Gardening in the Bush

When we started the blog a year ago, it was intended to provide us with a site to share a few travel experiences and pictures. Once we returned home to Vancouver Island in April, we hung up our backpacks and quit blogging. We'd drawn up a long list of home improvements to occupy our time and didn't see the point in sharing our everyday chores. I also decided to quit my brief foray into Facebook. Now with Christmas just around the corner, the blog seems like a reasonable place to connect once again with family and friends, share a few pictures and stories of some of the highlights of our year and send warm holiday wishes to all. This post shares some of our gardening efforts.

Raised Bed Mk 1

Mk III with refined legs

During a restless night in Vietnam in March, I turned my mind to our plans for a vegetable garden when we returned home. Raised beds are a popular way to garden these days, so my initial plan was to build traditional wood framed beds on the ground. Then it occurred to me that I could save our knees and backs by raising the beds right off the ground to waist height. At first I envisioned wooden legs, but realizing that they would be likely to rot fairly quickly, I decided the legs should be steel. This led to further scheming to incorporate a cold frame support into the legs, thus providing us with a poor man's greenhouse. In our setting in the bush, we also have to keep deer out of our garden, so the cold frame would do double duty as a frame for deer netting. The results are pictured at left.

When we cleared a space in our acre of bush for our house 32 years ago, we used some of the huge Douglas Fir trunks as a retaining wall for our back yard. These had rotted away pretty badly over the past few years and I'd looked forward to replacing them with a proper stone wall as one of my first retirement projects. The last job I ever did with my dad was to build a 6' red granite retaining wall in Coles Bay, Tasmania. The skills I learned on that project quickly returned. $50 worth of field stones from a local farmer plus loose rock I'd

Wall and deer fence

stockpiled provided enough material for a wall 40' long by 3' high.

While I enjoy building the garden beds and walls, Penny is the real gardener. As well as planting our raised beds and newly fenced plot at home, she also established a large garden on friends property a few miles away. The advantage of that property is that it enjoys all day sunlight, unlike our wooded acreage that gets a peep of sun for just a few hours during the summer. Between the 2 gardens, Pen managed to raise an excellent crop of potatoes, carrots, lettuce, beets, beans, peas, chard, kale, tomatoes, parsnips, peppers and egg plant. Our most self sufficient summer ever!

Back where it all began!

    YVR April 10, 2014. Finale of 132 days on the road.

                      (Trying to hide the Starbucks!)

Backpacking Buddies Forever!

Bangkok April 9, 2014

The red is our tally to date. Still lots to see!!

           

Bhutan

We've been on the go for some long and arduous days lately, leaving little time for blogging! Fortunately Pen has taken the time to email some family and friends and once again I'm copying and pasting it here. Here's her take on our week in Bhutan:

We flew from Siem Reap in Cambodia to Bangkok to catch our flight to Bhutan. We were excited about this opportunity, facilitated by Peter's cousin Cate who works with the Australian Electoral Commission in Canberra. This agency assisted the Bhutan government through the process of organizing their first election. Through her work, Cate has visited Bhutan over twenty times and has many contacts there. She was able to assist us in the process of getting a visa at short notice and when applying from outside your home country!

We tried to visit Bhutan in the Seventies but it was essentially a closed kingdom at that time. Due to Cate’s contacts and reputation in Bhutan, we had a very personalized tour on our 6-day visa. Bhutan requires all tourists to be accompanied by a local guide who provides cultural context and information. We like to visit historical and cultural sites but really enjoy meeting the local people and seeing how they live. Our guide was willing to adjust parts of our tour to accommodate these interests.

Bhutan is a Buddhist country and many of their cultural sites and customs reflect their strong, widely held religious beliefs. We visited Dzongs built centuries ago, which are a combination of Buddhist monastery and seats of governance in Thimphu, the capital city, Punakha and Paro. After a visit to the Punakha Dzong, we crossed the river on a long suspension bridge and visited a small rural village. Our guide was able to spontaneously facilitate various encounters with local villagers.

One man, whose wife had left to help their daughter who had recently given birth, invited us into his typical Bhutanese country home, played us a few tunes on his traditional stringed instrument and sang us a song about missing his wife and the joy of his new granddaughter. We were invited to tea at another residence and while there a young woman from the village, who is studying tourism in Thimphu, rushed in to ask us to complete a survey about our stay in Bhutan – an assignment for one of her courses. Word had spread of our presence in the village and we were warmly welcomed!

