One night in Paris

It has been a long time coming yet I have finally got a post up. I intended to do this a while back yet I got distracted with other things and was not sure if I should use flash or video. After thinking and playing for a while it seemed best to go back to video. Then video had some problems which I was able to resolve.

Well definitely enjoyed my trip to France and wish to go back. I felt absorbed in the 17 and 18th centuries as I moved around the streets. Most of things I saw were older than Australia and larger than most things in Australia. Not even sure why at the very end when I looked at the the Arc de Triompe that i still said "Damn! that is so big" still.

The highlight for me in Paris were the Arenes de Lutece (Roman ruins), seeing the Eiffel Tower, and entering the Luxemburg Gardens. Although the temperature moved from minuses to positives here I still imagined being a gladiator and fighting off lions and stuff. From there it was not long to see the Eiffel Tower standing tall in the distance. When I entered the Luxemburg Gardens it felt as if I entered a whole new place, as the sun started to shine and the grey was painted over with greenery energising me. Even though it was still cold it did not feel that way there.

I did the Davinci Tour on my own, noting spots that I could remember in the book and making sure I put them into my voyage. I saw the Louvre Pyramid, (no grail though that I could see), the Garden of Tuileries, and the Church of Saint Suplice. I forgot to check out the Rose Line yet I plan to go back one day.

I wanted to climb the Eiffel Tower except when I arrived there it looked like all of Europe had the same idea and it started to rain so I thought I would do it next time. My path around Paris is as follows Charles De Gaulle Airport, Chatelet Station & Formum de Halles, Place de Victories (sunrise here at 8am local time), Hotel, Breakfast at the cafe near the Louvre, Hotel de Ville, Notre Dame, St Stevens du Mont, Panethon, Arenes de Lutece Roman ruins, Jardin du Luxemburg, Palais du Luxemberg, St Suplice, Jardin of Babylone, Dome des Invalides (camera battery started to redlight), Eiffel Tower, Palais de Chailot, Palais de Tokyo, Avenue des Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Palais de l'Elysee, Place de Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, Jardin du Carrousel, The Louvre Pyramid, and finally after 8 hours back to the cafe and on to the hotel for a planned shower and 5 minute power nap, before the next part. That is my speed tourism of Paris and when I come back I will be here longer and hope to spend time appreciating more. In the meantime I am inspired to enroll in French classes so that I can do more than order food and ask directions**.

Photo movie of my wanderings around Paris, to an unusual French song.
(Couldn't really find a song that fit so i just picked on I liked.)

** Can that happen to me? I remember in two and half years in Vietnam that was the limit of my language skills.

The journey to the north

A while back I went to my home town. A road trip with a full car to help my friend settle into a new town. Being there really brought back memories, and unlike being in Melbourne, which is beautiful, cosmopolitan, and bustling, I really felt peaceful, a calmness that I hadn't felt since being in Long Xuyen.

Along the way I managed to shoot some photos and videos. On Sunday, I decided it was time to get cracking on one of my projects I had thought about for a while - Showing the world how different Australia is. And a journey from the bottom to the central eastern coast has a lot of variation. Unfortunately when we got to the mountains it was dark and raining so I didn't get any pictures of this variation in landscape. Just imagine mountains with rain forest and lots of steep winding roads.

This is my first decent project with the Premier Video editing software. I am pretty impressed with the way it turned out, yet couldn't find the Star Wars transitions, although some karaoke regulars might notice some of the karaoke transitions present. I wanted to do the Indiana Jones type maps where the map scrolls in the background over the foreground, yet I didn't have the patience to find out how to do it. I did a quick variation which I think does the job.

I opened the soundbooth program for the first time and found it a bit ordinary. I quickly reverted back to soundforge yet found that I forgot what i was looking to do and went back to the open soundbooth program. After a short look I found an icon which looked like what I wanted to do and by trial and error I got the basic results I was after. I have to say with all the functions in soundforge it was overwhelming, and soundforge still looks more versatile than soundbooth.

Also with this project I have worked out how to encode the final vidoes better and keep the quality a little higher than the first attempt at making a video. Well here it is a video diary of the journey north.

Enjoy!

Well duh!

I can not believe that this made the news.

