Spectacular Sapa

Hooray! We are now staying in our house, like many things in Vietnam the move was confusing and complicated, but enormously satisfying. The school is slowly transforming into a home.. a full update on our palatial palace is coming soon!!

In amongst moving and packing, I've taken a trip to Sapa (this trip was a 'gift' from the bro, thanks Josh). It’s a town located high in north-western Vietnam (I looked it up). It takes 8 hours from Hanoi on a bumbling, rumbling overnight train which lands you at Lao Cai station about 5 minutes from the Chinese border.. I was so tempted to take a peek.

Just 40 minutes climbing the winding roads you arrive at Sapa on the easternmost point of the Himalayan ranges. Mountains dominate the skyline and bright green terraced rice paddies carpet the hills. Traditional ethnic groups live here in villages, about 6 minorities in all, the biggest being the Hmong. It's so beautiful and quiet, lush and green.

Sapa Sapa Sapa...
It's like that memory game, I'm going to grandma's house and I bought a hand-embroidered blanket.. I'm going to grandma’s house and I bought a hand-embroidered blanket, and a beautiful belt.. I'm going to grandma’s house and I brought a hand-embroidered blanket, a beautiful belt, and a load of silver jewellery.. gorgeous cushions, traditional instruments, more jewellery etc etc

Needless to say there are a lot of beautiful handcrafted things to buy, but it’s not the shopping, or the cool quiet mornings or the lush hillsides, or the French pattisserie 'Baugette and Chocolat' with a citron tart to DIE for - no, it’s the amazing, smiling, friendly people. The ladies and girls in traditional dress, their impeccable English and their heart warming smiles! Although, the gaggle of little girls that approach you the moment you step off the bus is slightly overwhelming.

About 30 small children in traditional Hmong tribe dress assailed us the second we got off the bus. They hit us with questions, 'what is your name, where are you from, how long are you here’ in little suffocating clusters… and then, surprisingly, they stepped back and allowed us to check into the hotel. I was only slightly suspicious...

My Sapa adventure included trekking, a lot of it! Mostly down the mountain in the rain to visit small villages, playing pool and drinking beers with my guide, waterfalls, local food, and panoramic views always being followed by the same chatty, smiling groups of girls and ladies.

It was at the end of the 5 1/2 hour trek I found out why they are so relaxed at the beginning. Right at the end when me and a French lady were worn, muddy and weary and just slogging it up the last 10 mts to our hotel the four small girls decided this was the moment we were going to buy from them. Powerless you watch as you hand over large amounts of dong for whistles and bracelets feeling slightly obligated to buy from these bright souls, but they really have sales down pat here!

The thing that is the best about living in a country is the thought that yes, you can come back. There have been so many times in my travels that I truly believed I would go back to a particular place and haven't as yet (buying property in Nepal was one of those times). But being here 6 months means that I can definitely can and will visit Sapa again.

Dinh - guide (she speaks excellent English and plays a mean game of pool)
Mob: 01699850187

Halong Happiness

Well, happy birthday to me! In Vietnam instead of cake I get five-star food and instead of a wrapped gift I get a boat cruise, eh voila, merci mon ange.

3 hours east..which way is east..um, slightly down and right of Hanoi is Halong Bay and literally hundreds of limestone karts scattered across the horizon. I can't think of anything better than being on great big junk chugging past ancient monolithic islands!

Days were spent sprawling on a deckchair on the top deck feeling like a movie star on a cruise somewhere exotic (ahem, like Vietnam), eating seafood, swimming in the shimmering green ocean, kayaking through schools of enormous white jellyfish and mooring for the night surrounded by dark island silhouettes and watching a storm roll into the bay...beautiful...

However, in the middle of the night, around the time the roof above my bed sprung a small geyser and I heard shouts and running on the deck the thought crossed my mind that maybe I should have paid more for this tour. Now I know I'd unwittingly booked one of those 'Surprise Tours' you get in Asia, the kind where your guide says Surprise! ...all the time.

It went something along the lines of 'Surprise! Now you must pay extra to see the caves', or 'Surprise! Now we're taking a two and a half hour trek up a slippery rock face and it'll be dangerous' or I really liked this one two poor New Zealander's got, Surprise! You're changing boats mid-stream because...

...well, just because.

Apart from having to guess what was coming next which is something we all began to laugh at, I had a great time and even enjoyed a few seconds of satisfaction at the top of the scary mountain.

Now back in Hanoi I am preparing for an adventure of another kind...getting settled in a school, literally, we are living in a working school. 'Surprise! There are small Vietnamese students coming for classes over the weekend' (that one was our landlord)...

More on the new place soon...

Art, literature and temples

I realise I have been talking a lot about food, so I am NOT going to begin this post mentioning the absolutely amazing butter chicken I ate last night or the melt in your mouth coconut squid at Little Hanoi...

Just a short walk through green trees, a wander along a busy street and a few totally hair-raising intersections later (haha..gulp..) you come into the luscious green gardens of the Temple of Literature.