The next day in Punakha we were supposed to be going for a hike but heard that there was a Tsechu at a Monastery/Dzong about 30 minutes drive on the top of a high hill. We were very excited to have this opportunity to witness the dances, songs and ritual that go along with these festivals. The following day very early in the morning we hiked up to Taktsang Monastery (at 9,700’ altitude), the most revered monastery in Bhutan. It clings to an impossibly craggy cliff face. Josh was the first visitor to arrive that morning, with the result that we had a very private visit. We were guided by local monks through 5 very special and different chambers, with the opportunity to meditate in extremely sacred surroundings. We departed just as the sun was catching the roof of the monastery and the first wave of international visitors arrived.

The high point of our Bhutan adventure - Taktsang Monastery at 10,000'. We were the first visitors for the day.

That evening we had dinner at a farm house built 350 years ago that still contains some of the original furniture and implements used at that time. The dinner came complete with rice wine, arras and genuine Bhutanese food. Laura, who loves taking photographs, was rapt! Of course our visit was much too short but we all agreed it was just an hors d'oeuvres tour. We hope to return one day to explore more of the country. Canada has many NGO’s there so volunteers are always welcome. There is a hospital in Thimpu that always needs nurses and of course there are outpost clinics in villages all over the country if any of you are looking for an adventure!

More pictures to follow!

Update from Penny

We've covered a lot of miles in the past week, with long days and nights of travel and exploration leaving little time for blogging. Today we took a rest day in our hotel close to the Bangkok International Airport, prior to our flight to Bhutan at 6.50 am tomorrow. Pen took some of the time to write a detailed email to family and friends, which makes an ideal blog catch-up post. So if you're reading this post and some of it seems like deja vu, now you know the reason! Here's Pen's perspective on the past week or so:

We were lucky to arrive in Hoi An, an interesting old city on the east coast of Vietnam just south of Da Nang, on the night of the monthly Lunar Festival. The festival was attended by thousands of people and featured paper lanterns that looked very pretty floating on the placid waters of the river. This practice obviously has special significance, but due to my limited Vietnamese the explanation eluded me, so I decide that if two people floated their lanterns down the river it signified their undying devotion to each other!

Peter and I spent a few days staying in rustic bamboo huts very near the ocean in An Bang. This made Peter happy as he hoped to re-create an experience we had on the East Coast of Malaysia when we were travelling in the 70's. There's a lovely beach and we were lucky to be at the quiet end of it. We swam and ate and watched the local fishermen bring in their catch in their round woven bamboo boats that reminded me of the ones that “The owl and the pussycat went to sea in”! It was fascinating, and a tad alarming, watching them navigate through the surf standing up in the boat with one oar used as a scull. Initially they pulled the boat forward by using the oar to catch the first wave and then spun themselves around through 180 degrees, placing themselves on the seaward side of the round craft, facing the shore and using the oar to steer themselves in. We watched several come home in the dark, no lifejackets, no whistles, no margin for error! 

After our coastal respite we were ready to tackle Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City. The bustling capital wasn't nearly as bad as we had been led to expect. We enjoyed some great weather, delicious food including great French bread and pastries, music and site seeing.  Somehow we managed to avoid the Motor Scooter Bag theft, the card game scam, pickpockets and tainted alcohol! Peter and I spent an afternoon seriously looking at beautiful handcrafted ukuleles on the music street in Saigon.


In Saigon we arranged bus and boat transportation for travel up the Mekong River to the Cambodian Border. The Mekong River trip was amazing and the experience of life on the river exceeded our expectations. We spent several days meandering up channels on small boats, visiting artisan villages where they make value-added coconut products which vary from cooking and serving utensils, to coconut wine, oil and delicious coconut candy. We also toured a tropical fruit orchard where they made dried fruit products and rice wine. We visited several floating villages where we met the locals and shared meals, music and everyday life. We stopped at fishing villages in the middle of the river and on the shore and even a village of Indonesian Muslims who moved to the Mekong many years ago as refugees.

We saw much evidence of the annual flooding and the various adaptations that the locals make to cope with this ongoing situation. They are a resilient people. The Mekong was by far our favourite region of Vietnam. It is a vibrant, fascinating area that offers history, adventure and opportunities to interact with the local people.

