Siem Reap itinerary (temples and ruins)

The temple and city complexes of the Khmer kings tend to get clumped together in public consciousness as Angkor Wat, though there is far more to see than just that famous behemoth. And seriously, although you will suffer temple fatigue after a while, there is a lot to be said for taking your time to explore the greater area beyond the Big (Grand) and Small (Petit) circuits of the central Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom complexes. And this means setting aside 3-5 days and forking out for a 3-day pass. Although my guide book says the days must run consecutively, I think that it is possible (perhaps with a higher cost) to buy a 3-day pass for non-consecutive days. A great way to enjoy "Angkor" to the maximum and be kind to your senses and feet!

Here is my itinerary with a glimpse of what I saw. The photos are all organised in a similar way on Shutterfly. The links here are to the Lonely Planet website. I used the tuk-tuk driver who took me from the bus drop-off in Siem Reap to the hotel. I didn't really haggle with him, so over the three days I paid $15, $30 (?) and $20. Maybe I could have got it cheaper, but he was reliable, friendly, and like so many Cambodians spoke English well. The lunch stops he took me to were well-priced and he was just happy to have the work.

Day 1:
Angkor Wat For a long time now I have wanted to come to Angkor Wat - meaning the gigantic temple complex of that name as well as having a more amorphous idea of other temples. Finally here I was, taking in the immensity of it all and feeling ... well, for some reason a little bit underwhelmed by it!

I'm not saying don't go, and I'm not saying you won't appreciate the architecture, art and scale of it. Angkor Wat really is top of the list. I think maybe it's just that I didn't find it to be breath-taking in the manner I had anticipated.

Bayon is where all those faces are looking down on you and out on the world. This was the second place on my itinerary and the start of a personal feeling of incredulity that we are permitted to tramp all over most of this irreplaceable heritage. Can you do that to other major architectural historical sites around the world?

Baphuon is a great example of how life can interrupt art. It was under a full-scale restoration, which had commenced by pulling the entire temple apart (the anastylosis method) and recording how each piece fitted together, when the civil war of the mid-1970s forced the team out of the country and led to all documentation being destroyed. Now, amazingly, the restoration is almost complete.


Thommanon, Waterwheel and Chau Say Tevada
Thommanon is a small temple, and is one of the places that I liked immediately. There are a few buildings with some fine stone carvings set in a grove of trees. Nearby is a large waterwheel. Chau Say Tevada is a companion temple to Thommanon although in worse repair.


Ta Keo is a very different structure to many of the Angkor temples because it was not finished, and so does not have the stone carvings found at most other temples. It is a steep but rewarding climb to the top to reach the central tower and has some good views over the land around.


Ta Prohm is different again because a lot of the jungle remains, although discreetly trimmed back . A great place to imagine you are re-discovering the temples! Ta Prohm also featured in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.



Banteay Kdei and Sra Srang. I came to Sra Srang twice: at the end of the first day and then again at about 5am the next morning to wait for the sunrise. A peaceful place and a good alternative to battling the crowds wanting to see sunrise at Angkor Wat, especially on a cloudy morning. The pool allowed for some fantastic reflections and amplifications of the light.

Day 2:
Kbal Spean is a unique piece of architecture because it is not a building, but instead a natural temple created by carving directly into the rock beds and boulders of a stream. A long trip from Siem Reap, I combined it with sunrise at Sra Srang and made it to Kbal Spean for breakfast at about 7.30am. We set out so early that I was the first visitor to arrive. From the parking and restaurant area it is an uphill walk for about 45 minutes to reach the carvings that start at a bridge across the stream and then work back down the stream to a waterfall.

Banteay Srei - another favourite place for the carvings and the use of pink sandstone, Banteay Srei is also unusual because it is all very low to the ground. There are no towers or enormous platforms supporting the structures here.

Cambodia Land Mines Museum (see Museums: Cambodia)






Eastern Mebon












Ta Som and Pre Rup













Day 3:
Preah Khan and Preah Neak Pean
Preah Khan was one of those places where I just kept taking photographs. It is one of the largest complexes - one reason for the photo-overdrive - but it also has many corridors and great carvings.

Nearby is Preah Neak Pean a small temple which consists mainly of five square pools. I was lucky enough to arrive when the water was still and again benefited from using the water as a mirror.

Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei are known as the Roulos group of temples and are some of the oldest large, permanent temples built by the Khmers. During my visit to Preah Ko and Bakong I met with a local man who works on the restoration of these temples. He showed me some of the work that he has been doing in replacing bricks and some carved stonework as well as the materials that are used to create the mortar, in the same fashion as was used originally.

Kompong Phhluk and Tonle Sap (see Water - in more than form!)

Water - in more than one form!

