Mission? me??

I have been oh so blessed the last few days with extremely warm sunny weather up here in Sapa. Cheering!!! During our hikes it has actually become quite hot! Alot of people got really really sunburnt. But I'm quite happy about this situation as when I was in Hanoi I attempted very unsuccessfully to buy warm clothes, got fed up with shopping (due to strong dislike and the millions of shops selling almost identical things) and having to haggle and not knowing what i want..... and purchased no additional warm clothes coming with only what I brought in my pack from australia.

The photo's I've just added are from wednesday when it was a bit more foggy in Sapa (I haven't downloaded my hiking photos yet), and one with me and the Tu Phin village ladies. That was an interesting experience from Wednesday afternoon. I hired a scooter in the afternoon and went to visit this village and cave that is there. When I arrived in the village, the women all rushed over and waved me down to park the scooter and then walk the remaining kilometre or two (I already had the blisters by this stage post Cat-Cat Village hiking). I had 5 ladies following me - one passer-by commented "lucky girl". But basically, the problem with this situation is that you are then expected to buy handicrafts from each of your walkers!! These ladies, I tell you are brilliant at guilt-tripping you. I ended up making a deal and bought 2 items from the ladies (I couldn't please everyone and I just a) didn't like any of the offered handicrafts and b) didn't want to have to carry it either!!). I am getting better at bargaining....

Anyway, so the last 24 hours I have been hiking and on a homestay. Thursday we hiked for 17km up and down mountains and today we hiked 14km. Subsequently I have some pretty sore muscles and blistered heels (I never want to wear shoes again!). But the experience itself was definitely worth it and I'm glad I went. If I had more time, I would have liked to have climbed Mt Fansipan (highest mountain in the area 3000-something feet high) just to say that I climbed it but I'm glad I just did the 2 days with the homestay. I'm still a bit sick from the cold weather at Halong Bay and the harder trek would have done me in I believe.




The hikes were basically up and down through the rice-paddies and bamboo forests, up and down cliffs (the potential for people to fall off and die was quite high in a lot of situations). Absolutely breathtaking scenery and we had 100% sunshine for it the whole time as well which was lucky - last week the weather was about 4 degrees, this week its high 20s early 30s I think! But not an easy walk in the park, thats for sure.

The rice paddies them selves are a bit fascinating. The entire mountainside is landscaped into terraces of these rice fields, which all contain water and flow from one to the other. Each field has to be 100% flat to ensure an even cover of water and allow it to be continue down to the next field. Ingenius design, there are little pipes and gullies flowing between them all to keep the water fresh and clean. It is the dry season at the moment, so the rivers themselves are quite low, but a very pretty turquoise colour.

Our group had 7 in it, two NZ girls, a couple from the UK and a newly-married (as in they got married 4 days ago) couple from Melbourne who wanted to do something different for their honeymoon (they have been living together for >5 years). It was a good group and we got on quite well. Last night at our home-stay we had the most awesome feed (couldn't finish it all) and it was a bit of a pre-requisite to try rice-wine. I think I mentioned earlier my first experience with rice-wine at Dalat - it was at least 50-60% alcohol and the fumes came out of my nose! This rice-wine or rice-whisky wasn't quite so strong but it was still strong enough!! The grandma of the house came out and we had a bit of a chant we all had to say (I'm not sure exactly what it all was - I have suspicions that it was something to the gods?). The first part I knew - Chuc Mung Nam Moi which means happy new year in Vietnamese as TET has just past and people are still celebrating this season. We did about 3 shots this way, and she was keen for them to continue but we left the rest for a bit later when we played cards. Learnt a new game called 'Durak' which is a Russian game meaning 'fool'. Good fun, but basically the durak had to down a shot of the rice-whisky. I was pretty tired so I ended up going to bed having won a few rounds and only losing once.

The majority of the time as we have been walking we have had a solid group of followers from either the H'Mong or Red Su tribe. Everyone is trying to sell you things which gets a bit frustrating after a while, they all have a particular tone of voice 'buy from me?' which can be quite effective in guilt-tripping you. I did manage to resist, but one of the other girls got sucked in a couple of times. However after so many times you become immune to 'the voice' as it is all identical (and seems well-practiced). There are many young children around as well who try and sell you things as well. You are encouraged not to buy from them though as they are meant to be in school and many will skip as they prefer to sell things or get lollies, pens, toys and things from tourists. If they asked me to buy things I'd pretty much tell them they should be in school :) hehe!