Our final day in Vietnam was spent travelling by boat to the Cambodian border. We enjoyed being spectators to the working river traffic and life along the riverbank. Crossing the border was easy and the Cambodian border officials warmly welcomed us. The trip from the border to Phnom Penh in a small van was uneventful on highways that were in good condition with the only delays being areas of construction.

Earthen Wear Pot Sellers - Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a busy city that sits beside the Tonle Sap River, which flows south from Tonle Sap Lake near Siem Reap. The dramatic floods that occur annually on Tonle Sap Lake are considered one of SE Asia’s natural wonders. The Riverside promenade makes Phnom Penh a pleasant place to wander and gives relief from the tuk tuks!  We visited the impressive National Museum and had our first glimpse of treasures from Angkor Wat that had been relocated to the national museum to prevent damage. There was very interesting information on some of the architectural features relating to temple construction that were useful once we actually visited Angkor Wat. We also visited The Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. Josh and Laura found some amazing restaurants that are mentoring street kids that served some of the best food we have had in SE Asia.

Cambodian villager in front of home.

After 2 days, we took a 9-hour bus ride to Siem Reap, the vibrant city at the heart of the 400 square kilometer region encompassing Angkor Wat and hundreds of other temples. We spent an incredible four days exploring there. When we were in SE Asia in the 70's it was impossible to visit because the Viet Cong were occupying the site and using it for their barracks so I despaired of ever seeing it. Somehow that made it even more special to actually be there. It is impossible to adequately describe the immensity of the site. It is the biggest religious site in the world. Most of the temples were built between 900 and 1200 AD and the stone wall enclosure of each included wooden structures for the approximately one million inhabitants who lived and worked in the temple grounds. Today all that is left are the massive stone structures and the remains of their moats. 

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

We weren't the only ones to show up for the sunrise!

Our anthropologist son who has a special interest in archeology was rapt. It was wonderful seeing it through his eyes and with his perspective. Our daughter-in-law Laura is a passionate and gifted photographer and she was busy trying to capture the essence of the site. We all loved Cambodia and agreed that we wished that we could stay there longer. The Cambodian people are lovely. They are such a gentle people and their faces light up when they smile. I find them so engaging! They experienced unspeakable, horrendous suffering under the Pol Pot regime but somehow seem to be getting on with their lives. The work that they are doing to protect and restore these monuments is impressive. They have some international partners but after completing training programs the Cambodian archeologists and support staff are leading the projects.

Now we are in Bangkok before catching our flight to Bhutan tomorrow. We are very excited about this opportunity facilitated by Peter's cousin, who has been working with the Bhutan government assisting them in their transition to democracy. Cate works with the Australian Electoral Commission in Canberra that has been assisting Bhutan through the process of election organization. Through her work she has been to Bhutan twenty-three times and has many contacts there. She was able to assist us in the process of getting a visa when you are applying outside of your home country and are short on time. This is also a place that we tried to visit in the Seventies but it was essentially a closed kingdom then. We will only be there for 5 days but are grateful to be going there at all. We fly home April 10. 

Up the Mekong to Cambodia

HPenny, Josh, Laura and I are currently approaching the Vietnam - Cambodia border aboard a 10 passenger narrow-boat on various side-streams and canals that criss-cross the vast Mekong delta. We're with 4 other backpackers with whom we've enjoyed some great 'traveller's grape-vine' conversations like those that Pen and I relied on back in the 70's. As usual, when we join groups for multi-day trips such as this 3-day expedition from Saigon to Phnom Penh, most of our fellow travellers are about a half to a third our age. Pen and I enjoy mostly sitting on the sidelines listening to all the exchanges, but occasionally we'll throw in one of our chestnuts from days of yore, which our young friends seem to enjoy.

Our little band of gypsies at breakfast             

We've had marvelous cell phone coverage with an unlimited data plan for our Vietnam visit but we expect to lose that coverage shortly and will then be dependent on wifi. I'm posting this from my iPhone Blogger app before we travel out of cell range.

The blog has fallen behind a bit so I'll have to describe our Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) experiences in a future post. Our travels on the Mekong have lived up to expectations, with many exotic sights, smells and sounds. Now we're looking forward to meeting the friendly Cambodian People we've heard so much about. Today began with breakfast at 6.00 am followed by a brief bus ride to a dock at the edge of the river. There we were met by a flotilla of two-passenger skiffs propelled by twin crossed-oars from behind.