I travelled to Cambodia - without knowing about it - on the last day of the Water Festival, only learning about it through some eavesdropping on the bus from Ho Chi Minh City. Over the three days of the festival the population of Phnom Penh, usually about 2 million, can double with visitors drawn to the major event of boat races on the Tonle Sap River. The races are in honour of the twelfth century Khmer naval victories achieved under King Jayavarman VII, but the event also marks the return of the normal flow (into the Mekong) of the Tonle Sap river, and the draining of the Tonle Sap lake.

In the afternoon of my first day in Cambodia I got dropped off in the riverside area by a tuk-tuk driver. It was impossible to drive all the way in because of vehicles and people everywhere. As I wandered along the riverbank, with no particular destination in mind, I got into conversation with a young guy who had come into Phnom Penh for the festivities from his home town back out on the National Highway 1 towards Vietnam. While we were talking the skies darkened and we experienced the water festival in a different way, as storms from a typhoon that had crossed Vietnam earlier arrived. The deluge persisted for hours into the evening, and we were effectively trapped under the awning of a temporary food stall, continually tipping water off the roof so that the structure didn't collapse.

Finally, I figured that I would have to make a break for it, regardless of getting soaked (again), and experienced the interesting situation of tuk-tuk and moto-drivers not knowing the city outside the tourist areas very well! (The second time this happened I had a better idea of which direction to go than the moto driver!)

While in Siem Reap I visited the waterways leading into the Tonle Sap lake near Kompong Phhluk village. At the time of this visit, the water of the lake was still high as the flow out and into the Mekong had just resumed, but when the water is lower it is possible to see the flooded forest . Although our boat was nominally under the command of an adult, his two young sons took the wheel for the first part of the journey along the channels into the floating village (actually mainly built on stilts).

Beyond the village is the wide expanse of the Tonle Sap - really an inland sea at this time with depths of up to 9m. The dry season depth is only 1m. There are some photos on Peace of Angkor website which show how high the houses have to be to cope with the differences in water level - truly astounding!

Phnom Penh: Tuol Sleng

It's too easy in Vietnam and Cambodia to be aware only of the present time; the recent prosperity (for some), the relative invisibility of the poor (the majority); the similarities to our own 'home' environments with the local twist. It's too easy to let slip away an appreciation of how recent these things are, and a recognition that these societies were in very different circumstances not so long ago.

Tuol Sleng Museum - Security Prison-21 in the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge regime - is a difficult place to visit. It's quietness and ordinariness don't prepare you at all.

You arrive with only an academic understanding of the horrors that took place here. But within minutes of glancing, even walking into the detention rooms of Building A you feel heavy with the souls of the tortured and dead. This feeling stays and stays... as you look bleakly at the rooms and rooms of photographs of inmates or contemplate the schoolrooms turned into tiny, dark cells.

Perhaps this was not the best place to start a holiday, and it certainly is not a place to consider visiting lightly, but I think, however dark its history and presence, that what Tuol Sleng Museum preserves is necessary for an awareness of what people have been capable of doing to each other. The personal recollections of a Danish man who visited Democratic Kampuchea between 1975 and 1979 as well as his later reflections on what he believed he was being shown and the photographic record, are a strong lesson about the dangers of political idealism detached from social conscience.

Blogger's block :(

It seems an age since I was journeying in Cambodia and the north of Vietnam. Each week since returning to Vung Tau in the last week of November I promise myself that I will write here about what I've seen ... Each time that I don't makes it more difficult to get started. And the intensity of teaching life - concentrated weekends and marathon sessions preparing - is warping my perceptions of time. The last 3 weeks seem to have had no beginning that I can recall.

So ...

at what points in time and space did my travels begin and end? My route proper began in Ho Chi Minh City on 2 November. I travelled by bus to Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, through the Ba Vet-Moc Bai immigration posts just to the south-west of Tay Ninh, and arrived in Phnom Penh for the last day of the water festival. I stayed in the city for two days before travelling on by bus to Siem Reap, and the ancient Khmer temple complexes, of which Angkor Wat is the most famous. I stayed for a total of five days/nights and then flew to Hanoi, arriving in the evening of 10 November.

At this point all pre-arranged plans ceased. I knew only that I wanted to go to Sapa in the northern Hoang Lien Son mountains close to China, and that I expected to catch up with some of the teachers who used to work at ILA in Vung Tau. Beyond that my objective was to focus on visiting places that I hadn't been to before.

Hanoi wound up becoming a base. I travelled up the Red River to Lao Cai (closest town to Sapa with a railway station) by overnight soft sleeper, after two days and nights in Hanoi, on a tour that included one night in a hotel and one night home-stay in a Hmong village. After returning to Hanoi by train (again overnight) I decided to pack a small bag and travel 100km south on National Highway 1 to Ninh Binh. This area of Vietnam is dominated by limestone karst mountains similar to Ha Long Bay and features the Tam Coc caves as well as the Hoa Lu ancient citadel. It's possible to fit all this into a one-day tour - and I used this as a means of transportation to reach Ninh Binh. However, I wanted to take my time and also to arrange a trip to Cuc Phuong National Park. So I stayed in Ninh Binh for two nights before returning to Hanoi once again, from where I then set out by overnight train to Hue. And eventually back to Vung Tau via a plane to Ho Chi Minh City on 24 November.