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On a more personal note, I am still in process of deciding what I want to do with the rest of my life. I realise this is a bit impatient of me - I want to live everything today here and right now. I mentioned a few days back how I had received an email from Interserve and had responded. Anyway, I was just randomly job-browsing a few minutes ago and decided to look at a few different mission agencies to see what opportunities they had going on as well, as I would like to continue obtaining experience in nutrition and dietetics if possible. So, I found a position advertised with Interserve (funnily enough) for a nutritionist somewhere in South East Asia working in a school with disabled children and their families. Sounds good, so I've sent an enquiry about it and will pray and see what happens from here on I guess.

Mission and me has always been an interesting topic. I grew up in Africa as an MK, spending 6 years in Zambia. So yes, I see the point and benefit of mission but I guess I have a rebellious streak that automatically makes me reject the possibility or potential of being a 'missionary' because i either don't, or didn't want to see my self that way. Bit selfish isn't it?

Anyway, there are a whole heap of preparation steps that Interserve have forwarded to me in the lead up to considering mission, so I would appreciate anyone's comments, encouragement/discouragement, thoughts, discussion about any of the following things:

1) Talk to your minister, Missions Task Group, Ministry Leader ( these are the people who have worked with you and taught you....what do they think?)

2. Read missionary biographies ( from 19th, 20th and 21st centuries ).List over page.

3. Build a Partnership Team ( people who pray for you throughout the journey ).

4. Complete either the Perspectives Course ( 1 night /week for 12 weeks ).
www.perspectives.org.au or the Kairos course (1 night/week for 9 weeks). http://www.kairoscourse.org/au.html

5. Pray for 1, 2 missionaries ( by yourself or join a Missions Prayer Group ).

6. Cultivate your walk with God ( grow your Quiet Time, increase your Bible intake, develop your prayer power, be witnessing, journal your thoughts and God’s leading ).

7. Grow your ministry skills ( take a responsibility in your church and excel at it ). Also seek training ( small groups such as uni, leadership such as Beach Mission, youth leadership, disciple-making skills ).

8. Find a mentor ( seek a “Paul” to keep you accountable in the above activities ).

9. Pray for a “Timothy” whom you can disciple, or lead to Christ then follow-up.

10. Become involved with mission-hearted people

· Investigate some mission agencies (See 2nd Step on the Journey for more information

· Sign up for free email service notifying you of mission news and openings – www.interserve.org.au

· Attend missions conferences and events ( Interserve Annual Conference, ReachOut, CMS Summer School ) and information nights ( Xtreme Places).

· Participate in activities that stimulate your missions heart (re-unions of Short-Termers, Interserve ‘Stay tuned to missions’ ).

11. Get involved in a sub-culture in your city – by doing this you truly are showing you are keen to work in another culture before you go to another country.



I was reading Ecclesiastes over the last few days in my search for meaning, and read Eccl 7:28. Can anyone explain to me why there are no righteous women in the world? I don't understand! Sounds, just a bit sexist but I'm sure there is a perfectly logical explanaition for it.. somewhere!

Sapa

Wow! I can't believe it is almost the end of February already - time is going so quickly, I have almost been in Vietnam for a month and my time is almost up :(

I spent 2 days in Hanoi while waiting for my Laos visa to be processed as I decided that I would cross over the northern border by bus rather than fly. During that time I met a couple of French boys in my dorm with guitars, and knowing me and music i got sucked in hook line and sinker and ended up buying myself a guitar for about $20 - just a little one, for me to carry around and play. I ended up spending most of my time in Hanoi playing guitar subsequently, we got a bit of a band happening and other guitarists and musicians just joined in on a jam on the side of the road outside the bar where our hostel is. Think we brought them in quite a bit of business too!!

So naughty me, didn't end up doing a whole lot of tourist stuff while in Hanoi. I did go to the prison, which was interesting, and went and saw the water puppets which was amazing! They are extremely intricate, i took some video of it, and at the end of the show they lifted the curtains to show that they are only manourvering the puppets with bamboo rods, but there must be wires or something inside the pole as they can make the puppets do all these crazy sorts of things. for example, at one time they had 4 dragons swimming around, overlapping and spitting water at each other! Definitely worth seeing if you are in Vietnam.

