Rowing down the Thames - August 2012

At the end of August Nancy and I went over to the UK to visit my mother in Derbyshire, and also to take a little trip down the Thames in a rowing boat.  

The trip was inspired by the "Three Men in a Boat" TV series with Griff Rhys Jones et al, which in turn was inspired by the Jerome K. Jerome book "Three Men in a Boat".  The vessel of choice for this trip was a vintage Thames Camping Skiff just like in the TV Series and in the book.  Just to get things straight we were sculling not rowing - in sculling the oarsman has a pair of oars, one in each hand while in rowing there is only one oar per person.

We rented our boat for the week from Tom at Thames Skiff Hire and he delivered it to Oxford on the Monday morning - a wet Monday morning.  Our particular boat was named Edward and Edward was quite old - 140 years old in fact.  Among other things it has been used by Sir Steven Redgrave and it is a regular participant in the Queen's Swan Upping event not to mention roles it had in the movie "Shakespeare in Love".  It was a three person boat and we were only two, but we were told by Tom that a larger boat would be more comfortable for camping - did I mention we would be sleeping on the boat?   However a three person boat is heavier and takes more effort to row, a factor that I considered more than once in the following days.

Our boat - Edward

We had a very cursory education in the various bits of the boat and how to erect the camping cover.  It was not a complicated affair - a seat for the helmsman, and a couple of seats for the oarsmen, some oars, a paddle, and some poles to fend off or hold on to the sides of the river.  The most complicated thing was the canvas canopy that converted the open rowing skiff into a covered boat suitable for sleeping or rowing in the rain.  My step-brother had bet me that we couldn’t install the cover while the boat was in the river, and after seeing how it was done onshore in a stable environment, I think he was right.   We left the frames and cover tied up over the boat the entire time.   It was just easier with it that way to get protection from the rain and sun and to set up for the evening’s camp.

It was raining as we were rigging up the boat on shore and the forecast for the week was miserable so, to say the least, I was a bit apprehensive.  Fortunately, by the time we were ready to set off the rain had abated and we had a brief respite while we got underway and got our act more or less together.

The Thames being navigable up to Lechlade has numerous locks and we weren’t rowing long before we encountered one.  We didn’t get much instruction on how to handle the boat through a lock, so we were floundering around a bit.  It took us two or three locks before we got the hang of things but by the end of the week we were getting compliments from the lock keepers on our skillful handling of the boat.

All the locks on this part of the Thames are manned with Lock Keepers during the daytime so we did not get a chance to manipulate the sluices and gates ourselves, we just floated into the lock and they did all the work.  Not that it was a lot of work - all were electrically operated so it was really just pressing buttons in the right order.   All the Lock Keepers were really friendly and accomodating and I found myself thinking what a great job they have.

Exiting one of the locks

Our first day on the river was a short one - we didn’t get started until 1:00 pm and we wanted to get sorted out for the night before nightfall.   So we decided to tie up near the villages of Culham and Sutton Courtenay which are about 9 miles downstream from Oxford.  Our neighbours for the night were a couple living and traveling on a narrow boat (lots of people appeared to be doing this).  They were very nice and presented us with a pot of tea, sugar and milk on a tray while we stumbled around securing our boat.  All very civilized.

Our boat with the cover up for the night.

Rather than sleep on the boat the first night we decided to pitch our tent beside the river bank - it would be a more familiar environment rather than negotiating a boat exit in the middle of the night if nature called.  We had heard of a fine Michelin starred restaurant in Sutton Courtenay so we set off for some well-earned fine dining.   Alas the Michelin starred restaurant was closed on Mondays.  What was worse the other two pubs in town were not serving food since it was a Bank Holiday.  From the highest of expectations for Michelin starred food we had to resort to peanuts and crisps and a pint beer.

Despite the lack of food on a Monday, Sutton Courtenay was a nice village - it has the house of Asquith the Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916, the burial place of Asquith and of George Orwell.  The current residents include Tim Burton and Helena Bonham-Carter (they weren’t in the pub that night).

The next day, Tuesday, looked like it was going to be better weather.  It was a fine morning and we packed up camp and set off downstream.  For most of the day we were blessed with nice weather but, every now and again, the wind would pick up and the wind always seemed to be blowing upstream.  With all our rigging for the cover up top it seriously slowed down our progress.