The hyperlinks I've put here are to Wikipedia entries. I've organised my photos on Shutterfly to roughly follow the itinerary that is set out here.


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Orphans

I'd like to bring you a bit more information about the orphanage in Vung Tau. It's actually more proper to think about these two residential centres in the context of the support network that has been created around them, and in connection with foreign adoptions of Vietnamese babies and children.

A big part of the support network, though not the only factor in it, is the Association pour les Enfants Rizieres (APER) through which the residential centres at Phan Boi Chau Street and Ngo Quyen Streets are supported by sponsorships from France, and through which the many adoptions to France are coordinated. As well monthly financial support is given to many children living in the Vung Tau and Long Hai communities.

Anne (Le My Huong), a teacher at ILA, is the representative of the association in Vietnam. Anne is half Vietnamese (Vietnamese mother, Australian father) and went to Australia to live when she was only 5, along with her brother. She has now reconnected with her Vietnamese family and much of her time is spent supporting her local village (near Can Tho) and working with APER and the orphanages. It is Anne who started the pre-school program at the Phan Boi Chau Street centre (P Centre). This program is supported by the head of Orange in Vietnam, through his company's community arm. (Here is a link to My Huong's life story.)

APER and Orange re also among the main supporters of the new Long Hai centre, which opened last Friday 23 October. This is a day centre, providing schooling and other activities for many poor children living in the Long Hai community. Many of these children have not previously been to school.

My connection with the orphanage is small, but important to me! I go with Geoff - a fellow teacher from ILA, also from Australia - on Thursday mornings for 2 hours to teach English in the pre-school program. On Monday mornings (though not all of them!) I join the kids at the swimming pool and at the park.

I also now sponsor Bi, who you can see in the photo on the left, dressed in red. Bi is about 7 years old, but is learning through the pre-school program because he is HIV+. He is a keen student, very good-natured, and has already survived a lot in his life. The boy on the right is Phuc, who has 'adopted' me! Phuc is about 5 years old, also HIV+. He now lives with two of the staff at the orphanage but comes in with them everyday and attends the pre-school as well.

Richard and Bao's road trip to Tay Ninh: after the mountain

At the end of the last post, we had successfully climbed and descended from Nui Ba Den, but we were very footsore. We got back to the motor bike and set out to return to Tay Ninh. Only we found that the problems from the morning hadn't resolved themselves. Several times the motor bike motor just cut out and was very difficult to get going again. All I could really think of was that there was something wrong with the fuel. Bao was more inclined to think that because I hadn't changed the oil before starting the trip that this was somehow creating a problem.

After a while everything seemed to come right again, and we got back to the hotel to the best shower I've had for a long time! Washing off the mud and sweat and effort of the day. Then we went out for dinner with Bao's former colleagues from Kinh Do. He and I looked like a couple of invalids by then because we were both limping. Dinner was followed by karaoke, but the plans did come unstuck a bit ...
a) because it seemed everyone in Tay Ninh was singing that night and we had to go to 3 different places to find room
b) because we got a very flat tyre on the Yamaha on the way.

As it was now about 9pm it proved very difficult to find somewhere to get the tube repaired. Luckily a couple of friends were still with us and helped to search around to find a place. But in the end it had to be done by Khoa borrowing the tools from a Bom Xe place and doing the job himself. We were very lucky and very grateful to him for this.

Bao has some enthusiastic karaoke singing friends - and he has a very sweet voice himself! I, on the other hand, can make an OK sound when singing with the kids at ILA but am entirely different, and not for the better, when amplified to 150 decibels and singing classics from the 70s and 80s. So it was close to midnight before we packed it in and made our way back to the hotel and a very welcome bed, limping all the way :( troi oi!

The next morning we had breakfast of bit tet banh mi (steak and fried egg on a sizzling plate with bread) and then coffee with some friends. Then took the Yamaha off to the dealer to find out what the problem was: a worn air intake hose had a hole and was preventing the petrol from burning properly. Just a routine maintenance thing, really, exacerbated by travelling over 200 km with the moderate weight of 2 rather thin men - plus the fact that this hose has probably already travelled 25,000 km!! The mechanic showed us how dirty the oil was so that got changed as well, and a new tube was put in the back tyre to replace the repaired one. The tyres themselves were ruled as being fine. The cost for all this? VND 150,000. The time taken? About 30-45 mins :) on a Sunday. Service like that in Sydney would be fantastic.

By now it was almost time to get to the Cao Dai temple for the midday ceremony, which draws all the tours from Ho Chi Minh City, but which the religious officials generously allow spectators and cameras. I've been to this mother temple before but not to coincide with any ceremony. I've been also been put in the know by Rob, an Australian friend of Linh, who runs cultural tours around the world including to Vietnam: all the tours will leave after about 15 minutes, leaving plenty of space in the gallery to watch.


