Day 17 Last day in Vietnam

We have spent our last day walking the streets of Hanoi.  It's been a cool day and there has been a nice breeze.

Everyone seems well and all the kids are very happy to be heading home tomorrow. The last 2.5 weeks have certainly been an education.  We been able to experience a completely different culture, eat an entirely different diet, and see bits and pieces of beautiful Vietnam from the south to the north.  All this has been an amazing adventure.  I have also, as you would know, spent the last 18 days within arms reach of each child. The only time I've had away from their delightful company is when I use the toilet or have a shower.  You would think I would have a pretty good understanding of what each of my children are like.  I raise them, I spend lots of time with them, I know my children, but I've never really gotten to KNOW them like this!  I can't say the process has been entirely pleasant.

Travelling alone with them has been easy.  We haven't encountered any situation where our numbers have prevented us doing what we want on this trip.  It has never been hard finding accommodation with 2 rooms side by side or close together.  The only downside of travelling with 5 children would have to be the added expense.  If I were travelling by myself, I think I could have completed this trip (excluding airfares) for well under $1000.  I've been fairly liberal with my purchase of presents for myself as well.

I would like to have been less of a side show as we walked the streets in Vietnam.  We get stared at everywhere we go.  Most people in Vietnam who comment think that I am very lucky to have one girl (to do the work, their words not mine) and 4 boys.  "Very lucky, very lucky."  Apparently having a girl first and boy second is the lucky part.  This ensures there is someone to do all the work, and there is also someone to carry on the family name.  I think it has been a government rule since the early 1990's  that in the city areas of Vietnam, the limit is 2 children per family.   So while there are still lots of larger families in Vietnam, they are certainly not normal, especially in the areas we have been travelling to.

Add one more to this side show and we are officially a freak show.

I have never felt unsafe in Vietnam.  I've only lost one of my children once, and that was George at the home stay in the Mekong.  He rode way ahead of us and missed the entrance to the house.  It was about 5 minutes before we realised he was missing.  I took off on a bike far too small for me at breakneck speed and found him about 5 minutes later.  He was on his way back after finally realising we weren't following him.  

We've been "cased" a few times for a bag snatch, but it has been so obvious that it hasn't been hard to avoid losing my bag.  3 very dumb teenagers stood beside us in Dalat at the market after I'd bought something and they proceeded to watch with weird interest as Drew had a bangle made for her.  They stayed beside us quite a bit longer than any male teenager would stay to watch bracelet making.  Then they tried to slowly follow us.  I just stopped and said "after you".  I haven't had to use any concealed passport carriers.  I've either left our passports at the hotel reception or I've carried them in a backpack.  The only time I've lost money is when I've left my bag unattended.  Stupid me.

I wish I'd brought more long sleeved cotton shirts.  Walking in the sun all day is a killer.  

I haven't had to use any of the mosquito repellent I brought along.  I haven't seen one mosquito.  Mind you, I haven't been any further inland than Dalat, and I haven't been in any areas that are risky for malaria.  

I could have done with more than 2 electrical adapters (Australian to Vietnamese).  We have 2 computers, phone, camera, video camera, PSP and ipod shuffles to recharge, and 2 adapters just hasn't been enough.   

The scariest part of the trip, and the only time I felt our lives were in danger was the bus trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Dalat.  That was the bus driver's fault, and I'm sure not everyone would have the same experience we had.  

Worst part of the trip:  James and his vomiting.  That's been horrible for him, but hideous for me to deal with during the long bus journeys.  I'm thankful that only 1 of my children ended up with vomiting and diarrhoea.   

Worst behaved child:  A tie between J***s and G****e with M*x coming a close second. Once again, I've de-identified the names to avoid any child taking offence should they ever read this blog.  

Most depressing town we visited: Can Tho in the Mekong.  

Best town:  Dalat and Hoi An with Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi coming close seconds.

Weirdest moment: running into the weird and annoying lady from the My Son tour near Hoi An when we were in a cave in Halong Bay 5 days later.

Weirdest scene: A lady having her hair de-loused on the busy footpath.  This was equally weird to the man we saw having a haircut and ear clean on the street corner; and the child we saw being taken for a wee in the gutter of the main roundabout in Hanoi.

