Fog, mountains and buses ??

Well we thought the flight out of Danang in the middle of a typhoon was bad untill we boarded the bus for the trip down the mountain from Sapa to Lao Cai. As the bus headed off loaded with tourists from all over the world laiden with treasures from Sapa, there was nervous chatter as everyone settled in for the long trip down the mountain.Only a few minutes out of Sapa and the fog seemed to get thicker and thicker until we could no longer see in front of us. Our driver, God Bless Him, had obviously down this trip a thousand times before and he followed the white guide posts around the corners and down the mountain. As I was needing reassurance that I wasn't the only one scared to death, all Lyn could do, God Bless her too, was say Uh Ha........... lady sittinbg necxt to Lyn had her face covered with a scarf and her head in her hands - think she was praying - a bit like the people on the plane from Danang.......It was only a few mnutes into the trip and not a whisper could be heard. Everyone was watching the road - those who had their eyes open anyway....... Finally after 90 mnutes, we had travelled the 40 klms to Lao Cai and everyone was keen to get off the bus. Funnily enough, and it suprises me, no-one even tipped the bus driver...... wonder why..?? think everyone was still in shock and in recovery mode for the train ride that was quickly approaching. As we waited patioently for our tvikets, the shoe shine boys entertaind us all by insisting they shine our mudded joggers - even men in things fell victim....!! Had to be there to see the funny side as they all had mine lights attached to their heads for better lighting and obviuously a better shine.

As we were hearded once again to our carriage, Lyn once again had visions of Auschwitz... and I was beginning to feel nervous too as we trecked across 15 train lines t reach our carriage. This time, we were at the front of the trasin so we could heard the engine as it steamed ahead ALL night..... no sickness this trip, however, the conductor ran away in fright when he opened our door to be greeted by Lyn and the girls who wwre getting ready for bed - he screamed and ran down the hallway - wenever saw him again...... we spend somne time taking even more silly photos to add to our album and then settle in to be rocked asleep.

Train arrived in Hanoi at 4.30 am - winter arrived in Hanoi at the very same moment we alighted form the train --- funny that, when we left Hanoi it was stinking hot and so, being the Girl Guides we are, we dressed appro-raitely only to find that when we got off the train, we had a feeling of DeJaVue - Beijing Airport - -5 degrees celsius and a blkizzard blowing from Mongolia..... we were secondered by a nice tai driver with a faulty meter and as we drove to the Majestic Salute Hotel where we figured they would have a warm bed and hot shower and, of course, food... we noticed the meter climbing rapidly, getting faster and faster as we drove faster...... 200,000 VND later we arrive at the hotel -SHUT!!! We talk the taxci driver into taking us to the lake where we could wait until 6.00 am for the hotel to open.

We are dumped at the lake - my it's even colder than the station. As we drag everything we own - yes, dresses, gloves, hats, scarves, long pants and all the other warm woolies we bought in Sapa, from our bags and dress on the street - not a tmne to be propud - we are greetd by an older lady with 2 garbage bags. She ceremoniously starts to rummage through her bags to show us what is inside - we are dumbfounded - we so want some of these woolies but aren't sure if we shoiuld ask a price in case we have to buy everything. She puts on her wares to show us how nice they are... mind you it is still pitch black so we are't even sure if it is clean never lone looks good.... I am perplexed.... am still n shock from the bus trip ad the train ride.... Suddenly, the lights come on and the lady packs quickly and leaves without even a goodbye. She does however, leave me with her smelly, worn telly tubby and takes mine.... think she probably thought mine was better - too cold, don't care. Lyn is freezing and starts to participate in the daly exercise routine of the locals. We hear counting coming from the loud speakers and Lyn figures it is warmer to exercise that freeze to death on a park bench - me, I cannot move - frozen cold and fixated with Lyn's cumbersome aerobics as she tries to keep up with the locals..... puffing and panting..... no hope.... I am having so much fun videoing the whole programme. When daylight approaches, we head for the nearest taxi - he was reticient to let us in dressed as we were - socks and tongs, dresses over long pants etc etc - you get the picture but he taskes us to the hotel and the doorman smiles politely as he lets us in to get a room........... Bill and ted's Adventures just get better and better

heading to Sapa .... Cheryl oi, mozzie bites and sickness

hi all back down under.... from way up the top of the world in Sapa .....
good grief ... so many experiences up here ... but just a short summary ... long one to come when we get back to Hoi An .... will get in as much as wel can, trying to type with thermal gloves on ...

