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) :)

Rainy season

It seems that the rainy season is finally with us. Most days now for the past 7-10 days we have had at least one heavy downpour, sometimes with thunder and lightning or with wind. This morning it rained for about 3.5 hours, not always heavy but enough to dissuade me from going out to do a few jobs.

It's not so great for the washing, though. Last Wednesday was dry nearly all day, and Xe had been and washed the bedclothes. So they were out the back of the house to dry. I planned to get home at about 5pm (I had extra classes last week and so a lot more planning, including Wednesday - sob!), but it bucketed down at 4.30pm, and the washing got soaked. Xe has spirited the whole lot off somewhere to dry - I don't know where - and I guess will bring it back on this Wednesday.

The photo is a view of today's rain from the balcony. Jesus is rather shrouded by it all, and you can only see as far as the taller buildings near Back Beach.

Transport (again)

Well, I have finally rented a motorbike - a Honda Spacey. More of a motor scooter, really, because a) it is an automatic and b) the wheels on it are tiny. I feel very low sitting on it after riding around on Bao's motorbike. This is not to say that the mountain bike is retired, but it is a great relief to be able to jump on something motorised at the end of Saturday or Sunday teaching or in the evenings after work.

The Spacey is the bike in the middle of the pic, standing on it's maintenance stand. I had taken it to get the tail light replaced.

A new home

As you might know my old home at 34 Vo Thi Sau Street was sold. Initially I was told I would need to move out by the time rent was next due. Afterwards I was invited to stay on by the new owners but by then I had already arranged to move to Steve's house (he has moved on to Hanoi). I was happy about this because it is cheaper and a little bit more independent. I have a key to the gate and no need to bother a security guard each time I come home.

My new home is at 116 Phan Chu Trinh Street, still in Ward 2 of Vung Tau city. It is the last house in a block of 5 townhouses that reach up the hillside below the lighthouse road, so it is very secluded and has good views over the neighbourhood and across to the Jesus statue.

The house is on 2 levels. Downstairs is the entry, living room, kitchen, and a small guest room and bathroom (cold water shower only). The massive 10kg washing machine is also here under the stairs. Upstairs are the bedroom, bathroom (this one with hot water) and the balcony which goes around two sides of the house.

The house is a lot darker than Vo Thi Sau street due mainly to the dark tiles you can see in the living room picture, but it is larger - probably too big really. The other interesting feature of the house is the preponderance of naked women! Here is an example from the downstairs bathroom. The upstairs bathroom has a similar tile picture, and there is a plaster relief work on the bedroom wall.

Anyway, I am very comfortable here. I have a cleaner (Xe) who comes once a week to sweep, mop and dust, and who washes the bedding and does any ironing I have waiting. She is lovely, and has worked for the past two tenants as well. She also looks after the whole complex with outside cleaning and pumping water to the storage unit on the roof each day.

Trip to Can Tho and Soc Trang

A couple of months ago Bao and I decided to exploit the fact that Liberation Day (30 April) and May Day (1 May) occur on Thursday and Friday this year, by making a 4 day weekend trip to Can Tho. I very quickly got my application for leave in before any of the other 'weekend warriors' figured out they could do the same!

To try and make an early start from HCM City on Thursday we went up from Vung Tau on Wednesday afternoon - me by bus, Bao by company car. Although I left Vung Tau more than an hour before Bao he ended up arriving at Ben Xe Mien Tay before me, thanks to some very heavy traffic jams. A 2 hour trip turned into 4 hours. We were being met by Thanh at the bus station so sadly he had a very long wait for me.

It seems that a lot of people had the same idea of making a holiday - because the experience was repeated the next morning when we (Bao, Thanh and me) set out for Can Tho :( - heavy traffic all the way slowed the trip down enormously. When we got to the ferry crossing to Can Tho we decided - like most passengers - to get off the bus and walk ahead to the ferry because the queue was so long.