 Skiffing up the Mekong

On the water by 7.00 am for a fish farm tour

We visited a carp and cat fish farm run by a community of Cambodian refugees, then a community of Indonesian Muslim refugees living in a village built on stilts to avoid the annual 1.5 to 2 meters of flooding in the delta.

3-hour ferry ride to the border

Our 3 hour ferry ride was followed by a 2 hour mini-bus ride from the border town on the Mekong to Phnom Penh. The van took us through rural Cambodian villages skirted on one side by the river and on the other side by the road. Through many of the villages, half the road was taken over by rice and corn sun-drying on large tarps. Drivers of all manner of vehicles take pains to avoid driving on the precious crops.

We noticed a dramatic difference in the number of people populating these villages compared to similar travel through Vietnam over the past month. However that changed once we hit the outskirts of Phnom Penh and by the time we boarded a Tuk-Tuk in search of a hotel, we spent 30 minutes in frenetic peak hour traffic in the old-town.

Kids throughout the region love to practice their few words of English, calling "Hello", "Hi" and "What's your name?" from their homes by the river and road and from the back and front of motor scooters zooming by.

Joyful kids skylarking in the river yelled greetings to us as we passed, then tried their best to splash us and our furiously clicking cameras.

       

Bus Marathon

Our 18 hour bus marathon just ended in the Hill Station of Da Lat, established by the French as an escape from the sweltering heat of the Vietnamese summer.

The first leg of the journey from Hoi An just south of Da Nang to Cam Rahn took 13 hours. Most roads in Vietnam are in pretty rough shape, resulting in an often rough ride . This one passed through a range of different countryside from flat farm land to coastal mountains. Traffic was fairly heavy for much of the night and as is customary here, vehicles beep a warning to each other constantly, so our restless sleep was accompanied by the blast of our air horn and the beep and honk of every scooter, truck and bus on the road. 

Fortunately when we arrived in Cam Rahn at dawn an excellent cafe across the road from our bus stop had just enough time to prepare a delicious breakfast for us before we dashed off to board the next bus to Da Lat. Like the night bus from Hoi An, this bus was also equipped with two tiers of recliner bunks three abreast, so we ended up spending a total of 18 hours sprawled in bus bunks, with the one hour breakfast stop to break the journey. To be honest I preferred it to the Trans Pacific flight in an airline seat!

From Cam Rahn we headed across lush green countryside for about an hour before winding up into the mountains for another 5 hours. The countryside alternated between tangles of jungle creepers and dry pine forest. Rough clap-board shacks, sheds and shops clustered beside the road at various spots at higher elevation, before giving way to acres and acres of plastic-sheet covered green houses. Absolutely acres of them!! We'd heard that this was an important flower growing region but we were all astonished by large tracts of the landscape taken over by green houses.

(Note that the times shown on the Google Maps accompanying this post are estimates for cars. Our bus crawled up the mountain road in low low gear for most of the journey). 

Our first afternoon in this historic 'hill station' has given us a welcome respite from the constant badgering we have been subjected to along the coast. There, travellers are considered fair game by droves of peddlers selling everything from greeting cards to snack foods, boat cruises to scooter rides, and hotel rooms to trinkets. Here in Da Lat we have been left entirely to our own devices. The people go about their business without chasing us down the street to sell us stuff. It's a welcome relief!

14 Hour Overnight Bus

Oh ... and smoking is allowed...!!

At 9.00 am this morning we had multiple options to get to our next destination - plane, day train sleeper, day train soft seats, day train hard seats, night train sleeper and night bus. One by one our options disappeared as the few remaining seats were snapped up. So it was that we ended up on our least favoured option, the night bus - a ride of 14 hours in a reclining seat bult for people of no more than 5'6". Fortunately my seat has no one in front of it so by looping my legs over the reclined seat I've extended my leg room to 11'!! 

I'll let you know how it goes! 

Did I mention what a bloody good sport my wife Penny is? Just turned 67. Inclined to suffer from motion sickness. Hates cigarette smoke ... and look at her!

PS: If you hear I'm in a Vietnamese gaol it will be because I throttled the smokers during the night!

PPS: The smokers included the driver and his mate. Throttling them seemed counter productive!

