Wednesday 18 June, 2008- Written from Ha Noi, Vietnam

My computer has been having electrical problems, so it looks like I will have to write entries the old fashioned way from now on. In the mean time, I have lots of catching up to do and will have to unfortunately summarise the past week or two...

The days after my parents arrived were spent further exploring Saigon and taking day trips around the region. We took one trip (including my aunt's family, grandmother, parents, Seth, and I) to a town a few hours northwest of Saigon, near the Cambodian border. The town, Tay Ninh, is famous as the birthplace of the newly created religion, Caodai (1925), and houses a massive temple for its worshipers. Caodaism fuses aspects of Bhuddishm, Christianity, Islam, Confusionism, and several other religions and secular thinkings into what I found to be an almost comical hodgepodge of a religion. It is strange for me to think that people could be so faithful to something that seems to be so arbitrarily created, though its integrative approach seems 'ideal'. This sentiment, combined with the heat and the crowds of tourists, made me quite thankful to leave the temple.

Caodai Temple, Tay Ninh

Caodai worship service, Tay Ninh

Cambodian border (near Tay Ninh)

Our second day trip started early, and Seth decided to stay in Saigon for this one. It was organised by my grandma and took us into the Mekong Delta to visit some of her side of the family. In Saigon, we picked up her two aunts (my great-great aunts), grabbed three roast ducks, and drove a few hours southeast, into the Delta. We took the van across a river via ferry, then drove it down an extremely narrow, newly paved road through some small villages. It was apparent the road was only meant for pedestrians, bicycles, and the odd motorbike, and taking the van in, which filled the road and scraped against low hanging branches, seemed a little silly (why could we not just walk in?).

We stopped at a little thatched roof house with dirt floors and were quickly greeted by at least two dozen people of all ages. I was told they were almost all relatives (though Mom was not sure of the relations), with the exception of a few children who were probably neighbourhood kids stopping by out of curiosity. After steamed banana rice cakes and coconut milk drinks, about 25 of us crammed into one long fishing boat and floated over to the family burial plot located on a nearby island. Mom and the older ladies visited with deceased relatives and made offerings of roast duck and fruit, then we floated back to the village, where we ate the unlucky ducks and fruit :o)

After lunch the young kids got extremely excited and pulled me, Tammie, and Julie along for quite a ride through the village. Once they saw I brought a camera they would rush over to a nearby spot, line up, have me take a picture, crowed around to look at the picture on the camera and squeal and laugh, then zip over to another location to repeat the process. We visited the dirt floor primary school, the temple, and a few back roads, taking pictures at every turn. I was lucky to have Julie and Tammie there to help translate, otherwise I would not have known what to do!

One older girl, Tuyen, (I think she is 19, but could easily pass for 13) seemed to be the ring leader of the youngsters. I believe she is the granddaughter of my Mom's cousin. She was very cheerful, enthusiastic, and never let me out of her sight. Her English was not very good but she was able to get her point across using a variety of tactics, the most effective being writing words and short phrases on a piece of paper for me to read (her writing English was better than her speaking). We exchanged email address and promised to keep in touch (she has internet access every Saturday).

The entire day was a real whirlwind experience, even though Dad and I were uncertain what was happening for most of it (only Vietnamese was spoken unless I asked someone to translate a particular idea, and this unfortunately did not happen very often). The atmosphere was extremely celebratory and buzzing with energy, and the family so totally and unconditionally generous to their western counterparts. It is hard to believe that I have family living in what we would consider 'poor conditions' in a country so foreign and different to our own--it is an extremely grounding experience.