By the middle of this second day we had learned a few things about how things would work on the trip.  In particular:

• how we had to make a decision to stop and just do it.  There was no making a pass to scout out a good mooring or a good pub and then rowing back upstream to the choicest spot.  That would be way too much effort.
• how moorings are few and far between in many places.  So much of the mooring space is private and not open to visitors tying up.
• how we need to keep rowing and how it is not really realistic to spend a lot of time sightseeing in nearby towns.   By the time we had moored, secured the boat and walked to town or a pub or a restaurant we had lost 2 or more hours.
• how sensitive the boat is to minor tweaks on the rudder and how you need to pay attention when you are at the helm.  We had a few diversions into the trees and bushes which can be difficult to extricate yourself from.
• how frustrating it can be when two independent minds have different views on which way to row and or navigate (but we worked through those).

A nice evening sleeping in the boat.

Tuesday night we made it to Moulsford which was at mile 24 for the trip and we decided to try our luck at  sleeping in the boat.  We put everything in the bow or the stern and lay down our sleeping pads in the bottom of the boat. We then had room to lie end to end in our sleeping bags.  With the cover down it is quite private, with the canopy pulled up on the river side, it was a nice view to go to sleep to.  It was all surprisingly comfortable.

That night we dined at the Perch and Pike in South Stoke.   A very nice meal indeed - all those critics of English Food just haven't been there lately.

The next day, Wednesday, was forecast to be wet, and the forecast came true.  We had a fair amount of rowing in the rain.  Fortunately it was not windy and the rain was coming straight down.  So with the boat’s canopy spread out to cover our heads we were actually quite dry.   We had a late breakfast/early lunch in Pangbourne and then pushed on through Tilehurst and Reading.

Coming from the USA where music festivals are not that common anymore and seeing all the facilities for the prior weekend’s Reading Festival was quite remarkable - they went on for miles and miles or so it seemed - parking lots, camping areas, multiple stages.   That must have been a seriously large music festival.

Since a good part of the day was spent in the rain we decided to stay in a hotel on Wednesday night.  The Great House in Sonning (mile 38) was convenient and had moorings close to the hotel so we took advantage of a warm dry room and a chance to get showered and clean.   That night we dined at the Bull in Sonning - Pig's Cheeks in a cream sauce. 

Thursday we pushed on down stream stopping in Henley for lunch and passing by Marlow and stopping for the evening in Bourne End.   We moored by the river in a park area downstream from the railway bridge and walked into Bourne End for dinner at The Walnut Tree - Fish Pie.   We were at mile 54 and we again slept in the boat.

Friday was a nice day and we made good progress early on.  We passed down one of the nicest stretches of the river known as the Cliveden Deep.  Looking back up this section you saw the most impressive Cliveden House. 

We stopped in Maidenhead for a late breakfast and moored just below the Maidenhead Railway Bridge.  This bridge turned out to be built by Brunel and it was/is the largest brick built bridge span - presumably in the whole world.  

Windsor and Eton came up next.   The castle at Windsor is impressive indeed, but the area felt way too touristy.   Lots of pleasure craft taking people on river tours, lots of people feeding way too many ducks and swans (very messy) and some weird looking Olympic Mascot on the fine old bridge between Eton and Windsor.  Very disappointing as I remember it being so nice when I visited there as a child.   

Windsor Castle from the Thames

Below Windsor there is a fine view from the river of the Royal Estate - a great park with a wonderful panorama of the castle in the distance.

That night we tied up below the Old Windsor Lock (mile 68).  The locks all have varying facilities and the Old Windsor Lock was well equipped.   For 6 pounds we got a mooring below the weir with toilets and for a further pound we got a hot water shower - just what we needed.  

Later in the evening we walked along the river bank for a mile or so to the Bells of Ouzeley - a disappointingly big modern pub.  Surprisingly the food was quite good and relatively cheap compared to what we had been paying.   

Saturday was our last day on the river and we had about 10 miles to cover.  We rowed past Runnymede (Magna Carta, JFK Memorial and all that), through the more urbanized areas of Staines, Chertsey and Weybridge and ended our trip in Walton on Thames.   Having stayed with dry feet for the entire trip, I slipped while pulling the boat out of the river and got wet feet for the drive home.
In total we did 78 miles of rowing - it was a great trip, one I would recommend to anyone.

