Part 3 - Vietnam

Arrived back in Adelaide Sunday – here’s the final installment of our travels.

 Part 3 - Vietnam

Ahhh Vietnam– full of surprises!!...... surprised to find myself on a 10km bike ride…..surprised to find myself on a 12km trek….. surprised we are still alive after travelling so much on Vietnam roads……
No seriously, I (we) have been so surprised and impressed by the stunning beauty of this place – from the rice terraced hillsides of Sapa to the majestic splendor of Halong Bay, the white sandy beaches & blue waters on the coast and the awesome coastal views from Hai Van Pass.... to the surprise upgrade at one hotel to the Honeymoon suite!!!!!?????

Our Vietnam adventure began in Hanoi. Staying in the old quarter is an experience in itself with its narrow streets crammed full of every sort of shop imaginable – each street specializing in one type of product (e.g. one street we counted 15 shops selling glasses, another was full of fabric shops, another shoes, another hardware etc. As always there are sights to make you smile – one shop sold only two products – baby formula and alcohol???? Food is never far away with innumerable restaurants as well as those cooking and selling food on the footpath or hawkers with their traditional dual baskets carried over the shoulder. The streets are very narrow, but an amazing amount of traffic squeezes through. Watching bus vs car vs motorbike vs bicycle vs trishaw vs pedestrian vying for places on the road is entertainment or terror depending on whether you are observer or in the midst of it. Around the city of Hanoi there are a few “must see” sights. One of them is Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum. Well seeing the outside of it is no problem, but going in to see his body – that’s another story! I have NEVER seen queues like it (not even at the Vatican!) –hundreds of metres long (our guide estimated a 1-2 hour waiting time) We opted not to bother – as the guide said - all you need to do is look at any money note which bears his face and just pretend he’s got his eyes shut! Anyway seeing the great man’s dead body is obviously a very popular thing to do. We settled on going in to the museum of his life which was quite interesting. (Perhaps they could get a wax look alike to put in there!!??) A day trip out of Hanoi took us to the sight of the ancient capital, Ninh Binh where we checked out the first of what seems like countless temples, pagodas and Buddha statues! (yes I am being a bit cynical – but as any seasoned traveller knows, you usually get an overdose on something in any one place – like cathedrals and castles in Europe!) We also “enjoyed” a lovely scenic 10km bike riding through the countryside (that wasn’t on my itinerary!!!). It was stunning scenery amid rice fields, rivers and huge rocky outcrops. Later we relaxed on a canoe ride down the river and through some caves, impressed by the skills of locals who mastered the art of rowing with their feet!

Sapa is a delightful town up in the hills in the far northwest of Vietnam, close to the Chinese border, requiring an overnight train trip followed by a 45 min bus trip. In some ways it reminded me of an alpine village that could have been somewhere in Europe, however the rice fields were kind of a giveaway that it was not! This was the only place we encountered rain… not a good thing when you’re about to embark on a 12 km trek through the hillside! Thankfully rain stopped after only an hour and half but left a fairly muddy trail to walk (or in places I should say SLIDE) down! David managed to fall gracefully and surprisingly did not get his clothes muddy. Day 2 in Sapa we did a 7km easier walk through some villages. What a sight to see the amazing agricultural feat as the terraced rice fields cover the hillsides, and where the slope is too steep they plant corn. Many ethnic hill-tribes inhabit the area, wearing their colourful costumes and selling their hand-embroidered craft items. Vietnam’s tallest mountain Mt Fansipan towers over Sapa, but its top remained hidden in cloud.

Halong Bay is the second “must see” destination of the North. About 3-4 hours by bus from Hanoi, Lonely Planet describes it as “a priceless collection of unfinished sculptures hewn from the hand of nature” – thousands of limestone pinnacles and islands within the bay, many are home to numerous caves. What could be better that cruising around for a few hours amongst this amazing beauty, taking time to explore a limestone cave, taking to the water in a kayak, swimming in the warm tropical water… Unfortunately we had a close encounter with a jellyfish –both of us got stung. When I spoke to our guide about it, at first he was quite adamant that it couldn’t possibly have been a jelly fish, but after 15-20 mins as the redness and lumps developed he had to agree it must have been. First Aid??? Ah yes we have vinegar….on the boat…. At this point we had been kayaking and were away from the boat and not heading back for an hour or so! Lucky it wasn’t a Box jellyfish. Anyway some antihistamines and steroid cream later did the trick and it wasn’t too uncomfortable. We slept the night on the boat, anchored in a nice quiet secluded bay…..with 20 other boats!!! We were blown away by the food on the boat, being served about 8 dishes at each meal and the presentation was simply first class.