It’s lovely, a little touristy but reminiscent of moss covered Angkor temples scattered around Cambodia (minus all that cool old Cambodian temple energy).

Anyway, I see now I should have hired a guide because the whole time I didn’t get what was so literary about the place. It looks like the sort of place skinny monks wander reading fat spiritual texts in perfect solitude surrounded by lotus ponds filled with golden carp. Of course, Simone later told me it’s not a spiritual place but actually the first Confucian university – bloody cool place to study if you ask me.

Only another short walk down the street is the Museum of Fine Arts, after wandering up and down the same street four or five times I was a little embarrassed at having missed this enormous building. Truly Vietnam has some amazing art (and a great café culture to show it all off)! The museum had extraordinary contemporary art, cultural art so beautiful it made me want to cry, Stone Age exhibits and ceramics and finally some very weird boob focused art I stumbled upon in a temporary exhibition...

As you can probably see immediately from my entries I still haven’t found gainful employment (or read through the Lonely Planet guide properly), but after this week I’ve realised I’m not actually looking. I’ve given myself an official two weeks grace. For someone who flew across the world to work, I’ve slowly realised there should be more ‘holiday’ to this ‘working holiday’.

So for the moment, my job is Cat Nanny and Official Tourist. And oh boy, is it a fun job. If this became a proper job I would be the happiest traveller on the face of the planet.

Temple of Literature
Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30 to 11:30 and 13:30 to 16:30
Quoc Tu Giam St

108

108. A number used in Islam to refer to God or higher truth. The exact number of prayer beads found on a Buddhist mala (and the suspiciously identical amount on a Catholic rosary). A perfect three digit multiple of three, or the number nine when added together (which is also three threes).

Why am I spouting numerology?

Well since there is so much hoo-ha about the divinity of the number 108 it seems entirely auspicious that I have landed in Vietnam in house 108.

And actually this is what I am doing at the moment, seeking God in Vietnam. Not in some typically religious way. I'm simply taking the time to meditate on that Something for a while, (true unemployment leaves plenty of time for that). I'm sure the search for peace is something people here have done for a long time during the long wars and trials that rocked the country, and not just the American War!

Although Vietnam is a communist country, amazingly the constitution allows religious freedom. The major religions are the big three in Asia, Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism and Confucianism. The Vietnamese have perfected a special blend of these religions and even managed to mix in their own brand of ancestor and national hero worship to perfection.

While I realise an ashram in India is probably a better place to have a spiritual reawakening, you have to consider that I have found a happy balance between great food, amazing friends, bountiful jobs and warm weather, more and more I am finding that Vietnam is a perfect place to simply BE.

English is a Funny Language

I found this poem during my TESOL course. And will never again wonder why people say English is a hard language to learn. This little work of art made me understand the uphill battle ESL learners have to go through to achieve their goal of becoming fluent in this bizarre language!

Enjoy :)

English is a Funny Language

English is a funny language, there is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple... English muffins were not invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, two geese. So, one moose, two meese? One index, two indices? Is cheese the plural of choose?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a recital? Ship by truck, and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another? When a house burns up, it burns down. You fill in a form by filling it out, and an alarm clock goes off by going on. When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?

Uncle Ho - Mausoleom Hanoi

I've begun to realise how difficult it is to be a good tourist and take photos when... you've always got a pair of chopsticks or a fat baguette in your hands, but I'm doing my best!


Ok, here's an easy one, I've moved in next door to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It's an indomitable grey box proudly set among gorgeous lush Victorian gardens and snaking paths. The much loved 'Uncle Ho's' body is kept preserved mummy-like inside this imposing mausoleum while the irony lies in the fact the great leader specifically requested a simple cremation, (that and the rumours of Madame Tussuad's involvement in the 'preservation' of his remains).

Rumours aside, this icon of Vietnamese independence is still very much revered in Hanoi, and even I was pretty impressed by his dedication over many years of his life to secure Vietnamese independence. I wish I could be so dedicated to one task!

It really is a cool building, one of my favorites. Opening times are only from 8 - 11am so don't miss out!

Delights of Chim Sao

The best thing for current culture, culture shock is a few beers and a beautiful dinner at one of the coolest little restaurants I have seen. Set in a pencil thin house, with French architecture, dark rich wood, great art covering the walls and low tables and cushions it was a great setting to relax and chill out for a delicious dinner. The ambience alone is a reason to come here!

The food ranges from traditional Vietnamese to French fusion. Green mango and prawn salads, pumpkin flowers in garlic sauce, rich beef with mustard, pho noodles (and it'll take me my entire stay here to learn to pronounce them properly as 'F-ur' not Pho), crunchy fresh French bread and all for about $10 AUD.

What an introduction to Hanoi! If food in this place is a good as this little restaurant, I say woopee!!

www.chimsao.com
Chim Sao Restaurant
135 Ngo Hue
Hanoi