We in thermals up here ... scarf, gloves, thermal socks and jacket ... in total white out on top of the hill ... maybe still way down from the top of the hill, but can't see much further than our noses ... waiting for bus to take us back to Lao Cau ... think pron. low cow ... then train back to Han oi overnight .... Hope trip back better for Cheryl oi, who on way up at 2 am decided it was time to hurl into plastic bag ... me not so sympathetic ... got giggles making sure i covered face well to protect from hurling noises and odour... before that ..... we had ....

Day in Hanoi ... transfer to train by bus little taxing on patience, and then wait at train station ... good grief what an experience that was with people sleeping on floor, vietnam playing international soccer match on TV, so all vietnamese watching .... then door open to ... train? .... no no no two huge green carriages on track .... door at station closes behind us ... Cheryl screams ... i getting nervous .... people herded together by way of ticket number ... me thinking we off to gas chambers ... No 1 go this way they say .... phew walk past green cattle carriages, and voila, there is a train .... it goes for miles ... we on carriage no 9 .... of course it starts with No 1 .... OH&S here ???... no no no .... we walk along train track towards our carriage ... for miles too, Finally arrive at number 9 ... BM is now thinking she not able to get up onto the bottom step, let alone climb up to the carriage, but with a shove from behind and a grunt from within, up BM makes it .... we settle in, some vietnamese man tries to join us in our carriage... Cheryl oi having none of that .... get out she says .... nicely ???... he goes ... we laugh ... then train slowly takes off ... Cheryl needs to wee ... toilet locked ... get someone to open ... she sit and wee ... no curtain on window ... we pass all traffic stopped at train gates .. Cheryl have to stay seated, if she stand up ... bum to the world .. so she sits on loo and waves to thousands of people waiting at boom gates.... she returns, BM needs to go loo too .... but only finds vietnamese loo .... so has to wee ... and uses shower head to both flush loo and wash feet .... then paddles back to our cabin ... we stretch out ... bed not long enough .... but fall asleeep quickly enough ... until 2 am when Cheryl decides she not well at all ... and all her mozzie bites are inflamed and itchy ... (BM bite free so far) ... Cheryl hot and cold .... Cheryl holds back for as long as she can ... but has to be sick ... has found plastic bag .... 1/2 full quickly ... I'm praying that there's no hole in bag .... then she feels a little better ... but not much ... then in early hours of morning - about 5.30 we arrive at end of the line to transfer to bus ... for the long ride up up up the mountain to Sapa .... lots of people on mini bus .. we get separated from our new german friends ... finally get to Sapa ... but taken to wrong hotel ... you wait madam .... Cheryl oi ... still green around the gills, and the air is much thinner up here .. and all is white ... fog so thick we get wet quickly, and also decided that we are totally unprepared for this climate ... the summer shorts and tops and sundress we brought are stupid idea ... we need warm clothes .... but we have to wait over 2 hours then get transferred to our hotel .... which is 3 star ???? .... no way ... UNDER CONSTRUCTION .... need room for Cheryl to sleep .. jackhammers going all round ... stair wells half done ... could fall to death any time ... and NO heating ... fog so bad, everything wet, streets so wet, that the gutters are running with water ....... but we get a room ... I go out looking for warm clothes, Cheryl goes to bed .... then BM meets our new best friends ... 3 Hmong ladies .... they our best friends for the next two days.

Did they pick me because of my beauty, personality, or perceived size of wallet ... I choose beauty .. and soon find out that it was the wrong choice ... more to come ... i've taken up my time on computer. and people behind glaring ... we still waiting for bus to go back down hill ...

love to all back home ...