Loading onto the ferry (Mekong Delta)

Nearly there (Mekong Delta)

Warm greeting (Mekong Delta)

Tammie and Julie having cake and coconuts (Mekong Delta)

The house of one of Mom's cousins (Mekong Delta)

*My camera died right after this so I will post additional pictures from Dad's camera within a few weeks*

Besides these two trips, we spent a few days running errands in Saigon and soaking up the city. One thing my parents, Seth, and I did was take a leap of faith and visit a public dentistry to have our teeth cleaned for a fraction of what it would cost in the US. Mom knows a woman who is one of the directors of a major dentistry in Saigon, which let us jump a long queue of locals waiting for their turn to see the dentist. The cleaning was much needed (Seth had not seen a hygienist for 4 years and I for 2), and went over remarkably well. Besides this, we also went to an optometrist to have our eyeglass prescription updated (glasses in Vientnam are about a third the cost), and in the evening a tailor came to our hotel to fit us for some new clothes. Seth and I will have several suits made, each only about $80USD. I also had two traditional Vietnamese dresses (ao dai) made by picking out material at a shop, coming up with a design, and being measured, though it was hard to imagine what the finished product would look like in advance.

Xoi (Sticky rice) Man! (Near our hotel in Saigon)

Selling coconuts in the road (Saigon)

View of the alley from the window of our hotel room (Saigon)

Dinner with the family (Saigon)

Buying Vietnamese coffee, which is roasted in butter and tastes like chocolate (Saigon)

Exercisers in the park where we go running (Saigon)

Every inch of park is used

Tea and coffee (Saigon)

Lots of electrical wires (Saigon)

Amazing bakery! (Saigon)

Tiny banana (Saigon)

Breakfast in the cafe below the hotel (Saigon)

Overly manicured Tourist Park (Saigon)

On Thursday (12 June), we had a final brunch (dim sum) with my aunt's family and grandma, then Mom, Dad, Seth and I departed for our flight to Hanoi. The taxi ride into downtown Hanoi, complete with thumping techno music, gave us an idea of what to expect: a somewhat more western and a bit more slick city than Saigon. This is contrary to what many people from the south of Vietnam would say, who claim that Saigon is the big city and Hanoi (a much older 'country' city) is still behind in its development. Upon first glance Hanoi seems to have more aggressive and more flashy people, and perhaps even a darker underbelly--at least where we are staying, drugs and prostitution are more apparent than what we saw in Saigon (though nothing beats Saigon's numerous late-night "haircut" and "massage" parlours!).

View of mountains and river from airplane

We checked into a hotel that was suggested to us through friends, which to our surprise was a kinda seedy backpackers. Mom and Dad immediately began to make arrangements for tours while Seth and I walked around some markets nearby and then took a taxi to a restaurant to meet with his old Aussie friend, Luko, who happens to be living and working in Hanoi. We ate a place recommended by the Lonely Planet, and though the food was pretty good, there were only Westerners at the shop -- something unusual for us, as we typically favour the spots where mainly locals go. Afterwards Luko fit the three of us on his little motorbike to cruise over to a place for gelatto (a scary ride, considering the streets were bustling, it was very rainy, and Seth and I were without helmets!). After saying goodbye to Luko, Seth and I got a phone call from Dad saying the taxi driver who gave us a ride from the airport scammed us and took us to the wrong hotel. Taxi drivers will sometimes do this because they may get commission from the hotel for bringing in clientele. We checked out of that shady backpackers and went to the much nicer hotel we originally booked, a few kilometres away.

Markets in Hanoi's Old District

Having a snack, Hanoi

The next day was spent exploring Hanoi--first was a jog around one of the lakes right across from the hotel (Hoan Kiem Lake), followed by a walk around the town. We headed for Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum (which was closed) then to the Temple of Literature. The temple was originally built nearly 1000 years ago (around the time when Hanoi was built) and dedicated to scholarly research, though I do not know if there is any original piece of the temple or its grounds that remains. In the evening the four of us met up to watch one of Hanoi's famous water puppet shows, which was very charming yet also a little cheesy, then Seth and I caught a train to Sapa. Mom and Dad wanted to spend another night in Hanoi so they could take a tour of the Perfume Pagoda the following day. The hotel booked two tours for us (Sapa and Halong Bay), and though Seth and I have always tried to keep free of tours, we decided in this case it would be the best thing to do--but to compromise we would get to Sapa a day early to explore it a little on our own first.