Cao Dai prayers are sung. Upstairs there is a small band and a small female choir. The participants file into the temple, women on the left and men on the right, followed by the elders of the three sects, blue, yellow and red. I've attached a short and rather grainy video (taken on Mum's old Nikon camera so it's only about 3.2 megapixels I think). The ceremony actually goes for about an hour. There are a few more clips that I haven't posted anywhere, and a whole lot more photos on Shutterfly. During this time Bao stayed with the bike because we had our bags with us and couldn't risk leaving them unattended.

Afterwards we went for a lunch of com thit nuong - rice with grilled meat. I was so hungry I had two plates! Then we started on the return journey to Vung Tau. I am very proud of myself for driving 3/4 of the way home, including the part of the trip which skirts around the north-west of Ho Chi Minh city to Bien Hoa and the highway back to Vung Tau. Of course it rained again along the way but we were making good time, until ...

... the back tyre got a nail stuck in it and the new tube got a hole. It was just coming on dark but fortunately we were fairly close to a repair shop, although it was on the other side of the very busy road to Vung Tau. We finally made it back at around 6.30pm and immediately went out for dinner!

This was my first big road trip. It won't be the last!

Richard and Bao's road trip to Tay Ninh: Nui Ba Den

Five hours driving time and about 200 km each way - I am now the veteran of a motor cycle road trip to Tay Ninh. Well two, if you count the day trip at Tet with Bao to My Tho. But this time I've been a driver and the trip was made on the Yamaha!

The motoring-minded of you will by now have done the calculations and concluded that we made very slow progress. However, you have to bear in mind that it's very unusual to travel more than about 70km per hour on the highway, and that for the most part motor cycles in Vietnam range in engine size between about 115 and 135 cc rather than the beasts we have in Australia. Throw in the weight of driver and passenger (or a Vietnamese family, a pig and half a dozen chickens/ducks). And while you're travelling at these speeds you don't feel like you are going slow, although you are conscious that the kilometres tick over more slowly than on a car trip on the open road in Australia.

Bao worked in Tay Ninh for about 1.5 years and the visit was a chance for him to catch up with old friends and colleagues and for us both to see the main sights, which are the main Cao Dai temple and Nui Ba Den (Black Lady Mountain). This is a mountain that rises out of the very flat land of Tay Ninh province. The mountain has both a legendary and a modern history, which result in its slopes containing both temples and shrines, and some traces of its importance to all combatants during the French and American Wars.

We left Vung Tau at about 1pm on Friday afternoon in sunshine but unfortunately soon were getting very wet, an experience that was repeated as we left Ho Chi Minh City on the road west. The dirty bike you can see above tells part of that story. So did Bao's shoes and our raincoats. But rain doesn't usually last too long in Vietnam and we made the final third of the journey on dry roads although it was dark (6pm) by the time we arrived and found the hotel, with a very welcome shower, that Thong had recommended. Then dinner, coffee with Thong and friends, supper and bed!

Oh, the joy of being able to sleep until 8am on a Saturday! Selfishly I didn't have a single thought of the classes I was not teaching! Instead we got up, went out for breakfast and to wash the aforesaid dirty bike and then ... Hmm the bike doesn't want to run properly! The engine keeps cutting out as though the petrol is dirty or maybe there isn't any left? Or are the electricals wet? Nope, these aren't the causes - and now it seems to be running OK again. So we headed out of town to Nui Ba Den.

I have only one rather shaky (taken from the back of a travelling motorbike) photo that shows the whole of the mountain, so it's difficult to get the idea of how out of place and immense it can seem. Travelling across the plains towards Tay Ninh the mountain is not visible and then suddenly it's there - very much there. I always liken it to the mountain in Close Encounters of the Third Kind just because of the presence that it has. The Lonely Planet guide says that the mountain is 850m tall - just to give you some idea. Throughout our visit the summit was covered in cloud - except for a brief period (read on, gentle reader!).

This was my second visit to the mountain temple complex. The first was more than 10 years ago with David and some of the family from My Tho. I think that visit was during the week and I don't recall many people being there. Even when we first arrived this time the parking lots were relatively empty so I didn't anticipate a large number of people but as we started climbing the steps it was clear that many people were using Saturday to make a visit. It was about 10am when we reached the complex and it was a hot climb (though nothing compared to what was to come!) - and just remember that everything used up here is carted up by porters. We passed a few on the way, zigzagging their way across the steps to conserve energy and pouring with sweat. Of course, there is the easy way as well - cable car and toboggan.