Can Tho is Bao's childhood home town. We had planned to stay at a hotel, but when he contacted Thu, his friend since they first started school, to say we were coming she arranged for us to stay in her parents' house instead. She also booked a car for us to travel out to the countryside and arranged for one of her students to be our guide.

On our first morning we were joined by another friend, Tan, and our guide Thuy. We went out 0f the city a bit to a temple that is quite old and was built to honour a famous scholar, as well as some other cherished people from Vietnamese history, statecraft and culture. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of this temple and it's not mentioned in guidebooks. Both Bao and Tan had heard of it but never been there before either.

As well as the main temple there is a building set aside for members of 5-6 local villages to come and prepare foods for festivals. They each come at different times.

Our second visit for the day was to a house built in about 1870. Internally the main house is much the same as when it was first built. It is a typical Vietnamese style, for a well-to-do family. What we saw I would guess is the main living and reception room. There was an abundance of wood carving and tiling as well as a mixture of Vietnamese, French and Chinese-influenced furniture . Outside there is an orchid garden.

We had lunch with Thu, her husband Tran and their new baby boy, while a heavy storm fell. But by the time we finished eating the storm was over and we went back home for a rest.

Saturday required a very early start - up at 3am to get ready for the car and driver (thanks Mr Thien) to arrive at around 4am. We then took a drive about 45km out of Can Tho to the south to visit the floating markets at Nga Bay (7 ways). These are the more original markets in the area, though not so frequently visited by tourists who go instead to Cai Be, Cai Rang or Phong Dien markets closer to Can Tho. The markets were much different to the one David and I visited in Thailand many years ago. At Nga Bay the boats are on a major river, and although most are moored there are also boats trading and delivering produce between them. In the past trade was based on barter - only in more modern times has it become cash-based. We had a great time on the river here - the best way of thinking about it is like a land-based market. There are sellers of every type of fruit and vegetable, and then grocery boats, wholesalers/middle-men, and boats selling food from soup to banh mi. The river is still a thoroughfare for daily life - we saw people being boated across so that they could go to school. Thu told me the next day that although she has lived in Can Tho all her life and visited the markets at Nga Bay many times, she still finds it interesting to go.

The next stop was for breakfast in Soc Trang town in Soc Trang province further to the south. Soc Trang has a large Khmer population (approximately 28% of the population) and the main Buddhist temples in this area are Theravada school (Thailand and Cambodia). We visited the biggest - Kleang Pagoda. In one form or another this temple has been here in Soc Trang since 1533. It is well supported financially, but also is an important place for learning, with very many monks living or studying here.

The second temple we visited was established by a Chinese family about 200 years ago. It's real name is Precious Mountain Temple (Buu Son Tu) but it is best known as the Clay Temple, because nearly everything in it is made of clay, mostly sculpted by the monk Ngo Kim Tong. When he died a number of huge candles were created and have been kept burning.

The third temple we went to is known as Bat Pagoda for the fruit bat colony that lives in the trees in the temple grounds. The temple was destroyed by fire 2 years ago and refurbishment of the replacement temple is still going on. The Buddha image was made of stone and it was saved, but is in a damaged state with one arm detached and soot marks apparent where the gold foil has burnt away.

Inside the walls are covered with scenes from Buddha's life from his birth through marriage to his renunication of his wealth and throne and on to his enlightenment. The temple is also known for the five-nailed pigs that have lived here. Thuy, our guide, told a slightly different story about this to the one given in Lonely Planet (which suggests that the pigs are pets). By the way, pigs usually only have 4 toenails on each foot. According to Thuy when the original five-nailed pig was born the people were afraid of it because it was different so they gave it to the temple for safekeeping. These pigs are not for eating, they just live out their lives in the temple and then are buried with headstones recording the date of their death (see picture at the top of this story). At the moment there are still 4-5 pigs living at the temple.

Our final temple before going back to Soc Trang town for lunch and then back to Can Tho, was the ceramic temple. At first I didn't understand Thuy's description of it as being built from bowls. It was only after we saw it that I understood that when it was rebuilt, there was not a lot of money available in the community to decorate it, so they used a mixture of old plates, etc. as well as ceramic mosaic tiles to cover the outside walls and on the interior.

