Bye Bye Benny

Alas, today after almost 16 years of happy doggy life, Mum's dog Benson passed away.

It was quite sad. The poor little thing had been going downhill for a time, having lost his teeth quite a while ago, and then slowly but surely losing his ability to get up and go - but he was a friendly, chirpy little thing. For the most part anyway - he did have a tendency to be a bit vicious when he didn't like being left in the house by himself for any length of time. He certainly was Mum's dog, following her absolutely everywhere - if she got up and left the room, so did he. He was never more than a few feet away from her.

I'll have to dig out my favourite video of him, which is he and Dad singing "How much is that doggy in the window?". He would get really wound up by Dad's incredibly elongated (and not necessarily tuneful) "hooooooooooooooowwwwww" that he would often start singing himself anyway just to shut Dad up. Never worked though.

Benny was not really a fan of me - not that he didn't like me, but for 11 years of his life I wasn't here, and he was much more into Mum anyway. But a year ago Mum and Dad went away to New Zealand or something, and rather than subject the poor little thing to a fortnight at the kennel (he never would have lasted, he hated the kennel), I agreed to go over and dog sit him. And after about 3-4 days he forgave me for being there, and started to be quite friendly. If there's one thing, he certainly did have a licky tongue.

I will dig out a better picture, but for now, here's a pic of Benny. RIP mate.

When Kylie Rode A Real Cowboy

Last week Kevan and I embarked on an epic adventure of a lifetime. One of the top 10 things to do in Australia. Something that deep down, every boy and girl wants to do when they're growing up - and usually play acts. Yes, we've come down to Bingara NSW to learn to be cowboys and... cowgirls. No Indians here! Well, none that we've seen...yet!

We've come here on a Jackaroo Jillaroo experience, which I discovered online after googling "top things to do in Australia". And so far, it has been awesome.

We drove down yesterday from Brisbane to Bingara, which surprisingly took a lot longer than I expected. This though was probably due to one or two things, firstly, the fact that we were using my GPS, which is rubbish, or the fact that we were a bit distracted talking to Mel on the handsfree in Warwick and missed the turn to Goondawindi. Regardless, when it became perfectly clear that we weren't going to be here by dinnertime, we stopped off for a very yummy dinner in Glen Innes at the local pub, and then moseyed on down to Bingara to the Sportsman Hotel, where we spent the night. That in itself was an experience. However we got a good nights sleep and woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for our horse riding adventure.

At breakfast we met 3 others who would be doing this adventure - Sal, Tom and Katarina. They're very nice. We then met our leader John, who immediately took us to muster the horses - using his ute! I certainly have never seen anyone muster horses with a ute - and John did it with such finesse - here we all were, riding on the back of the ute, bouncing up and down, whilst John waved his jumper out the window and make clicking noises at the horses. And they did what he wanted too - in next to no time we had the horses rounded up, and then had the job of putting them in the yard. Huh? How?

What a sight we must've looked, waving our hands frantically and making 'get up' noises to these horses, who just looked at us with expressions of "what on earth do you think you're doing?" and then just standing there. It was quite comical.

Once we had corralled the horses John then gave us our first lesson on horsemanship - how to bridle the horse - and then we loaded the horses up in his truck for the journey out to the farm, "Garrawilla".

Upon arrival we met some of the others who would been in our group. Turns out there's about 13 or so in our group. The first thing we did was watch John break a horse in. It was really interesting, watching the horse come around from doing his own thing, to doing John's thing. There truly is a real art to it.

This took us up to lunch time after which it was time for some real jackarooing around - the trail ride. John and Cathy picked out the most suitable horses for us, with John matching Kevan and his horse up against their natural abilities - or at least that's what Kev thought, when he found out he was riding Big Willy! I on the other hand was introduced to a real, live, Cowboy - my horse - who was very sweetnatured and broke me in tenderly - and I do mean tenderly, as after a 3 hour or so ride I have discovered aches and pains in parts of my anatomy that I didn't know existed.

It was a wonderful experience, and John and Cathy are very good teachers - no sooner than they got you up on the horse, then they got you walking - and no sooner were you walking and it was 'up, down, up, down' as you learned to trot. We even managed a bit of a canter towards the end of the day.

When we returned to the homestead John asked if anyone wanted to see a sheep being slaughtered. Straightaway the kids were right into it! Kev was kind of keen too, and although I saw one being slaughtered in the markets in Damascus, I thought it could be kind of interesting also, so off we went. It was so sad, we rode off in the ute down to the sheep paddock and they beeped the horn so the sheep would come (the horn beeping is the signal that they have food). But this time we didn't have food - John was looking for a fat but young male lamb - and he selected his prey and loaded it back up on the ute. The poor thing was bleating away and trying to get up but it was no good. We brought him up to the slaughter area (an old camp bed and a bucket) and lickety-split, John slit its throat, broke its neck and the thing was dead. I was alright with that part, but then John started to skin it - and that was me done. Just suddenly came over terribly nauseous and faint, and I was out of there. Kevan stayed til the end though.

