On our bikes in Hoi An

 

Our third morning at the Palm Garden Resort, the longest time in one place since leaving home. Our activity for the day was a cycle ride around the Hoi An area.We met our guide, Hiem, at 8 am. She had already organised for our bikes to be delivered to the hotel earlier in the morning. The logistics throughout the holiday has been excellent.

Our cycle ride took us through the Hoi An countryside, stopping at one of the farm communes, where local farmers share the land to produce crops for the local community. They grow a diverse range of beautiful vegetables and herbs. Our favorite new vegetable for the holiday is Morning Glory (named before the Oasis song), which when sautéed with garlic is wonderful. 

Morning Glory 

Vietnam is changing fast and new job opportunities are opening up, which means the next generation are not as interested in farming, so the average age of the farmers is quite high. To help the farmers, the tourism industry is using what they call Eco-Tourism, where the tourist guides pay the farmers to host and entertain the tourists, which results in the farmers encouraging the tourists to take on their work, such as watering their crops…

A local farmer watering the plants

Its a lovely area to cycle around, with the heat and high humidity its nice to take your time, enjoy the countryside and wildlife, like the Water Buffalo who enjoy the muddy water to keep cool in the days heat.

 

Our cycle ride took us to the river estuary, so the only answer was to take a river boat to another area of Hoi An. October is the start of the rainy season, which often results in flooding in this part of Vietnam. Only a month ago a Typhoon swept through the region and flooded the area. Many of the houses had 20 cm or more of water in their houses. This seems to be part of their lives, so they sweep down when the water drains away and move on. The biggest tell tail of the flooding is the river, which is deep brown from the soil run off during the flooding. 

This is a hot country and the people are hardworking. They wake early and work throughout the day, but they also have a siesta culture. After lunch they have a sleep while the sun is high. This is normal for adults and children, in business, schools and farms. It enables them to start early and finish late.

While trying to find someone in a local restaurant, the only person we found was fast asleep, so I couldn’t resist taking the photo below. She looked both comfortable and contented. Just brilliant. 

Market Street Restaurant 

So back to the hotel and the pool. Before heading out for dinner, one of the hotel staff offered to cut down a coconut for us to drink. Lovely and refreshing after a not so hard day.

 

Coconut juice, our drink of the day. 

Bai Tu Long Bay Islands

Bai Tu Long  Il

Our journey took us 3 hours drive from Hanio to the port of Ha Long to join our overnight cruise to the area of Bai Tu Long Bay, which is a coastal area made up of hundreds of islands and islets. It is part of the Ha Long Bay islands which is an UNESCO world heritage site and has a total of 1969 islands. An amazing and beautiful place, which is a perfect setting for a James Bond closing scene. It’s difficult to describe in words, so leaving to pictures rather than words: 

Our lead for the journey was the very energetic Sunday (his Nickname), whose objective was to keep us busy and entertained. Our fist adventure was Kayaking, paddling out among the islands to find a secluded beach. Once there we could swim freely in remarkably warm water.

After a good nights sleep, we had another early morning. Our guide, Sunday, offered a 6am Tai Chi for beginners lesson on the top deck as the sun rose. This was followed by breakfast and a tour of an island with a hidden cave called Thiem Cohn Son Cave.

                                                  Our Guide Sunday - who wanted to make it a funday.. 

 

The cruise finished around midday, just in time for us to say goodbye to our new friends and meet our new guide called Leo for the journey to Ninh Binh, which is an inland area of beauty, with Paddy Fields surrounded by amazing scenery. 

Water buffalo enjoying their bath

So ends an an amazing, but whirlwind 24rs. A little sleep is needed as we have a 6am cycle ride in the morning 😏

 

Hanoi Vietnam

 

Our time in India is over. We took an over night flight via a very busy Vietjet flight from New Delhi to Hanoi, arriving at 5am. Before leaving Hanoi airport, we bought two pre paid SIM cards, only £11 each for 30days, offering local calls and 4 Gb data per day, which means we can stay in contact if we loose each other, 

We had a driver organised to meet us at the airport, which was about a 30 minute journey. Hanoi is a large developing city with a population of about 8.3 million. We have flown 3.5 hours east to a much more tropical country, but there are a number of similarities to Delhi. The first is the polution, a thin haze of smog sitting above the city and second is the dependence on motor bikes. Vietnam was controlled by the French from the mid 19th century until the 1950's, which ended after a long war with the French, then came the American Vietnam war. They now have their independence. It’s a communist country, but feels very relaxed. As we drove across Hanoi city at 6 am on a Sunday morning, it was busy with people exercising - Runninng, Cycling, Tai Chi and Badminton. We drove past the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which was busy with parades and people looking to pay tribute to their great historical leader. It feels like a country which has embrassed communism and not a repressed communist state, which is how the west tends to view communism. Our first guided trip was organised for 9am, which was not the best organisation after a night without sleep. After a quick a snooze and breakfast we met our enthusiastic guide who marched us off around the city. You have to be confident and brave as a pedestrian. There is a constant flow of cars and motorbikes. Pelican type crossings are at all the major junctions, but these seem to be advisory only, so our guide demonstrated the tecnique of gently holding out your arm and then walking into the oncoming traffc. Walk with confidence, don't stop and the traffic will find its way around you. A bit like Moses crossing the Red Sea. A little dsconcerting, but oh well, when in Hanoi.