After 6 days in the north, we flew down to Hue in Central Vietnam, which had served as the country’s capital during the dynasty when emperors reigned for 150 years. The remains of the Imperial Citadel are impressive, but much of it was destroyed by bombing in the war. A number of emperor’s tombs can be viewed - elaborate displays of the wealth of the powerful.

A road trip from here to Hoi An proved to be a pleasant surprise, giving us the opportunity to see some of the magnificent coastline. We stopped off at a beach, but were not expecting to see such a beautiful wide white sandy beach complete with palm trees and blue waters. Came across a funny scam here – hawkers on the beach asking if you had any foreign coin to give them to add to their collection. A bit later another one approached and asks if she could cash in all her Aus coins for local currency!!!
This route also took us over the Hai Van Pass, so it combines the beauty of a coastal road, with the views of crossing a mountain range. It truly can rival Australia’s Great Ocean Road (just without the 12 apostles!) Occasional remnants of the Vietnam war were to be seen along the way and numerous war cemeteries/memorials are found throughout this area.
Hoi An is a quiet place, even though full of tourists. The Old Town area is well preserved with cars being excluded so it makes getting around a bit easier. There are plenty of old heritage sites to see from Chinese and Japanese past influences. An 8 km round trip by bicycle took us to a nearby beach – another beautiful place to sit and relax for a while on our last day (notwithstanding the intrusion of the ever-present hawkers!)
Thankfully one thing that was noticeably absent throughout Cambodia and Vietnam was FLIES! About the only time we saw them was on the fish and meat in the markets!! That’s a sight one prefers not to think about when dining out, as eating is definitely one of the highlights of travelling in Asia – so much good food, and so cheap! The Beer is always cheap too, although finding a REALLY cold one is a bit difficult. Wine is best avoided.
I must say it was hotter here than I expected with temps in mid-high thirties with high humidity, but overall we are very glad we returned to Vietnam to see the North and Central areas and would definitely recommend this place for a holiday.

Signing off for now til our next adventure,

Jenny and David 17/7/12

Cambodia/Vietnam 2012 – part 2 – Preah Vihear – time with the girls.

Before I begin with Part 2, there were a couple of things I missed in Part 1 that I really want to include.

Firstly, while in Phnom Penh we had the privilege of having a meal in a Cambodia home. A young man named Vireak who works for World Vision has known Lois (our team leader) since her first trip to Cambodia back in 2006 and they have become very close (so much so that Lois and her husband consider him their adopted Cambodian son). Anyway he had just moved into a new house and wanted it to be blessed, so invited Lois and the team to come for a meal and bless their home. That was a pleasure and privilege to be a part of this unique opportunity.

Second – a story for my co-workers in pharmacy. I was a little annoyed to discover my packet of Promethazine only had a few tablets left in it, so tried to purchase some in Singapore on the way through, but no – they only sell the liquid version. However, first pharmacy I went into in Cambodia – no problem, packet of 20 Phenergan (Yes even the same brand!) for the bargain price of $1.20.

So on with Part 2. Since our arrival in Preah Vihear last Tuesday, to our goodbyes yesterday here in Siem Reap, what an amazing and blessed 9 days we have had with the girls of the hostel. 6 days with the full 38 girls, then the last 3 days with 15 Year 11 students on an excursion to Siem Reap.

A team of Cambodians came up from the capital to conduct two days of workshops/studies with the girls. The team came from Trans World Radio (for the Lutheran reading this, we think it is similar to Lutheran Media). So while we were not directly involved in the spiritual input of the program, we were there as “support crew”. One major task was to do the catering so that all the girls could be actively involved and not have to worry about food! There were also a whole bunch of extra girls present, as Lois was interviewing applicant for next years intake (50 applicants for 12 places). So we ended up cooking for about 100 people! This included an early morning trip to the market to purchase all the supplies – that in itself is an experience. Weaving through the crowds, and dodging motorbikes, watching the mud and puddles.. and other things you don’t want to step in, and deciding which stall had the freshest looking goods… and the least amount of flies! Thanks to a couple of excellent cooks on our team we presented a very tasty meal. Unfortunately however the girls did not rate our rice cooking skills very highly and on the second day offered to do it for us!!!  

As an offshoot of the topics being discussed in the workshops, the subject of women’s health came up. With 3 nurses and a pharmacist on the team, a mini health education session evolved, which proved to be very valuable to the girls.

Time was also spent doing some craft activities with them and just talking, as well as a bit of singing. A guitar had been donated from Aus and one of the girls is learning to play so a bit of a jam-session happened. She had a music book there with quite a variety of songs & hymns in it. I had quite a selection of music on my laptop, so was able to copy of some files for her to listen to and learn some new songs.