I am now in Sapa in northern Vietnam, I arrived here very very early wednesday morning after a sleeper train from hanoi to lau cai. That was an interesting experience! I actually slept quite well I think, but still woke up tired (understandably) at 4am when we arrived. I ended up being on a 'luxury' sleeper train and had 3 vietnamese in my room who spoke French. My passport fell out of my pocket as I was on the top bunk and they were kind enough to give it back to me! It did take a while to get to sleep initially though, because one of them had some vietnamese music playing from his phone as loud as possible, and I am definitely not the best sleeper.

After arriving in Sapa in the morning I had some breakfast at the guest house I chose from the collection of women 'selling' their guesthouses on arrival to the town. Then I put on my hiking boots and headed into town to walk to Cat Cat village which is one of many villages where many of the handicrafts are made. Almost immediately after leaving the hotel I had a few ladies following me trying to sell me their jewellery, clothing and other souviners. One particular old lady 'Me' from the H'mong people followed me for at least 2km down the mountain side towards the village, (hopefully the photo has attached itself) so I ended up feeling sorry for her and caved in and bought some earrings from her. Walking down the mountain wasn't so bad, coming up though was a completely different story! oh so high!! I ended up getting blisters from that walk alone, before I had even started my home stay so that wasn't the best. The views were amazing though. Because of those blisters I began to second-guess myself as to whether it was the smartest idea to go on a 2day trek and home-stay. However, when I was in Hanoi I'd had this discussion about not wasting our lives (think it was based on a John Piper book that I'm going to have to read at some stage), so decided that I would give it a go regardless of the pain...


It is now Friday afternoon and I have just arrived back at the guesthouse I am staying at after a 2 day trek. To say that I am a bit weary is an understatement. We trekked I think 17km on Thursday and about another 13km today. I'm scared to take off my boots as I know the blisters are going to be BAD!! I'll update on the last 24 hours in another post after I've had a shower and some clean clothes and hopefully my brain will be in working order again!

Halong Bay is breathtaking!

I'ts 7.15 Monday morning and I'm now back from a few days visiting Halong Bay - a UNESCO World Heritage site that if you ever have the chance to go - you MUST go! It is absolutely amazing and breath taking (I am working on getting some photos up, limited computer access....)

My adventure started Friday morning at 7.56am when I woke up in my dark dorn to discover that my alarm hadn't woken me up at 7am like it was supposed to and I was meant to be at the bus to leave for Halong Bay at 8am. IAs you can imagine there was alot of running around, dropping everything, and in my attempt to pack and dress in 4 minutes, I pretty much ended up taking nothing with me (you left your main pack in the luggage storage at the hostel). So basically, I had the clothes I was wearing for the whole 3 days, a torch, some swimmers, some showering stuff and camera's... oops. But I did manage get dressed, close my pack, store my pack, grab a bread roll from the free breakfast section and make it onto the bus, all within about 10 minutes!! It was definitely a relief to be on the bus when it left for Halong Bay.

With dubious weather reports we headed off to Halong Bay, when we arrived in the harbour it is absolute madness there! Very glad we had the tour all sorted out, there are tourists and locals and people everywhere with no real direction or sense to it at all. There are so many boats on the harbour as well! Alot of boat congestion and it was funny watching some of them collide accidently as they entered the harbour to pick us up.

We jumped upon a boat which took us to the sailing boat that we were on for the night (named the Jolly Roger). We had a group of about 15 people with us I think. Pretty good bunch of people. We had lunch on the boat then spent the next few hours cruising through the bay and the islands. We happened to have an awesome day, a bit cool but we did get a little bit of sunshine, enough for us to strip down to shorts and singlets and enjoy the warmth. Words cannot express how beautiful the area is - when it is sunny the water is this turquoise colour and these big and small islands jutting out of the water all over the place with jungle covering the rock. Beautiful.

While we were floating through this beautiful scenery, Charlotte (another Australian girl) and myself decided to climb the rope ladder to the top of the mast for fun and for a better view, it was definitely worth it! None of the boys were daring enough to do it! :)

Once we were somewhere in the heart of the bay (it would be extremely easy to get lost there, especially when it gets misty), we all got to jump off the top of the boat into the water, which was a little bit cool but not overly cold (it was still overcast). Once we were all nice and wet then we jumped into some kayaks and explored the bay and some of the islands by kayak. I was the last one into a kayak so I ended up being on my own which resulted in many many sore muscles as i had to try keep up with the others in doubles! We went under a cave to explore a bay in the middle of one of the islands where we saw some monkeys playing around jumping through the jungle. Then we kayaked over to another area where there was an actual cave that we all climbed into and explored with some difficulty due to the fact that it was very dark and we only had 2 torches between 15 people!! Luckily we made it with no casualties and had a bit of fun there.

