Saturday 9 June
Lovely day in a lovely city. Visit to the local market and then wandering on the islands with Fred. QB went off with Jan to the shopping district after we all had a good bistro lunch.
Pictures are from house inside and atrium near the old and new city hall and from an island walk.
Thursday June 7. Afternoon
Lunch with the Liverpudlians.
Two charming ones at that.
Scouse Stew, a local poormans dish: onions, carrots, maybe turnips for sweetness, oxo, shin bones or mutton and lots of potatoes added in the last hour or so.
As to gardening, the Yellow Book came highly recommended. Small gardens in villigages, open at various times to the public; funds go to charity.
Wildlife Count so far (note: seen by one or two Boogs): two (2) bears, one (1) red fox, one (1) deer (or maybe elk), ducks, cows, horses, heron (?).
Friday. No signal for a day or so.
Bright sunny am with rivers and lakes dominating the landscape.
A few hours west of Toronto. Empty space. Canada appeard after three days of crossing to be, well, almost empty. Toronto and a few cities and then trees and water. The Vietnamese would ask "where have the people gone?"
Looks like we will roll in about 100 minutes late.
Thursday 7 June.
Wet and cool at 7 C this junction of three rivers the city means big muddy.
Zack our observation deck guide is hereby acknowledged for his cheerful commentaries from Vancouver to here.
There min walk from station is Forks market. Savory bread pudding and cin nuns obtained.
Wednesday, miday, leaving Jasper June 6.
Arose one hour behind schedule just outside Blue Ridge on route to Jasper.
Streams, light rain, pines (very many some with red beetle infestation), small mountains that are snow capped, all viewed from comfy and well designed romette.
No cares, no connection until Jasper, and not hungry.
Good breakfast, of course, and a ride to the Continental Divide past falls and mist, lakes, more pines, with the painted backdrop of the Rockies.
Jasper arrival and a walk around this charming town – will have to return in the Winter. Picture is train station in Jasper.
Will send this when I next have a connection.
Boogs Sack New Mexico – the thread of the current trip. Off on 20-21 April for a weeks "road trip" with George and Michelle.
The trip was notable for weather. Rain, snow, hail (good hail), and lots of wind. Views of the canyon, ride in the canyon, ride up to Taos and, of course, good shopping in Sante Fe and Taos. In the capital of New Mexico we went to the Nations Pow Wow, the largest gathering of the Nations in the US. About 150K persons. One poor photo of the main event and a few of raptors in the exhibition hall.
Tried putting the pictures on flikr this time. They are in reverse order. Ends with me dipping into the Rio Grande river and starts at canyon de chelly
Here is the link to the rest of boog pictures.
18 February. Late afternoon
This will be the last post of the BSV series. There will be a short update, in the future, when I get the camera pictures up and collect the photos from my fellow adventurers.
If this were not a real holiday it would have to be founded as Vergil found Rome.
Walking has become impossible. Congested city weaving at a reduced pace.
Families friends lovers children candy cotton sugar cane drums flowers motorbikes and more motos lights dragons drums and most of all joyous energy.
The trip might have been worth it just to experience Tet.
As to be expected most of the city has been shut down. A few stores, and of course the hotels and some restaurants are open.
Wandering bands or troups (10-15 in strength) do dragon dances and drumming. They go to an area or hotel, perform and then move on. They do not seem to have their hands out but it is ok to put money in the dragon's mouth.
City tour similar to the one of last visit except that some places closed. Went to a lacquer factory – to see the process but mostly as a shopping place.
There will be a final dinner tonight, fond farewells and then the departure.
So far I have avoided getting sick. One of the few, unfortunately. Mostly respitory as opposed to GI tract – though that topic is less discussed. A number of sore muscles and butts .
Your extremely well fed correspondent now closes the adventure summary and looks forward to seeing the QB and returning home.
Feb 16 Midnight plus a bit so really the 17th. New Year's Eve – Tet
Looking out my window on the Dong Hong one sees the multiude. No free space for humans or motorbikes. Just masses and joy. Horns, ballons, cheering, talking. But, as usual I get ahead of myself.
Today was the final ride. Not a particularly interesting one. About a half day as we needed to get to the hotel, pack the bikes and get cleaned up for New Year's Eve. Well worth the early bike day. Hot and dry on Hiway one, not my favorite ride.
After packing up the bike and a long scrub went to join the party. It starts at 19:30 I could not imagine how it could continue until midnight. Now I know.
Got upgraded to a suite. About the size of a New York. Two bedroom apartment.
First the cocktails
And then the food. Some pics of the New Year's spread included. Then came lots of entertainment, singing, magicians, several fashion shows with beautiful women and men.
The pic of the three "Gods" are. Red for wealth, the elder for longevity, and green for luck/Joss.
Naturally there were dragons, many of them and drummers and acrobats and on and on.