Worst moments:  (1) Walking into that horrible, tiny train cabin that I was about to spend 18 hours together with my children, and realising that I just didn't think I could go through with it.  (2) Wasting a whole day of the trip on a home stay in the Mekong with Ni as our guide.  

Best moment: Riding on motorbikes around Dalat with the kids.  Thank you Easy Riders.

Best find:  A street in Hanoi that has a few shops that sell authentic second hand Rolex watches. P Hang Gai Street (one street back from the centre roundabout in the Old Quarter)
Amendment:  My brother who fancies himself as an expert in Rolex watches tells me the watches are very good take-offs of the original.  Dam it!  I spent hundreds on those 3 watch faces.

We are homeward bound tomorrow.  All 24 hours of it.  I'm sure that will be another adventure in itself.  Stay tuned for the final blog entries when we arrive home.

Some more photos of Hanoi:

This is central Hanoi!

Hanoi is filled with pretty trees.  

Gus models for us again

This would actually be very hard to accomplish.

Most of life's activities take part on the pavement outside the shops.

James eats a whole baby octopus.  He's pretty adventurous, but even he balked at this
because we could see this critter's little eyes. 

This may well have been the culprit for the 24 hours of vomiting he
experienced the next day.

The heat begins to affect us.

Gecko Bar and Restaurant has great Aussie tucker!  Kids need some Aussie
respite every now and then.

Day 16 Emesis and Nemesis at Halong Bay

Firstly my apologies for this long-winded blog.  I needed to be specific so I can remember the details of the day as well when I  wish to recall our beautiful trip to Halong Bay.

It all started out so cheerily yesterday morning.  We were off on an adventure to Halong Bay to spend a night aboard a boat then back to Hanoi the following evening.

We decided to keep our room in Hanoi for the time we were to be at Halong Bay as we would need it to spend our last night in Vietnam before we commenced our 24 hour journey home.  11 hours of that journey will be spent bonding as a family unit in Guangzhou airport, China, thanks to a last minute flight cancellation.  Thank you China Southern Airlines.

We readied ourselves for the 8am pickup.  We were collected by our guide and taken up the street a bit to wait for our bus.  We had a few minutes to sit and wait and the thought went through my mind that perhaps I should have brought along a bit of electrical entertainment for the kids.  I'd told them to leave all electrical goods at the hotel as we wouldn't need them in such a pretty part of the world. Well, lucky for us, it didn't take long for Hanoi to produce it's own little side show.

We were sitting on the pavement minding our own business when about 4-5 men came running along the pavement whooping and laughing.  Just a meter or so ahead was a small rat running for it's life.  These men were having a hoot of a time.  The rat ran between one of our bags and the glass door of a coffee shop behind us.  The quickest man with the biggest book in his hand threw himself behind our bag and smashed the rat with his book.  All the men started laughing.  The rat kept trying to run and they all went after it smacking it with their thongs and ? their reading books, snorting and cackling all the time...kind of like a group of men would sound if they were playing a game of social volleyball after a few beers.  They eventually subdued their plaything right in front of George and gave it a final smack on the head with the book, blood smeared all over the pavement.  One of them picked it up by the tail and took it God knows where, while the murderer wiped the blood from his book with his shirt.  The men were breathless, but exuberant.  Job well done.  Hmmmm.  Only 42 million of the suckers left to kill now boys!  Good job. Somehow I don't think they were trying to rid the city of the rat problem, more likely they were hunting for someone's dinner.  My kids were revolted.

Then:

James mentioned he felt sick as we ascended the stairs into the bus...

I had left my anti-nausea medication back in the hotel room.

James vomited into a leaking plastic bag 2 hours later and half way to Halong Bay.

I sacrificed 2 beach towels to clean up the vomit.

James try to sleep away the nausea, while Max just sleeps on a stranger on the way to Halong Bay.
This photo is taken pre vomit.
I don't know who the man with the glasses is, but he isn't attractive when he sleeps.