Absent-minded drivers to

blame for crashes

More revelations can be found here.

Oh man! It's Oman

My friend, Said, told me that this headline has already been used by a travel writer who reported what it was like travelling to Oman. Oman is a small country on the Arabian Peninsular bordered by Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Indian Ocean and is not far from Iran and India. When Said told me that they had monsoons there I laughed and thought he was joking. Ha ha, egg on my face, I was surprised that in the south the monsoons cross Oman on their way to India and the far east.

With this information I was curious to find out more about Oman and Said showed me pictures of his homeland. I was amazed at how beautiful the land is. The seas are azure with white sand and palm trees, with fish and turtles in plenty supply. Travelling a few clicks inland I saw pictures of sunsets on the dunes and reflections of the moon on the sand that just took my breath away. Also, forests, oases, and mountains that are full of life. Cities that are modern with skyscrapers and villages that have houses made of clay bricks and look as thought they have seen sands of time.

An Omani student group held a day to promote Oman to Australia and share their culture. The senses were on overload as I found the music peaceful, smoothing my soul in deep rhythmic waves. The air was full of incense and the fragrance of roses was abundant as well. I met another friend and we went to explore the tents. I felt like a crusader or Alexandra the Great the first time they set eyes upon the exotic goods of the Middle East. In one tent they had the fabric which was brightly dyed with what appeared to be gold fabric. Outside, children were laughing and joking while getting their arms done. Two tents were designated as tourist tents where the main focus seemed to be to promote tourism. I saw many more photos of exotic locations just wanting me to go and visit them.

I tried Omani coffee and a snack at the next tent. Both had rose flavours in them and the snack had an unusual texture which might have been ground almonds. The last tent contained traditional artefacts used in everyday life? I really liked the swords. I actually forget what they were made of, yet I do remember that it wasn’t steel. There were many different varieties, all of them ornamental.

Some goods in the tents

I finished the day off by watching a video showing how the money from oil was helping Oman’s citizens, and the vision the Sultan has for his people. I was impressed with the effort the organisers and left delighted for having seen a glimpse of a culture which was mysterious to me.

Bass Strait Tour

A few weeks ago, I travelled around Bass Strait. This trip required me to travel through the hills between where I live in Rosedale and the coast. Lots of fog was hiding in the mountains.

Monash University, Churchill in Gippsland covered in fog

Of course there was not a straight road anywhere to be seen, and street signs with directions left me lost.

The road winding around the hills past the university

the hills with their farms

Philip Island was the first destination I visited. It is an island famous for having the motorcycle grand prix each year. I felt excited to see the track and you could feel that the electricity of the park. I went into the gift shop and saw that they would let you ride in the car around the track. I inquired about the price and found out that it was about $200 for 9 minutes. Now that does not sound like value for money, yet an exciting proposition all the same. When I have some spare money I might just give it a try.

Phillip Island racetrack

From there I went to a place called pyramid rocks. Here I saw some whales breach out at sea, rabbits, and some wallabies. From here I moved along the coast pretty much going all the way to Wilson’s Prom, the most southern part of the main land.

I heard that the road pretty much ended beyond the gates and a 4WD (SUV) was needed to reach the exact point. As I looked at the map I had accomplished something by reaching the most southern sealed road on the mainland. With that I started to go home by the coast road past the lifeless wind farm on the cliffs and through some back streets to Rosedale.

The scenery on the way back

Two weeks later I wanted to complete the trip so I visited Lakes Entrance. It was recently under water from the floods (just before I arrived) however you could not tell when I was there. I noticed that the wind and rain made it a bitterly cold place. For all the hype I had heard about this place I thought it was pretty average. It was quiet, wet, and cold. On the way back though as we climbed the hills that separate this town from the main road to Melbourne and Sydney we stopped at some of the outlooks and got to see why it was called the lakes district. It was quite breathtaking yet the rain was forcing us on our way.

didn't get this photo just right, the street is actually straight

Why they call them the lakes

The way back we stopped at the last town on the rail line passing through Rosedale, Bairnsdale. Bairnsdale is a bigish country town, with wide streets and enough modern entertainment to keep everyone happy. From there I returned to Rosedale and was relieved to have seen the Gippsland’s Bass Coast. My next journey I was hoping would be the mountain region, maybe next year, since the snow seems to have finished for this year.