As well as the main temple complex there are now smaller temples and shrines higher up. Yes, we visited them all! One of the interesting things is that foreigners don't seem to come here - Lonely Planet says this, and the evidence plus the curious stares from everyone confirmed this. But so too have the reactions of teachers who I've told about the trip - they don't know where I'm talking about (with the exception of Rick who is a true Vietnamphile and has been everywhere. Rick used to sing - in Vietnamese - at Vietnamese weddings in California!) until I mention the Cao Dai temple. This is because the day tours from Saigon only go to Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai temple - OK but it seems that everyone is oblivious to the mountain! Do they not look out of the coach windows?!!

The views from Nui Ba Den at any point on its slopes and summit are fantastic. The side we climb faces back east, so it looks into Vietnam and Binh Duong province, but Tay Ninh province is also surrounded by Cambodia on three sides. We see rice fields and orchards and rubber tree forests, as well as the immense body of water that is Ho Dau Tieng. This lake catches and controls floodwaters, and releases water to Ho Chi Minh City when it's needed.

From the temple complex it's possible to keep climbing to the summit of the mountain. Bao has climbed part of the way before and is keen to give it another go. Last time was with Hiep and the climb ended because Hiep 'declined' to keep going. I agree to give it a go but don't promise to go to the top. I already have sounding in my head that concept that there is no top to the mountain!

We start out - there are properly formed steps, though obviously little used because there is a large build-up of leaves, etc. This is very unusual in Vietnam on oft-frequented pathways. The steps are steep, and the handrails are very welcome. A little way along there is a drink stall (and a dog), so they must be expecting at least a few adventurous people. But now the steps are giving way sometimes to boulders instead, clearly placed there or else nature has been extremely obliging. We see another two climbers coming up behind us ... and then we meet three young people (2 girls and a boy) coming back down. I'm not sure what's happened but I get the idea that they have turned back. Hmmm ... but then they decide to continue after all, so now there are seven of us toiling up.

Ahead of us we see the cliff faces of the main bluff. I look at them and seriously doubt the possibility of climbing up there. We are getting hotter and hotter, notwithstanding the cooler air, and we have no water or food with us! We rest several times. I tell Bao that I don't want to go any further. I'm already thinking about the difficult climb we've made and how it will be just as hard to get down. I say we don't have any water or food and it's already 12.30 (we started this adventure more than an hour ago). He says that Hiep only came this far last time and wins me over to try a little bit more.

Now we're walking through forest and the path is getting muddy - and slippery. We are starting to climb up into the bluff. We reach a point where there is shrine in the rocks, and a red arrow pointing us up. Where? Oh, we have to climb up the rocks! OK, we do that and walk some more. Another arrow pointing up. How? Oh, there are some metal hoops driven into the rock wall! We have to climb up this wall!!! We do it. More muddy paths, still winding and working up the mountain. We take a rest. One of the girls has brought along some sachets of Vinamilk. Sweetened warm milk has never ever tasted so good!

We come to another cave, with another shrine, but this one has something more. It's been a medic station during some combat. We walk some more - more mud, more sliding though noone has fallen over yet. Still climbing but the rocks and now even the trees have given way to grass. It seems we are getting close to the summit, though it's always, always just round that next bend or over that next rise.

Now we see radio masts! The summit must be near. We pass another shrine and then we see a fence and gate - Keep Out! There is a dog barking. A face appears. We ask if we can buy some water. We can! We ask if we can buy some food. We can! Instant noodles have never ever tasted so good. We rest. The sun is out, ... but now we see clouds rolling across again. We are told of another path we can take to get down. I think this is good because I don't like the prospect of sliding and clambering back down the way we came. I'm even more heartened when I see how the path starts with well-laid out stone steps. We start out, and also start to see that this path basically goes straight down! It's steep, sometimes it gives way to rocks but generally speaking it's a well-formed path all the way down the mountain, straight down the mountain.

Along the way there are banana trees. They have bananas. Some of the boys decided that they will take some bananas home. They are heavy and it's a long way to go but we do it anyway. Bao jars his leg. It hurts him to walk. He is in a lot of pain but he has to walk. I help to carry the bananas some of the way but the person I'm carrying the load with is walking quite fast and it's a struggle to keep up. I hurt my foot. Oh I forgot to tell you that my usual walking shoes have started falling apart so we've made the decision this morning that I would be better off to wear sandals. Some of the Vietnamese are wearing thongs!

We walk down and down and down ... and I note the sun getting lower and lower in the sky. Eventually we are down, and it's not yet quite dark. The car park is just up the road but we get a lift there anyway. The people living here tell us that they usually get up and down the mountain in 2 hours each way. We started at around 11 or 11.30. It is now past 5 in the afternoon. We rested for maybe 45 minutes at the top and took innumerable short breaks going up and down. We are never doing this again!

Typhoons and floods

Just a very quick note to tell you all that Vung Tau has escaped any particularly bad weather related to Typhoon Ketsana (see example local English press story). We did have some very heavy rain and storms the other night lasting for some hours and for a few days we experienced quite strong winds on the seafront, e.g. at Front Beach.