kayaked back to our boat where we continued to cruise through the bay a bit more. I correctly guessed the number of islands (apparently 1967 islands) so won a free beer. We had some dinner and bit of fun with the rest of our small crew (the boat can fit around 40 people so it was small) for the rest of the night before sleep. I managed to take some night photo's of the boats in the harbour - there are heaps of boats hanging around - apparently 500 are on the water at a time!

on Saturday we woke up early and checked out of the boat, jumped onto another little boat which took 7 of us who were doing a 2nd night camping on 'castaway island'. We cruised around for about half an hour to get to the island. Saturday the temperature had dropped even more -its so cold up here north :( so it wasn't particularly inspiring to get into the water.

We all got to do an activity as part of our 2nd day, however due to some miscommunication, our only options were water-sports as the rock-climbing people had to be warned in advance. So 4 of us decided that why not we would go try our best at wake boarding! I am proud to say that i got up first time and aced it!! yay!! I love the water!! It was not at all tempting to get into the water because of the cold air but once i was in I loved it. Once I got out.... that was another story. I was freeeeeeeezing. Now have a bit of a head-cold because of the water and changes in temperature and everything. but so does everyone else around here at the moment so thats okay!!!

The food on the boat we had was amazing, the food on the island wasn't quite so. grease grease and more grease. yuck yuck yuck. oh well. I'm finding that I am craving vegetables. Oh funny thing, discovered that two of the girls on the tour are from wollongong, one of whom is housemates with a girl I went to uni with! Small world!

Went to bed pretty early on Saturday as I wasn't feeling the best, had the best night sleep though because I had 3 doona's and 2 mattresses under me. We were camping in these cute little thatched huts with mosquito nets to keep the bugs out and because was only a small group of us, we could get as many blankets as we wanted so I was nice and toasty!!

Because it was so cold, I didn't do a night swim in the water which sparkles at night (it's prety cool) but i did wander in about knee deep to see it. Very cool.

On Sunday we had breakfast then back on a speed boat which took us to the main sleeper boat where we caught up with other people we knew (and didn't), cruised back to the harbour through all the mist/drizzle and cold (freezing day - we totally picked the best weather for it!!).

On the bus driving back to Hanoi, it was a very very full bus and I was up near the front for most of it - tried to get a video of the traffic which was an interesting experience. In Australia when you are overtaking a vehicle you would usually keep a few hundred metres in front of your vehicle and the oncoming one. In Vietnam, not so. Five metres maybe? Less? Probably! It is insane to watch! you probably spend more time on the opposite side of the road than you do, with cars and bikes coming towards you. Might always wins the fight, biggest vehicles always win and get right of way. You just push your way through.

Same thing goes for crossing the road. You don't even realy bother to look anymore because there are no such things as 'gaps' in traffic. You just cross and everyone else will work their way around you.

So I'm in Hanoi for the next couple of days while I'm waiting on my Laos Visa being processed, then going to head up to Sapa for a couple days then onto Laos!!

I met a Aussie Christian guy last night named Will, that was a bit cool, surreal conversation regarding philosophy and living overseas. He is currently doing short term mission in china teaching English. As I've been travelling around I have been thinking I'd like to get more involved in working in developing countries. I'm planning to apply for a post-grad diploma through Curtin University working towards a masters in international health. Today I had an email from Interserve Missions about short-term mission in health in Asia so I've replied to them, see what happens with that.

Hue to Hanoi

My cooking lesson from the other day turned out to be a complete success, sooo much food yum yum yum! I can now make fresh and fried spring rolls, bon bu hue and their pork/prawn fried pancake. From a dietitians perspective, I was shuddering just slightly at their liberal use of the phrase "a little bit of oil" and figuring out ways to do the same thing at home with probably 20% of the oil! But it tastes good and I'm on holidays so i'm quite happy to eat whatever at the moment!!

As part of the cooking lesson we went to the markets, its crazy everything is shut from TET still! so strange, the food part is still open at least partially but all the clothes shops and markets are empty.


The change in weather is a bit depressing, think I'm starting to get a bit of a cold which is no good. It is drizzly and rainy and overcast and COLD!!! brrrr. good thing i brought a scarf and a jacket.