The last moments in Vietnam

Here they are the photos I promised from the I would have written earlier post. The last night in Vn was a special occasion. I spent it with the person I knew most in Vietnam, Eric. We met up with some friends at O’brien’s and then went on to Sheridan’s (17/13 Le Thanh Ton St District 1). It is the best bar in HCMC I think as you are free from distractions you find in other places. The music is good and the owner, Michael, is a good host. We met Duc and Sabrina that night and we stayed there until after closing time. It was a great time and I am sure all had a great time. The next day I caught up with some friends that I will miss.

I went to Diamond Plaza, a Korean style department store which appears to sell everything. It was a good idea as it would prepare me for the commercialisation I faced when I arrived in Australia (it was weird to be so confronted with so much advertising).

After a long chat with my friend I headed to the airport. And of course I had problems at the airport. First it was too much luggage, so I had to split it and pay extra weight. Went through and waited for the Visa stuff then it was something you can’t take on the plane. Went down to the check-in and took it out of the suitcase. Next, I walked through the metal detector and then another trip to luggage check-in room, this time behind the scenes. Here I had too many DVDs and the customs guy wanted to check them all out before I jumped on the plane. I was pretty surprised as this what you would think they would do when you arrived to keep out socially evil ideas. Well I was polite and explained my purpose for being in Vietnam and he decided to let it go.

By the time I got to the gate it was time to board. On the flight I sat next to this idiot he knew everything about Vietnamese and wanted to show off to everyone. After that short 2 minute conversation and a promise to keep my mouth shut, I waited to feel the forces of the plane elevate into the air. As we got in the air I looked at the mess of lights outside the window and it finally hit me. This was it, I am leaving Vietnam for a while. The emotional toll and no audio (once again on Vietnam air), let me drift into a deep slumber. I awoke and was practically in Melbourne. As I got off the plane I started to realise that I was in a different place, with different customs, a familiar language, and I am not the unusual person any more. I had reverted back to the mean (average).

Rosedale, 3847, Australia

Rosedale is where I have called home since I have arrived in Australia. It is a big town of about 1000 birds. We have lots of birds nesting outside the house and I sometimes just enjoy watching them play. Soon it will be magpie season so I hope I will be safe. A magpie is a vicious black and white bird that swoops on you when you aren’t looking. Besides the birds it is rather peaceful here, I hardly know anyone else is around. Looking for a job and a house have been rather tough activities. The train takes a nice 2.5 hours to get to Melbourne, and the trains so infrequent (3 times daily early am, midday, early evening) that it is a rather time consuming adventure. I have taken some pictures of my times here in Rosedale so that you can see what it is like.

Just off the main rd (Princes St or the Princes Highway), downtown.

The main st a.k.a the Princes Highway.

If you follow the main rd you can go to Melbourne if west or Sydney if you go east. This route to Sydney is longer yet more beautiful with the Pacific Ocean on your left side.

Yes that is ice on the ground. Rosedale is absolutely freezing.

I have been lucky enough to see this a few times well a lot more than a few times when I have gone to Melbourne. I feel that the cold weather always shows itself when I need to go to town. And the answer to your second question is yes, the sun is on the way up.

Ned Kelly's Bakery is the bread spot in town.

There are quite a few references to Ned Kelly in town, mostly all at this bakery.

One of the sulphur laden sunsets that we see here as the sun goes down over the northwestern sky.

There are numerous power plants near by that lover to pour sulphur into the air so that occasionally I can taste and smell it. Plus they also have a by product (an externality

tec[h]onomic speak) of allowing me to use lights, computers, and watch DVDs.

O’brien’s Factory

Eric and I eagerly followed Jeff to a restaurant that he said was close to the best in town. I had seen the front of this restaurant for a few times and had wondered what it was as I had not been able to decipher any name on the outside. I thought it might have been a liquor shop. When we were inside it looked liked an English pub. It was not too crowded and the atmosphere was welcoming.

