Beach Blanket Bingo in Nha Trang

So after torrential downpours in Hoi An (and a over-inflated backpack full of clothes) we set off on the train for Nha Trang, the beach resort city of Vietnam. Nha Trang (means "white house" - apparently some cartographer pointed at the town of Nha Trang and asked - which place is that? - and his Viet guide thought he was talking about a house on the shore... ah the foibles of history)

Anyway, we all got up early in the morning for a boat trip around the white sand beaches of the Nha Trang Harbour. First up - the Island of Mieu - and a walk through a fishing village and the local aquarium. To get us to the harbour, we were picked up from our boat in gigantic baskets (not kidding) we looked like little fruit baskets of humans heading for a big feed. And next... boy do I wish I could put up pictures of the Aquarium.

A $10 Billion Dong monstrosity that is testiment to government mis-spending, nepotism and bad taste, the Mieu Aquarium is a hulking nightmare of concrete and day-glo paint. The gobsmacking structure is supposed to be a Junk ship, sails unfurled, riding into the harbour. Instead, it is the scariest building I have ever seen up close. Inside, ugly fish-like mouths are supposed to entice you into the passages of the aquarium, and I especially liked the Aquafina bottle being used as an aerorator for the tanks (Zoe - you would not believe this - so I got a picture for you).

Leaving the Aquarium for our boat, we passed through the mouth of a gigantic concrete lion fish. I especially was impressed by the fake knots in the concrete "wood" that made up the railings around the site. Disaster.

We hoped on the boat for a swim in the reefs off Nha Trang, and traveling with a fewAussies with visions of the Barrrier Reef in our heads, we were quite excited. We pulled up to the reef, dropped anchor (first bad sign) and jumped in the water with our snorkle gear. I dipped my head in the water only to find... the coral was mostly dead, and everything was covered with that dusty sea floor mud. A few muted fish swam around what was left of the coral, but it was a sad, sad sight. After I got stung by a few unattached jellyfish tenticles (or something, I couldn't see it) ... it was right out of the water for me.

The guys running the boat could see we weren't over the moon, and told us they would take us swimming on a white sand beach. So, a bit of a chugging sail later, we moored the boat up near an abandonded Mafia resort. It looks beautiful in the photos... but unfortunately the amount of trash washing up on the shoreline discouraged any of us from heading out into the surf. It is really tragic to be in such a beautiful place, so marred by pollution and waste. And they are doing it all for tourists....

in Central Vietnam - Hello Da Nang!

The tour I am taking in Vietnam is keeping us on a brisk place - we've finally got a chance to catch up on rest, internet and time coming to Hoi An - as we move through central Vietnam.

You can start to see the change in culture as we moved out of North Vietnam. Da Nang in Central Vietnam was a focal point of entry for imany nvasions, as it breaks into the centre of the S shape of Vietnam - both the French and the Americans used Da Nang as a base of operations in their respective times. The area around Da Nang and even up to Hue is full of French, American and even Vietnamese bunkers - all on the same hill tops. 

We got a chance to ride motorbikes up to Bunker Hill outside of Hue - where you can see the city flag of Hue on the horizon, as well as Laos to the distance and the Perfume River below - a spectacular view point (and a local hang out for teenagers - some things are the same all over).

Da Nang is now an economic point for Vietnam, close to shipping and transportation routes. The city is pretty industrial.  Except for the change from French Colonial fascades to Art Deco ones, Da Nang wasn't what I expected.  Save for the Champa Museum, is pretty much missable. 

Hoi An is very interesting. Only an hour or so drive from Da Nang, it was spared most of the bombing by both French and Americans, so it has retained a lot of its ancient character. Hoi An is almost exclusively known by tourists for it's tailoring shops, and everyone here seems to be in an orgy of buying of suits, shoes, clothes and handicarfts. It seems that Hoi An has a well-deserved reputation for fine craft work. Tomorrow I am heading off to My Son - one of the ancient Champa areas. The Champa were conquered by the Vietnamese, and are now just one of the 54 ethnic minorities in Vietnam. Their stone work is very Hindu inspired - lots of Ganesha's, Garuda birds, the gods Uma, Shiva, and Vishnu and the ubiquitous asian dragons and phoenix's.

