I could duck-walk through these and would have been much more comfortable on my hands and knees. Barb preferred to stay above ground. They didn't even charge extra for the bats. The wildest part though was after crawling through the hospital and command centre for the Vietcong guerillas, I popped out of the ground in front of a fridge of ice-cold Pepsi.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Entrance to Vietcong Tunnel in Cu Chi
250 Kilometers of tunnel were dug in 20 years of fighting the French and Americans. They have since built wider entrances to allow large westerners like me the opportunity to go in for a peek
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Buddha with One Thousand Arms
The most famous image of Buddha in Vietnam. As you approach the side, you see that the back of the figure is indeed hundreds of arms...
More Views From the Road
On our way to a historic temple we passed miles of brickworks. And more farming of course...
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Visit to a home for disadvantaged children
This was a school that cared for orphans, children with AIDS, autism, deafness, you name it. We visited to speak to the manager of the school and see how their social welfare system was coping with the challenges of economic liberalization.
This was a school that cared for orphans, children with AIDS, autism, deafness, you name it. We visited to speak to the manager of the school and see how their social welfare system was coping with the challenges of economic liberalization.
Views of the countryside by bus
Travelling to a social welfare agency, we drove out of Hanoi and 40 km into the countryside (which took 2 hours on very bumpy roads). Here, it's mostly rice fields with towns being very small (and very tall) along the river system.
Water Puppets
Water Puppets and their shows are considered to be a classic form of art in Hanoi. Here are some for sale at a market stall.
Here's a link to part of the show that we saw:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYP0gd2uEaQ
Temple of Literature
A thousand year old temple to Confucious and a revered as a place of study and learning.
Visit to the Moseleum of Ho Chi Minh
That's the big building with a crowd. The other building is a museum dedicated to his memory and Wayne and Bill standing below his house on stilts located at the presidential grounds.
Cyclo Ride Through Town
The tour lined up a group of Cyclo drivers (single speed bikes with a low seat in the front for a passenger to pedal us through the old French quarter. I'll post more about this ride later...
I can't view this on the computer I'm using but it looks like a pretty good version of the ride I took:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1YTdL9frLA
In Hanoi!
Hi everyone, this is the view from the 14th floor restaurant in our hotel. Today I'll post pictures and come back later for the stories.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Hong Kong airport where we change planes
14 April, 10:00am Hong Kong Time, 9:00p.m. Toronto
time.
That was a tough flight. Aside from the cramped
quarters and frustrating movie system (I missed the
beginnings of four different films). It was just a
long drag of time. Barb was unable to get any sleep,
I managed to get three hours. What seemed to make it
worse was that all but the last two hours were in
total darkness, we literally chased the night across
nearly half the world. Seventeen hours of night is
plenty, thank you.
Hong Kong is warm and humid. The airport shopping was
quite something. I literally looked for ten minutes
to find a store that sold water. It was a tiny shop
off the main floor (surrounded by Prada, Gucci, and
other stores of the super-rich).
From the ads on Cathay Pacific (on the TV and
in-flight magazine), to the ads in the Vietnam Airways
magazine. It is clear that there is an international
spa and golf jet-set crowd from the non-western
nations. The amount of money sloshing around must be
huge to support the life represented here ("Are you
living the Inter-Continental Lifestyle?). I suppose
you see more of your own culture when it's absent than
you do when you are immersed in it. The ads geared
towards the newly rich of Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur and
Dubai don’t look to the West. They look to Asian
pride and standards of excellence. They are aiming
not to match the West so much as to show the world
what the new standard should be.
We're now on a Vietnam Airlines flight to Hanoi (we
land in an hour). The seats are much roomier. For
breakfast they offered beef noodles or pancakes.
Thinking I would get some Vietnamese savory pancakes,
that's what I asked for. I got waffles and syrup
(with a side packet of chili paste). I'm looking
forward to real food in a restaurant and a chance at a
shower.
Do these impossibly small seats make my butt look fat? (The answer is yes)
Do these impossibly small seats make my butt look fat? (The answer is yes), originally uploaded by davethetemp.
Somewhere over Canada, 3:10 p.m. (Hanoi Time)
So I'm finally going to do the Math. Our plane takes
off at midnight. Meal is served about 45 Minutes
later and I decide to set my watch to Hanoi Time and
try to adjust. Checking my handy Palm, I need to
move my watch 11 hours ahead into Sunday. I know that
we will be arriving at about 5 or 6 in the morning on
Monday in Hong Kong to change planes. Oh, god, I now
know just how long I'm going to be on this flight.
The plane has some very modern features, but it's not
built for someone my size. Learning from my
AirTransat experience, I wedge the pillow between my
knees and the seat ahead of me. Cramped but cushioned.
My plan is to stay awake though the Vietnamese
daylight hours, probably crashing sometime around
eight. Hmm, probably the wrong word to use. It looks
as though I am one of the very few who are trying to
stay awake. Now that I say that, we've hit a bad
pocket of turbulence and the nearest baby is now in a
screaming fit.
We have in seat entertainment with about 12 movies
which seems to run each movie twice then shut down so
there is nothing to watch until it comes back on.
Helpfully, the screen says "Movies/TV will start
in...." I saw I Am Legend first. Better than Omega
Man would be my 4 word review.
No fair, now I'm finally starting to fade. Lets see
if I can sleep.
The Group of Seven
April 12 10:07 pm
We're at the airport, it's not quite 10:00 p.m. and
our flight will leave in 90 minutes. I am looking
forward to sleep, but I hear they are going to feed us
first. This is a tour of 16 and 7 of the team are
either from Barb's hospital or hangers on like me.
Judith got us all really cool friendship pins with
the flags of Canada and Vietnam. You really can get
everything on Spadina Street.
BTW I can't claim credit for the picture caption,
that's the name of Tracey's blog for this trip. Try
http://thegroupofseven.blogspot.com
ps. If you're not Canadian, you won't get the pun.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Group of Seven
We're at the airport, it's not quite 10:00 p.m. and our flight will leave in 90 minutes. I am looking forward to sleep, but I hear they are going to feed us first. This is a tour of 16 and 7 of the team are either from Barb's hospital or hangers on like me. Judith got us all really cool friendship pins with the flags of Canada and Vietnam. You really can get everything on Spadina Street.
BTW I can't claim credit for the picture caption, that's the name of Tracey's blog for this trip. Try http://thegroupofseven.blogspot.com
ps. If you're not Canadian, you won't get the pun.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Pre trip test post
We're preparing for blogging our trip so I want to see what the different blogger templates will do to text and pictures. Interestingly, all of the hotels we will be staying in are supposed to have internet access. That and 18 hours to fly home should make for enough content to post.
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