Sunday, May 31, 2009

Vietnam 2009

Just to let you know that the Pura Vida crew has escaped the confines of the boat and the heat of Malaysia and embraced the sights of Vietnam.
The Captain has once again been a reluctant traveller. He said he did Vietnam in the 70's. And of course the budget does not extend to business class flights everywhere.
Vietnam has a population of 84million people, and 70% are farmers, so we were not expecting a very sophisticated trip.
We travelled with yachting mates, Cat'chus- Julian and Sandy. So its been a fairly laidback trip, sampling the local beers and eating fresh baguettes and local food wherever possible.
Only having 13 days has meant that we have had to travel fast and did a couple of internal flights rather than take the longer public transport options. Happy David, happy crew.
The trip started on 25th April, Anzac Day, with the dawn service in Singapore. A few sailing mates came along to join us and then we headed off to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I am still quivering at the thought of the motorbikes. The local lovers even go "parking" on their bikes. David tried to lose our backpack, but we had an honest taxi driver who brought it back.
The highlight was the Cui Cui tunnels. I cannot believe people were so small to be able to live underground for so long...
It was great to meet up with our mates from Jusroamin, Sharon and Kevin. A few beers on the roadside bar and lots of tips.
Off to Hoi An and shopping.... clothes for the OD and lamps and bags. The captain decided to weigh down Pura Vida with a marble statue or two.
At Hue , next stop, David managed to lose the backpack permanently. Mobile phone, V's best joggers, prescription sunglasses and worst of all the " suduko book".
Hue, being an old city had lots of temples, pagodas, rivers to see. We arrived at Independence Day and May Day so the city was bustling. Managed to secure a great hotel called Amigo Hotel. Very friendly and helpful.
Onto Hanoi for a day before heading to Sapa for 3 days and 2 nights. We went by overnight train both ways. A few gins meant we slept OK.
Sapa was the highlight. The main attribute was that it was cold there and dry. If only we could bottle that cool air. Decided to rough it and spend 3 days trekking with an overnight home stay with a Dzay hilltribe family. The house was basic but well organised and clean. Cooking was a fire burning continually in a hole in the "kitchen". The chicken coop and pigpen was outside next to the outside "toilet" and "bath water". We slept on mattresses on a raised floor under the roof.
The house sat amongst the rice paddies which were so pleasant to look at. The trek took us through many villages and rice fields. Have a scan of the photos on Picassa.
Back in Hanoi for two days and one night to do more shopping and see Uncle Ho's tomb and have more beers sitting on a street corner.
Then back to Danga Bay and the start of the rally.