However, we are fortunate in our location as Vung Tau is seldom inflicted with typhoons, whereas the centre of Vietnam routinely suffers storms and has flooding every year, and typhoons also more often hit shore in the Mekong delta. Our typhoon warning last year (see the storm that wasn't) was a precaution following the very unusual event two years earlier when a typhoon did come on shore in our vicinity. On that occasion people were a) not prepared for it and b) didn't believe it would happen. The latter is what led to fatalities here :( because some people went out along the beaches for their regular exercise early in the morning and were drowned.

Vung Tau orphanage

Next week (10 September) I will start voluntary teaching at the orphanage in Vung Tau. There are 3 centres. I'll be teaching 15 pre-schoolers - yes, the age group that I have sworn off teaching at ILA - for 2 hours per week in company with one of the other ILA teachers, Geoff (also Australian). The kids will get 6 hours English teaching per week as part of the pre-school program that will be held 5 mornings per week.

This post is just to introduce the topic and show you a few of the beautiful kids at the centre. There are many babies here as well, aged from 1 week up, and altogether approximately 90 children are living here at the moment. Mostly they are under 6, but a few older children who are HIV positive also live here. The second centre in Vung Tau houses the older children, and the third almost completed centre at Long Hai, will be a day centre catering, in part, to people with a disability. There are also about 200 people living in the community supported by the organisation that runs the centres.

Sponsorship and donations are always welcomed as there is not a strong social welfare system in Vietnam and relatively little assistance is provided by the government. Overseas aid is always program-based and so cannot often be used to provide for the daily needs of the children.

'Mary' Mountain

Although the statue of Jesus, Arms Outstretched (I think this is the name in Vietnamese) is the more visible and better-known Christian statue in Vung Tau, there is another statue and mountain climb on Big Mountain. This is known amongst the teachers as 'Mary' Mountain, and I took the opportunity of being a Vung Tau local to take Thanh there for a visit. (Although it turned out he had been before!).

'Mary' Mountain is a much larger complex than Jesus. There are extensive grounds, at least one large church, chapels, the stations of the cross, a large new building under construction, and Mary herself to see. And then there is the climb to a cross high up on the mountain.

This is the mountain climb to beat all others in Vung Tau, I think. Seen from the road the steps appear to go straight up like a ladder. Once on them, you find that they do wind, but the mountain and steps are very steep. The cross is at about the highest point I've been in Vung Tau, on a par with the old radar station peak, and offers a similar view on a clear day across the mouth of Ganh Rai Bay to the Mekong delta.

National Day trip

2 September is the National Day of Vietnam and commemorates the date in 1945 when Vietnam declared its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The new nation almost immediately had a shaky start and ultimately its territory was constrained to the area known as North Vietnam (1954 to 1975).

This year National Day also coincided with 15 July in the Buddhist/Lunar calendar, which is an important day for remembering people who have died. For the teachers at ILA though it was principally a cherished paid-day off, the last one for the rest of 2009. Many of us spent it on a trip organised by the ILA centre to nearby Long Son Island in the immense Ganh Rai Bay, behind the Vung Tau peninsula and at the mouth of the Saigon River and the northern most mouth of Cuu Long (the Mekong).

As the crow flies our destination was very close - just across from our point of embarkation in Rach Dua ward. But the actual route - taken by a former navy vessel - brought us along the shipyards lining the bay towards Big Mountain and then out into the waters of the bay. In all it took us between 1 1/2 and 2 hours each for the outward and homeward journeys.

We did not depart from a particularly well-used or maintained wharf . It was low tide when we left and even lower when we returned. To reach our sturdy vessel we had to climb/jump down from the wharf onto one boat and then cross several others, then step down from the last one onto the railing of our own boat. A nightmare for our British former OHS officer!

Our destination was a floating seafood restaurant opposite the island (incidentally you can actually drive there - how prosaic!). Here we dined on crab, numerous large oysters, and fish steamboat. Being a holiday the restaurant was packed and diners were continually coming and going well into the late afternoon.

Kayaking (50,000 VND) and jetsky (sic - 700,000 VND) were available for hire by the hour, and a few budding whitewater sailors (including complete novices) took to the water for a time. All too soon, though, it was time to return. It was an enjoyable day out and we got to see the industrial side of Vung Tau, on which much of its wealth is built, but which is generally invisible to us.

There and back again

When I arrived in Sydney a little over 2 weeks ago, I found the streetscape, the weather, the sensation of walking through the city and suburbs hugely, and unexpectedly, familiar. It was the first time in more than 25 years that I had taken a long absence from Australia and then returned. Somewhere in my mind I was expecting to feel unconnected with the place, but it seems that my Australian life is deeply ingrained although overlaid with a veneer of life in Vung Tau.

I spent the 2 weeks doing much as I expected - visiting family, catching up with friends, sorting papers, filing tax return. It was an enjoyable time and seemed to stretch more than 14 days, creating a distance of time as well as space from daily life and work in Vung Tau. People asked me was I happy to be back, and I was. At the same time I did feel like a visitor - it was very different to returning to a home space from a holiday abroad. And at the same time I could say with sincerity that I was looking forward to returning to Vietnam as well.

