberspace - hence the dot points today! Hopefully this will get to you... only one telephone line out of Hoi An....so it gets really clogged up.

A gastronomic walk thru Vietnam

Well for all you "gastronomes" (is that a real word?) out there, I thought I'd write a little about the food of Vietnam and what we've eaten and drunk so far. The people here seem to be eating at all hours of day and night. I have no idea where it all goes because they are so skinny! 

For drinks we love the freshly juiced sugar cane sold at all corner shops (in a glass if you sit there - at small plastic tables - or to take away in a plastic bag with a straw sticking out of it!). at "proper" restaurants we have lemon juice or mango lassis on occassion. And of course we go through litres of bottled water a day (50c - $1 for a 1.5 litre bottle) 

On our first day in VN we were taken out to one of the best Pho places in town and so sampled top notch Pho Bo (pronouced "fur baw") which is rice noodle soup with slices of beef, bean sprouts and a mindboggling variety of herbs such as mint. Very yummy (BTW Graham, your pho bo has stood up very well to comparison! We are impressed!). 

Ben also had snake curry (he picked it curried so that the taste wasn't easily discernable!). Apparently it's rare to get cobra these days. 

Fried little spring rolls as well as fresh spring rolls (the dipping sauce is what always makes these dishes tasty), wonton things etc. 

We had fried frogs legs in the Mekong Delta which tasted like - yes, chicken! Let's just say that I'll never make a good frenchman! It's the thought of it that get's me. 

We've enjoyed the food in Hoi An most of all. Their speciality is Cao Lau (said cow l-ow) - doughy flat noodles, mixed with croutons, bean sprouts and greens and topped with pork slices. Apparently the most authentic cao lau is made from the water drawn from a certain local well. 

Another speciality here is the delicate "white rose" (shrimp awrapped in rice paper and steamed). The nuoc cham (fish sauce with chilli pieces) that it's served with is delicious. I dip everything into it too much to the restauranteur's disapproval!! Fried pancakes which are stuffed with shrimp and bean sprouts and who knows what else are my favourite! 

Tried fish barbequed in banana leaf yesterday (a big piece of fish with ginger, pineapple and chilli with other herbs and spices all wrapped in a banana leaf and baked in some way). The first mouthful unfortunately had a huge bit of chilli in it that totally destroyed my tastebuds and wrecking the meal for me! Ben says it tasted good. 

And then there's the fruit (rambutans, durians, great big "jumbu", "gadu guda", mangos, and the more run of the mill papaw, bananas and the boring pears, apples and oranges), the street stalls and the women carrying their goodies in 2 baskets off a pole balanced across their shoulders. Cracker type rice cakes, the VN version of peanut brittle, grilled corn on the cob, corn kernels stirfried with shrimp and onion (my personal favourite! mmmmm), steamed pork buns and fresh crusty baguettes stuffed with all manner of things - especially bbq pork! 

A gastronomic feast! 

A filling meal costs anything from 70c to $2.50 per person! At our biggest splurge we only paid $30 for the whole family and that was for two 4-course seafood set menu and a 4-course beef set menu meal PLUS a drink or two all round. 

And we haven't even got to the deep fried cricket or spiders yet! Apparently the silk worm that they get out of the crysalis tastes like a peanut - "very nice" we were told. As a local said to us "we Vietnamese eat anything that moves"! 

Back in Ho Chi Mihn City - 22nd April 2006

We've been back in Saigon since Friday and it feels so crowded and rushed after the slower paced Mekong Delta. So to get a feel of the soul of the place we just  sat on benches along the street and "people watched" in peak hour traffic. Fascinating.

Here's some facts for you: 84 million people live in Vietnam (VN). There are 2 million motor bikes in HCMC alone!! 13,000 motorbike riders are killed annually in VN - of those 3 are killed in HCMC everyday! (997 were killed last year!).

On the way down south to Can Tho we saw 2 accidents involving motorbikes (hit by trucks) - definite fatalities! A horrible sight.

People don't wear helmets in the city and it seemed like very, very few wear helmets on the huge busy highways. MAD!! And through all this there're the cyclists weaving their way amongst the 2 and 4 wheeled motor vehicles. Sometimes I just can't watch!

We've mastered crossing the road now - we just send Ben into the fray first! (hee hee). The trick is to step out into the street and keep walking steadily across - no sudden moves or you'll be dead! - the traffic just weaves around you! I always find that I'm holding my breath when we reach the other side - especially at peak hour. Sri Lanka's traffic mayhem is child's play in comparison!

We've done the tourist thing over the last couple of days: -

***crawled through some parts of the Cu Chi Tunnels (at it's height there were more than 250km of tunnels, parts of which was several storeys deep including trap doors, living areas, weapons factories, field hospitals and kitchens that facilitated the Viet Cong to control a large rural area.). They've made the open parts of the tunnels "tourist height" which is double what it used to be and we still had to crouch right down - Ben was bent into about 3!!