Sandpits, buckets and spades

Thursday 12th November 2009
Our trusty driver Mr Bah wasn’t able to take us to the orphanage for the last time today but instead kindly arranged for his friend to do the honours. Lyn is also unable to cone as she has work commitments so just Linda and I will be visiting today. We leave Hoang Trinh Hotel about 10.00 am after buying a cake to take with us for the children. With sandpit toys in tow we head off hoping that today we could finish the sandpit – our legacy to the children at Dai Loc as this would be the last time we will visit before returning home to Australia.

When we arrive, we are greeted by the children who are home from school for lunch. They run to give us cuddles and help us take our bags into the hall. We have also brought more colouring pencils and paper in the hope that we can get them to draw some pictures for us that we can keep as mementoes of our time at Dai Loc. The children are eager to draw lotus flowers and some of the work they produce is just beautiful. From the very youngest to the very oldest, they sit along the long table in the centre of the room, intent on their works of art. As each one is finished they proudly bring them to us with their names on them.

We carefully pack the pictures away and when they have all eaten lunch, we bring out the cake – so beautifully decorated. Like bees to a honey pot, they swarm around anxiously waiting for their piece. Before I have cut more than a few slices, the decorations have all disappeared from off the top and around the edges.

After the cake has been devoured, we head out to the courtyard to check on the sandpit and find that the edges have been meticulously completed. The sand we had arranged to be delivered is still not here so we get the House Mums to ring and try to get it delivered today. While we are waiting for the delivery we lay out a tarp on the floor of the sandpit to stop the dirt leeching through. The children run off to get the wheelbarrow, bags, dishes and anything they can find to carry what is left of the sand to the sandpit. I am amazed at there ability to problem solve and be resourceful.


We also lay out the tarp that has been sewn into a cover and watch as one of the mothers gets a machete to cut off the ends of bamboo they have gathered to use as poles down each side to weigh down the cover.


By the time the pile of sand is depleted, it has only covered a few inches of the base but is enough to lay in so we give them the sandpit toys we have brought with us. They look at them inquisitively but it only takes a few moments for them to work out what to do with the buckets, spades, moulds and trucks. Before we know it they are all in the sandpit, having taken there shoes off first and are the quietest we have heard them. The mothers watch with smiles on their faces and it isn’t long before they also have their shoes off and are in the sandpit too.

It is not long before the new sand is delivered and before it has time to be tipped out of the truck, the children and mothers are dragging bags, carrying dishes and pushing the wheelbarrow to take the sand to the sandpit. By now the weather is hot and very humid but it doesn’t deter them and even the little ones struggle with a wheelbarrow load of sand up the ramp and into the courtyard. They all pitch in and there is a sense of excitement to get it finished so play can begin.



In no time at the entire sandpit is full and the children can’t wait to get in and start playing again. Suddenly sand castles emerge and then moats and tunnels and they are all working together quietly to build sandcastle cities. There is no fighting or bickering and the older children are playing with the younger ones. The lours of the toys and the smiles on the children’s faces make the whole project a success. We take photo after photo to capture the moment and find it hard to take ourselves away from the fun and frivolity that the children are enjoying. Mum Xiam, Mum Ham, Mum Lien and the two mothers mothers, whose names I have forgotten gather around for photos and are sad that we will not be back. They thank us for giving the sandpit to the children and as we leave, they follow us to the car and we have one last group photo at the front of the orphanage before leaving. The children wave goodbye and run back to the sandpit to finish their castles, smiles on their faces – a memory I will always treasure.

As we drive down the driveway, we are greeted by some of the older children who are just now returning home from school. We think their introduction to the sandpit will be a happy one and we picture the children all playing together, constructing castles out of sand and wish them all magical moments in their life that will be special to them. We are glad we have been able to finish it and are pleased that the children and mothers were so eager to join in and help make it happen. The sandpit will stay at Dai Loc for many years, and hopefully, many children will be able to play in it – giving them some respite from life’s reality even if for just a few minutes, to build something from their imaginations, something that can be fun, something they can share and something that will make them smile.
When we first came to Dai Loc, there was no laughter, just shy curious faces staring at us through steel barred windows and now as we leave we remember the laughter as they ran beside the care as we drove down the driveway one last time….

