flying to Munich

I've just made an extensive and slow tour of seemingly the entire transit lounge of Bangkok's airport. The Bangkok papers are plastered with photos of the final (?) battle with the "red shirts" yesterday. One wouldn't know that the city was in turmoil, from this cosy transit lounge where I'm typing this entry. I'm not sure what is going on at the moment down town, because there's no TV to disturb the tranquillity here.
Bangkok airport has departure gates at multiple wings, ranging from B to G. On the 4th level, there is a huge "emporium" of shops. E "wing" is where all the high-end branded goods are. there certainly seems to be no end to them, as one passes shop after shop to get to the departure gate.
Well, I'm sad that things have become such a mess here, but I'm thankful that the 2-hr flight from Singapore to here was fine this morning. and that in Europe (so far as I know! )it seems that the volcano is quiet, or more specifically, the ash is not hovering over Munich, which will be my destination tonight.
After 15 hours of flying, with 4 1/2 hrs transit in between, I'll find myself in familiar surroundings in the Bavarian capital. After an overnight stay in Hotel Wallis, which I found excellent 2 years ago, I'll be taking a train ride into the Bavarian alps, passing Mittenwald, where violins have been made for centuries, and popping into Seefeld where Hf Holidays have a walking tour.
My destination for the weekend will be my favorite Austrian city, Salzburg. It's not because of Mozart. It's because I spend 2 happy summers here at the summer school of the Mozarteum, and always feels like coming home. Then, I spent hours indoors practising .This time I will get up to the fortress that dominates the city and walk on Monchsberg. I look forward to attending Mass at either Franziskanerkirche or the Cathedral (or both), and being uplifted by the music there.

Poring Hot springs

We flew to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, by Jetstar. The plane was full of holiday-makers, most heading for the mountain or for diving at Sandakan. The 2-hr flight was pleasantly short, and I was surprised to find that KK now has a spanking new airport. We bought a coupon for the taxi ride to town, which was only 15 mins away. Even the taxi was brand new!
Two hungry tourists headed out to the town after checking in at Hotel Shangri-la (NOT the real McCoy). At the Melaka restaurant we were introduced to "Sayor Manis", a vegetable commonly found here. Food was good: we cleaned the plates!
In our area of town we found malls galore, so we just walked disinterestedly till we reached the bus terminal near the "Wawasan" building. Susan had spied streams of people headed there at that late afternoon hour.
The next morning, Mr Lo from Sanctuary Borneo tour company was waiting in the lobby to drive us up to Poring Hot Springs, which is downhill past the Kinabalu Park HQ. After an hour's drive, views of the mountain started to emerge. Even though the weather was good that day, the mountain top, as always, was hidden by some dramatic cloud formations.

We stopped by a fruit stand in Kundasang, the vegetable garden of Sabah. Whole valleys in this region are filled with small holdings of fruit, vegetable and (mountain) rice farmers. We inspected fruit that we don't often see in singapore, like "buah salat" known as "snake skin fruit" in Chinese. We bought a bag of "duku" which was juicy and sweet.
Just before 11am, we reached Poring Hot Springs, and after lunch at a nearby coffee shop, we proceeded past the visitors enjoying a warm soak in the hot pools. The butterfly park did not seem to be enclosed, and butterflies darted in and out freely around us .
As it was lunch time, we had the canopy walk practically to ourselves. How wonderful to be up near the crowns of the tall trees and feel the cool breeze. We had our workout for the day walking up to and coming down from the canopy.
Continuing our walk, we came to the Kipungit waterfalls, and then attempted the steep paths to the "bat cave". That was an even better workout!

Late in the afternoon we drove back to national Park HQ and checked into our lodge. The views of the mountain were magnificent!

At the lodge, a personal viewing bench was provided in front of each lodge.at 5am the next morning, the cloudless view of the mountain was there for all who made the effort to get up early to view it. At that hour, we could imagine that many of those who climbed to the summit had already taken photos of their achievement and were already well on their downward trek, which we understand from most people, is more taxing than the uphill trek.