We sat down got a few beers and looked at the menu. I was in heaven as there were two pages of choices which I wanted to try. After looking through the menu 4 or 5 times I had settled on a choice. I wanted something small as I had already eaten a pizza and kebab that day and most of the servings here looked decent size. The waitress came and Eric, Jeff, and I gave our orders and they both seemed puzzled by my order. I chased the waitress down to change my order and found that there was a whole back section to the restaurant waiting for us. We moved table into the games room and listened to the sound of pool balls ricocheting of each other.

When the food came it looked good. First, was Eric’s Philadelphia beefsteak. It smelt good and from all accounts it tasted good. Next was my Cajun chicken. It was more than what I had expected. It was a sandwich with salad. It smelt good and tasted wonderful. Last was a woodfired pizza. This place must be the only woodfired pizza shop in town or maybe even the country.
We were all stoked with what we ordered and were ready to move on to live music at Sheridan’s Irish bar to keep the British Isles theme alive. I suspect in the short time left I will be returning there sometime

Mon Ngon Ha Noi

For lunch the next day after going to skewers (Sunday 10th) I went to meet another friend who lives in HCMC for lunch. We were going to go for pizza however she was not up for the idea. After the previous nights dining disaster I was not in the mood for another bad eating experience. I asked her where she suggested and she said she knew a place.

We drove to 54 Dinh Tien Hoang St in district 1 to a restaurant called Quan Mon Ngon Ha Noi. They had some specials listed outside such as bun and cha (noodles and spring rolls). I was told the food was good and it was late on a Sunday and the place was still crowded. As I walked into the restaurant I felt that my fly was undone or something worse since the place went quiet as everyone stared at me. I guess not too many westerners come to this restaurant. As we sat down everyone returned into their own world of chatting and eating.

As I looked at the menu nothing really seemed familiar, except for a few names of meats and spring rolls. My friend asked me what I wanted and I said to her that I trusted her to make some good choices. She ordered one of the specials (something in fish sauce yet I really don’t know first pic), some chicken and noodle soup (second pic) and spring rolls (third pic).

One thing about eating this kind of food is that it uses all your senses. With this food you make it, you use the lettuce leaf or leaves to form the base of your roll. You proceed to put ingredients on to your liking. I prefer the sweetness of pineapple and mint with the meat and noodles. Here I had something I had not seen or done before spring rolls with the fruit and noodles. Well I wrapped it up and it got messy yet tasted fantastic. The spring roll really contrasted the freshness of the other ingredients. Tasting them all the dishes though I thought the noodle soup was best. If I was going to stay in Vietnam a bit longer I would definitely venture back and eat here again.

Skewers

Skewers is a restaurant in District 1’s expat area in HCMC (Thai Van Lung St). I had seen that they did Mediterranean food there and had wanted to visit since I found it about 2 years ago. I invited my friend to go with me and we headed out. After getting a little lost we arrived and were greeted by a nice bike attendant he quickly put the bike away. As we walked into the restaurant a feeling of dread came over me. It was the kind of place which is just to uncomfortable. Hard to put into words, yet I knew I was not meant to be there, a place were the rich and famous go to eat. I guess the way I felt about the atmosphere was dead, like a library rather than a restaurant, really stuffy.

Looking at the menu I was hoping to see something that I had been missing about for a long time. Hendrik had reminded me of this every time he went to Hanoi – the kebab. Looking through the menu the closest thing I could see was gyro- not quite the same. It appears that there were more choices from European Mediterranean dishes than Mediterranean dishes. There seemed to be quite a lot of good choices on the menu yet the prices of some things seemed a little out of my league. Then looking at the drinks menu all the prices were in US dollars and I knew that I had come to the wrong place (no locally brewed beer should cost US$2 in VN).

My friend went to order and it became apparent that the waiter had no idea about what the dishes contained. Given that they are not common dishes in VN you would still expect the chef to give a run down of all the dishes. I thought great we can go to another restaurant one with more atmosphere and wallet friendly prices. However my friend wanted to stay and then I convinced her to tell the waiter exactly what she wanted and make them get it for you.

At this restaurant I felt that this should hardly be a problem since they had all the ingredients for spaghetti and meat sauce anyway. I proceeded to order the spaghetti with chicken in cream and mushroom sauce.

