VIETNAM – MORE PICTURES

So, this is just the very next day after I sent the first Vietnam blog. One of the classes has been cancelled so I have so I have a nice block of free time. I find I want to have a goodly amount of time before I lug the lap top up here, with all the attendant necessary wires and attachments.   Yes, the ship is officially ‘wireless’.  You computer buffs will understand.   BUT: the computers won’t work in some of the cabins.  ‘Too many doors and walls’ is what I was told.  Hence the major move.  Of course I am being over-dramatic, as I can be so well!  It is not that major a move  and I like it here in the computer lab – surrounded by others all intent on their computers and with the willing and able help of students whose job it is to sort out problems.  I have got to know several of them quite well and they are the nicest, most helpful of people – very kind to us computer clutzes.  I am not the only one.  There are several of us, most with grey hairs, who were not born with computer know-how!  At first when I used to come up here, I felt a bit tense and worried about my obvious lack of knowledge, but now I feel very relaxed, among friends.

So enough of the blethering and back to Vietnam.  I’m going to send you pictures taken during that fabulous trip to the Mekong Delta.

First the rice fields -

Now the temple, with the huge buddah in the courtyard.

I like the atmosphere in these places of worship. There are obviously a loy of tourists like myself but there are also people kneeling, lighting ‘joss’ sticks and the smell is wonderful.  At least it is to me.  Some people find it bothers their breathing.

Next came the boat trip. Comparatively cooler on the water, interesting view of the river banks, and drinking the liquid out of coconut shells,  After the liquid was drunk,  the shells were split for us, a sliver of the shell was cut off, and we were shown how to use this to eat the flesh.

 

Then a visit to a coconut candy making factory, a ride on that rickety horse-drawn cart, and dinner at the outdoor restaurant. 

Sorry this picture is on it’s side. It is of the absolutely beautiful young woman who carved the absolutely delicious whole fish we were served. You can turn it to look at it more easily than I can turn it around!!

Next the water buffalo and our ride by the canoe along the canal.

And then back by the bigger boat – a wonderful picture of us with our tour-guide – a darling of a man; back to the bus.

I had one more trip while in Vietnam.  Unfortunately Audrey opted to stay on the ship.  These trips can be pretty exhausting, especially in this heat, so Audrey opted for a day of rest.  In fact she was coming down with another respiratory bug, and has felt poorly for several days, but thank goodness she is feeling better this morning and we are hoping that she will soon be 100% well again.

So this last trip, went first to another  place of worship.  I realize I cannot remember the nbame of the religion.  It is modern, created by someone in the last century.  It’s creed is that there is truth in all religions, and that the central figures in each religion are deserving of worship.  I LIKE that idea!  the building we visited was in shape like a church with a long nave.  We got there in time for a service and they  welcome visitors, who can climb up to a special gallery on either side of the nave.  The ‘members’ of the congregation are dressed alike with the more important members of the church wearing special colours.  Music is played from a gallery at the back of the church.  I wish you could hear it.

 

 

 

 

After that we went and were given lunch.  The ambience was not as wonderful as the outdoor restaurant on the Mekong Delta, but the food was yummy.  Real Vietmanese – lots of vegetables and noodles which I love.

After lunch we drove on to a cable car which took us up a ‘mountain’.  It really is an incredible feature. Suddenly out if the flat, flat rice fields, there is this huge rocky hill!  The views from the top were fabulous, and right on the top there were courtyards with another , this time more traditional, temple.

So as you can  see it was another wonderful experience. On coming down from the top, it was back on the bus and a LONG drive back to the ship.  But it was, as always, interesting.  It was dark by the time we were driving through Ho Chi Min city, and it was fabulous seeing the massed scooters with their lights on.

Later that evening we left, sailing down the Saigon river to the sea. As I said at the beginning ‘I LOVE VIET NAM.

Now we are only 24 hours away from India.  I am sooo lucky!!

lots of love to you all – Liz, Mum,Granny.

VIET NAM

I loved Vietnam!  It was noisy, dirtier than the Japan or China that we has seen, very hot and humid, full of the most amazing contrasts, and I loved it.

From the ship there was a shuttle bus service to a big central hotel in the city,  This was more than a Godsend. It meant we could walk to places reasonably easily, and believe me, walking in that heat was something you wanted to keep to a minimum.

So day 1, Audrey and I took the said, shuttle bus into the city and found an ATM machine where wee could get some money. I NEVER became easy with the Vietnamese money. One US dollar is approximately 20,000 dong.  All those zeros did it for me. It all seemed verey easy, 100,00 dong = $5, 50c = 10,000. You finish up with a wallet full of paper bills all sporting  a vast and varying number of zeros.  They all carry the head of the same gent, they all are roughly similar shades of greyish green!  Never mind we managed. Although, we never allowed ourselves to take a taxi.  We heard some nasty stories of taxi drivers overcharging, short-changing their fares, and becoming very aggressive. So in Ho Chi Min City, other than riding in the shuttle bus, we walked!  After having got the money we walked along one of the main streets where there were more motor bikes, I should say motor scooters than I have ever seen!

 

I have sent postcards  of this traffic to some of you and passed on the advice we were given by locals.  don’t tryu and dodge the traffic.  Walk slowly and confidently forward and the traffic will dodge you’  AND IT WORKS!  Any way we are still alive! And I bought a hat – a Vietnamese hat for $2 US !  Here is a picture of Audrey and I sitting waiting for the shuttle bus – note my hat.