We ended our vacation back in KK, with some time spent at the crowded sunday market on Jalan Gaya, where, besides many trinket stalls, we also saw indigenous produce like vegetables, flowering plants, seaweed, honey and various local cakes. At the port, we saw speedboats of various designs ferrying the agile residents of the nearby water village to the port-side markets in town.

At the foot of the mystical mountain

It's my second trip with Susan this year, and this time it was all good...exhilarating! We are just back from our trip to Kinabalu National Park in Sabah. Mention the magical word "Kinabalu", and everyone gets impressed. But, we were there only to hike the trails at the base of the mountain. The clouds parted sufficiently for us to glance wistfully at Laban Rata, where the final climb to the summit begins, usually at 2am in the morning.

At that hour we were snug in our Sutera-managed Hill Lodge, appreciative of the excellent accommodation and facilities at Park Headquarters. After a copious breakfast that morning, we had a challenging but enjoyable hike on the undulating Kiau View Trail, and the downhill-all-the-way Silau-Silau trail to the compact but comprehensive botanic gardens.

We made the mistake of eating too much for lunch, so we huffed and puffed up the short Bukit Tupai trail. Our final stroll down the Silau-Silau valley was rewarded by the sighting of a large mushroom . Tumbling out onto the exit road, we found ourselves in the vicinity of the Balsam cafe, where Susan refused to have the expensive and watery coffee. Fortunately, our private transport back to Kota Kinabalu was waiting to save us from melting in the fierce heat of the mid-afternoon sun.

Mists, rain, mud in Sa Pa

Susan was upset...there was a strange man in her train cabin. On our night train to Sapa, the person who got our tickets for us did not check that we were given 4 bunks in the same cabin. It turned out that the Aussie bagpacker had insisted on a lower bunk, and the only one left was in our cabin.

I didn't mind using the upper bunk in another cabin, but Susan and Debbie tried their best to rectify the error...to no avail.

Anyway, the bunk was clean and the duvet warm and comfy, and soon I was lulled to sleep by the rocking motion of the the train and the clacking of the wheels on the rails. Susan didn't sleep a wink!

At 6am we were woken by the train conductor as Lao Cai approached. Nobody was very keen to get off the train, but soon everyone was pouring out of the train doors and into the cold morning air to search for our names on pieces of paper held up by tour guides. We searched in vain, and had to wait for the next train from Hanoi to arrive (30 mins later), before our guide appeared. We were all crammed into a minivan (this seems to be the modus operandi for tour operators in Vietnam) and driven an hour to Sapa, higher up the Muong Hoa valley.

I watched the terraced ricefields come into view through the mist. That view of them never got any clearer throughout our stay there. We were all dumped into the lobby of "Emotion Hotel" at one end of the town, on the road to Cat Cat ("Kaka")Village. Breakfast was an interesting affair: there was Pho, and rice rolls which was dipped into nuoc nam (fish sauce). eggs were cooked to order, and beehoon and cabbage were served, but fast disappeared.

At 9.30am, our guide Duan arrived, dressed in white shirt, black jacket, black trousers and black dress shoes, toting a large umbrella. Quite a contrast to our sport gear! He is a marketing grad from Hanoi University (his father had to sell 5 buffalo @ USD1000 each) to fund his education. But his mum told him to get back to Sapa to work. His English was strange, but we tried our best to understand! "I think so" is what he liked to say! We walked on the mud splattered road down the hill to Cat Cat Village. Twice, Duan had to pay some kind of "entrance fee" for us. We passed a small house where a small primitive weaving loom and dyeing equipment were shown to us.

As it was the Lunar New Year, the Hmong tribal people were in traditional costume, walking up to Sapa to market. Some came by us to sell woven goods. Later we walked down some steep stairs to cross a bridge and then view a waterfall. This was our first view of the tributary of the Red River that runs in this valley from the highest mountain in Vietnam, Fan Si Pan. We were supposedly at the foot of this mountain, but we couldn't see any of it! A pleasant walk on a track followed, winding our way back to Sapa. Motorbikes were offered to send us up on the last steep stretch, but we elected to walk back. It was not to difficult as we went slowly, and had our Lekis.

