Hanoi, Vietnam
Congratulations to Bob and Nic on the birth of their daughter Mia Ruby!!!! Wishing we could be there.
After Luang Prabang, we headed to Phonsovan to see the most heavily bombed part of the world - North Eastern Laos. It was interesting and slightly disturbing to see how the villagers use the bomb casings to build and decorate their homes. They use pineapple cluster bombs as ashtrays, bomb casings as table legs, fences - just about everything made of metal has been supplied by the US government. It's scary to walk around the place, because only 10% of the country has been cleared of unexploded bombs. They still present a very real threat to locals as these things are just out there, buried in rice paddies or lying on the ground just waiting to go off. Scary!!!
Laos is now far behind us. We managed to do a border crossing without even getting shot at, which was nice. Our first stop in Vietnam was Tam Coc, where we took a disney-esque boat trip through some beautiful limestone caves surrounded by rice paddies and cliffs. This was after visiting a so called 'floating village', Kenh Ga, where mobs of kids tried to pick pocket us (unsuccessfully). We braved the traffic and hired our own scooter and rode with the best of them! Vietnamese traffic is seriously mental.
We are currently enjoying the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, the northern capital of Vietnam. It is a pretty cool place (literally) as we are currently experiencing the winter monsoon. The best advice we were given to cross the streets here was to close our eyes and hope for the best. The etiquette for crossing the road is to walk out slowly and at an even pace into the traffic and cross your fingers as cars, buses, motorbikes and push bikes speed on past only centimetres away from you. It's great fun. We do it just for kicks, especially at peak hour! Apart from the traffic, Hanoi is great for shopping and drinking cheap home brew (20c a glass). We're loving Hanoi.
Hope everyone's well - we are - and we'll add photos ASAP as this computer won't let us. Take care.
posted by Dennis & Andrea at 11:33 PM
3 Comments:
hello D&A. By accident a family member let it slip that this site existed and hence we too can now follow your exploits. Queanbeyan [old aboriginal word for cone of silence]. As all is obviously well there I can only report that things are just as well here. I am practicing my dutch for Louises wedding and so far have failed to impress with "speeljonkers" which Rene' thinks sounds like German. Could be an international incident at the wedding - don't mention the war. Sell that girl the bike, congratulate the newly engaged, delighted about the baby, and Genty's birthday what a bash!! I feel part of the cyber community now. An if you push the next blog button you find out fascinating things like the girl in California whose hampster carked it. This is living. More reports please A&A
2:04 PM
Hi Friends!
The welcome back keg was a hysterical disaster- too much alcohol for everyone. Al was talking to a new guy and the guy asked, "What do you do mate?"
Al replied, "You know, grow pot, steal cars, the normal shit. What about you?"
The guy replied, "I'm a policeman".
Just one of the funny things that happened. They left us access to the microphone; Kris told a joke, kel sang a song- quality night as you can imagine. Wished you were there with us. Little Mia is beautiful- very pretty. They are great. Having 2nd thoughts about the bike Den. Novelty wore off I think. We'll see.
Love you guys
Rach xxx
5:45 PM
hola feliz cumple
11:08 PM
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