So far stomach roughly so good - but the continual World Health Organization cautions about Avian Flu in Vietnam are making me nervous - I am only eating shrimp and beef (although I supect their "beef" is water buffalo - there aren't that many cows here...)

hope you are all well!

I am going to try updating the blog more often than sending a lot of e-mails  - check it out at: www. taraknight.blogspot.com

Hot Hot Vietnam

It's HOT in Vietnam... very, very hot. Poor Canadian girl is practically vapourising each day. I am sweating so much it leaves salt all over my body at night - it's unbelievable!

After Ha Long Bay, we spent the next 2 days in Hanoi - seeing the old quarter, the Vietnamese history museum, a traditional water puppets show and Hoa Lo prison (the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" - we went to the Hilton Hotel first - the desk staff got a great laugh and put us in a cab). Hanoi is busy, busy and more busy. Generally, I spent a lot of time finding my way around the city - somehow I can't direct myself ina grid system, but Hanoi's streets all make sense to me.

We hopped onto the "reunification Express" overnight train from Hanoi to Hue, the ancient capital of North Vietnam. Traveling by WWII era train by night was an interesting experience, as well as navigating the squat toilet on a swaying train. I think I can do anything now. Bonus points to one of my tour mates who developed a locking system with a piece of a sinutab box and folded pamphlets to lock people out of our carriages. I wish I had taken a picture - even the conductor coundn't get in unless we let him - made us feel a whole lot safer.

Hue was a welcome respite from the busy, busking Hanoi - a small city on the river, Hue feels like you can breathe. We took a beautiful leisurely bike ride through Hue, listen the the propoganda on the street-based speakers (locals snidely refer to it as "the cicadas") and generally tried not to get ourselves runover.

In addition to the beautiful architecture (from when N. Vietnam's emporer's were in full power) we had a chance to hop on some motorbikes and tour the countryside around Hue - visiting local food markets, a fortune teller, the conical hat makers (who still use bomb fragments from the war in their craft) and getting on a dragon boat to cruise down the perfume river, the major life-blood of transport in the area.

Next - off to Hoi An, Da Nang and entering the ancient kingdom of the Champa!

Traffic in Vietnam

Traffic in Vietnam can only be described as awesome...

As you drive out from the airport, all of Vietnam is on motorbikes around you, like gigantic swarms of mosquitos... weavng in an out of traffic, Mom, Dad two babies and dinner all piled on a tiny vespa bike. You'd be amazed what they can pack onto these things, they would make a western traffic officer cry.

There are virtually no traffic lights, and any in existence are totally ignored. Rules of the road means if there is open space, it's yours and if a flashing left turn signal won't get someone to move over, more flashing lighs and horn certainly will. An inch of clearance between you, and a pedal or motor bike is too generous and all children should cross traffic by darting out in front of it.

The instructions we got for crossing the road 'safely" include:
"look traffic in the eye"
move slowly and purposefully accross the road - do not make any sudeen movements, traffic will flow around you.

I think the more amazing thing is... it does. Like a stream encountering a branch - the whole mass of bikes, vespas, cars and buses just part and reform, adjust and if in doubt, honk horn and keep going. There is no road rage -- it's truly amazing. Especially if I survive it!

More from Asia...

So for my first real attempt at traveling alone, since I did the main sights of HK last time I was here (peak tram, dim sum, Kowloon etc.) I decided to head out to Macau, another "special administrative region" an hour's ferry from Hong Kong. Macau is a former Portugese colony, best known in the past for fireworks... and now for gambling. It's the Vegas of Hong Kong.

Getting there was fine. However, the instant Tara left the ferry terminal, my famous navigational abilities kicked in... I ended up on the other end of the island at the *other* border crossing. Bonus of being a single female traveler however, was a local gudie took pity on me, and got me bus fare, a short lesson in cantonese, and a talk with the bus driver to have me bundled off to Sun Ma Lo... the area near St. Paul's Cathedral (destroyed by fire, only the fascade is left) and the old Portugese Fortress and Museum at the top of Macau. Then I was on my own getting lost again in the streets of Maucau, which deserves a word of description probably stronger than dilapidated.

Other than the casinos (which are incredible - and gaudy) the rest of the city is like an old Portugese Capital invaded by the chinese - the city is full of great colonial fascades, dirty, crumbling around the edges and festooned with neon signs and lit sign posts. Everything is a mixture of Chinese and Portugese, sometimes in both languages, and sometimes they don't bother. It's an interesting contrast to Hong Kong.