Our guide could see we were tired and stopped for coffee. At this point she attempted to give us our first lesson in Vietnamese. She soon realised that she would need patience with her new students, but she seemed to be up for the challenge, even though we were showing no enthusiasm and struggling with English through our tiredness. 

For those interested, a few words: Hello : xin chào, Good bye : Tạm biệt and if you need a motorbike : xe máy.

Once our Vietnamese lesson was over we identified a restaurant for the evening for traditional Vietnamese Noddles. Beef Noodles - 130,000 Vietnamese Dong (approx £5 for us both).

As we are in Hanoi - the drink of the day, Cheers

Agra to Jaipur

Another early morning to amplify the impact of jet lag. The alarm was set for 5am alarm to give us time for our sunrise visit to the Taj Mahal. A 05:00 am wake-up is 11:30 pm at home, so our body clocks are between morning and evening. The Taj Mahal was built around 1631, but even though it is nearly 400 years old its marble still glistens in the light, so sunrise is a perfect time to visit. Only a short walk from the Home Stay we arrived before the 6am opening in time to join the already forming queue, which meant we were one of the first in the race to get photos without the crowds.  

As usual a local man started a conversation in an attempt to make our visit an even better experience. He was previously an “official photographer” so he knew all the right places for our photos. He clung to us like superglue, so he soon became our official photographer moving us quickly around the wonderful building taking photos on our iPhone. To be fair, he knew all the best photo points and could drive the camera on an iPhone much better than we could, so the result was some fantastic photos. We tipped him 600 rupees, which he quickly pocketed and then chased after another unsuspecting tourist who would benefit from his skills. Some of his photos below.

Our visit finished by 7:30, returning for breakfast at the Home Stay, which included Bananas, Yogurt Toast and Peanut Butter, a Curry Rice dish and Indian Bread.. It doesn’t sound like an obvious combination, but it was superb and set us up for an adventurous five hour drive to Jaipur. 

Our driver, Lallu, was our guide for the day. His task was to navigate the roads to various sites between Agra and Jaipur. Fortunately the road was a dual carriage way, unfortunately the highway code in India is very different to the UK. But Lallu was confident and passed on his tip for a safe journey:

• Good Horn
• Good Brakes
• Good Luck

Fortunately, he used all three throughout the day, hooting, weaving, breaking and riding his luck around lorries, cars (some oncoming cars ignoring the concept of a dual carriageway), water buffalo, motorbikes and the occasional person who strolled out into the oncoming traffic to cross the road.  Our first stop was the deserted Fatehpur Sikri deserted Mughal City which was abandoned due to lack of water after construction. Created in 1571 as the capital of their empire in India, it was abandoned after 12 years , but remains in incredible condition . 
Second stop was the Chand Baoli step well. Construction started around 800 and finished 900 BC, before the Moghals modified in the 18th century. Probably the most impressive historical site we have seen since arriving in India. Its a World Heritage site and has featured in the third Batman film and more impressively the Michael Portillo BBC Great Train Journeys..     

Our journey for the day ended in Jaipur, another busy city, with a population of 3 million. The Dara Rawatsar hotel. Vegetable curry on the menu… 

Dara Ravadsar’s finest Vegetable curry

The journey ahead

The 5th September , which coincides with Danny’s 24th Birthday, is the 40th anniversary of my working life.  Absolutely no complaints, but it does not feel like 40 years. My 16year old self had no vision of my career ahead, but I think I overachieved my expectations. On that September morning I cycled down to Shell Haven Oil refinery, to start my apprenticeship as an Instrument mechanic, which was the start of my career in Technology and the path to working with some of Silicon Valleys fastest growing technology companies. The Internet was still unknown, but it would prove to have the greatest influence on my future career. 

Without Shell, I would not have met Janice and ultimately see our two boys grow and set out on their own life journey, 

So what next? It is time for some “us” time. Janice and I are going travelling; India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and Bali. Not quite back packing, but there are similarities. 

We leave on the 30th October. All planned, well nearly. First stop New Delhi and the golden triangle (Jaipur, Agra and back to New Delhi) . Then head to Hanoi in Vietnam, travelling down to Ho Chi Minh, followed by travelling around Cambodia. From Cambodia to Singapore, to catch up with friends, finishing with some relaxation in Bali. Travelling back home via New Delhi for Christmas. 

This is our blog, to plot our journey and help us remember where we have been, plus share a little with family and friends. We hope you will enjoy reading it.