The order didn’t take long to arrive given how much time it took to get the wait staffs attention to order. It looked like the bolognaise slapped together quickly without much care for presentation. I thought the cream sauce was a little bland and needed something. The chicken though was melt in your mouth lush. I never tasted the bolognaise yet I know it was not the Vietnamese way.

As we left I felt a little disappointed. The bike service boy had the bike ready and was the one of the best things so far for the night at that restaurant. Overall, I didn’t like this dining experience. I put it down to two things. First the wait staff not knowing the menu enough to make my friend uncomfortable and second the lack of an atmosphere. I think if you are in HCMC and want to eat try something Vietnamese or if you really need Mediterranean food go to Arab Kebab next door or O’brien’s factory (to be updated).

Lang Toi

Lang Toi (my village) is a restaurant that I feel is in the upper end of the restaurant scales here in Long Xuyen. The tip off is the fact that is a Nha Hang. Most restaurants are Quans, and this gives an indication about the prices inside and supposedly the size. It is one of the restaurants that brew their own beer in two flavours dark and gold. In Vietnamese Bia Den refers to dark beer. As you enter through the parking ground you look to the left and you see the brewhouse.

When you look to the right you will see the seafood and other live specialties on offer. I generally find it is a mixture of fish, eels, prawns, and snakes. The black snakes in the picture are the best snakes for eating yet I didn’t find it enjoyable. The meat was really rubbery and you had to be careful not to eat the stomach or the backbone. And then there were the rib bones, I felt that if I was starving I might eat it again, yet most often I would give it a miss.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is quite pleasant. The owners and host are quite friendly and will often come and chat. Occasionally they may also give us some free fruit. I often find it awkward though as the ability to communicate is limited by language, however the new host appears to have a good grasp of English. They are nice good natured people who try to enhance our dining experiences. They also own another restaurant called Tre Xanh (young bamboo) which is similar to Lang Toi, although I am yet to see this for myself.

The restaurant has been through a number of renovations since I have been in Long Xuyen yet the decore is generally the same. It use the bamboo outdoor theme which makes feel like you are a prince dining in a private jungle. There are 3 levels ground, up a few stairs and upstairs. I find that downstairs is the most enjoyable yet dangerous as most people will pass you by, and occasionally be brave enough to try out their English skills. I feel upstairs seems to have the worst service as you are far from everything.

Now the bathroom here is the most interesting I have ever been too. I and the other volunteers here used to refer to it as the disco toilet as it was like walking through a nightclub. Loud music blaring with videos of fashion shows. Under the last renovation it got larger and seemed to lose the speakers. It also became more modern.

The day Eric, Hendrik, Tyler, and I came we were in the mood for spaghetti. This was the only place we knew at the time to sell it. We also ordered some garlic bread. I find the garlic bread too oily or too dry. I think it is because they don’t use butter and grill it on a bbq. The spaghetti is also strange, good in a way with really strong Asian flavour influence. There was one herb there that just does not belong, and it affects the taste of the rosemary. I don’t think the others agree with me about the taste description, yet they agree that it is strange.

Although the European food is not the best, their Vietnamese food is good. I have sampled many dishes here and found them to be good. I really liked the basa (catfish) served in a lemongrass and chilli sauce. They do good tofu as well if you are not into eating any meat. Lots of grilled dishes, rice, and of course the specials you see when you walk in.

This particular day we were interested to drink the brewed beer yet they had run out or something. This is the first time I recall that this has happened here. Never the less they do have a large selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. The last time I went we sampled the dark and gold beers and found them to be quite good, if not better than before. I feel if you are in Long Xuyen and you are looking for something popular and swanky this should be considered highly on your list, just stick to Vietnamese food.

Hai Lua

Early in April I went to Hai Lua with some English teachers. This restaurant is an interesting place as the name means second brother or country bumpkin. This restaurant is good for two reasons, 1 the owner speaks English and really wants to make sure you have a great time there and two, if you like boats you can take one out in the middle of the canal, although I have heard reliability is a factor. I was the second person there and ordered a beer, Sai Gon Xanh, much to the dismay of the Coors Lite girl.