After 4 hours in the bus and 10 minutes from our destination of Halong Bay, the tour guide announces to the 28 tour participants aboard the bus that the weather is going to be bad tonight and the boats will not be going out.  His alternative...a night on Monkey Island.  What the??  Just like that, no further explanation.  It took about 5 minutes and the bus, filled with tourists, began to revolt.  How could they not know the weather?  They run tours on the bay for a living!  Why did they let us get to the f***ing bay before they told us this?  Does bad weather really affect a boat in a bay?  How could we get back to Hanoi if they didn't want to go to Monkey Island?  I was one of the lucky ones who hadn't paid yet.  No way I was going to spend a night on Monkey Island with a bunch of filthy animals (my kids) and some foul smelling monkeys when I had driven 4 hours to see Halong Bay.  The weather was sunny and bright without a cloud in the sky and not a breath of wind.  I smelt a rat.  So with James about to vomit again I said no to the Monkey Island tour and I took my kids and exited the bus.

James felt another vomit coming on.  I asked a group of Vietnamese men and women selling food on the sidewalk for a plastic bag, and a by-stander relayed my message to one of the ladies in the group.  She handed me 2 small plastic bags which James promptly filled in front of her.  I took the now full bags over to the bin across the road, along with the 2 vomit filled beach towels and the earlier leaking plastic bag full of vomit.  There was no bin but a man motioned for me to leave the towels with vomit under a table just outside the entrance to a restaurant.  Strange, but helpful that I didn't need to keep looking for a bin.  I did my best to mime vomiting into the towel in a effort to re-explain just what the towels contained, but he was adamant I leave it there.  I did as I was told.   I returned to the same lady and asked her for 2 more small plastic bags.  She looked straight at me and just shook her head "no".  What a frigging b****!    She had really angry eyes too.  No smile, nothing!  Just "no".  I ask you, is that normal?  We made do with what we could find - a plastic bag that looked like someone had been using it to cart gravel.  It was blowing past us, so we snatched it up.

I found my way to the ticket desk and asked about any shorter trips that were going out into the bay for a few hours.  No one there was able to tell me if boats were being kept in due to bad weather or not, but it seemed that boats were still leaving the dock.    I ended up having to hire an entire boat for four hours as well as pay for the kids tickets.  All up $100.  Still, it was going to cost me $300 for the overnight tour of Halong Bay, or in my case a night on Monkey Island, so a savings of $200 was pretty good I thought. (I later discovered the boat men had stolen about $150 from my wallet while we were on the cruise, so maybe no saving after all.)  A few other people around us had just had their tours cancelled, but there seemed to be no problem just going out for the afternoon.  A lovely Brazilian couple followed our lead and abandoned the planned tour.  They joined us on our own private tour of Halong Bay.

Halong Bay was very hazy.  Not sure why, but the air wasn't the cleanest, and neither was the water.  Very, very pretty scenery.  Boats everywhere but fewer as we got further out into the bay.  We were taken to look at 2 massive amazing caves on one of the islands.  Very touristy with stairs and walking path all mapped out into and out of each cave.  Trinket store at the exit of each cave and soft drink and chips on offer.  The caves were the highlight of the Halong Bay tour for us.  Unfortunately James' debilitated state made it impossible for me to get right inside cave # 2.  I was happy though as I had stolen about 15 000 dong from the wishing well in cave #1.  Overall, discounting the tour stuff up and my stolen money, I'd have to say Halong Bay was a bit of a disappointment.  I hear it was way better in the 90's before it became so commercial.  I am aware however, that it is people just like me and my kids that cause it to be so commercial and contribute to the state of the water.  A lot of messy construction was going on and lots of rubbish floating in the water.

We ran out of camera charge as we left Hanoi, so the following photos were taken from a video camera and are not terribly clear.

First stop, the caves. 

James recovers temporarily

I left my bag unattended for the 5 minutes we took to take this photo.
Cost: $150

James continues to sleep as we pull into the dock as the tour ends

We arrived back at shore and said goodbye to the 2 men who drove the boat.  I would never have said thank you if I had realised they'd been in my purse taking what they wanted.  I should be glad our passports and my credit cards were left in my bag. We managed to find a bus returning to Hanoi 15 minutes later.  The Brazilian couple had given us 2 anti nausea tablets which James had taken during the day.  I have no idea what they were, but James slept most of the way home, which was a hell of a lot better than dealing with his vomit.  I made sure he was still alive by checking his pulse rate from time to time.

Thank God we kept our rooms at the Queen of Heart Hotel.  We were able to walk a short distance from the drop off point to our hotel and sink onto our beds after a long and luxurious shower.