After our cooking lesson (a group of 5 from the hostel did it) and reaping the benefits of our cooking, I wandered around the citadel. Alot of it is run down and there has been extensive bombing in side alot of it, but the scale of it is huge. I mostly wandered around teh citadel inside the citadel as the outside citadel is just too big (and I was getting tired from the lack of sleep after the bus ride up) until it was starting to get dark and then headed back to the hostel. Because I've been on the verge of getting a cold I had 2 early nights while I was in Hue.



Yesterday I slept in and then decided that despite the rain i would go down to the river to catch a boat to see some of the royal tombs. Walking down the river i inquired about the price of the boat (and in doing so probably ended up insulting them unintentionaly because I didnt end up getting a boat), but didn't really feel like paying US$40 for a boat for a couple hours, plus the 550000dong entry fees for each tomb. So me being miss independent decided i would walk there. Not that I realy knew where I was going.. my map said a particular road went to the tombs so I started walking that way, and walking, and walking, and walking some more!! I pretty much ended up walking for 2 hours!!! I got some very vague directions along the way, but it was mostly guess-work on my behalf. The rain was constant and light the entire time so i was getting a bit damp, but it did start to get a bit heavier. Along the way I stopped at a couple of pagoda's (temples) for a quick look and wandered around a vietnamese cemetery for a while. I find cemetery's interesting, particularly the differences between those here and in the west.



So after my 2 hours of walking i got to another cross-road and having no idea which way to go there, accepted a lift on a scooter from a guy there who said it was close for 10,000dong. (75c). It was probably about another 1-2km from where i had arrived, uphill. Everyone passing me must have thought i was some crazy white girl walking around in the rain for no reason! I organised to get a ride back home to hue for 30,000dong for when I finished at the tomb.

Made it into Emperor Tu Duc's tomb, which was very beautiful and ornamental. There is huge moats and lakes with big fences around the individual tomb sites and particular buildings and temples. It was very slippery with moss and nearly face planted a few times! Alot of it was run down, some being reconstructed or held up by poles. My scooter ride home took all of 15 minutes!!! He obviously knew a short cut which was dramatically different to the 2 hour walk it took me to get there, but i did enjoy wandering around the countryside.



Right now I am in Hanoi at the backpackers here, having arrived at about 9am this morning after what was a very interesting bus ride. I'm not sure I slept at all. Apparently I must have at some point however because one of the Dutch couple I shared our 'beds' with said the bus hit something last night and i have no recollection of that.

So, my bus adventure started at 5pm last night when the sleeper bus was MEANT to come pick me up from the hotel. at 5.30 a bus (brand new extremely nice sleeper bus mind you) came and picked up the 2 other girls and then said they were full and drove off. okay. right. thanks! The hostel said to wait 5 minutes and another bus was coming. AFter about 20 minutes a taxi came and i had to get in, we drove around picked up the previously mentioned dutch couple. We then had to get out of the taxi at a random spot and then were told 'follow me follow me' by a guy on a scooter.. around the corner we go to the 'sleeper bus'. it wasn't the sleeper bus we were expecting. it was FILTHY!! and pretty much just a normal bus, slightly altered inside and very dodge looking.

I did manage to get a bed seat, but it was a very different experience from teh last sleeper bus I had taken. We probably had a maniac driver, so you learn to not bother watching the road and just ignore it. A group of young australians got on last and were put at teh front seats which were definitely not sleeper seats - they understandably were not impressed.

At about 6 oclock this morning we blew a tyre. The bus stopped for a bit, they got out poked around a bit and then kept going. We drove on the flat tyre for about 3 hours at least at a much slower rate than normal, because if we went too fast it would go thud thud thud thud..

But I got here safe in one piece and it's all going well. I'm in Hanoi for the day today and then head out to Halong Bay tomorrow for 3 days. Apparently the weather is meant to improve over the weekend though so we'll see. its currently 13 degrees..... brr