The experience of 'coming home' to Vung Tau has contrasted strongly with how I felt returning to Sydney. For a couple of days I felt very unconnected - the same sensation that I had expected and not felt in Sydney. I know my way around Vung Tau in a rough way, I got back on the motorbike without much hesitation, returned to the market, started eating at the same shops, but ... it's really hit home how far still I have to go to feel part 0f the place (let alone be part of the place). I commented to a number of people in Australia that not having the language makes life here very simple in terms of information and events. The many detailed complexities of life that roll on in every community wash past me unnoticed. It's striking home how much of a surface dweller I am in Vung Tau - shallow-rooted and easily dislodged, there is little to bind me here.

I'm not saying that language is the issue here - and besides I could be making much more of an effort to learn and use it. I think what I'm exploring/living out (or not!) is trying to move beyond just having a reason for being here, and instead work out whether this is soil in which I'm going to take root.

Vale Thommo

Last weekend one of our colleagues at ILA Vietnam in Vung Tau had an accident. His name was Andrew Thomson, a citizen of New Zealand and the world. Initially, he was knocked off his bike by someone who apparently didn't stop (this is a not infrequent occurrence in Vietnam, sadly). He probably was not badly injured at this time, but immediately behind him was a van that didn't have any chance of avoiding him. Thommo suffered broken bones and a punctured lung as a result of this second accident.

He was taken to hospital in Vung Tau and doctors there tried to treat him for some hours before it was decided that he would need to be moved to HCMC for more specialist, intensive treatment. The damage to his lungs was quite extreme, affecting his breathing to the extent that the blood flow to his heart was not being oxygenated. He suffered at least one cardiac arrest during Sunday, and this is likely to have caused brain damage. Thommo was unconscious and on a respirator during Sunday and into Monday evening, when his body gave up the fight and he was gone.

Thommo's mother and sister were able to get to Vietnam in time to see him. Today the Vung Tau teachers gathered at the centre to meet them and to share between us what we knew of Thommo and his life. Between us we sketched the life of someone who may be a bit of a larrikin, had a love of the world and made sure to see as much of it as possible in his 44 years. We learned that in teaching - both in secondary education and as an English language teacher - that he had found his vocation, and that he had intended to pursue it onwards in his working, and travelling life. Next stop was quite possibly Kazakhstan, after already have worked in the North Sea, Spain, Venezuala, the Indian Ocean, off Cape Horn and around Africa. We had confirmed for us the idea of Thommo as a gentleman-at-large, and while his 2 months in Vietnam has been too short to know all about him, we know we are farewelling a man who is well-loved, without an enemy, and without the capability of making one.

Bach Dinh mansion - the Vung Tau White House

Although all mention of it is strangely absent from my pirate version of Lonely Planet Vietnam, Vung Tau like many coastal cities in Vietnam is the site of a former imperial mansion. In Vung Tau, this is Bach Dinh mansion, the Vung Tau White House.

However, the history of Bach Dinh is a little bit different, say to the Summer Palace in Da Lat. Bach Dinh started life as a Vietnamese fort from which the French were successfully repelled in 1820. At the end of the 19th century, though, the fort was demolished and the site was used to build a summer residence for the then governor-general of French Indochina (the redoubtable Paul Doumer, who for a short time in 1931-1932 was President of France. He was assassinated at the opening of a book fair in Paris. You always knew books were dangerous things, didn't you!).

Between 1906 and 1917 Emperor Thanh Thai having tried - like many others in the Nguyen Dynasty - to shake off French rule - was imprisoned here. Actually, he had a better fate in this respect than some of the other emperors, who got shipped off to French colonies in Africa or to off-shore Vietnamese islands.














Ask a Vung Tau local about Bach Dinh and they would say it's boring to visit. Sadly, they are right really. The ground floor is used as a museum of artefacts from a large Chinese ship that sank off the coast several hundred years ago. Upstairs is pretty much preserved with old furniture - beds, sofas, tables, etc. However, the house is in a prominent position, it's on the side of Big Mountain, and it's not unpleasant to look at.

Because there was a strong storm while I was there (having ridden on the mountain bike I had to wait it out) I didn't get a chance to explore the grounds.

PS - my actual visit was a month ago. I got so busy since that I forgot that I had even been!

An update on life in the rainy season

I wrote back in May that the rainy season seemed to have started.

However, the weather June seemed to suggest that this conclusion was either falsely reached, or that information about the rainy season in Vung Tau had been greatly exaggerated in its telling.