Hanoi

Uncle Ho's Mausoleum, Hanoi

Temple of Literature, Hanoi (nearly 1000 years old)

Doctor's Stelae at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Water Puppets Show, Hanoi

The trip several hundred miles north into the highlands, near the Chinese border, consisted of an overnight sleeper train (which was not cleaned and smelled pretty rank), and in the morning we were met by a guide who took us on a minibus through windy, misty mountain roads from Lao Cai to Sapa. Sapa is known for its beauty and for the hill tribes who have settled in the region. The tribes maintain their traditional way of life and have become a 'must see' for anyone travelling to north Vietnam.

The second Seth and I stepped out of our van in front of our hotel we were 'greeted' by nearly a dozen little montagnard girls in exotic and beautiful clothing firing off question after question at us: 'what's your name?', 'where you from?', 'have brothers or sisters?', 'where you stay', etc. How charming, they were practicing their English on us!

After some confusion over our hotel, we went for a quick late morning jog around town (we did not know that we would not be able to go to the neighbouring hill tribe villages without a guide or permit, which really limited our running routes), and since it rained most of the rest of the day we were unable to explore outside Sapa. However, the Saturday Market was on so we got to fight the crowds and wander around the vendors and stalls...

Maps from where we went in the Northern Territory and Kakadu

Where we stayed overnight in the NT

Where we stayed overnight (red) and places we visited along the way (yellow) in Kakadu

From Hue, Central Vietnam

*Sorry I have not been able to post much lately--I have been having bad computer problems and have not had the time to find internet cafes to write. My computer is working better now so hopefully I will soon be able to catch up on the past few weeks.

From Saigon, Vietnam—Big changes (Thursday, 5 June, 2008: 12:30pm)

In the morning (Wednesday), I just didn’t feel like running, even though it was our last day is Australia. The options for trails were a bit limited so I didn’t feel like I would be missing out on anything. After Seth returned from his last trot out in the bush (by himself), we spent the rest of the late morning eating as much food as possible and tidying the campervan so we could return it. (This included hosing off the red dust that seemed to have seeped its way into every crevice—lingering evidence of our forbidden excursion to Gunlom.)

We left Annaburoo without buying petrol and hoped the next stop, Corroboree Park, would be cheaper. With our luck, of course, all the electricity along the highway was out due to construction and would not be on again until the afternoon, and so the pumps could not be used during that time. We didn’t have enough petrol to carry on (the next stop was about 60km down the highway), so we hung out at the rough and dusty roadhouse, hoping it would not take too long since we had to be back in Darwin to return the van within a few hours.

When the power finally clicked on we hustled back to Darwin and ran a bunch of errands, including returning unopened food we had bought to Woolies, topping off the petrol, and finding a bank to deposit most of our Australian currency before leaving the country.

We returned the vehicle in one piece and it was checked out with no fines (always a HUGE relief!), and we managed to ring up Derek, the brother of John (Paola Coluzzi’s husband), who is living in Darwin. As we waited for him to get out of work we hung outside the rental place, in the company of chooks and barbed-wire fencing, and watched fighter planes fly past as we tried to polish off the rest of our food and made peanut-butter, date and honey sandwiches for the road.

Derek was kind enough to pick us up and drove us to Fanny Park, right on the edge of the ocean, and the three of us walked along a path and watched our last sunset in Australia. He was a wonderful guide and also drove us through town for a brief tour, then took us to the wharf for a barramundi dinner. He was really interesting and friendly, and I couldn’t believe how wonderful he was to us after we had only met him once before.

As it was getting late, Derek offered to let us get ready for our flight over at his house, but we decided it was best to go right to the airport with lots of time to shower and repack before enduring Tiger’s check-in process. I am glad our last impression of Australians was a particularly good one, as it reminded me of how generous and welcoming many Aussies have been to us.

We were super prepared for our flight with Tiger this time, and even though we had bought a few gifts, we knew just how to pack (and wear) everything as efficiently a possible to minimize weight (though we did have to dump the sunblock we just bought a few days ago).