Back up at the homestead Cathy was preparing dinner (which smelled yummy!) and the others were sitting around talking. We chatted into the early evening and played cards but everyone was just so tired that it was an early night. Another fabulous day awaits tomorrow....

Christmas Shopping in KL

I had such a fabulous time in Vietnam, I really want to go back. I think that Gap Adventures are one of the best tour companies I have ever booked with - and they're not even a tour company! They were just brilliant, and the people on our tour were lovely.

But even though I had really enjoyed myself in Vietnam, I was really looking forward to the next few days in KL. Just to be on my own again, not having to worry about dealing with anyone else - that's what I was looking forward to. And I still had a load of Christmas shopping to do!

KL is one of Asia's shopping meccas. I would have to say that after Singapore, it would be my favourite Asian place for shopping - the sheer variety and size of the department stores, the cheap price of the Malaysian Ringgit - its just fabulous. And as I had done a bit of sight seeing already last time I was here, and as I still had more presents to get - I was anxious to drop my bags off at the hostel and get cracking!

But getting to the hostel was an interesting experience. I got the train from the airport no worries, and arrived at KL Sentral - and then the fun began. Because whilst the last time I was in KL (only a few weeks earlier) all I had was a backpack and a day bag, now I also had another duffle bag, a suit bag, a new day bag (full to the brim) and my backpack was considerably fuller (and consequently, heavier). I had more bags than hands - so I had a backpack on my back, my day bag on the front, suit bag suspended from the day bag, and I was carrying the duffle. It was quite impressive.

With this rather fetching ensemble I attempted to get a taxi. Not a problem, but I only needed to go a short distance (in fact only 2 stops on the tube) - and they wanted something like 50 ringgit ($15 AUD) for the privilege - paid in advance - as that was the minimum fare or something. So I girded up my loins and braved the tube.

Which was perfectly fine, except that at the end of the journey (it was only 2 stops after all) I had a bit of messing about to do to find the way out - and then quite a walk to the hostel. About 10 minutes or so - but with heavy luggage, it might as well have been 10 hours.

Once I arrived at the hostel I checked into my room - which was a single room, allegedly airconditioned (yes I had splurged the extra few dollars for the privilege) - but in fact was a broom cupboard with a window fan that blew the outside, airconditioned air into the room. Hmm. We'll see about that.

I dumped my bags and headed straight back to my favourite department store - Suria KLCC at the Petronas Towers. Straightaway I was off for a Starbucks and a hunt for Barbie... especially as, being a tourist, I was entitled to a special discount card at select stores.

I particularly liked Suria KLCC because of the beautiful Christmas decorations - don't get me wrong, the other stores had them too, but maybe because of its location, or the fact this was the first department store I found in KL, or I don't know why, but I thought their decorations were the best. And they had live carolling as well. Kind of puts us to shame, that they can have live carolling in a Muslim country, yet us, in our so-called Christian country, won't play them for fear of upsetting the Muslims. Madness.

Anyway, In the end I ended up spending pretty much the two days wandering about this department store and quite a few others, looking for Harry's General Grievous, a barbie for Miss M, gifts for Beck, Mel, Mum... everyone basically. It was really good though - I had a fabulous time. I was most impressed when I happened upon Uniqlo outside one of the department stores! And I had many an enjoyable latte at Starbucks...

Suffice to say that clearly the shopping was good, because my bags were even more bulging when I left. I had now added to the collection a plastic shopping bag full of Barbie house for Miss B - so when I made my way to the airport, I was well and truly overladen. And surprisingly the airline let me get away with it - even though they were the pocksie Air Asia (which can I just add, I would never fly with them again). I guess they were ok, but if you didn't order your meal when you bought your ticket - or even a blanket or a pillow - you just couldn't get one. And at the time I didn't see the point in renting a pillow - not until I discovered that the flight was not full, and I had a whole row to myself - except it was a 2 seat row, and I just could not get comfortable!

The other problem with AirAsia is that they fly in to Coolangatta. Firstly, they lost my bag. Literally. Which was quite annoying as I met a cute guy on the plane and he had offered to drive me to Brisbane - but when my bags got delayed, he just left without me. And the annoying thing was no one from Air Asia would help me find my bag, or would give me any information. In the end I begged a baggage handler to go out back and just double check that the duffle bag, with ALL of my Christmas gifts in it, wasn't out there. Lucky I did - because it was!

Eventually I made it through customs (that takes an eternity also), and then began the very lengthy, and very arduous, task of making my way home via bus and train... which took almost as long as the flight...

High Fivin' Ho Chi Minh and the Taxi Hijackers

On Saturday we decided to go and have a look at the Ho Chi Minh museum. Touted to be 'the preserver of everything memorable related to the great revolutionist, Ho Chi Minh', we couldn't get over how absurd the exhibits were. From sculptures of giant fruit, to a picture of Ho Chi Minh looking like he was about to 'high five' everyone, to a strange golden dragon thing - we just didn't get it. The descriptions of the displays didn't exactly help, either. So it all was rather odd.

