rsizeland

So...our last couple adventures were to the Cu Chi tunnels and a two day tour of the Mekong Delta area. We must be getting brave cause we signed up for a trip to Cu Chi tunnels on motorbike. One thing to be on the back of a motor bike in the countryside...quite another in Saigon. 1.5 hours each way....oh boy...where to start! We'll just promise a video clip when we find a USB-friendly computer. Cu Chi tunnels are pretty neat - these folk built over 200 kms of tunnels (multi-level) and an assortment of traps - all with either recycled US bombs or collections of mutilating spikes. Thousands of Vietnamese (men and women and children) hid out here while the americans were "visiting". One tunnel travelled an entire kilometre to the river, should a major escape ... read more

Hey folks, Not that we like to be reminded as to how little time we have left (ahem, we mean we miss you dearly and can't wait to arrive home to colder weather - is there at least skiing yet?)....but we thought we'd give you the highlights of what we've been up to lately and before we're home where blogging may be redundant. Our first (and there have been many) arrival in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) was fairly quiet - took care of business (tickets and such) and found a great place to stay - down a little alley with a family. They occupy about 200 sq ft - and us, not so much less. After the quiet bits we returned home to find expats, locals and our hosts drinking beer and (awful) rum on the ... read more

Thanks to Mr Tung, we had travel arrangements that took us from the coast - on buses, boats and an overnight train - to Lao Cai. A little groggy (it was just after 5 am) we refused enticing purchases outside the train station including sexy lighters (damn - if we were more awake we would have bought one - lighter PLUS porno projector...), we boarded a bus away from the Chinese border town to climb 1,000 m to Sapa. Most of us slept, but the winding hills and motion sickness kept Jen awake (and sympathetic Rob) - silver lining was a great view of rice terraces / hills on the voyage up. Sapa is a beautiful (albeit rainy) mountainside village - lots of locals and two local hill tribes willing to house us, and sell more ... read more

Hey less interested readers, We finally got some more pictures, so it should be a better entry today. After writing the last blog, we went and watched a water puppet show down by the lake. It's a show with wooden puppets dancing on the water controlled by long bamboo sticks accompanied by traditional Vietnamese music. We don't know that there was a story line (there wasn't one we could follow anyway), but it was interesting and colourful nonetheless. The puppets were quite varied -- snakes, dragons, fish, people, etc. The dragons at one point had fireworks coming out of their mouths. They're all hand-crafted in some town just outside Hanoi whose sole business is making these things, as they're in water all the time and need to be replaced every few months. Afterwards, we visited a ... read more

Hey interested readers, We arrived in Hanoi safe and sound last night, if a bit weary. We were supposed to have a driver meet us at the airport, but no one there seemed to have a sign with our names on it. So we chanced it and went with the first driver we came across (he had some kind of "official" looking badge, at least). After some crazy driving and the price we agreed upon, we did arrive at our hotel and crashed (in bed). Hanoi is a very, very busy place, even at night. Needless to say it was pretty noisy. Some kind of industrial pump right outside our window seemed to cycle on a few times. Oh well, we got lots of sleep on the plane... sure... So, today, not quite sure what Hanoi ... read more