Here are some more photos.

Brazil - August 2012

I made another work related trip to Brazil in August.  Just a one week trip and all work this time, no sightseeing just work.

I left Sacramento Sunday lunchtime to fly to Houston where later in the evening I caught my flight to Rio de Janeiro.  Flying through the night we arrived in Rio at 9:00 am and I did the switch to being a UK Citizen so that I could get into Brazil without a visa.  US Citizens need a visa to visit Brazil and that is a significant effort. 

At the airport there was a melee of drivers waiting to pick up passengers arriving on the flight – somewhere in the middle of the mass of people was my driver.   It’s not that I was some visiting VIP that warranted a driver, it’s just that that is what most companies do for there for their visitors.  Anyway after a couple of passes through the throng I located him skulking away at the back of the crowd and we were away on our way to Macae.   Macae is a town about 100 miles north east of Rio where a lot of the support activities for Brasil’s oil industry take place.

Of course the driver drove very aggressively the whole way – overtaking at every opportunity regardless of oncoming traffic or blind corners and following within a couple of feet of the vehicle in front whenever he couldn’t overtake.   It took a while to relax my grip on the edge of the seat and realize that this is the way everyone drives.

Macae from the hotel

Macae itself was very nice, not so congested as Rio, and I was taken to a very nice hotel by the beach.   Ocean views from the hotel room -  you can’t beat that.

The beach at Macae

The work was fairly uneventful.  The business meetings were pretty relaxed – everyone I met with was in jeans and a T-shirt or polo shirt - there never seemed to be any pressure to move things along or follow an agenda.  On my second day, I was kept waiting in the conference room for 2 hours before anyone came in to the meeting and it all just seemed perfectly natural to them.   By the end of the week I was quite used to just biding my time until someone came along to visit me.   Perhaps they would behave different if they were aware I was billing by the hour, but then, maybe not.

I was visiting two companies – Schahin in the first part of the week and Odebrecht in the second part.  Both are similar companies – large Brazilian conglomerates that have moved into the offshore drilling market to provide Brazilian content in a US dominated drilling contractor market.

At Odebrecht I was asked to visit one of their rigs undergoing acceptance testing just outside the harbor at Macae.  No problem I thought – I can see the rig from the shoreline here, it should be a nice short trip.   However I should have suspected something when they gave me some sea-sickness pills before I left the office on Wednesday evening.

Sure enough the next day the rig had moved further away and the promised 1 hr boat ride was in fact 1½ hours.   I tried to remain in control of my head and stomach, but after leaving the harbor area, we moved into some significant swells and the little boat was pitching about quite a lot.  I remained on the back deck, eyes glued on the horizon, trying not to think about how ill I felt.   We eventually made it to the rig – the imaginatively named ODN1 – one of the most modern dynamically position deep water drill ships around and truly a great piece of engineering.   I expected to be hoisted aboard without delay, but no.   Nothing happened.   We bobbed around like a cork in that sea and my distress continued.  

The ODN1

What I didn’t know at the time was that as I arrived at the rig, they started an Abandon Ship drill on the rig.  Of course no one can come aboard if they are rehearsing an exit from the rig.  Furthermore, the drill did not go so well.   They had to repeat it several times.   I remained on the boat for another 2 ½ hours for a total of 4 hours before they hoisted me aboard.   I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was curl up and sleep.   Alas no, it was now 12:00 noon, and my return boat was at 3:00 pm.  I really am getting too old for this kind of work.

Hoisting onto the rig from the boat

The actual hoisting onto the rig was, as always, an exciting adventure.   Being hoisted off the deck of a boat bobbing around in the swell and lifted a few hundred feet up in the air.  That’s always makes for a trip to remember.  The trip back was not so bad, at least it was shorter with no wait to disembark at the other end.  The Santa Ana islands looked nice in the late afternoon light and there were lots of Frigate Birds and Terns skimming over the tops of the waves doing their acrobatics.   I must have been feeling better to notice the birds.