lanterns and buses

Been a few days since I've posted anything. Things are going well, have just had some limited access to computers and internet. I just arrived this evening in Hue after a few days in Hoi An - it is incredible how different the change is now from the south up here in the north. On the bus trip we had to pass through a long tunnel that goes right through a mountain. When we entered we were in blue sky and sunshine and upon exiting the tunnel it was overcast drizzly and cold! Definite change from the last few days down south. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Friday night I experienced my first sleeper bus. Overall not the worst experience of my life, a bit jolty and bumpy and lots of horn blaring, but with the help of a couple sleep enhancements I managed to sleep the majority of the night waking up only about four times over the 12hr bus ride. We arrived in Hoi An at about 5.30am, a bit disorientated and groggy with no idea where they had dropped us off. One of the guys on the bus I had met earlier during the week so we decided to get a ride with some motorbike taxi's to help us find a hotel to stay at, as neither of us had booked anything over TET. This itself was an interesting experience. Normally I would always figure it out myself and find a hotel myself, but Hoi An is quite spread out and there isn't really a distinct area where accommodation can be found. So we jumped on the back of the scooters and they drove us around town to a few different hotels until we found one (third time lucky) that we thought was suitable enough (price, smell, internet, breakfast inclusions...). Let me tell you that it is a difficult thing to hang on to the back of a motorbike when you have a rucksack on your back, and a small day pack on your front without falling off, but we made it!! We ended up staying at the hotel Phouc An which was very very nice. In the end we decided to share a room to save both of us some money as the rooms are always twin beds, which worked out quite well.

We were both starving so had the hotel buffet breakfast (at 6am) followed by showers and then my friend went back to sleep and I decided to wander into town as I can't sleep in the day. I had a great time, and quite productive wandering around town. Contrary to popular opinion, I think TET is agreat time for people to travel actually, especially in Hoi An (apart from the escalated prices on everything) because it meant you weren't harassed by people. Hoi An is renowned for its tailors. And from my wanderings I would not hesitate to say that there's at least 100 and most likely many many more tailors within the main area of the town. Many were shut, but there were a few still open for business. I probably spent about 4 hours wandering around town, tried Cao Lao one of the local dishes at a street vendors before going back to the hotel. We had lunch and then borrowed the hotel's pushbikes which we were allowed to use for free to ride out to a nearby beach (approximately 5km). It was a nice drive but a bit crazy towards town because there were vendors and flower markets absolutely EVERYWHERE. With the exception of sydney flower markets, i've never seen that many flowers in one spot! They were for both TET and valentines day and the markets were packed to overfull because they would be closed for a few days after TET and everyone was getting last minute supplies.

Saturday night was TET, and I met some girls I had seen earlier in a tailoring shop who ended up being from Sydney (first sydney people i've met so far - everyone's from melbourne!!) and through them met some melbourne guys they were travelling with. We all decided to meet up for dinner at an awesome restaurant called the laugh cafe I think. Totally recommend it, it was brilliant (we went for a repeat dinner on sunday night we were so impressed). After dinner we wandered down to the river to watch the fireworks and celebrations for TET which was fun and beautiful. People were selling coloured boxes with candles that were placed into the river to float down. It looked beautiful but I couldn't help but wonder where the rubbish was all going to end up and the unlikelihood of it being cleaned up!! The fireworks at midnight for new year (the year of the tiger now!) were impressive but unfortunately many of them couldnt be seen through the significant smoke as there was no wind and all fireworks were being set from the one location. One of the guys described it like the smoke from a napalm (probably spelt that wrong) bomb!!

Hoi An itself is a beautiful town. It has been all decorated with hundreds and thousands of coloured lanterns which are pretty by day and gorgeous by night.

Sunday was a bit of a cruisy day, i slept in significantly and wandered around town and then rode to the beach again before dinner with my new friends. Many of the local sights were closed because of the new year holiday so unfortunately i never got to try white rose (a specialty dish of the area), or do a cooking class there. However on Monday morning before my bus to Hue I did manage to get up at 5am to do the 'sunrise tour' of the My Son ruins. It was quite ironic actually as we arrived there probably an hour after the sun rose in the end because they kept stopping for unnecessary things. then upon arrival sat us down to give everyone an educational session about the ruins. You could just tell that everyone just wanted to go and get on with it and take good pictures then figure that out later. It was pretty cool though, as it is set in a valley with big mountains and it was all misty. Beautiful, not hard to see why it has been UNESCO nominated for world heritage listing. There are some massive bomb craters left from when the Americans bombed the sight, partially to destroy them on purpose to bring down the moral during the war. They were built by the Cham people, and there is alot of mystery surrounding the towers like many in south east asia, as to how they were built. the language of the Cham has been lost, so inscriptions on the temples are not known. The bricks used on the towers are very smooth with no cement used to bond them together. The thought is that they may have used some sap from trees in the forest, but after many experiments by scientists they have given up trying to figure out how they did it!