After lunch at "Emotion Hotel", we walked to our hotel, while our bags were transported via motorbikes! The three-star Bamboo Sapa Hotel reminded me of some old unkempt Malaysian hotel. Everything was provided, but the infrastructure was all creaking! Debbie was freezing even when the portable heater was next to her bed!

We settled into our rooms, and my travelling companions went exploring the town, while I recuperated in bed! Duan came by again to bring us to a hotpot restaurant near the Church for dinner. Then we ran home in the cold mist and jumped into our warm beds.

The next day it rained, so Duan said that we would ride in the van part of the way to Lao Cai village. After a short winding ride, we were dropped off on the road to continue on foot. Soon we came to a turnoff, continuing on a track to the village. Our fellow walkers (visitors from HCM City), who were not at all togged out for trekking, bought plastic ponchos, slippers, umbrellas, and walking sticks to help them along.

From here, the persistent Hmong women started to stick to us like leeches, trying to make conversation with the stock English questions that they had learnt. The tracks took us past the Red Dzao village, through the ricefields and to our lunch venue. It took an hour for our guide to prepare lunch of noodle soup, while most in the group warmed themselves by a coal brazier.

Off we went again on the muddy, flooded tracks and passed by the Dzay village. Our Vietnamese friends took a van back to town and later to the night train, but we headed for our home stay. The walk through the rice terraces were our introduction to what was to come the next day.

But first, we had to come to terms with our "homestay" which turned out to be a communal hall downstairs and a gallery upstairs around which were laid out mattresses and heavy blankets...shock and horror...! but we kept ourselves busy by sitting by the coal fire trying to keep warm. I was glad for my parka and fleece vest. Soon a German couple installed themselves upstairs for a snooze, and later 8 French tourists took up residence on one side of the gallery. Were we envious when they told us that they were eqipped with "sarcophage" sleeping bags!

Dinner began with an appetizer of French fries, which quickly disappeared. 30 mins later, a copious meal was served from the kitchen outside the main building. More desultory conversation followed between tired travellers unwilling to face the uncomfortable "beds" upstairs, but inevitably, we had to bite the bullet, wrap ourselves as tightly as possible in the thick blankets, and settle in for the night.

The guides took their time to wake up. Nobody was interested in taking a cold shower, but we all took turns to share the one toilet provided. An interesting kind of banana pancake was served for breakfast. Duan took us on a circuitous route further up the terraces, and the French walkers, taking the more direct (steeper) route were soon way ahead of us. The trouble was that the paths between the rice padis were muddy from the rain the night before and we were doing more "sinking" than walking! Fortunately the native women were by our side (or at least my side) to keep our balance. Debbie, being more fit than the rest of us, got way ahead with her 2 "helpers". I was inevitably the last in line, towed along by my 40-year old Hmong guide.Duan says i fell twice, but I remember only once tumbling to my knees. Leaving the ricefields, we walked through a bamboo forest, encountering a lost buffalo in our path enroute. After giving a passing glance to a kind of dry waterfall, we descended the last terrifying slope that looked more like a landslide! I took only 1 photo for that day's walk, and that was a view of this "slide".

Recovering from the walk by the river, while washing the mud off our boots, we were obliged to buy some of the goods peddled by the women. One even followed me to the lunch stop showing me her bracelets which were "si jolie" at 1USD for 3.

The ingredients for lunch had followed us from the homestay, hung in a bag on the hook of Duan's umbrella. Soon, he was boiling the noodle soup that had been on the menu the previous day as well.

Up we walked to the main road on a thankfully dry slope, and were ferried back to "Emotion Hotel" in a SUV. There, we found that there was no electricity in the hotel, but we managed to change into some cleaner clothes before dinner. After dinner...yes you guessed it...crammed into the minivan again for the trip down to Lao Cai.

We were early for the train, so there was some waiting around in the ticket office. Large crowds were waiting patiently for the trains to Hanoi. There were 3 that night. To Susan's great relief, there was no stranger in her cabin this time. All of us were too tired from our "great walk" that day to notice how many times the train stopped that night. The next thing we knew, it was 5.30am in Hanoi and we trooped out of the rail station to a...what else..Pho kitchen.

A taxi driver who had worked in Klang took us and our 4 suitcases in a car that looked like a Nissan March to our hotel, where we had to wake up the staff, as they usually do not open their locked doors till about 7am daily.

