Nha Trang

I only have one photo from Nha Trang (the weather wasn't great and it's a bit of a boring place when the sun doesn't shine) but it's a goodun. This is the "band" who were banging out the hits on our boat ride around Nha Trang bay.

Hoi An

I spent Christmas in Hoi An. As seems to be the tradition when away for the festive season, most of it was spent in a drunken state. After the incident with the previous camera, I thought it prudent to leave the camera in the Guest House during most of the festivities. I do have this picture however. That's Mauri, from Canada, who was travelling to Saigon to play "Ultimate Frisbee"...more of that anon..

I bought $300 worth of tailored clothes in Hoi An. Suit, shirts, jacket, pants and a couple of very dodgy looking trousers that may only be worn on the golf course.

This pic below is of a dish called Noodle Soup. It's something I had while on a trek, fairly reluctantly, for breakfast. After that though, I was addicted. Tasty, tasty stuff.

DMZ, Vietnam

Here are a couple of pictures from the tunnels in the DMZ. During the war the Americans dropped something like 8 tonnes of bombs for every person living in this area.
Here's an old Russian anti-aircraft gun used by the North Vietnamese against the Americans.













Below is, sorry was, a bridge that had been washed away just a month before we arrived. The water was supposedly up to 2 meters above the banks of the river.
















These next two are gravestones in the North Vietnamese graveyard in the DMZ. The first line shows the soldier's rank. The next thier name. The next the year they were born. The nest the date they joined the army. The next four indicate the place they were born. The last line gives the date they died.

The one below is the headstone of a 33-year-old who joinedthe army when he was only 14.




This one is for a 12-year-old who joined the army when he was 9. Grim stuff.

Hanoi

I saw this poster/sign on a wall in Hanoi and took the picture to find out (at some stage), what it means.
Myself and Barry met up again in Hanoi and took the bus for 10 hours from there to Nong Ka. Here we took a motorbike tour of the DMZ (pre-war Demilitarised zone). There's not much left but this is a picture of an South Vietnamese/American bunker that overlooks the DMZ.
In Hanoi, we went to the Water Puppet show. Couldn't understand a word of what was going on but it was entertaining nonetheless.
This is Barry, throwing shapes, just as we were about to start our tour of the DMZ.
These blokes are guarding Uncle Ho's old house in Hanoi.

There's a few lakes in and around Hanoi. This one's right in the middle of the city.
Cute eh?

Catba Island, Halong Bay

This is a very bad picture of the floating restuarant on Cat Ba island. I got to pick the fish (red Snapper, 750 grams) I ate out of a net that was in a hole in the floor in the restaurant, watch it being killed and weighed and then carried off to be cooked.

The floating restaurant.
A volleyball game on Catba
Monkey island in Halong Bay....guess how it got it's name?!

Pictures from the summit of Catba.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is a 3 hour bus journey from Hanoi. Unfortuantely. the weather was still pretty sketchy when we got there but it was still great to see it.

Sapa

Sapa is a small mountain town in North Western Vietnam. Myself and Christina (Kiwi girl I met in Vientiane airport and who traveled with me for a week or so) booked a thrre day trip there from Hanoi. It involved a 10 hour train journey but it was on a sleeper train that was actually pretty comfortable. Sapa turned out to be proper cold – hence the ever-present hoody. Like alot of Vietnam, there’s paddy fields everywhere. Unlike much of Vietnam though, the ones here are on terraces. We arrived after the harvest so they were all pretty bare.

There were loads of other groups doing the same as we were. This picture was taken during our lunch stop. Another group that arrived after us had to endure the sales pitches of about a dozen locals while trying to eat.


We spent the first night in one of the hilltop villages. We were constantly being pestered to buy something – hats, bracelets, blankets. This pic is of Julie (French Canadian) and Christina trying to have breakfast while two local kids try to sell their wares.


Water-buffalo roam the paddy fields looking for some grub. I thought this guy looked particularly photogenic.


This is the john at the lunch-stop. Simple, yet effective.

Angkor Wat - Cambodia

This is Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It's absolutely amazing.

Hanoi

Here are a few pics from Hanoi. I’m trying to get as many uploaded as I can – my memory card is full.

The first couple give a small indication of the craziness of the traffic in Hanoi. It’s just bedlam. Just after the first was taken, there was a small accident and the traffic started to back up. Instead of waiting, some people just came hurtling down the footpath.

The third pic shows guys playing a game that’s similar to badminton except using feet. They were able to get their feet higher than the net to smash the shuttle-cock. Extremely impressive.

The last one is outside Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. Uncle Ho, as he’s affectionately known, was the North Vietnamese leader during the war with the US and is THE man in Vietnam – hence the mausoleum. Went in to have a butchers – he’s looking good for a man that’s been dead since 1969! He gets sent to Moscow every November to get touched up.

Some curious incidents in Cambodia

Leaving the photos for a sec, let me relate a couple of stories from Cambodia (where I am at the moment). The first was in Phnom Penh. Myself, Mauri and Heather were on the back of motorbike taxis. The dude driving mine was lagging a little behind. When coming up to an inter-section of a busy road, a cop jumped onto the road and tried to stop the first two bikes. The lads just kept driving! Unfortunately, my guy wasn’t as sharp and the policeman managed to get him to stop. The driver tried to get away again but the cop was having none of it. He got hold of the keys of the bike and threw them to a mate of his. As you can imagine, I hadn’t a notion what the hell was going on. The other two drivers came back and after a 10 minute conversation/argument between the two cops and the three drivers, 2000 reel (about 50cent US) was handed over and we continued on our merry way!! I kid you not.
The other story happened yesterday while here in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I was entering one of the temples of Angkor. A policeman standing just inside said hello. I returned his salutation to then be asked in hushed whispers whether or not I’d like to purchase his badge! Before I’d a chance to say anything, he said that his salary wasn’t very high and that I could have the badge for a mere $10!!

Vientiane

While any place was going to be a step down from Vang Vieng, Vientiane turned out to be very boring. There were a few nice photo ops though.

On the first evening I had a beer at a bar on the river and watched the sun go down. Vientiane is right on the border with Thailand - it's just across the river.



Below is a bell tower in front of a temple in Vientiane. The top and bottom sections contain bells. The middel one's got a gong. Never got a chance to give one a lash - supposedly only monks are allowed. They're used to call monks to prayers.


This Golden Stupa is on the cover of the Lonely Planet guide to Vientiane. It's pretty impressive.

This is a temple that was being buit near the golden stupa. I thought the sun hitting the tiles on the roof made it worthy of a photo. There should be some rule back home to have builders design some buildings like this.

When I was in Primary School we did a project on Safety around the home. As part of the project, we did a cringe-worthy video with Harry (Murphy, married to my Aunt Rita) about lawn mowers. I reckon this lawn mower's gotta the most dangerous ever made! I came across it inside the grounds of the golden stupa.