The Santa Ana Islands

The boat trip was on Thursday.   Friday was a partial day in the office and then the late afternoon I was driven back to Rio for my flight.  We came into Rio at rush hour and that slowed things down a bit, but it was nice to observe how things work (or don’t work) there.  When the freeway slows up with heavy traffic, vendors come out into the lanes selling various snacks and goods.  So here you are on a major multi-lane highway and there is a young kid with a tray of snacks selling them to passing motorists.   However, there are still numerous motor cycles that are lane splitting and traveling quite fast moving between the cars and the vendors.  A very high risk profession if ever there was one.

It was an uneventful trip home, flying through the night to Houston and then on to Sacramento by lunchtime Saturday.

A few more photos are here on my Smugmug site.

Carrizo Plain - February 2012

In mid-February we made a Land Cruiser trip to a part of California I had never visited before.   To a part of California I hadn't even heard of before.   That was the Carrizo Plain - it's a National Monument area to the west of Bakersfield, North of Santa Barbara and East of San Luis Obispo.

From Sacramento we made an evening dash down I-5 dining at The Harris Ranch and staying overnight in a rather sleazy motel in Buttonwillow, my old stomping ground from the late 70's field testing with Exlog.  The next morning we made the trek west over the hills from McKittrick into the Carrizo Plain valley. 

As usual people were arriving from different parts of the State at different times - Alvaro, Aerial, John and I from Sacramento, Andre from work in Cupertino via Los Angeles (to pick up Christine), Sam from Sonoma, and Rohitash from the Bay Area.  We all arranged to meet at the Selby campground in the Carrizo Plain valley and, surprise, surprise, we all arrived without too much confusion or misunderstanding.

Andre, Christine, Rohitash, Aerial, Alvaro, Sam at Camp

The Carrizo Plain is a valley between two mountain ranges.  In the middle of the valley is a large salt lake that is surrounded by grasslands - apparently the largest remaining area of untouched grasslands in California.  At some point in the 50's I think, they tried to develop the land with housing, but it is a little too remote and while there are signs of layouts for streets there are very few houses there.  The latest encroachment is an array of solar panels on the outskirts of the National Monument.  All very nice and green, but what a blot on the landscape.  On the one side (the Bakersfield side) you have old oil fields and on the west side you have this new solar panel array.   In many ways the oil field is more interesting and visually nicer to look at than the solar panels - but then I might be biased.

The Salt Lake at Carrizo Plain

The San Andreas Fault also runs down the eastern side of the Carrizo Plain and it there are some pretty good surface indications of the fault - like truncated valleys, displaced streams, etc.  The best examples are found at Wallace Creek where the creek itself is displaced at a right angle for about 150 ft.

Stream Displaced by San Andreas Fault

There are indications of early Native American activity in the area too.  At Painted Rock, a sandstone outcrop on the west side of the valley there are rock paintings that have been dated as some 3,000 to 4,000 years old.   They aren't the most spectacular thing, but worth the hike out to the rock.

Rock Paintings

The real draw of the Carrizo Plain is the display of wildflowers in the springtime.  For a brief period it is quite spectacular.   While we were there in the early spring, this last winter has been so dry that there was nothing at all blooming.  It would be worth coming back after a nice wet winter - if we ever get one.

We camped the two nights (Friday and Saturday) at the Selby Campground and then on the Sunday morning we exited over to the west towards San Luis Obispo.  We took the scenic route over the hill tops to the small settlement of Pozo and on the way got the chance to exercise the 4-wheel drive a little bit.   Lots of fun.

Aerial, Alvaro, Andre, Christine, John

 There are a few other photos up on the SmugMug site here.

IndoChina - Laos and Thailand - January 2012

We left Hanoi on a Thursday afternoon (26 January) on a flight to Vientiane (26 January).  Quite uneventful except for the quite shocking green leather upholstery in the Lao AIrlines Airbus A320 - that was really awful.  Upon arrival in Vientiane everything was much less frenetic than Vietnam - an efficient visa on arrival arrangement, regulated taxis to various hotels with fixed pricing, US Dollars equally acceptable for payment, traffic that obeys road signs and traffic lights - the traffic even stays on the right side of the road - how civilized.

In the evening we wandered down to the Mekong river where all the restaurant action seemed to be focused.  It was indeed such a contrast to the hustle and bustle of Vietnam and Cambodia.  We found a nice Indian restaurant where we dined for next to nothing, even the Lao beer was ridiculously cheap and good.  This was Thursday evening and there was an extensive market on the promenade adjacent to the river - primarily for the local people, as tourists here are not so prolific.