Pen's Birthday

Travelling far from home and most of her family, Pen certainly didn't expect to be showered with love and good things the way she was for her 67th birthday in Vietnam! To begin with, Josh and Laura were determined to ensure that the hotel they chose would offer the refinements she likes. They spent hours online during our 14 hour train trip south, researching the best possible options in the upper end of our accomodation budget. Their wish list included the following: view of the Perfume River, bath tub, fridge, electric kettle for making our own plunger coffee, hair drier (!), queen bed; good breakfast. They narrowed the field to 2 choices and after consultation opted for the Vina Hotel. It couldn't have been a better choice!

Having told the receptionist we were coming to spend a few days for their mother's birthday, the staff pulled out all the stops to ensure they provided the best possible experience. Josh and Laura ordered a spectacular and delicious cake which arrived in time for breakfast on the birthday morning. The staff also proudly presented Pen with a lovely flower arrangement and our beautiful hostess, always attired in traditional formal dress, posed with Pen, the flowers and the cake.

Josh and Laura had carefully shopped for a birthday card in Malaysia, uncertain if they would be able to find the right card in Vietnam. In Hanoi they discovered that in fact their choice of beautiful paper-art card was made in Vietnam. I'd brought a card from Salt Spring Island - one of Pen's favourites. We topped off the delicious hotel buffet breakfast with a slice of birthday cake and offered some to the lovely hotel staff who hovered around delighting in their connection to this most important Vietnamese celebration - "Mother's Birthday"!

As everyone who know's Pen can attest, she always goes the extra mile to ensure that special occasions are celebrated appropriately. Her two sons have inherited that gene and apply similar attention to detail when celebrating special occasions. 

We then set about filling the day with sight seeing in this historic city. Rather than join a large river cruise boat, we opted to charter our own boat for a couple of hours to cruise the Perfume River and visit a could of historic pagodas.

Sister-ship to our charter boat for our Perfume River Cruise.

Laura seems to be the designated hitter when it comes to bargaining our way through Vietnam, whether it's a hotel room, bus fare or charter boat. So it was that Pen, Josh and I plunked down on a park bench by the perfume River while Laura brushed past numerous 'fixers' and set off in search of the best deal. In a few minutes she rejoined us, having negotiated a boat for 2 hours that would transport us up the river to one pagoda, wait for us to take a tour, then transport us down the river to another pagoda before delivering us back to our starting point. Whether by accident or design, our boat number was 67, which happened to coincide with the birthday we were celebrating! There was a bit of a hiccup in the middle of the cruise, with some debate about the previously agreed-to conditions, but Laura had been forewarned about this and stood her ground, ultimately settling on the original deal.

When we first passed through South East Asia in the early 70's, the 'travellers telegraph' used to inform us of what to expect on the road ahead. Back then, we'd sit around with our fellow travellers over meals, tea and beer breaks, scribbling in our notebooks about the best and worst deals here and there. Sometimes the advice would be about a good hotel in the next town, while at other times it might be about a job opportunity on the other side of the world. These days social media and web-based travel advisories have largely taken the place of such word-of-mouth advice. All the favourite scams, deals, rip-offs and 'secrets' are available via the web, not to mention that for C$15 we have a month of unlimited data on our Vietnamese cell phone plans - so we're connected pretty much 24-7 whether we have wifi or not.

Pen: After orchestrating a wonderful birthday from dawn to dusk, Josh and Laura handed the torch to Aidan and Heather, who had done their own online research from Vancouver. Using the indispensable Trip Advisor they discovered Les Jardins de la Carambole, the best rated restaurant in Hué, owned and operated by a French chef supported by his delightful Vietnamese wife and staff. The restaurant is housed in an old French Colonial residence and the food is French/Vietnamese fusion. Josh and Laura, who have been in SE Asia since late November, especially enjoyed the starter plate of assorted French cheese served with warm baguette. Peter ordered a multi course meal while Josh and I started with delicious soup and both chose the highly recommended Grilled Duck with lemon grass and chili, which more than lived up to its reputation. Laura enjoyed a pasta dish with seafood. All the food was really delicious and beautifully presented! Then the lights in the restaurant dimmed and the entire staff joined our table with Chocolate cake, candles and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday. It was truly a night to remember. 

Rustic beach hideaway!