On the second day we went again by shuttle bus and a hot, hot walk to the post-office.  What a fabulous place – air-conditioned, huge, and with a huge photo of Hi Chi Min on the wall.  There were little shops attached to the post office, so without even facing the heat we did a lot of shopping fir ‘little’ things,  Vietnam is by far the most inexpensiove place we have visited so far so that made the shopping even more fun and gave ua the energy to make ouyr way back to the shuttle bus.

Day 3 was magic.  We took tour to the Mekong Delta.  We left the city drove through rice fields visited a temple by a seated Buddah,  took a boat ride on the river , were given coconut milk to drink, saw beautiful women making coconut candy,took a ride on a tiny rickety horse and cart, had lunch in a fabulous open air restaurant, saw a water buffalo, and then had a canoe trip along canals through the jungle. I think it was here I fell in love with the country. The people are SO KIND,  SO FRIENDLY, AND THE PLACE IS SO BEAUTIFUL.!!

I’m going to send this off to you now. I will send some mouth watering pictures tomorrow.

LOVE TO YOU ALL – WISH YOU WERE HERE.

LIZ, MUM, GRANNY.

CATCHING UP - HONG KONG

Oh dear, I’m  dreadfully behind in my blog. – That   sounds vaguely indecent doesn’t it?  No, it’s just that Shanghai followed hot on Japan, which was followed even hotter by Hong Kong, and I had barely transferred all my China photos and sent my Shanghai disc, when we were in Viet Nam – Ho Chi Min City as Saigon is now called.  You will probably have gathered by now that working on the computer is really only feasible during days at sea. As soon as we're in port,  it’s off the ship to see the sights. But now we are on the first day of quite a goodly time at sea. Today is March 3rd and we don’t get to INDIA till the 11th. It should be calm, so I’m hoping to get caught up with all my computer stuff.

So here’s to Hong Kong.  In a way it’s nice going back and reminding myself of all the exciting things I did. So on day one we awoke to find ourselves docked in front of a line of skyscrapers.  Huge, powerful, imposing.  The success of capitalism writ large along the sky-line?  But no, for beyond the skyscrapers I could see the peak – the treecovered steep slopes and the real skyline of the old Hong Kong, still visible as a backdrop to the new  Hong Kong!!

So one of the very first things we did on our first day was to take the tram up to the top of the Peak.  This was where I was born and lived for the first three months of my life.  So it is obviously VERY IMPORTANT.  Right?  It is also great fun.  The tram runs on rails and  is pulled by cables up a very, VERY, steep slope.                                     

You can see all the people waiting along the platform –luckily there is a railed barrier – poised ready to RUSH onto the car.  The ride up takes about 10/15 minutes.  At the top the view over the city is fabulous – ‘panoramic’ as my dear mother would say. A Kind stranger took a picture of Audrey and I at the edge.  It was a bit misty over the city, but we certainly appreciated the view.

We went and had lunch in a small Thai restaurant, and we were just cominmg out of the washroom, no less, luckily already having paid,  when we heard drumming.  We rushed outside to find a dragon dance just beginning in the courtyard.  WOW – WHAT LUCK.  We had seen a movie clip of one of these on the ship.  They are soo clever and beautiful.  Men under the ‘dragon’ move it about, and more men are under two ‘tigers’ who perform acrobatics on poles.  It is wonderful.  Well, Audrey and I forgot our ‘western’ diffidence, (Audrey was even better than I) and pushed and wriggled with the best of the Chinese and finished up right in the front, where we could even touch the tigers for good luck and fortune for the coming year. We felt lucky already!

We spent the second day doing the official city tour offered from the ship.  We went up to the Peak again but this time by bus.  What a ride, -  oh those twists and turns, those hair-pin bends.  Great fun.  We were taken through the downtown park.  It was wonderful to see the use of such small spaces to create such beauty. Water was a dominant feature.

We were also taken through some of the downtown streets and even through the largest bank.  Oh those impeccably well-dressed Chinese young men in the black suits, collars and ties. I felt sad. I hope the beauty of the ancient places and culture isn’t going to be lost in the name of capitalism and ever growing profits. Our tour ended with a visit down river where we had a ride on a boat. My faith was restored!!

 

Day three we went away from Hong Kong Island, through Kowloon and into the New Territories.  The highlight of that day was a stop by a beautiful sandy beach on the shores of the South China sea, a visit to a fishing village.  There we had another ride on a small boat to see the houses on stilts over the water, and then a little further out to see a fishing boat at work.  On the way out we caught just a glimpse of some pink dolphins.  We didn’t see much more that their fins, but that was exciting enough.  On leaving the village, we drove first to a temple and statue of a great buddah on a hill, and then to a cable car which took us high over the hills before we met the bus to be driven back to the ship.  It was such an enjoyable day.

Good-bye H0ng Kong.  I felt sad to leave.  It was good-bye to my past and I took a last photo of the receding lights.  But I feel so lucky to have been back – Shanghai – Hong Kong. I  never thought I’d see either of them again.

And now a final word to those of you who have been adding comments to this blog.  I never found them till now.  The original computer clutz!!  So now a very big, if belated, thank you to David,  Jo, Jamie, and Randy and Elizabeth. Please keep sending them – I KNOW HOW TO FIND THEM NOW!!  Congratulations Randy on the job.  Audrey cried with happiness when I told her the news.

So ever onward over the seas.  Now, mercifully,  it is truly smooth sailing!

Lots of love to you ALL,  Liz, Mum, Granny