Monks at the Temple

The next day, Friday, we rented bicycles as that seemed the easiest way to get around town.  Funky old bicycles with little baskets on the front and again quite cheap.  We cycled on the banks of the Mekong.  The river bed here is wide and obviously at times there must be a lot of water coming down the channel, but at this time of year the water was a long way away and barely visible in the distance.

Buddhist Temple in Vientiane

Buddha Statues

We rode around town and took in three of the more interesting temples and the Laotian equivalent of the Arc de Triomphe, called the Patuxai. Vientiane is not a big city and by lunchtime we had perhaps seen a good part of it by bicycle - we had seen enough temples anyway.  

Patuxai, Vientiane

Thanks to the French influence there were a lot of fine bakeries with great French bread, croissants and the like.  For lunch we had another fine meal in one of these establishments and relaxed for the remainder of the day.

We had an evening train for Bangkok leaving from what I thought was Vientiane but what turned out leaving from Thanaleng some 30km away (can you say Thanaleng station and make it snappy in Laotian?).   The train into Thailand was kind of interesting - 2 or 3 carriages that  crosses the Friendship Bridge over the Mekong to Nong Khai in Thailand where the overnight train awaited to take us to Bangkok - no more than a 15 minute trip, and the train was mainly full of  backpackers.
We had a sleeper on the Bangkok train and this was much better than the one in Vietnam.  There was no restaurant car on the train so we bought one or two of everything edible from the station shop just to keep us sustained through the night.   In comparison to the Vietnamese train this was the ultimate in luxury.   There was even a nice little man that came along to make our beds.

Train Food Supplies

After a very pleasant and comfortable journey we arrived in Bangkok station just before 8:00 am.  As we were finding our bearings in the station, 8:00 came and an announcement was made and the Thai National Anthem was played.  Everyone stopped, stood up (me included) and stood to attention during the Anthem.  Very strange to see a bustling station come to a standstill and then immediately resume the chaos afterwards.  The Thai people appear to hold their king in high esteem - his picture is everywhere, including a nice big one in the station.   I have heard that disrespecting the King does not go down well in Thailand.

Respect for the King at Bangkok Station

We were staying at the Royal Orchid but failed to make it clear that it was the Sheraton Royal Orchid and there are other Royal Orchids.  Consequently we had a nice scenic tour of the city in the back of a tuk-tuk only to return to the station 10 minutes later and head off in the right direction to the ‘Sheraton’ Royal Orchid.  After checking in a getting cleaned up we headed off to the Chatuchak Weekend Market.  This was an impressive market with over 5,000 stalls selling an impressive array of handicrafts, clothing, foods and live animals.   The live animals area was the most interesting - you name it they probably had it there - cats, dogs, birds (some quite exotic like the Toucan), fish (little ones up to big Koi Carp), lizards, squirrels, ….  Quite disturbing in some ways too, as the animals were perhaps not kept in the best of conditions.

Bags of Fish at Chatuchak Market

Squirrels at Chatuchak Market

Squid on a stick

Then it was off to the Jim Thompson house - not exactly my cup of tea, but it turned out to be a quite interesting place.   Jim Thompson apparently pioneered the export of Thai silk to the US in the 50s and 60s.  He was an architect and his home in Bangkok is quite splendid.  He mysteriously disappeared without a trace in Malaysia in 1967 - his body was never found.

During our visit the Jim Thompson’s house it rained, it really rained, the heavens opened and it just poured down.  That increased the humidity and for the rest of the day I wandered around like a drowned rat.  I am amazed that I can be absolutely dripping with sweat just standing there and there will be some Thai person dressed in not particularly cool clothing and they look as cool as could be - how do they do that?
We experimented with riding on the river taxis in an attempt to get back to the hotel.  These are a great way to get around if you know which way to go (I didn’t) but it’s cheap and fun but you have to be a bit bold in the jumping on and jumping off, they don’t exactly wait around and they don’t exactly tie up close to the docks either.  The ticket collection seems a bit random too - if they get to you then you pay, if they are so busy taking money elsewhere then you have a free ride.

Canal Boats Bangkok

More street walking in the afternoon and then we caught a boat down the Chao Phraya (the main river in Bangkok) to our hotel.