James finished the day off nicely with his unsuccessful attempt to pass wind.  A final clean up was in order.

Day 14 and 15 Hanoi to Halong Bay

Hanoi is very much like Ho Chi Minh City.  It's a bit harder to navigate on foot as the roads are a bit messier in their design and there seems to be more traffic. Definitely more harassing hawkers. I like it, but I liked HCMC more.

We've spent 2 days looking around the Old Quarter in Hanoi.  It's hot!  Stinking, oppressively hot.  I spoke to one local who says that Hanoi rarely gets a breath of wind as it heats up during the summer months.  The Vietnamese however, don't seem to suffer the same sweating disorder that the foreigners seem to be battling.  The women with their 100% tight synthetic tops don't have a drop of sweat on their back or under their arms.  I feel like a large masculine troll next to them.  I don't even bother wiping it off my face, but it's mildly embarrassing to have it dripping down my neck, covering my back and as I discovered yesterday, covering the back of my legs and my bum.  Not a good look.  Bland colours are essential because pink (as I found out yesterday) showed that I am every inch the man I think I am.  (I've never been officially diagnosed but I'm pretty sure I have XXY chromosomal makeup)  Time to change the outfit I've been wearing for the last week.

Crossing the road more of an art here than HCMC.   Tiny, thin streets with lots of cross road intersections make it complicated.  The sidewalk is unable to be navigated most of the time because it is filled with parked motorbikes and tiny little food businesses.  Larger businesses like metalwork factories do all their cutting and grinding out on the footpath.  The streets in the Old Quarter seem to be largely separated into what they sell.  Herb street, clothes street, doorknob street, nappy and baby formula street etc etc.

My sense of direction is appalling and I've managed to get lost every time we've left the hotel.  I spend my time arguing with the kids about where we are and how we got there.  Street names like Pho Ta Hien and Pho Nguyen Huu Huan make it difficult for me to follow the map and I can stand on a corner for 5 mins twirling the map around and around, find the names of the streets and still not know which direction I am heading in.  The boys have lost interest in discovering anything new.  They spent yesterday inside the air-conditioned hotel watching TV.  They'd only come out to get food.  Drew, Gus (occasionally) and I were left to our own devices for most of the day.  This horrified the hotel owner who kept enquiring how old James was.  I think she was trying to let me know that she thought James was too young to be left in charge of the younger boys.  I decided to ignore her and just smiled and said goodbye.  She seemed to have no problem booking us 2 rooms 1 floor apart, so I didn't really think she had any right to argue.  There was no way I was going to take 3 whining boys back out into that heat with me.

I know the tricks of the hawkers now.  They grab one of my kids and pop their straw hat on them, hand them their long stick with the baskets hanging off each end, then they yell out to me "mumma, mumma, photo".  When you turn around and think Awww, that's cute, and take a photo...then they pounce!  How on earth can you walk away without giving them money?  I can't.  I'm pathetic!  I have to deal with these guys with avoidance tactics.  They're quick though, so you have to be on your toes.  My tactics include:

• Shaking my head and mouthing "Noooooo" as I come into the hawker's circle of entrapment.  This is a 7m radius surrounding the hawker. 
• Staying out of arm grasp distance with the hawker. 
• Removing the straw hat from my children and gently placing it back on the hawker's head before they can get that stick and basket on their shoulder.
• I hand over the amount I am willing to pay rather than bothering to ask how much.  Works effectively as I consider myself quite generous.  I always pay twice what I think it would be worth, which is usually more than half of what I'd pay in Australia.  If you ask how much, they will always give you a figure close to what you'd pay in Australia.  
• I usually try to divert attention if the hawker is particularly insistent.  I point into the distance and say "what's that", then as they turn their head, we run.

Off to Halong Bay this morning to spend a night on a boat.  The same man who booked us that hideous train sleeper also booked this tour for us, so I'm eager to see what condition this boat is in!  Apparently it's better to book your Halong Bay tour outside Hanoi.  There is a lot of overcharging of tourists in Halong Bay, but I guess one could get around that by investigating prices on the internet first.  I couldn't be bothered.  Let's see where that has gotten me shall we?