July has proved to be a different case. We are now experiencing days on which it rains - heavily and sometimes with strong wind or storms - on several occasions in one day. It is a little bit inconvenient because sometimes you have no choice but to be out in the elements. If that happens to be the case though, the roads are quite deserted. If it's a Saturday or Sunday night when it rains, then suddenly all the cruising traffic and groups sitting along Ha Long/Quang Trung/Tran Phu streets - the contiguous roads that go from Back Beach around Small Mountain to Front Beach and then onwards around Big Mountain - are gone. It's as though they've been flushed from the roads!

This morning, for example, I started my walk at 6.35am in slight cloud that soon disappeared into a sunny morning. I got home and showered just in time for Xe to arrive at 8am to clean. Then I went out on the mountain bike for breakfast and to shop at the market, and got home at 10am hot and sweaty. Xe was just leaving and showed me that she had hung the washed sheet inside because she expected it to rain. I didn't see any particular signs that this was going to happen soon, but within 30 minutes it was bucketing down and has lasted until about half an hour ago. Now it's cloudy but the breeze and sun will soon dry everything up. Quite possibly we'll experience the same event this afternoon.

I'm starting to appreciate the rainy season though. Really, the inconvenience is slight. After all, I could just put a raincoat on and go out (I keep it in the motorbike all the time). And everything feels fresh afterwards. Plus it's really good to see the mountainsides green again after they dried off so much during the dry season.

I did get a little bit stuck by the rain recently, though when I finally made an excursion to Bach Dinh mansion (the Vung Tau White House) by mountain bike (another story!).

My new favourite beach

I've been to Back Beach in the afternoons on days off a few times (though not since I moved house to Phan Chu Trinh Street) just to keep the incredulous people satisfied.

"You live in a beach town, that close to the beach! And you never go there?!"

About a month ago Phil (Phuong), a friend from HCMC came down to stay with me for a night (Sunday through to Monday). Phil is self-employed as a management trainer and so has some flexibility in his working life, which means he was able to match up to my strange working life without a problem. He was very keen to head off to the beach while he was here (Phil is one of the incredulous by the way!), and suggested going to a small beach, below a restaurant, below the Jesus statue. I never even knew it was there!

It's now my favourite beach. The water is cleaner and generally safer than at Back Beach, where there are currents at work all the time. It seems to be known only to a few regular visitors and so it is much quieter. Sometimes there are small waves good for body-surfing. I am the only person in Vung Tau who body-surfs by the way. The Vietnamese idea of playing in the sea is to jump over the waves. And when the water is calm it's a good place to swim some strokes because the beach is in a little bay between a headland and some rocks. I try and go at least once a week now.

What happened to Richard?

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, surely you must be wondering what on earth has happened to me? Why haven't there been any updates for 2 months?

The sad truth is that working life opened its jaws and swallowed me whole. Since the end of May my weekly schedule was upped from 24 hours to between 26 and 30 (current status) hours per week, because I agreed to be one of two teachers on an intensive (10 hours per week) course with a corporate class. The eight students in that group are from Southern Service Flight Company (SSFC), a helicopter charter service that works closely with the oil and petroleum industry in Vung Tau, flying workers to and from the rigs - "off-shore" is the local parlance. They will then be heading off to Sydney - of all places - at the end of August for a 10-week course at AICL, which incidentally is a training partner with good old TAFE NSW - Sydney Institute. Part of my contribution to the course at ILA has been to give an Australian slant to the teaching - accent, cultural preparation, information about living in Australia, etc. It's been hard work to have the extra hours but rewarding to be with the class.

However, I fervently hope that when I come back to Vung Tau in mid-August (after my 2 weeks back home in Australia) that my schedule will be back to normal. That having been said, there is a possibility of another group from SSFC starting with us at ILA in September ...

Lately, though I have been clawing back a little bit of me-time. I tend to wake up very early nowadays - before 6am - and can't always get back to sleep. On Monday morning I decided to get up and went for a walk. The initial plan was to go just as far as my new favourite beach and back to take some photos. But I ended up walking around the whole base of Small Mountain and back home - a distance of 6-8 kilometres! This morning (Wednesday) I took a shorter walk up to the Jesus statue and back home, then got on the mountain bike and rode off for breakfast and a trip to the market. And now, of course, I'm making some time to bring you new and exciting stories from A small part of Vietnam!

Transport (yet again)

A few weeks after I started renting the Honda Spacey one of the teachers at ILA (Anne) decided to buy a new motorbike and hers became available for rent. A very attractive opportunity because:

1. she has been the only rider of it since new
2. she services it reguarly and it looks and handles like new
3. the rent is much cheaper (1,000,000 VND per month instead of 1,500,000).

Needless to say the Honda went back to its owner at the end of the first month, and now I am very happily getting around on the sporty-looking (red! - as you all know this colour is very important in motor vehicles) Yamaha Nouvo.

The poor old Honda was like driving a cow. Now I'm on a fine steed that handles well, responds to the throttle, and is a great ride. You know, the wind in your hair, the dust in your eyes, the flies in your mouth (although sunglasses and a face mask help with the latter) :)