After My Son I managed to get back in time for breakfast then just wandered around a bit, had some lunch then waited for the bus to pick us up to take us to our current location in Hue. The bus trip was pretty uneventful. Its pretty cool the different people you meet, I've been given some recommendations for places to stay over the various countries I'm visiting and good guides to contact as they are welcoming, honest and helpful.

This morning I'm just about to head off to do a cooking class at a restaurant a few of us went to dinner at last night, and then probably head over to the citadel. Get to learn some of the local specialities such á bun bo hue (rice noodle beef soup hue style), fresh and friend spring rolls. I am loving the food. ít terible i'm probably eating 4 times a day some times!!!! sooooooooo good the food!!

Current plan is to stay here in Hue for about 2 days then catch a sleeper up to Hanoi then onto Sapa and Halong Bay in either order. After that will head over to Laos and currently debating my method of doing so. I originally was going to fly but i might join a group of backpackers heading over the chinese border to Yunnan and get into northern láo that way!

Scooters and Mud :)

The last few days have on the whole been relatively uneventful. I have been completing a scuba diving course which has been alot of fun - successfully gained my open water scuba divers license today. Love it!! Been some big days to fit it all in, all these videos I had to watch and a day session in the navy pool practicing plus the 4 open water dives which I finished this afternoon.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I had a very eventful afternoon/evening which was definitely an experience and a half! About 5km out of town there is a natural hot springs/ and mineral mud place called Thap Ba which I was keen on visiting. I met a girl called Jessica during the dives yesterday and as she had the afternoon free we decided to go together.

After some discussion on the matter of transportation, we decided that we would hire a scooter ("motorcycle") for a couple of hours to get ourselves out there. This in itself wasn't a particular drama, they were happy to view my drivers license and rang up thehotel to confirm they had jessica's passport and here-you-go there's a scooter for you to ride for 40,000vnd (approximatley 2.50 which we split between us).

Dilemna number 1. Manual scooter, no clutch! I have a motorbike at home so figured yeah no problem it'll be easy to ride a scooter. Hmm, think again. Everything was different!! Everything! Firstly, the lack of clutch was a bit baffling, secondly the gears are entirely different to a motorbike. For example, a real motorbike you would tap down for first gear, and then lift up for 2nd thru to 5th gear and then tap down to go down through the gears using the 1 pedal for all.

These scooters, they had 2 pedals (thankfully on the same side). You tapped down on the front pedal for gears 1-4, then tap down on the back pedal (meaning you have to move your foot) to go down the gears. but you could also tap down on the back pedal to end up in 4th gear. How that works exactly I have noooooooo idea!!

Third difference - driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. I actually didn't find this really difficult, its more a matter of trying to remember which way to look when crossing the roads! Fourth - I'd never ridden with a pillion passenger before so that made things a bit different.

Finally and probably the most significant of all is the traffic and the rules (or seemingly lack of) when driving/riding through Vietnam!! The section of town we are currently located in is basically a tourist domain and is very very quiet in comparision to the other end of the town!! There are cars everywhere, bikes everywhere crossing pretty much everywhere and anywhere!

So there we were, 2 white girls in singlets, thongs, and relatively mid-thigh skirts/shorts (very normal attire for the other end of town...). The road to the centre was off to the side and ende up in the country by the river so we began to feel a bit underdressed as the only foreigners around. We must have made an interesting sight trying to navigate our way around the main roads to our chosen destination. We went a bit too far along the main road due after we misunderstood the sign, so it probably took us about 30 minutes to get there (including about 5 minutes time teaching myself how to use the scooter) while about 15 on the way back with a more direct route with fewer traffic lights and roundabouts!

But we made it! And boy, if you are ever in nha Trang you MUST go to the mud baths they are awesome!! for 100,000 dong (about AU$7-8) you have the basic treatment. Firstly, you have a shower in hot mineral water followed by a 15 minute soak in a tub full of mud, which smells amazing with a slight hint of ginger and cinnamin!! It is not really thick, a bit runny. we had a communal tub (there are probably about 30 tubs in the complex for mud) and we were joined by a Swedish couple who we also saw today on a boat trip on the harbour! After you have soaked (I think they forgot us so we soaked about 30 min), you go and sit in the sun and bake for 10 minutes.