A few hundred meters down the beach from our palm frond home stay is a beach-front restaurant/bar called Soul Kitchen, recommended to us by the same American teacher who told us about Under The Coconut Tree. Last night we enjoyed a couple of hours of fabulous blues here and today we came back for lunch. The only worry I have right now is for all the poor working folk slaving away to cover our pensions! God bless ya! :-)

Quick Update (16 March) & SaPa to Huế Train Trip

Eureka! 

For the next couple of nights we're staying a few miles south of Da Nang at a little lodge called 'Under The Coconut Tree'. Our accommodation is a delightful cottage constructed of bamboo and thatched palm. A place such as this was at the top of my bucket list for Vietnam. It's a home stay run by lovely people off the beaten path among private residences.

The blue dot marks our location 

Under the Coconut Tree Homestay

Sa Pa - Lao Cai - Hanoi

We left SaPa in the North West border region of Vietnam in a Mercedes mini-bus stuffed with fellow backpackers. I heavy mist had hung in the town all day and by our 5.30 pm departure time it seemed to be thickening. All the seat belts had been removed from the van so there was not even the option of the false sense of security from a webbing strap over our lap. There were a few murmurs among our fellow travellers concerning the horrible driving conditions on the steep mountain road but we all just hunkered down and hoped for the best. It was a relief to finally emerge from the heavy fog 40 minutes into the one-hour rush to the Lao Cai Railway Station.

  

Hanoi - Huế

Again we joined a large throng boarding the ancient train and found our rather dilapidated sleeping cabin for the overnight trip to Hanoi. The narrow 3’ gauge track makes for a rock-and-roll ride and we dozed our way through the night, arriving in Hanoi at 6.00 am, just as the station was opening for the day. At the ticket window Laura tried to enquire about train and ticket options and was told “I just sell tickets. If you want information you have to go to the information window.” There was no time for that so Laura put her foot down and managed to learn that there was a train heading south in 10 minutes. The only remaining seats were in 3rd class - hard wooden slat seats with no air conditioning. We dashed to the train with our backpack waist straps flying, boarding with minutes to spare. The trip to the ancient capital Huế would take us 14 hours.

A Vietnamese family had scooped our designated seats but we decided that the language barrier made it easier to find other vacant seats rather than haggle over our own. This was a mistake that we would come to regret several times during the trip, for the various people who had been allocated the seats that we usurped had no qualms about calling the conductor to sort out the mix-up. In the end, Penny and I managed to stay put but Josh and Laura got shunted around a couple of times before finally landing in their designated seats.

Our first seat-mates were a young couple. At first he slept with his head on her lap. After a while she got a little bored and producing a small mirror, proceeded to deal with a few black heads around her nose. When stewards moved through the carriage offering fast food, girlfriend ordered something but the delivery arrived while she was away at the toilet and boyfriend was oblivious to the order. When girlfriend got back to her seat and discovered that boyfriend had allowed the stewards to take away her order she began berating him at the top of her lungs in an exceptionally shrill voice, then stormed off to chase down their food. Boyfriend just shrugged, obviously having seen and heard it all before. The ferocity of her tirade quickly calmed to “you silly old duffer” type language before they settled down to their shared meal, with her spoon-feeding him baby-style. Afterwards boyfriend again lay his head on her lap while girlfriend proceeded to meticulously clean his teeth with a tooth pick. Boyfriend endured this with his eyes closed, humming a tune.

Later in our shared journey, girlfriend produced a bag of fresh baguettes and small containers of sweetened condensed milk. After tucking in for a few minutes she offered some to Penny and me. In our rush to change trains in Hanoi we hadn’t had time to stock up with provisions so we accepted the offer. As with all bread in Vietnam (thanks to the French colonial period) this was fresh and delicious. The sweetened condensed milk dunk was an acquired taste, which I preferred to plain bread. Pen passed on the dunking treat.

About 3 hours down the track we pulled into a crowded station where we bid farewell to our new best friends and immediately knew that conditions in our 3rd class carriage were about to change radically. People swarmed aboard loaded with kids, baskets, bundles and bottles. The family of 5 across the aisle from us were obviously seasoned travellers. As soon as they boarded they settled in for the long day ahead. Two people lay on the short and narrow seats designed to accommodate 4 passengers. Mats were laid our on the floor and two women and a young boy stretched out under the seats where they promptly curled up and went to sleep for several hours.