While waiting for the food and people to arrive I noticed that they had not cleaned up after a previous wedding. Here is a glimpse of the stage they use in such things. When I mentioned that the wedding decorations were still around I was filled with dread as I saw the eyes of my inquisitor flash and the wedding question asked. I am really irritated by this question and it seems like such an important issue for people in Viet Nam. I will let you guess this question.

Not long after the first dish arrived some kind of tofu. Now I use to think tofu was this horrible, nasty, crazy vegetarian food yet I have seen some amazing things done to here. This particular dish (made with egg and butter possibly) was great, you eat it with a mild chilli sauce and it just melts in your mouth. The taste was like a light brown omelette, ahh magnificent. This is my favourite tofu dish to date and I got to learn how to make this so I can make it in Australia.

The great tofu dish of unknown name half eaten

A few more members arrived and finished the tofu just as the second dish came grilled beef in fish sauce. Now this is one, if not, my favourite Vietnamese dishes. Essentially marinating the beef in fish sauce (sometimes with garlic) and quickly grilling it and eating. I could only imagine how great this would taste with good Australian beef. This dish didn’t disappoint. It was all that I expected and more with the red tomatoes, a rarity here I can promise you.

My favourite VN dish

Next up was the so (blood acra in English yet can not find the spelling anywhere and the dictionary translates them to baby oysters) drizzled in oil grilled and sprinkled with green onions. I usually have them salted or grilled till dry, however these I found were fantastic. The oil and green onions were the perfect mix to bring out the taste of the sea. When putting them with chilli salt and lime I thought it was utterly divine.

The so dish

Lastly we had chicken. We put away our fears of chicken flu (no cases reported for a while) and ordered a chicken. For $8 you can have a whole chicken butchered (vn style = with a cleaver and no precision) prepared and cooked for you. And when I mean a whole chicken I mean all, you can see the head. The head, the chicken and insides are cooked together. Luckily one part is missing. We ordered this with chilli and salt and it gave a nice crispy skin. The chicken arrives with some little pastries which are fried and I think really enjoyable. Some parts of the chicken where dry which was disappointing. On the plus side however I really loved how it made the beer taste good. Definitely would be interested in doing a beer and chicken night.

The chicken with the head at the top of the body

On the way out I saw this Heineken sign. I just had to take a photo of it for all to look.

Tell me when you will be mine (corny commercial)

Cho Moi & Tuc Dup

Thursday I was down because of the champion’s league final, however by Friday I was eagerly anticipating what Cho Moi town was going to be like. My students from the TC class had arranged for me to visit Cho Moi (Newmarket) with them. Not really knowing anything else I met up with them at about 9 in the morning. We headed out to the ferry to cross the Mekong and still no one would answer my questions.

Once across the river we proceeded along towards Cho Moi however it appeared that they were lost. I thought we knew exactly where we were, though I still didn’t know where we were going. We decide to turn off the main road and head down this dirt track and over the wooden bridges. These bridges always make me scared as they are poorly constructed and high with no or minimal railings. To make it worse the time we crossed was low tide amplifying my fear of heights. Happy to report no problems and after 3 more of these bridges we arrived at our destination, the monitor’s house.

We arrived at his sister’s engagement party and it looked like we were late. Not long after we arrived we tucked into some food and talked about marriage. My students kept asking me about when I would get married. No matter how much I tried to dodge the topic it always came back, like a boomerang. After eating the karaoke started and the guests started singing traditional Delta music. We thought it was time to escape and my students had planned something else to do. Once again I was ignorant as I didn’t hear clearly because of the loud music.

We hopped on the motorbikes again and headed towards Long Xuyen. I was surprised when it looked like we were heading towards Chau Doc (near the border with Cambodia). We came to this big intersection and turned left into Tri Ton district. I was amazed that we had to pay a toll to use this road, as they sure don’t use the money to repair the road. It was narrow and full of pot holes. Travelling on this road often made me afraid that I would fall off the bike.