*** we visited the Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh - a gaudy coloured, over the top building incorporating conflicting architecture. The religion itself is a colourful mindboggling mix of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, native Vietnamese spiritualism, Christianity and Islam. They say that we all have it wrong and that their revelations come through mediums at séances speaking with people like Victor Hugo (!!! who is also one of their saints!!! How the author of Les Miserables can possibly be a saint is beyond me!). They say it's the only way to heaven. The service which we watched was amazing – they worship every six hours (including midnight!) dressed in very formal clothes depending on their status in the religion.

Well, girls, there's the most beautiful shoes, handbags, clothes and scarves (all made of VN silk) - but if you know me at all, you'll know that as soon as I'm faced with a mindboggling variety of stuff I don't end up buying a thing!! So I'll have to go into one shop and buy up big!?? bought a t'shirt each for the men in my life so far! That's it!!! How boring right?!

Ross River Virus: for those who don't know, I was diagnosed with Ross River Virus about 4 weeks before we left. For those who care I'm doing okay – my feet get really really sore but the Voltaren keeps it at a bearable level. The evenings are the worst especially after Ben's dragged us all over town for hours! Some nights are bad - but I'm surviving better than I thought.

Well, more from Hoi An - we fly to Danang tomorrow and taxi down to Hoi An.

Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta - April 4-7, 2006

Hi all 

Apologies to those who didn't know that we were going to Vietnam. And to everyone - please feel free to NOT read my verbose emails about our experiences!! :) 

So.... we're in Vietnam and loving it! The people are gorgeous, very charming and totally taken by our multi-coloured family! The boys (especially Ramesh) attract a great deal of attention. They have to constantly put up with their cheeks and chins being pinched or patted... Or else there is someone grabbing them around the shoulders for a squeeze!It's priceless seeing R's longsuffering look! We just keep telling them to "SMILE"!!! Ben and I think this is wonderful because it's generated conversations with the locals that would normally never have taken place. 

We had a very busy first day in Ho Chi Minh City because as well as meeting Morris and another friend we also had to find our way around the place to book a plane ticket, train ticket etc for the next few weeks. 

Early the next morning we caught a bus to Vinh Long in the Mekong Delta which is about 3 hours south of HCMC ----- or so we thought!!! We ended up 5.5 hours later in Can Tho which had been our original choice (good floating markets near here), but the distance had discouraged us. Ben calls it serendipity - I call it a basic lack of communication! Isn't it wonderful when you try to communicate and neither party knows what the other is saying??? Interesting things happen! So after a speed read of the Lonely Planet's "where to sleep in CanTho" section we found ourselves a hotel. It's in a lovely spot right on the Can Tho River - $30 a night for an enormous room (12 foot high ceilings!) with a huge double bed and a huge single bed (which is big enough for the boys to share). 

Today, for 5 hours, we cruised the waters of the CanTho River and the might Mekong River in a long skinny boat (for $2!), with a rarely used motor, mostly paddled by a woman. These waterways are the lifeforce of these people. What an amazing experience..... These people live in stilt homes over the river and they wash their clothes, their hair, their dishes, their animals (dogs, pigs!), their boats, and themselves in the river. It's their street, their backyard, their playground, their livelihood, their food source, their bath, their water source, their toilet and their bin!!!! (yes, it's dirty - but not enough to feel yuk! The boys wanted to hop in!! No- I wouldn't let them!) 

I spent over half an hour this evening, sitting by the river, sketching the boats and the women who row them. One woman posed for me and then requested the sketch which she proceeded to show the other boat women. The next thing I knew they had my sketchbook and paddled it over to the other boats to show off!! Then I had requests for sketches of each one.  By this stage there was a crowd of about 8 people gathered!! I stopped after 2 sketches (actually I ran away!)! Too much stress - I can't work under those conditions!! :o)

So as you can see we are very much enjoying ourselves and will keep you posted with our updates as we backpack up the country. 

VIETNAM 2006

Itinerary

Tue       4 April: HCMC - land at 10am (land at 10am, check in to Indochine Hotel, sightsee, book Cu Chi tour
Wed     5 April: leave for Vinh Long (Mekong Delta) - book in for a homestay if poss.

Thurs    6 April: homestay with a local family on the river in Vinh Long (in a house on stilts on the Mekong River)?

Fri        7 April: catch bus back to HCMC

Sat       8 April: Cu Chi Tunnels tour and Cao Dai Temple

Sun       9 April: meeting and sightseeing HCMC - Cholon

Mon    10 April: Fly to Danang then taxi to Hoi An

Tue    11 April (Hoi An Legendary Night festival!! )

Wed, Thur & Friday 14 April: spend in Hoi An

Sat    15 April: hire car from Hoi An to Hue

Sun    16 April: Hue (citadel, market and pagodas - boat ride on Perfume River)

Mon    17 April: DMZ tour

Tue    18 April: leave on Reunification Train (night train) to Hanoi

Wed   19 April: Hanoi

Thur    20 April: Halong Bay Cruise (2 day 1 night cruise with Handspan Travel Tour)

Fri        21 April: Back to Hanoi and take night train to Sapa

Sat 22 April: Sapa

Sun 23 April: Sapa

Mon 24 April: night train back to Hanoi

Tue 25 – Thurs 27 April: Hanoi

Thurs 27: leave for Perth (2.40pm)