Our adventurous day in Hanoi followed. A week after we left Singapore, we retraced our flight by Vietnam Airlines. The flight was very comfortable, although the aircraft was packed to capacity. It was certainly more calm in the cabin than the chaotic situation in the airport departure terminal where all passengers on international flights stood in one queue! 3 hours flew by quickly, and soon we found ourselves far away from the beeping motorbikes and cars on the congested streets of Hanoi. We landed in hot and orderly Singapore, glad to be home.

Serene Halong Bay

After being crammed for 3 hours into a mini van with 24 people occupying all the available seats, and being bumped up and down the arrow-straight road above the rice fields to Halong City, it was such a relief to tumble out at the wharf.

It was the first day of the Lunar New Year. We had in fact had an easy ride from Hanoi to Halong City, as there was hardly any traffic on this most important holiday of the year. The wharf, however, was like New York Grand Central Station, only what we saw were Vietnamese cruise boats jammed next to each other awaiting passengers. Passengers also jostled or loitered near the ticket office while tickets were procured by the tour guides or agents

Despite the chaos, we were soon boarding our tender and heading out on the water to our boat the "Dragon Pearl". The harbour was also dotted with cruise boats anchored, arriving, or departing.

We were ushered to the 2nd deck, where the dining room was situated. After a welcome drink, we were given the keys to our cabins on the lower deck. I was surprised that these were quite well-appointed, although there was much juddering from the engines.

A tasty lunch followed, but then the rain came and pretty much stayed with us the whole time we were cruising in the Bay that day. It was really a wash-out for photos. It was no fun to stand in the cold rain and wind on the top deck trying to keep the camera dry. The mist was also rather thick so we could only see the karst features nearest to the boat. From time to time, other boats came out from the mist,much like a vessel from the "ancient mariner's" tale.

I enjoyed the calmness of the water, and the mystical feel of the place. After a couple of hours, we were taken to see the caves at Hung Sung Sot. I was the only passenger who did not follow the group, as I was unsure that I could keep pace with the climb up to the viewing belvedere. The itinerary for the day also included kayaking, but that was scrapped because of the wet weather. The 3 young Australinas and our guide,Bac, later had a fun time jumping from the ship into the cold water for a swim.

The menu for dinner was about the same as lunch. We shared a table with 2 Germans who were on a 2-week tour of Vietnam. Debbie was caught up with 2 ladies from Australia, who were of Chinese descent, and formerly from Saigon. One of the ladies had a family-run watch and jewellery business before the Vietnam War. They managed to preserve their wealth, and later the son made 3 attempts to get away on a refugee boat to australia, before he finally succeeded.

Karaoke, seemingly the favorite past-time of Vietnamese, followed dinner. The "party" continued aboard a neighbouring boat till late at night.

The following day, we transferred to a "day cruiser" when we sailed into the waters of Haiphong province. After lunch,we sailed near the open sea where we felt relatively heavy swells for the first time on the water. The Singaporeans were not interested in getting off to view the natives on "monkey island" . Our port of call for the night was Cat Ba Island. After checking into Holiday View Hotel, we walked round the entire seafront ot the town and up to the hotel past the bus terminus. Apparently there was a beautiful hike further on, but it was dark and we returned to the hotel for the copious buffet dinner.

Departure was scheduled for 7.45am, but it was a very groggy Bac who shepherded us to the jetty. He had spent the night drinking till 1am.

Leaving Haiphong province, we transferred again to a cabin cruiser that brought us back to the congested wharf where eager passengers awaited to retrace our voyage.

Once again we crammed into the minivan, and this time bumped our way on the trunk road amid honks and beeps from motorbikes and cars carrying the holiday crowds making visits to friends and relatives. The ricefields on either side were more visible in the afternoon light. Among the ricefields were the houses, and sometimes, even tombs of the proprietors.

Back in Hanoi, we paid our respects to the Cathedral and the Opera House (a mini Paris Opera) and were later taken to the railway station where we boarded the night train to Sapa.