When we arrived in Tri Ton we waited for our group to catch up. It was here I was enlightened, we were going to Tuc Dup Hill. This is a famous site in An Giang as a symbol of resistance and is locally known as two million dollar hill. It definitely had a very nationalistic feel to the site and a reasonable amount of propaganda. I tried to ignore it, and found that it is an amazing place. We started looking for the crocodiles that were advertised yet all we could find were ostriches and a horse. For some reason I felt overly excited about seeing the horse (or more likely it was a pony) as it is the first one I have seen in VN. I really missed it when I couldn’t see it on the way back, yet a little further on I saw that it was giving rides around the tourist park. I thought it was carrying too much wait with two grown adults on its back.

We started to climb the mountain and after about 75 metres or more (it was hot in the sun as the mountain was facing west and it was about 2 in the afternoon) we decided to follow the track into the mountain. We descended into the caves and it was claustrophobic. Lots of boulders just resting on each other, forming solid caves like the keystone principle in an arch. It was very cool in the caves a welcome relief to the heat outside. We trekked around snaking through the caves for about 30 mins. In some places I thought that I would not be able to pass because of my size. Once we came out we had a relaxing walk down the mountain. The photo can not do justice to the beauty of the view.

We finished the day with a few ice cold soft drinks and dwarf coconuts. No one told me that inside the fruit, which resembled lychees in look and texture, were filled with coconut water and managed to shower myself with it. As we left Tuc Dup hill we passed many Khmer style buildings which are very different from the more traditional VN style we usually see. We headed back home to Long Xuyen at about 4 in the afternoon with the threat of rain not far off.

Phu Quoc

As the early hours of the morning approached I could not help feel more and more tired. I tried to stay up until 4.15 am so as I would be able to catch the bus to Rach Gia. I am notorious for sleeping over alarms and if I am going to be awake that early in the morning I like from when I have been up all night. Well not a problem this time as the body clock begrudgingly agreed to wake up at this time. I also noticed that after the shower I had received a kind reminder call from the organiser of the trip. I suspect if I wasn’t so numb from being tired I would be excited about the coming adventure.


We boarded the bus and I could hear the buzz of the members in our troupe, colleagues from the economics faculty and family (12 in all), chatter away as I tried to drift back to sleep hoping to wake up in Rach Gia. The plan was sound except for one variable, the road was so rough. We arrived at the ferry port and had decided to have breakfast. I felt distraught, soup for breakfast – unfortunately that was all the choice besides rice. The soup was not too bad and the coffee that accompanied it was good.

We set sail towards Phu Quoc at 7.45 am. We got into our allocated seats and I tried to go to sleep. After about an hour of travelling I was woken up by what seemed like everybody in the ship yelling my name. It was my friends asking me to show my ticket. Could not go back to sleep for a while and noticed the King Kong movie on the TV. It was the exciting part so I decided to watch it. After the movie finished I followed my friends upstairs to get some fresh air. On the trip to the upper deck I felt like I was in a hospital after a disaster, people looked tired, hot, bothered, and bored all around – the perfect hospital waiting room.

At the harbour, you could hear the hustle and bustle of all the fish farmers and tour guides going about their business. The harbour seemed like any other I have seen in Vietnam. I was expecting something a little more. We departed for the hotel so we would arrive for a late lunch. The first meal was good, fresh seafood and lots of it. By the end of the trip I was having beef withdrawal symptoms.

After lunch I pursued a coffee in a nearby café at the mouth of a creek. It was peaceful and I realised I was fighting to stay awake. I also learnt that we were about 200 to 300 metres from the beach, which is why people go to Phu Quoc I thought.

When I returned we wandered around the town of Duong Dong for the remainder of the afternoon. We were also lucky enough to be caught in a storm and were held up for about an hour or more under a small roof on a muddy floor. Later that night we explored the beach a little, which was about 200 metres away. It sounded so peaceful after the ferocity of the storm and looked magical with the stars and the oyster farms lit up in the distance.

The second day I got out of bed on the wrong side. I was upset that someone asked me to get up at 6am (it was a holiday I thought) and be ready to go to the beach. It was cold and wet. Not good beach weather in my book. Yet, nonetheless we were going to the beach. We all organised to meet downstairs at 6.15 and only I was ready. That left me in a foul mood all day. After a good breakfast, we loaded into the bus at 7.45 and proceeded to travel eastwards.