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tough times at work !!

just a few pics of the girls at work, with me, and also with Cat and Andy, the new Canadian OT's .... have found a way to upload pics quickly!! finally . .... about to go to a party today for the one month birth of one of the staff's first child .... it gets a name today ... and you can take photos for the first time ...

what's down the other end of our street?

we took a little ride down the end of our street ... we hadn't been there before ... thought it went into a main road ... no no no ... paddy field ...

The fruit salad and ice cream you get when you can't get ice cream

At least they tried....

My Son

We cannot believe how fast time is going and suddenly, we are cramming everything inot a couple of weeks. After yesterday's ride to Hai Van Pass and the Elephant Waterfall, we back up again to do My son, which is about 50 lms from Hoi An, but may as well be a hundred miles because we are still sore from yesterday. We are up early and head off about 6 am to beat the morning tourist rush and it is well worth it. The sunn is rising and the mist is haning over the rice fields as we head north out of Hoi An... through small villages and then up a side track and suddenly we are on the main freeway (Vietnam style) and into Quang Nam township. About an hour later, we fall off the bikes at a little cafe just on the outskirts of My Son for a quick cup of coffee. The mountains are a beautiful backdrop as we ride up a paved driveway with lush green vegetation and small babbling brooks. Ahn and Hoa drop us at a small paved path which leads to the ruins. They tell us the ruins are over 1400 years old .... My God, we say, Australia is only 200 years old!!. The boys head back to wait for us at a little cafe and we head off into the wilderness to explore the ruins. It is amazing to think they have been standing for so long, although sne are in a state of disrepair........once again we take a thousand pictures and head back to have a cold drink with the boys before heading home to Hoi An. The pictures teel the story......

The Hai Van Pass

The Pass an The Elephant Waterfall

The Elephant Waterfall

Top Gear - Vietnamese style

As our time here is running out and we had every intention of seeing and doing so many things, and hadn't, we took up the offer last Saturday to go on a tri to the pass, half way between Hoi An and Hue. Friday it is still rainign and we can't make up our miunds whether to call off the trip or not but decide if we do it will be sunny on Saturday and if we don't it will rain..... you know how it is! So we decide to do nothing. Our riders, Anh and Hoa arrive at the hotel on Friday night and we get up at a sparrow's on Saturday morning and after a light breakfast at Tiffany's we don our helmets, camera tightly secured around our wrists and head off.... just get down the road and it starts to rain..... we pull over...... and are offered a wet weather suit each...... mine fits perfectly but Lyn just laughs... "my bum won;t fit in them" she says..... you right Ahn says and offers er an oversized telly tubby instead. On our way again......out to Angh Banh beach then left to Danang.First we stop for me to buy a face mask - i thought they were worried about the pollution but they wear them so they can breathe!!...The road is covered in and in patches where the typhoon hs moved the beach over the road.... most of the trees have gone but suprisingly there doesn't appear to be much damage to the houses along the raod.... it was hard to tell though....

Anyway, through Danang, past the cargo ship washed up on the beach (bad driver Ho tells Lyn - ha ha ha)then up the mountain. The rain never comes, (as you would expect) and we stop on the other side of Danang to take our raincoats off, for Hoa to put a cushion on the seat for Lyn (by now she is having trouble even getting off the bike) and to stretch our legs. As we climb higher and higher the view gets more and more spectacular and we are happy that it is not sunny- the mist on the mountains makes the view magical and as we climb higher to the American and French bunkers at the top, we are actually in the clouds. Here we stop for some still photography (hard trying to focus on the back of a motorbike) and get some of the best photos!! By the time we climb to the bunker, we are greeted by goats peering over the wall at us and we see that one has only just had a baby.....ohhhhh......The French an the Americans both built their bunkers to keep watch on the traffic from the north as this had been the only way over the mountain untill recently. The bunkers are battle scarred and the mist gives it an eery feel.