We took the red-eye from Darwin (saying good-bye to Australia!) to Singapore, where we had to actually get our checked bags, go through customs, and recheck them (Tiger only flies point-to-point and won’t transfer luggage to connecting flights, which is one of many tricks they use to keep costs low). Despite the intense heat and humidity, which was enhanced by the fact that we were coming from the warm, dry Northern Territory, as well as cold, dry Canberra, the airport at Singapore was super cute (very nice bakeries, Oprah on TV, wireless internet, little hard candies at the immigration desk, and random steel drum music), and I wish we had time to explore the country/city. Next time.

We took our next flight to Ho Chi Minh City, trying to catch an extra hour or two of sleep before landing at 8am. When we arrived at the very empty airport we checked in at the visa desk to pick up our on-arrival visas and get our passports stamped. I had, in my mad rush to plan the trips and finish my thesis, completely overlooked the fact that we needed to pay for the stamping fee in cash ($50USD) and we only had what Seth just so happened to have on him when he left the US, which was $43. There were no money changers or ATMs in that part of the airport and we nearly began to panic, when a young British couple overheard that we needed some cash. They just handed us $7 on the spot and told us not to worry about it. I think we will be owing some fellow travelers favors for a little while to balance out the karma!

My Aunt Gai, Uncle Kiet, and their youngest daughter, Julie (age 7) came to the airport to pick us up. I hadn’t seen them in probably 10 years so was worried I wouldn’t recognize them (I had never even met my little cousin before), but they looked just the same! They hired a taxi van and drove us through the crowded streets of downtown Saigon to the hotel in District 1. I remember a good amount from when I was in Vietnam 12 years ago, and boy, have things changed. This was also my aunt’s and uncle’s first time back in 18 and 20 years, respectively, so they also noticed lots of differences. One big thing that I found right away was there were hardly any bicycles on the roads—mostly mopeds (~85%) and quite a few SUVs (~5%) with a scattering of taxis and taxi-vans (~3%). I think it used to be about half and half bicycles and mopeds before. Having more motors and fewer bikes makes the streets seem even more dangerous, and the SUVs are really disturbing: they are all medium/large size and brand new. I suppose everyone is allowed to have modern, western conveniences, but I don’t think anyone, anywhere, should be allowed to drive an SUV. There also seems to be huge disparity in the classes of vehicles: people either drive mopeds or bikes, or they have shiny SUVs; one can hardly find any sedans or older cars!

When we got to the hotel I met with my other cousin, Tammy (age 10?), and grandmother. The five of them arrived a few days ago and will be hanging out in Saigon for most of their three-week trip (they are staying in the same hotel, in the room right across from us). It is nice that Seth gets to meet some more of Mom’s side, particularly my grandmother. She doesn’t speak much English, but it is good for us to see her.

Seth and I quickly got to business and prepared for a very scary run in a very crowded city. Luckily, there is a small yet well-maintained public park across the street. We loaded up on sunblock and carefully crossed the street. We started running around 10:30am and the heat (about 30 degrees) and humidity (about 95%) got to me really fast and I could only run about three laps—a whopping 19minutes. It was good, however, to stretch my legs and get moving a little. I think tomorrow we will look into visiting a fitness centre.

From Annaburroo (Northern Territory)—Creepy critters in the night (Tuesday, 3 June, 2008: 11:45pm)

We continued our drive north, past the unimpressive mining town of Jabiru, and didn’t stop until we reached the end of the road heading northeast, just off the border between Kakadu and Arnhem Land. The border is marked by the East Alligator River and separates the park from Aboriginal land, which can not be entered without a permit. Along the very dark night drive we passed two dingoes, a blue-winged kookaburra eating a baby snake while perched on a road sign, and spotted what looked to be a crocodile on the roadside (the East Alligator River is one of the places in Kakadu where crocs are most likely to be found). After all this craziness we finally made it to the camping grounds at Merl. To make a strange night much more eerie, this warm, muggy campsite was swarming with mosquitoes! It was like some sort of horror movie: we had to wear long sleeves (despite the heat) and couldn’t go outside or do anything without letting bunches into the van—we could see them pressing up against the screens, trying to get in. Even inside the van, it took us a while to swat and kill the majority of them before we felt comfortable to go to bed. To top off the spookiness, we could hear packs of dingoes howling and groups of bats chattering, which sounded like strange creatures giggling in the night.