After this we made our way to the Ho Chi Minh house. The only problem was in trying to get there. This was because firstly you had to go to one queue to pay - but that queue turned out to be for the Mausoleum. And they kept trying to make us go and put our cameras in lockers in a completely different location (back the way we'd come) - and they didn't seem to understand that we were not interested in going to the Mausoleum at all. So eventually we manged to fluke our way out of it and get to the Ho Chi Minh house - where we literally sprinted past all the rooms because of the queue. You just couldn't stop - people kept pushing you to keep moving. So strange.

After this we decided to try and get a taxi to the so-called Hanoi Hilton, the prison used by the French to imprison and torture Vietnamese political prisoners and then later used by the North Vietnamese to imprison American soldiers during the Vietnam war. But do you think firstly we could find a taxi? That's because we had been warned to only use the green taxis due to the others often ripping you off, or worse, mistreatment of customers - as Sophie was to find out. You see, Sophie had decided she was unwell again or something and so had opted not to come with us to the Ho Chi Minh stuff. We later found out she decided to try to join us and hailed a taxi outside the hotel - but she didn't heed Vaughn's warning about the taxi drivers and she took the first one. She thought she had negotiated for him to use the meter but suddenly in the trip she realised that the meter was not working, so she challenged him on it. He then pronounced some exhorbitant fare for her to pay, which was something like 10 times the price it should have been, and when she announced she wouldn't pay it, citing some negotiated fare she thought they had agreed upon, he locked the doors and started driving her off on a wild goose chase. Understandably she became quite scared and eventually paid up - and he then dumped her wherever they were, which was nowhere she knew - and she didn't have any money. I'm not sure how it was she made her way back but she did eventually - although she was quite shaken. The feeling in the group though was surprisingly not very sympathetic - Vaughn had warned us after all about the various taxi drivers and their unscrupulous methods - so it generally was felt that Sophie brought this on herself because she didn't listen. I think probably that attitude was a little harsh because she really could have come quite unstuck - she was lucky I guess. Just goes to show you though.

Anyway, back to our own adventure. We found a taxi and tried to ask the driver to take us to the 'Hanoi Hilton'. He didn't know what we meant. He thought we wanted to go to the real Hilton. We were almost ready to give up, when I looked up on my phone the place we wanted to go - and discovered it was called 'Hoa Lo'. I started calling out 'Hoa Lo, Hoa Lo' and the driver started talking excitedly in Vietnamese - he got it. So he took us there.

It was quite an interesting place - interesting in the way that Auschwitz or Dachau or Port Arthur is - because it leaves a real bad taste in your mouth as you walk around. You could really feel that sense of cold, oppressive spirit as you walked around. The atrosities that happened there...

Anyway, after this we all sort of separated and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Hanoi as we liked. Francois and I headed off in search of ties - I wanted to get one for Kev and Damo - and the others were looking for pirated DVDs. It was a pleasant enough afternoon although I was glad to be back at the hotel, out of the smoggy, motorcycle air.

For our final night we headed off for dinner as a large group, and en route we tried to find a chemist with disinfectant - I had injured my foot in Nha Trang when we were swimming and the pain had not diminished - if anything it was getting worse. We didn't find a chemist, but we did find a fantastic market, and I was able to pick up a cute barbie motorbike for the girls and new screen guard for my phone.

It was a very lovely evening, and it was actually quite sad that the trip had come to an end. The next morning I got a taxi with Vaughn out to the airport and it was off to KL...

Ha Ha Hanoi

Yes, dumbest title on the planet. Sorry. Couldn't think of anything else.

So the day after our wonderful Halong Bay experience (and it really was like the Top Gear Vietnam special), and we were back on the minibus en route to Hanoi. I must admit, I had quite mixed feelings now about this, because it meant that in just 2 days or so the adventure would end, our Gap Adventures Roam Vietnam trip would be over. And I would then be saying goodbye to the group - and I genuinely was sad. For all our quirkness, the 6 of us had actually gotten on quite well, and I can honestly say that I will miss all of them, each in their own special way. And of course Vaughn too.

So we drove into Hanoi and made our way to the hotel. I have to say I think I liked this hotel the least out of the whole trip. I certainly don't remember it very much. The rooms were quite small and although they had all the mod cons, there were quirky little eccentricities about them. Francois' room, I believe, didn't have hot water. Mine had a light that you could only turn off by unscrewing the bulb. Stuff like that.

We no sooner dumped our stuff then we were off on an orienteering type walking tour given by Vaughn. Turns out we were quite a way (walking) from the main sights and so on. He took us into the heart of the sightseeing area and we literally nearly died en route. Firstly, from the smog. No joke, I had a headache within 2 minutes of walking around the streets, and you don't want to know what colour the snot was. Put it this way, even though one time it was black in London, I have never seen a blacker snot in my life. Gross. Secondly, we nearly died from being run over by scooters. If I thought the traffic was bad in Ho Chi Minh, I was sorely mistaken. Hanoi is infinitely worse. And they have absolutely no regard for people - particularly tourists.

So we headed off for this restaurant that Vaughn knew for lunch. On the way we lost Francois once when Erik and Vaughn looked in a market stall and Francois went to buy donuts. The streets were just so crowded, there was nowhere to walk on the footpath (the footpath being full of scooters and street vendors) and so it made it really hard to stay together. Fortunately we caught up with Francois again.