After a little spot of pressure souveneir shopping, we get back on our bikes and head down the mountain and stop at a liuttle seaside town (forgot the name) for lunch. Turns out it was the same place we stopped at on our last trip where we were horrified at the mess on the floor and the tables). It was clean and tidy this time... we ordered THE BEST SPRING ROLLS!!! and shared lunch with the boys.

Lunch over with, we get back on the bikes and head for the elephant waterfall. We are so looking the part - face mask, the sunglass and the turtle helmet....... by this stage we know we have been sitting on a bike for hours: legs ache, bum sore......through rice fields, across bridges, in and ut of traffic.... and then we turn left down a little side road - you would never know what was up this road unless soemone took you there - the scenes were absolutely like sonething out of a travel magazine... qalong the stone track and then we reach the top and oull up at a small timbershack where a man is laying in a hammock with a somehwta unsociable dog growling at his side....Anh isn't scared.... he wanders in a takes a pair of socks from the line.....we look puzzled....do we need socks???....for the leehes he tells us....Mr Hoa says "do not worry, you just spit on your finger and brush it off!"...Oh!! we say - never knew that... Hoa tells us he learnt that n the army when he lived in the mountains for nearly three years...we feel better now knowing that we have a very capable guide to show us through Deliverance territory........ We hike up the hill and come out onto a rock plateau and gasp at the view....there is the biggest waterfall with crystal clear blue water gushing down through boulders.... the largest of which looks like an elephant with a trunk and all..... and everywhere we look the rocks look like elephants frolicking in the water.... the sound of the water rushing is so loud and set behind the waterfall are a range of mountains that back onto Bachmar National Park...they are surrounded in cloud and mist and in the distance we can see the waterfall meandering down the huge mountainside....magical!!!! Ahn tells us that many years ago the elephants used to play and swim in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall but they were taken away because the climate was too wet for them here and now there are none....the villagers made the statue out of the rock as a gesture and to honour the elephants.....As we look around we can see the remains of what seems to be some form of building...The bioys tell us that there were houses built on the rocks but they have been destroyed by the typhoon and the floods..... you cannot imagine what it must have been like to live on the edge of this beautiful waterfall at the base of the mountans...so tranquil....except for the defeaning noise of the water gushing down the mountain.

Feeling mystified we head back to the bikes and start the long trip home. We stop a few times but almost fall to the ground with aching legs each time. The scenery is just as inspiring on the trip back and SDcards full we arrive back in Hoi An about 5.30 pm - very very sore bums and legs that don;t want to work.

We have a rest then take the boys out for tea. Hoa tells us that the disfigurement to his face wa scaused by a marble bomb that exploded close to his face when he was in the army, fighting the Chimnese at the border. He had been conscripted to the army when he was only 19 (reminds me of a song) and was there for 2 and a half years. He grew his hair long because this protected them from the Chnese. the Chinese knew that the Vietnamese soldier with the long hair had been in the army for a long time and they didn't want to fight so they left them alone. He said the new army boy had short hair and wanted to fight so the Chinese new the difference.After almost three years Hoa was discharged andleft the night before he was due to go because the Chinese knew when they left the camp during the day, they were being discharged and shot them. He was given 20,000 VND to get the train homne (not enough to pay the fare) and 4.5 kgs of rice!! for three years service-- undetsandably Hoa is angry but has learnt to live with his disfigurement and is such a kind, gentle caring man.

Anh's father left them when he was 9 and he went to wor on the street shoe shining. This is where he learnt English. He is married, as is Hoa with 2 children. Both live in Hue in houses only about 13 sq mtres big - and they share with other family members. Both are exctremely poor and don;t want to ride the bikes as it is dangerous and worry that if they are killed, there wives and children will have no-one to support them. Survival........ an everyday story in Vitnam....

Tomorrow we are to get up at 5.30 to go to My Son - about 50 lms away. That will be the next blog......Hi to everyone...not long now.......only two weeks left!!!