Saturday evening after a very big dinner we took a stroll along the riverside, with the intention of improving our digestion. But instead we snacked on grilled bananas and then stopped off for a fruit shake. While there Bao was approached by one of the women working in the shop with the line "don't I know you?". This was a surprise but the bigger surprise was that one of the other women working there that night did know him. Bao must have a memorable face because she took one look and got his name right, even after maybe 15 years of not seeing him.

On Sunday we met up with Thu, her family and her sister for breakfast before making the trip back to HCM City and Vung Tau. This time we were lucky - no traffic - although the bus ticket price was much higher (no explanation given!)

This was a great little holiday. Can Tho is the biggest city in the Mekong and I think it would be an interesting place to live, so long as you like the quiet life (at least compared to HCM City).

Visitors from home!

Michele, Chaska and Killki have just returned to Sydney after 2 weeks in Vietnam.

I was able to get a few days off work to coincide with when they first arrived, so I got up to HCMC in time to meet them at their hotel. It was a very nice hotel (Tan Hai Long 3) but a bit more expensive than I am used to paying for but the management did agree 1) that for an extra consideration I could stay in the same room with everyone and 2) that we would be moved after the first night (when they were full) to a bigger room.

We headed off to the backpacker district for dinner - the girls were able to eat pizza while Michele and I could have Vietnamese food - and then we went to Sinh Cafe and booked the buses and hotel for a weekend trip to Da Lat.

Next morning we took breakfast in the hotel and discussed what we could do around Saigon for the day. Killki's vote was for a museum, and Chaska's was for the market - so we took a trip to Reunification Palace (the old South Vietnamese Independence or Presidential Palace). Once inside we went upstairs to the reception rooms and offices. Reputedly the Palace is still furnished as it was in April 1975 when the liberating forces arrived in Saigon. At the back on this floor are the private living quarters of the SVN President. On the next floor up there are a reception room for the first lady as well as a cinema and gaming room. You can also go up to the rooftop and see the helipad complete with a chopper. From there we went down to the basement - with its bunkers, tunnels, communications centre and war rooms - before we exited through the kitchen.

The next stop was lunch on the way to Ben Thanh market. Unfortunately I didn't think very carefully about the food and it cost more than I expected (thanks to a crab noodle salad that we would have been better to have the left the crab out of!), though not more than was probably reasonable. In the markets Chaska and Killki attracted a lot of attention from shopkeepers who recognised and were interested to know that they are twins. Then it was back to the hotel for a rest, and just in time! A very big storm blew up as we got back.

We decided on a day trip to My Tho and the Mekong f0r Friday. I've done this trip a couple of times now but I think it is a convenient way of getting a taste of country life in the Delta. This time the added feature for me was to see rice paper (banh trang) being made. We had lunch on Phoenix Island - former home of the coconut monk - and the girls acquired a taste for green tea, lemon and honey. We also took a ride in the hot sun by horse and carriage and were entertained with traditional southern music. Michele doesn't think she will be buying the CD, though.

On Saturday we made an early start to catch the bus to Da Lat. On this trip there were only about 9 passengers and so we had a small bus rather than a large coach. I found that the road has improved a lot in the mountains compared to 10 years ago, but the climb - which is in two stages (first up the Bao Loc pass, and then from the plateau directly up to Da Lat) - is still stupendous. The weather in Da Lat is much cooler and it was a welcome change. The city is also such a contrast to Vung Tau where everything is flat. Da Lat is built around the Xuan Huong lake and on many hillsides. Lonely Planet suggests that it looks more like Europe than anywhere else in Vietnam, and it's true.

On Sunday we took a tour to some principal landscape/sightseeing places - Datanla Falls with a trip down to the falls by toboggan, Quang Trung resovoir and the meditation monastery from where we took the cable car back towards Da Lat, Bao Dai Summer Palace, Crazy House (yes, David it's still there and is constantly being rebuilt and extended - maybe one day you will get your wish of staying!), the Valley of Love, and the Da Lat flower gardens.