Lunch was very interesting - we were up on the 2nd floor balcony of the restaurant but conversation was near on impossible due to the roaring sound of the motorbikes. Plus, the land of the rising smog meant that the food did taste just a little bit odd. However, our vantage point afforded us a very interesting view of Vietnamese electricals - the wiring was just all over the place! I have never seen so many cables at once on a power pole.

Erik decided to take advantage of trying frog's legs for the first time. Cos that's what you do in Vietnam, isn't it - eat a traditional French dish. Well, I suppose that's what you do when you're sick of pho.

After lunch Vaughn took us to the place to buy tickets to the water puppet show. The Vietnamese have a very intriguing way of queuing for tickets. Basically, the rule is, you don't. Queue, that is. You push in. Blatantly. They'll serve you over any one else if you're the most pushy. Poor old Beate was trying to get our tickets and it was near on impossible.

Fortunately, after a time, she managed to get through and get the tickets, having taken out a couple Vietnamese on the way. I, meanwhile, had been investigating some rather lovely looking copy Kipling bags. I eventually (when we visited the next day) settled on a very nice blue Kipling duffel bag for something like $10. What do I care that it's not real? It's a bag, and I know I'm going to need one to get all my Christmas gifts home (I'll be traveling back through KL and I know I'll pick up that Barbie for Cella, and the General Grievous lightsabre for Dart, so I'll need it!).

So off we went to the water puppets. Firstly, can I say - on what planet is that normal? It was so dodgy! I know it's a good cultural experience and everything, but I will admit, I found it to be deathly dull and boring. For starters, it's all in Vietnamese, so who on earth actually knows what's going on? Seemed totally random to me. Puppets floating about in water, with Chinese instruments banging and some chick warbling away. I didn't get it. And the others weren't overly impressed either. I suppose we should've headed Vaughn's warning when he said that he had never actually sat through the whole thing, usually falling asleep. Oh well...

So we made our way back, firstly I went with Sophie and Shanty and checked out copied DVDs (no wait, that was before the water puppets) - sorry, I went with Francois to try and find a tie for Kevan and Damo. I realized pretty quick I should've bought it in Hoi An when I had the chance. Despite the tourist books saying that Hanoi was a good place for tailors, we couldn't find any where we were! Most discouraging. We eventually found a shop but the woman there was so rude. She showed me a bunch of very unappealing ties, and then, when I had turned ever so slightly to inspect them a little more (aka look at them), she whacked me on my bag (which was hanging on my back) and demanded to know which one I was buying. What!? I actually confronted her and said, "Did you just hit my bag?". She tried to deflect the conversation and harp on about which one I wanted, but I said "No, you hit me on my bag, and that's unacceptable". So we left.

Turns out that's quite normal in Hanoi. They're very untrusting of tourists. The next day I happened to be walking around a market with Beate and Erik, and a woman tried to fair whack my hand because I touched one of her towels. Seriously! I touched it (just to look at) and she drew her hand back sharply and tried to strike me! Now what does that say about much they want (or clearly don't want) the tourist dollar, hm?

I don't remember much about the dinner (other than it was probably yet again, pho, and it was actually quite expensive) - on account of I'm writing this 3 months later - but I seem to recall it was nice. Back to the hotel for a good sleep before our last day.

A snippet of the water puppets...

Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay

When I left off, we had just arrived in Hanoi. Apologies for the delay in the update, but I have been a tad busy lately.... but now, on with the show...

The first problem when we arrived at the crack of dawn o'clock in Hanoi was that our bus driver wasn't there. The second problem was that it was absolutely freezing. I put on everything I had that would provide any form of warmth, and still was cold. I don't know how Sophie coped though - she had on the shortest of shorts and a singlet top. Ridiculous! Anyway, seeing as we had nowhere to go, we sat down outside the station to wait. Even at that silly time of the morning there was a 'cafe' of sorts open - and we ordered a coffee. Mine was the most disgusting thing I have ever had. Just awful.

While we were waiting I decided to take advantage of the toilet. Oh my goodness, I have never seen anything more ridiculous in my life. Firstly, as I walked in (and bear in mind, they made me pay money to use this loo), the stench literally picked me up and carried me off. The second thing that struck me was the urinal - for that is what it was - a trough along the wall with two brick slats either side (obviously for your feet). There would have been about 4 or 5 of these. So essentially, the idea is that you drop your dacks and squat over this trough, in full view of everyone else (there's no door separating each one) - but not only that, its in complete full view of the doorway to the whole set up. So people walking past the loos on the railway concourse can see! How ridiculous is that? There is only one 'western' toilet, with a door - and that's what I was paying for the privilege of using, I guess. But it certainly was all just a bit too much.

When I returned to the group, the driver had arrived, so we headed off to the minibus. I tried to vie for a good position in the bus, which was quite squishy - but as the group had forgotten I was in the toilet, I was at the back of the line, and thus last in the bus. This meant that all the window seats were taken. I was stuck squished next to Shanty and Sophie, and with nothing to lean on, having had no sleep, and an hour and a half (or so) drive. I tried to sleep regardless, but blessed Sophie decided to listen to her iPod, at the level she usually listens to it - which meant that it was on full bore and I could hear everything. It was most annoying.