We attended the local church service Sunday along with quite a number of the girls and it was great to see some of them actively involved. They also have a young Christian come every Sunday morning to the hostel to spend time with them for teaching and discussion.

One of the girls is happy that a small group of Christians meets in her home village, but was sad that there was not enough bibles for everyone to have one… thanks to donations, there will soon be more available. Given that 85% of the Cambodian people are Buddhists, it is exciting to see Christianity alive and growing here.

A number of the girls were excited to join us on a trip to their villages, visit their homes and meet their families. Again a very special privilege for us to see the true Cambodian lifestyle. The families were so welcoming, so thankful for the opportunity their girls have been given and happy to talk and answer our questions. The girls are chosen to be at the hostel because their families are poor. In many cases the father has died, leaving the family dependent on older children to provide financial support, commonly from a simple rice farm and raising chickens and pigs. There are often 8 or 9 children in the families and at a number of homes a grandparent also lived there.

The homes are SO simple and basic.  No plumbing, no electricity. Very little furniture – we sat on the floor. Yet at every home we were served something to eat – delicious fresh fruit or local sweet cakes etc.

Two girls who had finished secondary school, have now also completed teacher training and will return to their villages to teach. Several other students are nearing completion of nursing studies or other university courses so it is wonderful to see the longer term results of this project.

During our time at Preah Vihear we also met with a few US missionaries living and working here long term. It was great to learn about their work and see the networking of different groups supporting each other. They also appreciate the visits of teams like ours, which encourages them in their work. One woman is involved with a medical clinic in a rural area, which we were able to visit. It may be a far cry from our medical services, but at least they have something and its free for them.

I simply must make mention of our adventure in even getting to some of these remote places. Let’s just say that road maintenance is in these rural areas is not a high priority, and the deep ruts and potholes would be bad enough when dry, but add a few tropical downpours and you have mud as well. At a couple of places the lead driver stopped and got out to test the depth of the potholes with a stick, before deciding to proceed! The Camry’s proved to be amazingly resilient again, taking us where only 4WD should go. On two separate occasions one of the 5 cars got bogged, and one “road” took us through a fairly fast flowing creek!

The team also managed to do some maintenance on the hostel. David and another man spent a couple of days painting. There were also repairs to plumbing and a lot of cleaning. Again we had to go to the local shops/market and find the supplies – paint, brushes, rollers, tools etc. Challenging with the language barrier, but often one of the students (the best English speakers) went along to help translate. I should mention that our mode of transport around town was by bicycle!

A couple of old laptops had been donated for use for the girls for their studies (to practice computer skills such as Word and Excel which they are learning), but we had to spend a bit of time teaching them to do’s and don’ts of the internet – in particular Facebook, just in case they get adventurous!!

On Monday we travelled to Siem Reap with the 15 Year 11 girls. This is quite a sizeable city with a large focus on tourism, being near to Angkor Wat and the temple complex.  As they come from poor families in small villages, for many there were a lot of first time sights and experiences – things we take for granted like hot water running out of a tap, a shower, a flushing toilet, a swimming pool, a supermarket. It was a challenge trying to explain everything to them in the hotel room! We enjoyed the chance to get to know this bunch better and spend more one on one time with them as we chaperoned them over the 3 days on outings to the ancient temples, the museum, markets and restaurants. Most were so keen to practice their English and learn new words, and of course teach us some Cambodian words and have a good laugh at our poor accents.

So all round it has been a wonderful time here with the girls. They headed home yesterday afternoon, and if during our time with them they have been just a little bit encouraged in their journey of life and faith then our job has been done. They all have hopes and dreams for the future, and there is every likelihood that many will fulfill their goals thanks to the opportunity they have been given – made possible by the generosity and love of the Australians who support the project.

With the girls leaving us, we have moved into tourist mode, taking tour last night, which took us through a floating village and watching the sunset(a bit of a non-event!) as we ate and drank aboard a vessel on Lake Tonle Sap. Funniest experience of the trip – they had champagne listed on the drinks menu, so asked for a glass…. I got a tumbler about 1/3 full of something the colour of tea.  It tasted very sweet and I suspected it to be apple cider… asked to see the bottle and it was non-alcoholic grape juice!! The solution offered…. Add Vodka!!!!

A number of times a small vessel came alongside our boat, with small children in them holding water snakes! The idea is that you pay to take their photo, or to hold their snake for a photo of yourself! At this point the lake was a bit choppy, and how those little kids didn’t end up in the water is beyond me!!

This morning we went to a Landmine museum. Those things have been responsible for huge numbers of deaths and injuries over the years (not just in Cambodia) and there is still millions of them out there! Locating and deactivating them is a long work in progress.

Later today David & I head off to Vietnam for some holiday time, so I will sign off from Cambodia.

Jenny.