Next day I had to make the trip back to Vung Tau so that I could go to work on Tuesday, while Michele, Killki and Chaska went on to Nha Trang for a few days. Then they came down to Vung Tau on Thursday afternoon, and spent some time relaxing. There's not really a great deal to do here - Saigonese come here on weekends because it's the nearest beach - so I think it was a fairly quiet time for them. However, the dogs here at the house were a hit with Chaska, and both girls got to take a motor bike ride thanks to Bao!

Unfortunately their trip back to HCMC on Monday was marred by the fact that the boat took 3 hours to get there instead of the expected 1 hour 20 minutes! The last report I had from Michele on Tuesday was that they were enjoying spending lots of money on souvenirs - hope you all get something nice :)

A day on Big Mountain!

Today (4 April) is a national holiday in Vietnam, so ILA is shut and I get to have a Saturday off work! Woo-hoo!!

The event is the Hung Kings anniversary. You can find a bit more about this on wikipedia, but briefly Hung Vuong is considered the first king of Vietnam or Văn Lang/Lạc Việt as the country was known at the time. He founded the Hồng Bàng Dynasty which ruled for more than 2,000 years. Like Easter it's a moveable feast - the anniversary occurs on the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month of the year. The historic place to commemmorate the Hung Kings is on Nghĩa Lĩnh mountain, Cổ Tích village, Hy Cương commune, Phong Châu district, Phú Tho province. There is a modern temple in Ho Chi Minh City as well, at the entrance to the botanic gardens and zoo, and opposite the History Museum.

Today the sun is shining and the strong winds that we've had for the last week have died down a lot, so I went for a ride up Big Mountain. The first part is all sealed road and the climb is manageable. Half-way up there is a military post and some houses and cafes. Then the road gets very steep and broken. I managed to ride a little way but in the end had to walk most of the way, with several hairpin bends. It was a very hot climb, and I had no idea what to expect at the top ( or even if there was a 'top'). I had vague ideas that the road would take me to the cable car station (long overdue for completion), but at the point I thought this was definitely where I would end up the road doubled back and went much higher.

It ends on the summit at the old radar dishes (war-time). These are a landmark in Vung Tau city. Now I've discovered they are not in service - very dilapidated with one badly damaged by wind?

The area on the summit is being developed as a garden. And of course it has some great views as well because it is pretty much the highest spot in Vung Tau. If you have a motor bike it is quite accessible and there were a lot of young people up there having picnics. I spent more than an hour up here walking around. There are a couple of little reservoirs that are being turned into water features, including some man-made stalagmites and stalactites (looking a bit like a dragon's mouth?).


Of course there are great views out over Vung Tau city, Front Beach/Small Mountain, and the fishing villages and ports, and the sea. But as well you can see across the bay to the southern shore and get a real feel for how the waterways around Vung Tau are laid out.

A little bit of officialdom

I have a Vietnamese driver's licence!

There is a process by which I can "exchange" my NSW driver's licence for a Vietnamese one. I am still only licensed to drive cars but it is useful to have the document anyway even if I am driving a motorbike. Apparently ...

The process is:

1. go to the Department of Transport and Communication and collect the form
2. go to the Foreign Affairs office and get the NSW driver's licence translated (cost = 110,000 VND)
3. collect the photocopy and translation
4. fill in the application form, put a photo on it and get someone to authorise it (in my case I was able to ask ILA to do this)
5. get another 2 photos
6. take all these documents plus passport and visa and original licence back to the Department of Transport and Communication
7. submit the documents - get a receipt stating they have all the copies/translations/forms and have seen the originals
8. come back in a week and pay 30,000 VND - receive the licence.

Why did I bother? Well, Bao is trying to teach me to drive a motorbike, and we have all been advised by Anne (one of the teachers who is half Vietnamese) to get a licence even if it is just the car licence. It is possible to now also get the motorcycle licence by going for a driving test.