Having no idea where we going, being tired and grumpy, I really didn’t care. The first step however was a pepper farm. Interesting as I had no ideas about how to produce pepper, something I enjoy so much with eggs. I enjoyed seeing the pepper farm as it was educational.

Next we travelled to a peaceful part of the rain forest. I remember feeling so insignificant there as the trees reached for the sky. It was so cool, and fresh I thought I would like to set up a hammock and stay there all day. The next stop was a small fishing village at the northern tip of the island. It was really rural.

Next, we visited the sea border of Vietnam with Cambodia. Here it started to rain again and we all rushed back to the bus. It was quite beautiful to stand there and watch the boats roll in. The sounds of the waves were quite hypnotic as well.

We proceeded to round the tip of the island head back towards Duong Dong. We stopped to have lunch at an ecotourism restaurant. Wow, the seafood was even better than previous day. They tasted like they were just out of the sea. We had squid, prawns, and fish. We sat around for about an hour just watching the water roll in, chatting and just soaking it all in.

As we started to approach the town again we did the usual Phu Quoc things – visit the tourist places such as an art gallery and a fish sauce factory. Fish sauce is important in Vietnamese diets yet it is simple to make. Just need a bit of time – 1 year in fact. Just mix salt (70%) and ca cop (fish 30%) in a barrel and come back later. When we hopped back into the bus was amazed at how much fish sauce there was. It looked liked we had cleared out that factory. Next we stopped at something closer to my heart – a wine factory. This wine is unique to Phu Quoc Island. This was however not as popular as the fish sauce, except one of the crew bought a 5 litre barrel of the stuff.

We went to meet some people and then decided to return to the hotel. After dinner, with more seafood I wonder if there was any squid and prawns in the sea. We started to play cards and then got kicked out the room by the girls who wanted to sleep. We decided to walk around town to find a bar, café, or restaurant to enjoy a beer. Not a great deal of luck, yet we were able to come through at a little fruit juice place. It was open aired with a tranquil atmosphere. You could see the storm off in the distant creating havoc to the oyster farms off the coast.

This was where I really started to enjoy the holiday. By lunch I was only a little grumpy yet by now I was back to myself. We enjoyed a few beers and discussed what we had seen during the day, and played a joke on one of our friends. As the shop closed and we headed back to the hotel I realised that it was a pleasant if not exhausting day.

The next day I slept through my alarm to realise that I had 5 mins to the scheduled departure time to pack and get ready. Foolish I was I see. No one was ready to go at that time and I could have had breakfast. I really wanted to enjoy the same dish as yesterday.

As we headed out we went to some more tourist places. First up was a Buddhist pagoda on the mountain wedged amongst the rainforest. It was quite a sight. You could feel that this place was a little magical and all the statues made you feel that you were in another country. There were dragons, and statues of Buddas, and lots of Chinese architecture. Some people prayed. I had noticed that the island and Rach Gia had a more Chinese feel to it then any other parts of Vietnam I have visited so far.

A waterfall was the next destination. Lots of little rock pools and creeks running down the mountain. As a few friends and I were enjoying ourselves wading in the water, we realised that the others had not followed us up. When we found one of them searching for us, they were upset that we had wandered off and held up the tour. Yet as we all hopped in the bus all was forgotten.




The last place we had lunch. It was a nice beach, with little surf waves. It was really crowded unlike the beaches from the previous day mostly due to the location and weather. We stopped here for an hour or so and enjoyed the last fruits of the sea for the trip. We had crab, squid, and all sorts of stuff. The smell of the sea, a gentle breeze, and a cold beer made this a most memorable moment.

We boarded the boat and headed home. The boat was overcrowded once again, worse than the first time. 500 people on a 250 capacity boat with rough seas makes you feel afraid. I kept hoping I wouldn’t make the news that day.

Arriving at Rach Gia we had to fight the motorcycle drivers who could offer us everything we needed, to jump on our bus. As I anticipated arriving in Long Xuyen, I thought that there were trying moments yet overall that it was a great experience. I really appreciate the effort the organisers put into the trip and the closeness with experienced. A fantastic way to start the April 30 and Labour Day holidays. I can say now that I have participated in speed tourism, set a record about how much time I spent in a bus on holiday, and have a belly full of seafood.