One of yesterday's funny photos:

Addit:

G****e (name de-identified in case G****e ever reads this)  has just come into my room and commenced his endless rant about what he doesn't have.  I listen to this every day, nearly all day.  It's always interesting to see what he'll start each day off with and where that leads and how it can change.  Yesterday he had a deep need for soft drink, followed by a need to buy a watch, followed by a need to buy his friend a present, and he finished the day off with his need to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken.   His first words today:  It's just that I don't have an iPod shuffle...

Day 12 and 13 Hoi An

It's now day 14 and we are now in Hanoi.  Thank the sweet Jesus that train journey is over.  The things that stand out in my memory about Day 12 and 13 in Hoi An are:

(1) The trip to My Son to look at the ancient Cham ruins;
(2) The urgent public toilet trip that ended in disgrace for James;
(3) Collecting our custom made shoes and my tailor made skirts and buying some art;
(4) The lanterns, the great restaurants, and
(5) The beginning of our 18 hour train journey to Hanoi in a filthy, dilapidated and very unpleasant smelling train.

The trip to My Son


Well worth the 5am pick up.  Cost $6 / person if you go there and return by bus.  $8 / person if you wish to return to Hoi An by boat.  Breakfast included which was a quick stop at a local's house.  Freshly made bread rolls and omelette.  We booked this trip through our hotel -  Phuoc An Hotel.  Phuoc An Hotel was $29 or so per night.  It was old but reasonable.  Fantastic Tour Manager who is a wealth of knowledge and a great help, plus we had full use of the Hotel bicycles for the entire 2 days.  It's 2 mins bike ride from the river and all the action in town.  Highly recommend it for the pancakes at breakfast that are included in the room price.

Our trip to My Son was memorable for 2 reasons.  We had a guide who was
about 25-30 years old who spent quite a bit of the tour focusing on the phallic sculptures that were part of the ruins.  When he took a breather from that, he focused almost entirely on his own sex life.

A few more photos:

I think they were bullet holes (machine gun) , but our guide said only bombs
fell in the area during the Vietnam war.  Doesn't he know I watch "Bones"?

The Cham kingdom occupied this area about an hour south west of Hoi An from the 4th to the 13th Century.  It was a religious site, but most of the 68 buildings were ruined by bombs.  20 structures survive today.  It's a pretty spooky and quiet area, but very pretty.  Wouldn't want to be by myself out there at night time.  I can just imagine the tigers, elephants and lions roaming there all those years ago.

Of course no tour would be complete without the resident idiot who has to ask too many questions about too many obvious things.  We had her pinned as a doctor at first, but we decided by the end she wasn't bright enough to have studied medicine.  We settled on social worker.

James' urgent toilet trip

Could I just mention that I have been a prisoner to my children's bowels for 2 weeks now.  Day 13 was to be no exception.  We had bought some expensive pineapple from one of the many hawkers who have harassed us constantly on our trip (see photo below). 15 minutes after eating it, 3 of the kids needed to find a toilet urgently.  Luckily my bowels are used to constant dietary abuse, so I remain unscathed through the many bouts of badly behaved bowel syndrome that they kids seem to attract.  We were in town, so I asked a man where I could find the nearest toilet.  He pointed around the corner.  In Vietnam you just have to look for the sign WC.  I think WC may stand for Wash Cloth.  Something you may find handy over here.  

We had to pay to get in.  I wasn't sure if this was a regular thing, or if some poor person had just set themselves up at the entrance to the loo to get herself some pocket money.  Hard earned cash if that was   the case.  I paid the 2000VND for each of the 3 kids (about 25 cents).  Drew and Gus re-emerged to say there was no toilet paper.  I've been meaning to buy some for 2 weeks but a whole role just seems a bit excessive to carry around.  The lady we had paid handed them each a few small squares and off they went.  The rest of us stood outside and marvelled how the waste from each toilet flush could be seen coming out a pipe at the rear of the toilets before it disappeared down a hole below.

The pipe, the space and the hole

Drew came out but Gus and James failed to reappear.  I went to investigate.  I found Gus standing in front of James' cubicle.  James cubicle had no door and he was struggling to finish up.  In the time that he had been sitting there in his doorless, paperless toilet,  2 women had come in to use the toilet.  All he'd been able to do was wave weakly at them as they passed by.  I didn't have my trusty scalf with me to use as a door, so I did all I could and I stood outside the toilet block to fend off any further intrusions until he was able to finish and clean up.  The younger boys stood near the effluent pipe and diagnosed James before he came out.