C-C-O-L-D in Hanoi

It was not cool...it was COLD in Hanoi, and colder in the highlands of Sapa. However, my blood pressure rose when I found out that my camera had been stolen from my bagpack near the Water Puppets Theatre in Hanoi. So, I've had to use susan's photos for this blog: thanks, susan!. (I know you will chastise me again, Kong Chong, for not bringing a back -up camera!!)

Debbie had the presence of mind to suggest that I make a police report, and people were helpful in directing us to the nearest police station in Hung Bac street. There I was gruffly told to sit down, and a younger policeman and a lady interepreter were found for me. While there, another man came in with a stolen wallet...all money gone, but all cards intact. So I felt thankful that I was safe, and that my passport was still with me, enabling me to return home as planned.

6 million people and 3 million motorbikes make Hanoi's air pollution severe. Perhaps because of the season, I did not see the sun for the 8 days which I spent in that part of Vietnam. We arrived on the eve of the Lunar New Year, so we joined the throngs walking in festive mood around Hoan Kiem lake. There were 3 stages erected for shows, the largest one being at the Martyrs' memorial. Later at midnight, fireworks went off, but we were told by our German fellow-travellers that it was so smoggy that the fireworks couldn't be seen!

The Lake became or point of reference in the city. When we returned from our HaLong Bay cruise, we walked around it again after visiting the Cathedral and the Opera House (a miniature of the Paris Opera). Our third stay in Hanoi was after our visit to Sapa. This time, many shops were open after the annual New Year (Tet) holiday. Hang Gai, our main access to the Lake was a street full of beautiful silk stores. We followed Lonely Planet's walking tour to the street markets and specialty stores of the city. That reminded me of the markets we had in Singapore in the 50's.

The signature Vietnamese dish, Pho, was sold everywhere. On the streets, hawkers set up their 2 pots of hot soup and hot water to scald the noodles, together with plates with other ingredients like meat,(Beef, pork or chicken) spring onions, lime, nouc nam (fish sauce), sliced red chillies. Customers sat on low plastic stools, sometimes at tables to consume the tasty fare. Besides these street vendors, Pho was also sold in restaurants everywhere. We were assailed with smells of boiling oil when we walked back and forth from our hotel. A narrow alley nearby was lined with stalls selling "nem" by night and "pho" by day. Nem was accompanied by french fries and cucumber slices. On Saturday night the alley was full of diners on low stools. Two rows of motorcycles were parked at the entrance to the alley. Pedestrians and bikers circulated up and down any space that was left! Motorcycle exhaust pipes were right at the level of the noses of the diners!

The shop houses also reminded me of those in Singapore when I was growing up. While our shop houses were mostly two-storey buildings, the ones in Hanoi could go up to five storeys. The frontage was about 4meters, and I expect that, like our family-run hotel, the house could be 20 meters from the front to back of the buildings. Many residential buildings had balconies on every floor.

We stayed at Tung Trang hotel in the Old Quarter, within walking distance of most downtown sites. Rooms were clean and comfortable, but the bathrooms were narrow. After taking a shower everything in the bathroom would be wet, including the toilet paper!!

In any case we were charmed by the good-natured receptionist, who acceded to our every request and arranged our tours to Halong Bay and Sapa. We used the facilities as well, while in transit to and from these trips. Grandma cooked breakfast and boiled hot water for us. Papa fixed the faulty lights in our room. We felt safe here, and, the hotel being in an alley, the nights were quiet here, as compared to all the insistent honking we heard on other streets in Vietnam.

We are used to honking in Asia. In Hanoi we learnt to cross the street weaving in between the motor bikes and cars. I must say that the system works because motorists and pedestrians have more consideration for each other than on Singapore streets.

We had Pho twice at the street stalls, had coffee at "Moca" cafe, as recommended by our German friends, and on our last night had a celebration dinner in the ritzy restaurant on the lakefront. Five musicians played on vietnamese instruments while we ate. We tried our hand at playing a fascinating percussion instrument that was a clapper made up of 2 miniature "washboards". We did not try the teacup castenets-cum-bells.

Researching Asia

Opening the decade with a trip to Vietnam with Su, Choo and Deb. Will fly to Hanoi, cruise on Halong bay, and trek (?) in Sapa. Looking forward to the cool temperatures