You can then imagine that by the time we arrived in Halong Bay I really was not in a very good mood. So it didn't help that our rooms were not available yet. We were able though to go have breakfast, which was a beautiful smorgasbord, and seeing as it was so terribly cold, I had to have the hottest things I could find. Alas I spilled my coffee!

Fortunately by the time we finished, the rooms were ready - and they really were worth the wait. The hotel was the Halong Bay Hotel, and it was directly opposite the bay, some 100m or so from the water's edge - and the view was just stunning. I took it all in for a bit, but really was more than just a bit irritable at this stage, so I decided to try to take a nap before our boat trip on the bay.

We left at about 12pm or something for our boat trip. Again I rugged up as much as I could - and was still cold - but Sophie comes down in barely anything! When we asked her about it, she said that she had gotten rid of all her winter clothes from her Kilimanjaro trek, and had no winter clothes with her. Come on? Not even a jumper? Fortunately Erik had a spare he could lend her.

The bus took us to the boat on the bay and we had a lovely cruise around the islands. The bay spans an area of around 1553 square kilometres and includes about 1,960 islets, most of which are limestone. It is just simply breathtaking. We were on a cute little junket that provided us with a gorgeous seafood lunch (Sophie however doesn't eat seafood and forgot to mention that when Vaughn asked for our dietary needs!) - just scrummy. And better still, we had the whole run of the boat ourselves. We visited firstly a fishing village, which was very interesting - it was essentially a large floating wooden jetty with lots of compartments cut into it where the fish were. You really had to watch your footing so you didn't fall in!

Our next stop was to the Thien Cung Grotto, which is a really large cave of stalagmites and stalactites, lit very beautifully (and probably to the detriment of the stalagmites etc), which has been forming for 700 000 to about 11 000 years. It was really beautiful, and I felt quite moved to let rip with a pretty impressive coo-ee (if I do say so myself), much to the amusement of the many Korean and Japanese tourists there.

Upon our return to the hotel, Francois, Shanty and I decided to do a bit of exploring of the town. We firstly made our way to the beach, where we were fortunate to see the sun set (our first really of this trip), and Francois encountered another French speaking person, so he enjoyed chatting away in French to him. We also came across a barbers, and Francois hada shave. But we didn't really see anything suitable for the evening meal (that didn't cost a fortune - although this is a good, cheap place for seafood - the price in comparison to that which we had been paying relatively for our evening meals was far above our budget, and we knew that especially Shanty and Sophie wouldn't be able to afford it). We did however happen across a night market setting up, and we had a bit of a browse around it. Every time we approached a stall the owners would get really excited and shove a load of tat under our noses. It wasn't really designed as a tourist market so I don't know why they thought we would want to buy these things.

Returning to the hotel, it was decided we'd eat there instead, which was quite nice (except that they ran out of the thing I wanted to order, so that I had to choose pho again or something). Then Beate and Erik wanted to have an explore, so Francois and I headed out with them again too.

All in all it had been a very enjoyable day - but I was oh so tired, and oh so ready for bed in my oh so lovely room!

The Purple Hue of Hue

The next day we were leaving Hue (pronounced 'hway'), but in the morning, Shanty, Erik, Beate, Francois and myself undertook a walking tour (which we saw on a pamphlet we got from the Mandarin cafe). We made our way by ferry across the Perfume river to the market first of all. Actually that in itself was a bit of an adventure. We decided to set off about 8.30am or so, so that we would have enough time to do the tour, and see the Purple Forbidden City.

We decided to do our tour in reverse, so we could end up at the Mandarin cafe, rather than start there. This is because Mr Cu, the owner of the Mandarin cafe, is a famous photographer and takes fabulous photos of Vietnamese life in Hue which he then sells in his cafe - we wanted to have some time to peruse these. So, we set off looking firstly for the ferry crossing which we could see on the map.

Could we find it? No, not really. We crossed one bridge (as the map lead us to believe we should) only to be confronted by several locals who told us to go back to another location (which reluctantly we did). Francois was actually quite adamant that we shouldn't - but majority ruled, and we did - and managed to hire another boat to cross the river - for the princely sum of $1 per person. Whatever. It was cheap enough.

Upon arrival across the river we found ourselves in the Dong Ba market. This was quite spectacular (as markets go), crowded and full of variety. We decided to make our way through the market, rather than around (but not before attempting to go around anyway) and we were treated to interesting sights - chickens in cages, loads of fresh fish and seafood (and terrible smelling too) and then the usual stuff, cloth, clothes, tiger balm, helmets... tack. And everyone trying to sell you something...

Having made our way through we tried to negotiate our way towards the Citadel but we were conscious even then of running out of time - we had to be back at the hotel before 12 to shower and leave at 1230. As we were walking around and consulting the map, we came across the leader of the pack, our bikie tour leader from yesterday, who pointed us in the right direction. We found him outside the local cinema, which was deafeningly advertising the going rates for the movies it was showing on a loud speaker outside. REALLY loud.