Surely my feet don't smell that bad!

Our new seat mates were a young mum, dad and 3 or 4 year old boy -  a bit of a tyrant who constantly pushed the limits with his young mom. The dad left her to deal with him and wandered off to find a different spot. Once in a while mom would get fed up with the bad behavior, speak sharply to the tyrant, then pull out her cell phone and threaten to call the dad to come deal with the problem. Usually the threat was enough to calm him down. Behind us sat a better behaved 4 year old who periodically ran his toy motorcycle through our hair.

At our feet was a 4 gallon plastic tank of hooch with a piece of plastic tied over the hole in place of the cap. At one point the rock and roll of the train tipped it over and the make-do seal allowed some of the clear liquid to leak on the floor before we discovered the problem. It must have been pretty good hooch, because the spill evaporated in no time once I stood the bottle up.

Around 11.00 am I went exploring and found that the next carriage was a virtually empty diner. Several staff welcomed me warmly and bid me sit down and have a meal. The rest of the family was feeling a little off from a tummy upset the day before, but I was just recovering from several days of bad cold and low appetite so I sat down and asked what was available. The stewards spoke zero English so I raised both hands in the international “what have you got” sign. One steward whipped a freshly delivered plate away from another customer and flourished it in front of me. It contained 2 fried eggs, a fresh baguette, tomato and cucumber. “Perfect!” said I. Piping hot Liptons Tea sweetened with lashings of condensed milk was the perfect drink. We’d already learned that “Vietnamese Coffee” wasn’t quite to our taste.

Looking out across an ever-changing landscape of rice paddies, kitchen and market gardens interspersed with river and bushland scenes, I was transported back 40 years to our original train travel in Asia and realized that not much has changed. The rolling stock is original and the scenery quite timeless. Fields scattered with workers in conical hats, bent double as they tend their crops, and buffalo still pressed to the plough. Perhaps the only difference is that the sound, smell and soot of the old steam engines had given way to diesel electric locomotives.

Spectacular view thru the dirty train window

Skate Boarding Capital of SE Asia!

Who knew? The Vietnam Railway Authority is unwitingly sitting on a skate boarding Mecca! I discovered this by accident at  6.00 am, as I stumbled off the night train from Sa Pa in the mountains of NW Vietnam. Uncertain whether I was supposed to keep left or right down the station stair-case, I allowed my Canadian training to override my recent Tasmanian experience and stayed right. 

Only when I reached the bottom did I realize I'd just passed up the ride of a lifetime! Look closely at the first picture and you'll see there's even a ramp half way down to get some air all the way to the bottom. The next staircase over was even better equipped. 

I can only presume the double flight of steps is designed to allow for skaters to re-ascend twice as quickly for their next ride. I was flabbergasted that in such prime time, with train traffic fairly light, I didn't see a single skate boarder.  In Canada, the dudes with baggy pants and plumber's smiles would have been lining up for a taste of this boarder's heaven! I should probably copyright the name for a potential Eco Tourism opportunity - 

                 Hanoi Heaven 

       Urban Skate Park to Die For

What happened to us?!

When we first hit the road in the early seventies, most of the backpacker generation dressed like this:

In fact Pen's first labour of love was to sew matching  psychedelic darts into our jeans. Now my shirts and pants, and those of most of the other old hippies out here look like this: 

I'm thinking it might be time to break free of the pack and do a spot of tie dyeing.

Just not sure how these new fangled "breathable" "wicking" "insect repelling" "quick drying" "secret pocketed" "sun blocking" synthetic outfits will react. 

I'll keep you posted!

Trial of the iPhone Blogger App

I'm sitting in our hotel restaurant after a solo lunch. Pen, Josh and Laura are resting in their room upstairs in preparation for another long overnight train ride back to Hanoi. I decided to try out the iPhone Blogger app. 

This morning while wandering the misty streets and market I was approached by two Hmong women, Zee and Tuu, selling their hand-made bags. We did the customary bartering and I bought one from each. As we walked and talked I learned that one lives 4 k from the town and the other 8k. They make the trek every day twice a day to sell their hand crafts. They are both over 50 years old, Tuu the mother of 2 boys and a girl and Zee the mother of 2 boys. 

    Zee (left) and Tuu, Hmong from Sa Pa