Waking up the the biblical rainstorms that seem to be greeting my every day -on Friday I made the doubtful decision to explore one of Hong Kong's outlying islands, Lamma. While Thais was crossing her fingers for a typhoon warning so she can skip going to work, I should have been packing my poncho. Instead, with my trusty teal-spotted umbrella, I set off for one of Hong Kong's gorgeous and surprisingly natural outlying Islands. There is a great little family walking path extending from one harbour to the other, about an hour's walk. Just as I arrived on Lamma, the clouds started to part and I blissfully set off....and about 25 minutes into the hike, across a beautifully verdant landscape, just after I decided to take an extra tour of the home town of Chow Yun Fat (remember him from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon?) and I am out in the open, the heavens open up and I am drenched, instantlly. And the driving torrential rains continued all day.. by the time I got back to Hong Kong, flooding on Lantau (another island) had stranded 150 tourists, I was lucky to make it back for our Junk trip in Hong Kong Harbour. Where of course the torrential rain continued and most of us ex-pats stood on the back deck trying not to get sick as the boat heaved and rolled.

Suffice to say on the week Thais showed me how the ex-pats do Hong kong - a
couple of long nights spent in the dance clubs in The Fong.

Arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam just in time for the storm battering Hong Kong to it here - I woke up to a foot of water flooding our hotel foyer yesterday morning. I am traveling with a troop of Aussies, one German living in London working for a french bank... and me - 3 people celebrating their 50th birthdays and one wedding anniversary.

The first day of the tour, we wadded through the water to take a bus out to Ha Long Bay, and spent an overnight on a boat touring amazing Limestone islands (3000 of them) that dot the harbour before you reach the south china sea. The bay is pretty salty - we all got a chance to jump off the boat to escape the heat before dinner.

I can't seem to find a computer to load the pictures up, but I will eventually I am sure.

And... Cheers in Vietnamese - is Yo

Tara

Mom and the girls

Mom and the girls,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Mom and the girls goofing around at Bowen

The Gathering (pic)

Gathering,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Look at us all playing nice!

they're discussing me (pic)

they're discussing me,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

they're discussing me

Frances and Josh enjoy a pint (pic)

Frances and Josh enjoy a pint,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Frances and Josh enjoy a pint

Tara's happy (pic)

Tara's happy,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Tara's happy

Me and Andrea Hamel (pic)

Tara and Andrea Hamel,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Me and Andrea Hamel (my Scottish Beer Connection!)

Julie and Rodger (pic)

Julie and Rodger,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Julie and Rodger

Mel and Ivan, taller than Tara

Mel and Ivan, taller than Tara,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Mel and Ivan, taller than Tara

Maureen, Chelsea and me (pic)

Maureen, Chelsea and me,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Maureen, Chelsea and me

Jeannie, Chelsea, Kylea and Nic (pic)

Jeannie, Chelsea, Kylea and Nic,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Jeannie, Chelsea, Kylea and Nic

Us sporty-types all dressed up (pic)

Us sporty-types all dressed up,
originally uploaded by Tara_K.

Us sporty-types all dressed up

You told Tara where to go

On a door at the "Kick Tara out of Canada" Party - I asked people to tell me where to go. I am a tad disapointed at the lack of cheeky comments (thanks for playing nice guys)

Misc -
Far away for a good long while so your heart can sing & sing
- to the pub every day (or any day ending in the letter y)

New Zealand Favs
- Hot water beach (north Island) - dig a hole and have a bath
- Frans Joseph glacier hike
- bungee jumping in Queenstown
- Waitomo Caves, blackwater adventure tour
- Kai Koura (swimming with wild dolphins)
- "middle earth"
- Mosgiel (to see the Mosgiel sign)

Oz favs
- Great barrier reef cruise
- great ocean road (melbourne), 12 Apostles
- Byron Bay (most spefically - Cheeky Monkey's)
- Blue Mountains
- Fraser Island
- Airlie Beach
- Nimbin

Vietnam - Nha Trang & Mama's boat ride
Thailand - Ao Nang & Railway Beach north of Krabi
Indonesia - Diving in North Sulauvesi

If you have more... send 'em - first stop is Hong Kong!