Stoffel and Pantoffel on Manoeuvres

25 April 2013 Longshen I am lying in bed listening to frogs chirping and thinking about the stir fried frog on the dinner menu his evening. Frogs must love this place. Those that don't get eaten anyway. The rice terraces outside our window tonight are truly spectacular. Yes, it is the wrong time of year to see them as they are not sprinkled with snow, or lush and green, or golden ripe, or flooded in water in preparation for planting; but the muddy, misty, 500 year old stepped landscape is just awesome anyway! The summer rains have begun, the clouds drift in and out touching the ground and leaving everything sparkling in their dewy swirls. Streams trickle and tinkle down rocky cracks and soft focussed bamboo sways in the chilly wind. It is a scene from ... read more

17 April 2013 Brash and brazen, Shanghai sparkles and gleams like cheap chintz in a tobacco haze. We took the fast train from Beijing and got here in air conditioned luxury in four hours. In the process we crossed the longest and second longest bridges in the world; and passed nameless cities of cranes. China is the country of cranes. Tower cranes not the magnificent birds which feature so highly in Chinese mythology... More than 75% of the world's cranes are here, and they are erecting cities rapidly, everywhere. Ten million plus populations inhabiting cities we have never even heard of. The numbers are staggering. The air quality frightening. The brand new station we arrive at in Shanghai is already hopelessly under spec'ed. There are not enough toilets, the taxi queue is hundreds of meters long. ... read more

7 April 2013 Ho Chi Minh City Arriving at Saigon station is a little like arriving at any small town station in Vietnam, chaotic and unorganised and you still have to clamber over the tracks. But Saigon is by no means a small or primitive town. With a population of 10 million plus and growing by the second, we have made bets as to how much this city is going to change in the next 10 to 20 years. I believe it is going to go the same route as Shanghai, Andrew thinks I am being ambitious, but the place is already massive and far more "sophisticated" than anywhere else in Vietnam. I use the word sophisticated with caution because it is not the same sophistication as that of the more culturally aware Hanoi. It is ... read more

1 April 2013 Not every single hole in the ground in Vietnam is a bomb crater; some are buffalo wallows and some are sunken round graves; but an awful lot of them are bomb craters around here. There is so much recent history on the ground in this place. Loads of it left unexploded too. There is also some ancient history - what's left to spot between craters that is. We made the trip to My Son to see the 9th century Cham ruins, and what remains after the French stole the important bits ( like heads of statues) and then US bombing, is not much to write home about. Most of the site is under archaeological survey or reconstruction. And it is crowded. Far too crowded. But they sell nice handbags there..... We have just ... read more

27 March Back on the train from Hong Doi to Hue. Thankfully only three hours this time. I am having a quiet confrontation with a person who is lying on my lap again. It is a battle of wills which I am unlikely to win, but the irritation I am causing gives me great pleasure - sick puppy? Look at the pictures and judge for yourself. We missed our train last night and ended up staying in Dong Hoi for an extra night. Our motorbike exploration of a bit of the Ho Chi Minh trail detained us too long, but my god, it was so worth it!! I am sorry we didn't just plan to stay here for two days to start with, instead of trying to rush through. We will have to come back. In ... read more