Once your mud pie is nice and dry you wash it all off under the mineral showers again. Next stop the hydrotherapy jets. I must say, these were definitely designed with the Vietnamese people in mind as the top of the jets tended to finish around the waist of us westerners!! Next, you jump into a spa tub freshly filled with hot mineral water and you soak there for 30-40 minutes. amazing!! After that, you are free to spend as much time (unlimited) in the multiple pools and waterfalls in the rest of the complex. It is really really well set up!! there were a few hot pools -imagine a full resort size swimming pool at 38 degrees... mmmmmmm :) as well as cooler mineral pools. It was awesome for sure. We left feeling very clean refreshed with silky smooth skin! Definitely get your money's worth at this place for sure. all up we were there for about 2 hours, could have stayed longer but wanted to be back before dark.

Anyway, i should go in search of some food before catching the bus - off to hoi an tonight, arrive about 5am tomorrow I think... It's a sleeper bus and i believe some sleeping tablets will be an extremely wise investment here! :) Tomorrow night is new years eve for TET so we'll see how I go. I haven't booked any where to stay as of yet, and it is likely that many shops will be shut. I like living on the wild side, the worst that can happen is I have no food for a day.... :)

Bye bye phone :(

Hmm. Well yesterday started off fine but ended with a bit of a downer at nha trang. I caught the bus from Da Lat to Nha Trang which was relatively uneventful - We had a better bus driver this time so we actually made it to our destination by the proper time - 1.30.

With Tet coming up (I realise this is a frequently occurring topic here..) they mentioned that we needed to book sleeper buses asap. My next destination is Hoi An, a 10hr drive (if there are no problems on the way) which ideally is conducted at night on a sleeper bus which is basically a big bus with beds in it! I went to the travel agent and the next sleeper bus isn't until friday night this week so I am now 'stuck' in Nha Trang until then, we will leave at 7.30pm on friday and arrive i believe 6.30 or something on saturday morning, just in time for TET to begin on the sunday.

So.. I thought to myself what am I going to do with 3 full days at a beach which is Vietnam's premier diving spot?? Naturally I decided to go diving and promptly joined up with one of the diving companies here - rainbow diver's to do my PADI course open water diver. I then had to spend the next 3-4 hours in the afternoon watching videos on the techniques, equipment and some skills I'll get to cover today (its 8am wednesday morning now) in the pool. While I"m here I also plan to hit up the hot mud centre and get a little bit dirty!!

Anyway, so Nha Trang is a bit of your typical beach town and there is quite a good night life here. Went out and met some more travellers in the area. I'm travelling for only 11 weeks - that is nothing compared to some of these guys who have often been in one country for that amount of time!!

Anyway, so I was on the beach at some late hour (yes silly I know) with some of the people I know and I must have put my bag down while we were sitting. One of the guys happened to turn around and a vietnamese guy had crawled up to us and was just about to grab my bag and took off. I promptly chased him all the way off the beach and almost caught him, but he jumped on a scooter who had a driver waiting and bolted with my bag. Quite an inconvenience. :( I initially thought I had lost eveyrthing that was in the bag (which thankfully wasn't all that much) however as we had startled him, some of my stuff had obviously fallen out of the bag. I recovered my camera (just a little one I've had for years which doesn't have heaps of photo's on it) and the torch I'd put in there for the dark. But he managed to get away with my phone (which I had newly recharged), some lipgloss (which i'm sure will do him a world of good) and the bag (which had originated at an op shop for maybe $5.).

All in all, really it was just the phone that is a pain. I did like my phone, but it was also things like the photo's I have on australia that I have been showing people along the way on the phone, and the ability to contact friends and family on it. Ah well. Honestly, I'm not that bothered by it. It's just a phone! I was thinking and praying about it this morning actually as I was trying to sleep - remembered that I had probably 20 different bible verses saved onto the phone, that have been some of my favourites over the past years. Here's hoping that this annoyance might come to some eternal good benefit!

Just remembered a couple other things I have been up to over the past few days I think I've forgotten to mention - when I was at cu chi tunnels I got to shoot an AK47 hehe :), and while I was in Da Lat I saw a rice wine distillery and got to try a bit. Pretty easy to make, its basically rice fermented with yeast, boiled in a big pot and then condensation and cooling and all that stuff between pipes that i can't remember the names of! It has bite let me tell you, should be called vodka more likely, think its about 40% alcohol..

I have learnt: don't take bags anywhere, they are prone to be stolen.