Wandering around the back streets as he had suggested, we came across interesting sights - street sellers selling petrol in soft drink bottles, for one. We eventually came to the object of our quest - the Purple Forbidden City.

Built in around 1804, this was the residence of the imperial family. It was designed to replicate the forbidden city in Beijing. The French razed much of it when they left after World War 2, and the Americans finished off much of the rest with bombs during the Vietnam War, but there remain several interesting structures here. They are not fully restored, but several remaining buildings contain interesting artifacts from the era, thrones, etc. It was well worth the visit.

Time however was fast ticking by and we decided to head back, via the Mandarin cafe - but this time by taxi, rather than walking. We even managed to get the guy to agree to wait outside the Mandarin whilst we picked our photos (and he barely kept the meter running! So cheap...).

Shopping completed (Mr Cu's photos really are quite something, and well worth a visit - plus he is so generous, he gave us quite a few free ones as well), we headed back for a quick shower. We had decided to tell Vaughn that we didn't want to walk the 20 minute walk back to the Mandarin for lunch as, having had our shower, and seeing as how hot and humid it was, we would be all sticky and sweaty again - thus defeating the purpose of the shower. So when we met he was quite happy for us to venture off on our own, offering this salient point - that it would be better to split up so we could be served in time.

Alas, we didn't really heed his advice - much to our chagrin. Because, having had so much Vietnamese food, we really wanted something a bit more western, and ended up at an Italian restaurant, all 6 of us. We'd decided to ask for some items to take away as well, for the train. There in lay our problem, as clearly the girl didn't understand what we were on about. It took an absolute eternity for our food to be prepared - and even then the order was wrong, and we got the standard "same same - but different" response. Time was running out and we didn't have time to argue with her though. Her version of a large pizza was barely even a pizzette!

We walked quickly back to the hotel to meet the bus and head for the train station. The station in Hue is really not all that - certainly not much in the way of purchasable snacks for the journey - so it was lucky we had got some food for the journey in advance. Eventually the train came - it was sooo hot though and we were quite uncomfortable, waiting out there on the tracks, in the hot, humid afternoon sun, with the only refreshments available being some over warm bottles of water or a couple of hard boiled eggs the street seller was selling - so we were quite relieved when the train finally came and we were able to get on. And then we experienced problem number 2...

... the air con didn't work! And we were looking at a 13 hour journey to Hanoi! How can we survive 13 hours in stinking hot heat to Hanoi?! I mean, the air con would come on periodically, and then shut off, come on, shut off - if you walked through another carriage it very soon became blatantly obvious that ours was the oven and the others the refrigerator! Co-incidentally, ours was also full of tourists, and the locals in the others... hehehe...

So Vaughn had a word to the conductor and we got moved out of the frying pan and into... the freezer! Our new carriage had the aircon on frostbite mode, so that pretty soon we needed to rug up with all our warm clothes (which really was a bit stupid). I was in a carriage with Vaughn and Francois (as I had been the whole tour) but in this carriage we didn't get a 4th person the whole time, so I had my pick of a bed. In the end, it being so cold, I opted for the lower bunk, as it was sort of out of the flight path of the big freeze. Francois, being an engineer, decided to try to do something about it - so he pulled out of his bag a sewing kit he had procured at one of the hotels and started to try to sew a piece of paper over the vent. That didn't work, so he then produced Canadian coins with magnets stuck on the back - but the vent wasn't metallic, and they didn't stick. Eventually he found a piece of paper with a remnant of sticky tape on it, and stuck that over the vent. It made it marginally warmer.

The rest of the journey proceeded pretty much without incident except for one thing. Due to the fact that it was oh so cold in our carriage, I really didn't get much sleep. In fact, I was lucky if I got 30 minutes during the whole 13 hour journey. So when we pulled into Hanoi at 4am, I was not a happy camper... and was even less happy when we alighted from the train and discovered that we had landed smack bang in the middle of the north Vietnamese winter - and it was actually cold...! With my limited winter clothes, what had I got myself in to?

The Leader Of The Pack

We had another early morning start today as we needed to leave at 8am for our bus ride to Hue. It was a bit harrowing for B though as she had ordered yesterday another dress from a different tailor who had promised to deliver by 730 and who had not. So we were loading the bus and still the dress hadn't arrived. Fortunately B called them and they managed to get it there just before we left.

We stopped off enroute at the Marble palace which was actually quite interesting. There's a really cool cave there which although not filled with stalagmites and stalagtites, is very spacious. Theres a bunch of buddhist statues at the entrance into the cavernous space, which are apparently good and bad demons - a silly concept obviously as all demons are bad - but the carvings were interesting. As we left the area our leader Vaughn told us the story of buddha - quite frankly I don't get why anyone would follow that stuff but there you go.

Back on the bus then for a couple of hours journey to Hue. The scenery was mostly the same - rice field, water buffalo, speeding scooters, overloaded bicycles, run down shanty town houses, altars in the middle of the field etc. We had a short stop at Hai Van pass, which once was a checkpoint for the Americans during the Vietnam war. Offering spectacular views when the weather is right, today was overcast and all too often the waft of urine would float past, so it wasn't exactly my favourite spot. Eventually we arrived in Hue.