The venue at the top of the Majestic hotel – overlooking the Saigon river – could not be better; especially for the fire works show. An excellent one. Lots of champagne, etc.
Food, all the traditional Vietnamese dishes and then some. Lobster, crabs, pork, lamb chops, sushi, salads rice and sugar cane and many many more dishes on the buffet. No food expense or service expense spared. This is (was) as first class as it gets – and on a perfect rooftop restaurant.
Some of you remember me talking of the and looking forward to seeing Tet in this venue. Met or exceeded expectations.
The streets, visible from the restaurant and from my street-river facing room are jammed. No other word for it. Yet, it is orderly and polite as (maybe) only the Vietnamese can manage it.
14 February early am at breakfast
Dalat is an old French Colonial resort area at 1500 m. Being up high it is a lot cooler, 20-22 C is the common daytime temp. No A/C in the room – heater and fireplace instead.
The resort reminds one of Ventana in Big Sur. Up high, everything very rustic,
Designed to be rustic. Recently renovated so all is of good quality is not wise design (no handrails, a shower from the 19th century design with an oversized bathtub. Great for flooding and a sitzbath – standard flooding nozzle.
The dinner last night was an attempt, quite reasonable attempt, at California Asian fusion. Each dish carefully prepared with many ingredients. Good quality but not Vietnamese in any way. Basically here and in the previous Mandava Resort one would not know one was in Vietnam.
The ride from Nha Trang to Dalat was an experience.
The first 42 km was uphill at a very low grade riding about 200 meters. Later a climb of 600 m in 9 km (6.6% average grade – a real challenge). Road continues with long rolling sections. Rode until it got too dark and then had the bus pick me up.
Before the bike ride we stopped at a old and in excellent condition cham temple. High up on a hill, good to look at but not to climb .
One photo is of the meditation pagoda in Dahlat. The largest meditation center and quite lovely and serene.
The other photo is of the large Buddah and a monk striking the gong.
I did some 'sitting'.
15 Feb. Evening after dinner
A day of biking extremes.
We spent one day in Dahlat (see previous post) visiting the Mediation center and a village and other tourist things.
Took the evening off in terms of dinner; blashphemy but as Nobue says "my stomach is tired" and I had been eating too much – just needed a break and the Dahlat place has wonderful breakfasts.
The hotels of the past two nights are at the very very high end. I discussed these two places relative to Ventana and Hans said that both were in the same price range. Discussed with Mai (she pays the bills at the hotel) and she said that the rack rate for the rooms that we were in are $200 a night and the villas and seaside rooms can run $400. Yikes for Vietnam. For contrast the very fine Majestic in Saigon runs $108 per night with the tour discount – not sure about the rack rate.
Excellent breakfast to energize the still tired legs – tired from the climbing of the day before. Past the Prenn Waterfall (turned off in honor of the Boog and a month without any rain and new record highs).
Then to the Chicken Village. I asked a few times about Avian flu but kept getting "no risk of Chicken Flu". Agree. Turns out to be an 8 foot high concrete chicken with souvenier shops nearby. Some negotiating (getting the hange of it) and then paying her the original asking price and getting a nice hug and soft punch in the shoulder – wonder where they learned that.
Through sugar cane, coffee plantations and lovely agricultural lands. No trucks or traffic on these roads, outstanding roads. Not flat but good quality and deserted. Would have been outstanding riding except for the very strong headwind. Oh, and it was 37C.
100 + km day with hills and headwinds and I packed it in for the final 46km hiway 1 ride to Phan Thiet.
Excellent Novatel, with Golf Course, in anoter place that does not seem to be part of Vietnam. Right on the beach.
So far I have ridden and or seen the Mekong, the Northern region with its mountains, ethnic minorities and real mountains. Then Hanoi as a architechtural Paris with just a bit more traffic but close to the same charm. The North Central Highlands with their challenging 'hills'. And the more southern ones with planations and beaches.
Housing has been of four varieties, seen them all but presented below in historical order.
A). Hay and mud
B). Cocunut leaves and some mud
C). Wood (various constructions including log cabins.
D) Brick with the clay from this area. Clay is converted to brick using the rice hulls.
Then comes modern contstruction looking much like our homes except more brightly painted.
Outstanding buffet at the hotel. Lobster (grilled to order, I had two), local crabs (grilled to order, I had three – as good a dungeness but I was very hungry and thé grilling in butter likely helped), shrimp and shrimp rolls, and baked clams and lots of other non seafood items bypassed. A couple of beers rounded out an excellent meal.
Will send this when I get to HCMH tomorrow evening, the 16th. New Years Eve. Dinner at the Majastic on their rooftop restaurant. Fireworks over the Saigon River. About $600K worth smoke and color.
Off early in the am to see the final day of sights and cycling.
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