Custom made clothing and art purchases

It may just be our experience, but the shoes we had fitted and bought are shit.  The boys all ordered sandshoes / sneakers.  I ordered a pair of summer thongs and a pair of high heels.  Drew ordered sandals.  The shoes all ended up appearing to have no obvious left and right shoe.  Just like big blocks.  George's are too big and the holes the shoelace thread through have already broken and ripped.  The leather is crappy quality.  They cost about $30 - $35 and I just don't think it was worth it.  The exception to this are my leather thongs.  I think they cost less and they've turned out fine.

The dressmakers on the other hand are great.  Unfortunately as you ride your bike around town you get to see tiny little shops filled with teenage boys making the garments you have been fitted for at the ritzy shops. I'm hoping I'm not the cause of the exploitation of these young men.  I think I may be and I do feel mildly guilty about that.  Not enough not to have my skirts made though.  They urned out beautifully by the way, and cost me $35 each.  

We bought some art from Son Gallery at 57 Tran Phu Street, Hoi An.  Phone 0903 578 354.  I'm no art critic but it is by far the nicest gallery I have come across, and it has a lot of different Vietnamese artists work on display.  Most are locals or have been locals, and because it's their local town, they are selling way cheaper than anywhere else.  We spoke to and bought some art from Tran Viet Son.  An absolute gentleman who is completely passionate about his work.

The lanterns and the restaurants

A trip to the dentist is in order. Soft drinks only cost 25 cents at the restaurants.

Ambience topped off with the Rod Stewart soundtrack playing
softly in the background.

Gus makes friends with a (hopefully) rabid-free dog.

Gus makes friends with the 90 year old lady who sold us the pineapple that led to the toilet fiasco.  I made Gus stand
real close to her for the purpose of including everyone in the photo.

18 hour train trip

I wanted to take the train to Hanoi because I heard the stretch of land between Danang and Hue was breathtaking.  Beach meets mountains.  We weren't disappointed.  If those same beaches existed in Australia there would be cities built around them.  As it stands, they are just surrounded with jungle and a handful of huts.  I don't know however, if my long journey was worth the 2 hours of beauty viewed from our filthy cabin window.  

Our room for the journey was 3m x 4m room, tall enough to fit 2 lots of 3 beds one on top of the other.  The doona covers stank and so did the old, thin pillows and mattresses.  Fitting the 6 of us and our bags into the tiny room was an achievement.  The toilets...oh the toilets!  They were filthy and you had to stand in a pool of urine to use them.  18 hours was too long for me to hold out.

We look like a happy bunch waiting at Danang Station to board the
train to Hanoi

This is after 3 hours on the train.  Still capable of smiling

Following a great night's sleep, Drew closes her eyes to block our
her brother's fighting

Everything was a little depressing when we first got on.  The room was horrendous.  There was no way I could spend that amount of time that close to my children!  We kept it cheery at first.  Dinner arrived on a roller trolley that came past each room.  We had some manhandled kebabs, some rice and some boiled cabbage.  Mmmmm.  After dinner things began to deteriorate.  Everyone was fighting over the computer and who wanted to watch what, who had it last, who hated who.  We have 2 computers with us, but that just isn't enough for a situation like this.  The horrible boys from a soccer team next door kept thumping on the wall.  They were either telling us to shut up, or perhaps they were just saying hello.  They had the energy to continue this game for the entire trip.  We went to be about 9pm after 4 hours of travel.  We each had our bags at our feet, so we were all cramped and complaining.

Try as I might, my muscular thighs were of no use in keeping me above this filth.
Whenever the train lurched I was thrown from side to side in the cubicle.  My bum
eventually made contact.  Mouth-breathing was essential!

A new a wonderful day dawned, and the kids began the fighting again. There was spitting, punching, farting, bullying and foul language to deal with.  CONSTANTLY!  We pulled into Hanoi about 11am this morning.  Thank God the hotel we are staying at sent someone to collect us.  For $10 we were met on the platform and driven straight to our hotel door.  

And so commenced day 13.