After months of boozing in london I was ready for a detox, this worked out pretty well, since she had me up at SPARROW'S FART every morning, hiking through indigenous villages, tearing through markets and back in bed by 9pm most nights.
Sapa is this crazy mountain town in north vietnam, where drastically poor hill tribes still wear their ancient costume and live in straw hut villages. We hiked around a bit, and the ladies from these tribes are something else. They follow you for the whole day, up and down hills, wearing their traditional outfits, chatting away, and at the end of the hike, they offer to sell you these random bits and pieces you don't want. But of course you buy them cause by now you are bestest mates with them from spending the whole day hanging out. Now that is a sales technique. Made me really sad though, that they are so poor they have to do that.
Laos is a country I had barely heard of until recently, but man, what an awesome place. The people were softly spoken, smiling, chilled and friendly. Always happy to help and so warm and genuine. The weather was warm and balmy every day. The whole place is full of peaceful temples, with gorgeous monks wandering around in orange robes. The food was fragrant, herbal, light and refresshing. The dogs didnt bite, and it was cheap as chips. This one town we hung out in for days had amazing french food too.
In another town you float down the river on tubes and there are pubs all along the river with massive huge swings and flying foxes. The bar-staff pull you in with bamboo sticks and you hop into their treehouses to drink beer and whisky while bob marley music floats up the valley. When you are done you float on down the river...
Cambodia was intense. Hot, poor, colourful, with more of an edge than Loas, and a pretty tragic history. Those Kymer Rouge were an evil bunch of fuckheads, I am telling you. Google it.
Anyway, was so hot there, me and mum had to sneak into this fancy-but-grotesque hotel and pretend like we belonged there so we could use their pool, we were that hot. Our backpackers was pretty full on. Weddings every night across the road, with the feast being prepared by dozens of semi nude men right there in the middle of the road.
Gros man, fish guts and sweat and rotton cabbage mingled with pollution and wedding food. mmmmm. Ideal location for my wedding I reckon.
Part two: Travelling with the over-50s club through rural Vietnam
Back in Saigon, I was stoked to be back by the pool, with a maid to cook me dinner and iron my undies... Anyway, I must have been suffering a bit of sunstroke or something... or maybe I ate a magic mushroom milkshake by mistake... cause somehow I got roped into a roadtrip with my dad, mum, and a group of their highschool friends from the 1960s. Me plus six 54-year olds. In a four-wheel drive. For a WEEK! What the hell was I thinking?
Fun parts included the huge private golfing estate in the mountains that my dad wangled off his golfing buddy. We had these huge chalets, a private cinema, a private lake and gorgeous views. We hired motorbikes one day and cruised the roads visiting a silk-worm factory, coffee planatations and musroom farms. I also slipped into a massive deep hole filled with red mud. that was fun... Then we went to the beach, where my room overlooked the crashing waves, and perfect palm tree beach and where dad's mate let us use his penthouse to cook dinner every night.
Not so fun was the fact that one of the guys was a builder and kept a CONSTANT stream of consciousness about the building materials and farming techniques for the WHOLE trip. And the architect couple added their two bobs worth too, I'm telling you I was about to jump out the window. Music could have been a welcome reprieve. The car's CD collection included: The Warratahs, a socialist choir group and Destiny's Child.
And then I got a stomach bug, and spewing my guts out on New Year's Eve. At least this is where I got to do it:
Lost in Saigon...
Anyway, now back in Saigon now for a week.... planning to make the most of the tailors, the day spa, the pool and the shopping. Saigon is a super fun city, and luckily some family friends in their mid-twenties are staying at the moment, so we can not talk about the physics of vietnamese housing! And the sun is shining, the mangos are ripe and baby, my tan is coming along better than a cake in the oven!
loving it all... missing you all.
xxxx