In the morning the mosquitoes were still hounding us, but we managed to get out for a run to try to escape them. We ran through the Manngarre Walk, which twisted through rainforest close to the river and led to an Aboriginal women’s site. According to tradition, only women were allowed to visit it. There was even an alterative path for male visitors to bypass the sacred site, but it was poorly marked and Seth ended up accidentally stopping through it. The women’s spot consisted of a special variety of tree close to the river’s edge that represented an old woman sitting.

The rest of the run included Cahills Crossing (the flooded road that crosses the river to Arnhem Land), a few tracks near the crocodile infested river (we made a few brief stops to try to spot one or two sun bathing but no ‘luck’), and some long twisting path through tall grasses that ended up back at the road.

The rest of the morning was spent washing up and warming leftovers, then we left the mosquito-infested camp for the Border Store (where I tried calling home again, but with no connection), then had a lentil lunch at Ubirr. This place is renowned for its plethora of aboriginal rock art. The art, some thousands of years old, was totally amazing and told some really fantastic stories and histories. They were painted on rocky outcrops and the path led to a surprise view of the entire park—I couldn’t believe the breathtaking scenery. We took our time exploring the rocks along the overlook and taking in the panoramic vistas. This definitely completed my desire for a holiday of stereotypical Australian sites. *After spending so much time in beautiful, lush temperate rainforests, woodlands, mountains, and violent beaches, I really wanted to pick a final trip that would involve country that had the qualities of what people think Australia looks like*

After soaking in Ubirr, we drove back down to Jabiru (only to top up on petrol), and stopped in the nearby main visitor centre, now that we were leaving the park, of course. We watched the end of a film on Kakadu and loaded up on surprisingly cute gifts for young relatives, and carried on westward (via the Arnhem Highway) to the Mamukala Wetlands. Since it was getting late, we decided not to do the 3km walk and just hung out at the hide overlooking the wetlands to try to spot a few birds. We not only saw a few new ones, but as we were leaving came across a pack of black feral pigs. They were huge and totally disgusting!

As we were leaving the wetlands at late dusk I tried practicing driving the van (stick-shift), and the road took us right down the middle of the wetlands. Within 10 minutes we passed a dingo and two snakes (green pythons?) in the road! I was totally freaked out and didn’t want to hit any nocturnal animals just waking up, so Seth took over the wheel and drove us out of Kakadu—west towards Darwin. We stopped at a roadhouse (a combined petrol station/restaurant/pub/caravan park) at Annaburoo, not too far outside Kakadu. As I was hooking up the camper to a hose for water, I noticed one of the hoses on the ground was moving on its own, and discovered it was a yellow and orange striped snake! I don’t know if it was a harmless python, but it is always best to assume that any unidentified Aussie snake is extremely deadly (because most of the snakes here seem to be). Oi! After dinner we went for showers, but since all the showers we have come across so far in the NT are open-air structures (as are many other buildings), animals of all types are free to come and go. The toilets and showers had rather cute little frogs in them, and Seth’s shower included a visit from a huntsman spider (the kind from Arachnophobia)—I am sure glad they were not snakes or crocs :P

I can’t believe how crazy the Northern Territory has been. It seems so wild and even in our short time we have seen snakes, dingoes, feral pigs, brumbies (wild horses), wallaroos, amphibians and reptiles of all sorts, and giant bats—I am sure we have passed by crocs, but just have not come face-to-face with them! We have also been swarmed by mosquitoes, even during The Dry (season), as well as encountered baby humans crying their guts out at campsites, hah! As a trade-off to the wildness, we have had the opportunity to observe countless birds, many of which do not occur in the southeast. I think I will miss this crazy place, but for now it seems a little spooky, particularly at night...