The first impression we had of Hue is that it is HOT! Boiling hot. And very humid. Having arrived around lunchtime we quickly checked into our hotel, Tigon Hotel, which was alright - the first we've had that had a bath as well as a shower, and then Vaughn took us to lunch at the famous Mandarin cafe.

The food at the Mandarin cafe was ok, nothing spectacular, but the service was very quick. The reason though that the Mandarin cafe is quite famous is because it's owner, Mr Cu, is a very good photographer. He takes photos of locals and scenes in Hue and then sells them (quite cheaply too). They also organise motorbike tours of the city for about $4?, so we all booked one. The guides arranged to pick us up back at the hotel a little later so we made our way back in order to freshen up. It was just so terribly hot walking back though!

At 2.40 pm we met our guides outside the hotel and then the 6 of us set off on motorbikes. Each bike had a driver and a tourist sat on the back. What a sight we must have made! Particularly once we headed out into the traffic (which is madness, I tell you - how we weren't killed I really don't know), and you've got Westerners sat on the back of the bike clinging on for grim death with one hand, video cam / camera the other frantically recording the countryside, scenery and each other as it all literally whooshes by. Couple times I thought I was going to be hit by locals screeching past us, or when we crossed the river on a very narrow, one lane bridge, and my driver had trouble trying to steer in a straight line, so he kept banging into the rails. It was an awesome experience, and one I would highly recommend (but only in Hue or Hoi An!).

The bikers took us to the Tien Mu Pagoda, which was quite pretty. We went to have a look inside but there were signs saying it was for worshippers only - however a load of tourists were indoors. There was a young boy there who was clearly a trainee monk or something (I feel sorry for him) and it was his job to chuck the tourists out. He approached this one very large American who didn't quite get it, and then who tried to pat the kid on his head, which is a very big no-no here, and the boy was most alarmed and tried frantically to get out of the way!

Back on the bikes, we travelled further along the Perfume river. The bikers clearly have a set order because Shanty's guy, who seemed to be the leader of the pack, always went first, and my guy, who was an older, quieter sort, almost always brought up the rear. Made for somewhat boring video for me...

They took us to an old arena which we were told was used as a fighting ring for elephants vs tigers, for the amusement of the king and queen. There is also a graveyard nearby for the elephants. It was interesting. They then took us through the backstreets of the countryside where we observed everyday life, from washing "hanging" (rather, resting) on bushes, to rice fields, sidewalk stalls, kids playing in school grounds, people going about their everyday business and so on. Then they took us to see incense sticks being made, before going to see one of the old bunkers from the war. Actually the bunker area was site interesting, as the guide showed us the view past the river and outlined the devastation that had taken place there 30 years ago due to Agent Orange.

Our final stop was the rice museum, which although it was closed, is approached by a cute little Japanese bridge upon which we found some gorgeous little boys playing. They were dancing and singing for us, and smiling for lots of photos - and surprisingly didn't ask for money. It was very sweet.

All too soon it was time to head back to the hotel, as dusk was falling. What a fabulous trip that was!

Masterchef - Vietnamese style!

I awoke feeling very excited, because today we were going cooking!

The cooking class we took was run by Morning Glory restaurant. Our leader, Hung, took us to the market before hand and told us about the different food used in Vietnamese cooking. It was really interesting to see the different spices and learn some of their names and uses. She gave us some lemongrass to keep in our hands in preparation for the next section of the market - the fish market.

The fish Market, whilst being interesting, was absolutely disgusting. I have never smelled anything so bad in my life! I had that lemongrass in my face the whole time. We saw some astonishingly poor levels of hygiene on display too, so much that I certainly wouldn't buy any fish there, but the locals didn't seem to mind.

Just up from the fish market was the fruit Market, but en route we came across chickens, still alive, tied up in bunch just lying there on the floor. Other chickens were caged, ready to be sold. It was just so interesting to see the different things at the Market.

We returned to the restaurant (having quickly stopped off for another fitting) and then Hung proceeded to teach us to make fresh spring rolls, traditional Hoi An pancake, and a mango salad. I was very impressed with the way everything was set out to enable us to complete the task, including us having our own little gas stove (which both Francois and Shanty managed to create flames of fire about a metre tall above their food), all the ingredients pre-laid out, and all the utensils we'd need, but I was unimpressed by the two French women next to me who wouldn't shut up the whole time, jabbering away there in French and preventing me from hearing much of the instruction. However it was a fun experience and we got to eat our food for lunch afterwards. They also gave us the recipe and a double knife as a souvenir.

The afternoon was then ours to spend as we liked. As we still had access to the bikes, Francois and I decided to go and explore the Market further - but managed to make a wrong turn en route which lead us to a cute little village 2kms outside of Hoi An. It was fabulous, they had a Market there too but it wasn't like the one in Hoi An - this was clearly only for locals which meant that we could look without being pestered to buy anything. W also stumbled across the back streets of the town and saw the shanty houses the locals lived in, complete with family altars in the house, or family altars on a pillar outside the house like a letterbox, and small front / back yard farms. Some of the houses on the bank of the river had their own personal jetty, but this wasn't like the ones at home, these were tiny little bamboo jetties that I think would have sunk if I had tried to walk on it.

We cycled on further and came across a school where the kids yelled out to us, wanting to practice their English. Across the road from there we saw hand made mud bricks crying by the side of the road. It really was another world.

Back to the hotel to return the bikes, we then ventured next door for a massage. This cost $7 and was quite good, although in this place "Heaven" it really was a routine, not something designed to actually improve your muscle condition or something. Firstly you had a foot bath and massage. Then you went into the room, laid face down on the bed and she would randomly rub up and down your back with oil. Periodically she'd hit your back making weird cupping sounds with her hands. She didn't just do your back though, she did hands, arms, head, neck, shoulders... Everything really. It was quite relaxing.

Our dinner that evening was a party by the pool. Vaughn arranged takeaway pizza which actually was quite nice as I am getting frankly a little sick of noodles and rice!

B and Erik still had fittings so they left in the middle and then came back. It was really pleasant by the pool and a lovely evening was enjoyed.

Everywhere You Go, You Always Take...School Kids With You?!

We had a second class carriage this time from Nha Trang to Da Nang, and boy, did we notice it! When the girls and Erik arrived in their cabin, they found a used nappy on the floor, an old bag of strawberries full of crickets, and the sheets were very dirty. Our cabin wasn't so bad, but our sheets were also dirty and we had to get the conductor to change them. The blankets also were very thin, which was a cause for concern for me as I was to be on the upper bunk this time with Francois below. Given that the air conditioning in the train is always too cold I was afraid I wouldn't sleep very well, and was pleasantly surprised that I did. The toilets however needed to be avoided at all costs...

We arrived in Da Nang around 930 and were met by our bus driver who took us to our hotel in Hoi An, some 25kms away. The hotel was the Vinh Hung 3 and it was probably the nicest we've stayed in so far. The beds had a hanging cover which I suspect was a mosquito net but which gave the impression of a four poster bed. The shower was awesome - you had the choice between a power shower or you had a separate hand held nozzle if you preferred. The future was very smart, with a lovely dark wooden colour. It's a short walk from the hotel to the old city, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, and it truly was beautiful. Glorious old buildings, ornate pagodas and lovely lanterns line the streets which are full of shops, particularly tailors - so immediately upon arrival we set off for Yally, one of the best tailors in Hoi An. Most of the group had outfits made - mine was a black suit - jacket, trousers and skirt - for $125. You choose the style, the fabric and anything specific details you want included, and they just make it for you. They also keep your details online so when you get home, if you want another item made, you can just email them and they'll ship it to you. They're able to make your clothes in 24 hours and deliver them to your hotel if you want.

Alas, there had to be a downer to this wonderful experience, and it was this - as I am standing there, being measured by the lovely Nicola, dreaming of the suit I am getting made, I look over Nicola's shoulder and see none other than Monica, one of the naughtiest girls at my school, standing there with her mother. What?! An All Hallows' girl in Hoi An? And not just that, but one I actually taught?! Wouldn't read about it now, would you?

And unfortunately she was there again later on when I went for my fitting. She told me that they were also going to Hue, so I hope I don't run into her there...

After the tailors, we headed off for lunch over on the little island of Cam? The food was magnificent, and so cheap too, and we ate really well. We then hired bicycles from the laundry lady outside our hotel (who does brilliant laundry, I might add - $1 per kilo and they come back smelling amazing) and then set off on our cycling adventure! The only problem was, we needed to negotiate Vietnamese traffic - and we know what that can be like!

Recovering from the initial shock of finding oneself on a collision course with speeding Vietnamese, we soon got the hang of it, and began to explore the streets of Hoi An. No map, no matter, the plan was to get lost in the thick of it - so it was not surprising when we took a turn and suddenly found ourselves sailing through the covered market (bending down low so as not to entangle ourselves on the low-lying cloth roof), whizzing past the stalls and generally having a whale of a time. I wonder though if there is a law against videoing whilst cycling? Can't imagine there is, as the locals seem to get away with mobile phones whilst riding...

We came flying out of the markets and that's then whether fun began for Shantelle. As she approached the bridge, no one really saw what happened, but the next thing we knew she had crashed into a local on a motorbike! Secretly we think it was Shanty's fault, but later Vaughn said that the local, having come from the bridge, needed to give way, Either way, the poor girl had popped her tire, and was visibly shaken, so she couldn't continue the journey. Sophie and Shanty then headed back.

The rest of us continued the journey and explored the little island, the Japanese bridge, and the old town before venturing out on the highway, cycling 4kms to the beach. It was a cute beach too, and we enjoyed watching the little basket boats bobbing out on the water. Our way home took us down some cute little lanes and past lots of rice fields, their owners busily toiling away.

Our dinner was at a traditional restaurant by the river. We ordered our food first and then made our way to the tailors for our fittings. Poor B wasn't terribly happy with hers but suggestions were made for improving it and she seemed happier after that.

The dinner was lovely and we did head out for a nightcap but the bar was full of westerners and loud music, and as we were all so tired, we called it quits for the day. Especially because we had an early start the next day...