That night we dined at the Oriental (the first hotel to be built in Bangkok).  A nice meal in the open air by the river and a very nice end to our Asian travels.
Early the next morning (5:00 am) we were off to the airport for the return trip back to the real world.   That was a shame as I was just getting used to the traveling thing.

As usual there are more photographs on SmugMug - the best ones are here, and all of the photos from Laos are here, and from Thailand are here.

IndoChina - Vietnam - January 2012

This is a continuation of our IndoChina trip and follows on from the Cambodia notes.  We reached the border crossing between Cambodia and Vietnam at the town of Bavet. The crossing into Vietnam was pretty uneventful.  We already had visas so it was just a case of walking from the Cambodian side to the Vietnamese side, getting a stamp in the passport, getting the bags x-rayed and then getting back on the bus.  

We continued on towards Saigon or rather Ho Chi Minh City as the Vietnamese government like you to call it now.  To the locals it is still Saigon.  

We seemed to be going through the built up outskirts of Saigon for a long time - it is certainly a very large city (some 9 million people).  We eventually made it to the bus station where a taxi driver tried to take advantage of our lack of familiarity with the Vietnamese Dong on the ride to the hotel.  Fortunately we got away without being fleeced too much. Tourists are always easy marks and I am always suspicious of those taxi drivers lurking at bus and train stations as we naive and innocent travelers seek help.

Hotel continental, Saigon

We were staying at The Continental which is one of the older hotels in the middle of town.  If anyone read The Quiet American by Graham Greene (or saw the film with Michael Caine), then The Continental is where a lot of the activity took place.  I have had a desire to stay there since seeing the film, and I finally made it.  Alas the hotel is getting a little long in the tooth now, and while not as old as the Raffles in Phnom Penh it hasn’t been kept up quite as well.   Nevertheless a nice hotel in a great part of the city. 

The first thing that is noticed in Saigon is the traffic, some cars, but lots and lots and lots of motorbikes and scooters.  The whole population seems to be on a motorbike, and just like Cambodia not just one or two passengers per bike, the whole family is on there 3,4,5 even 6 people.  And all this traffic just flows along arbitrarily following some kind of traffic rules - more suggestions than rules.   But it all seems to work, when you cross the street you get used to just launching yourself into traffic and walking across and magically the traffic parts and swims around you.   The only rule is - don’t back up or make rapid course changes - the flow of traffic doesn’t expect that and can’t accommodate it.

Saigon Street - Motor Scooters

It was a couple of days before Tet so Saigon was decked out in all its New Year’s splendour.  Lots of flowers, balloons, lights everywhere and signs wishing us Happy New Year - or Chuc Nam Mong Noi as we say in Vietnam.  After dark, the downtown streets were just spectacular - decorated with lights and thronged with people and of course the roads were just overflowing with motor scooters.  The thing to do apparently was to pile the whole family on your motor scooter and then drive laps around the city center - a lot of fun.

Saigon - Tet Decorations

Saigon at night before Tet

We finished the evening off with a drink on the rooftop of the Majestic Hotel - one of the finer older hotels with a great view over the Mekong River.

The next day (Saturday) I set off to see the sites of the city. Nancy had already seen the city so she did the shopping thing - surprisingly there are some very fine shops in this very capitalist looking city in this now not so communist country.  Within the city, there are a few things to see - the Cathedral, the old Post Office, the Government Palace, the War Museum, etc.   I did them all.  The Palace was the site of the capitulation of the South Vietnamese government to the victorious Viet Cong back in 1972.  A tank broke through the fences of the palace, the Vietnamese flag was planted and the rest was history - Vietnam was unified as a Communist State. There were quite a few instructional exhibits that while a bit propagandist in their approach were nevertheless quite helpful in understanding what the Vietnamese have been through (and what those poor young American soldiers of my age/generation must have gone through too).

That night we did more people watching as we walked around.  The venue for drinks was the Rex - a fine modern hotel right in the center of town.

Monks in Saigon City Center

On Sunday, the 22nd January, it was New Year’s Eve, so things were getting ready to be shut down for a while.   Tet can be up to a week’s holiday in some parts and it is the time that most Vietnamese go home to their villages and families.  The morning started for me with a trip out to the Cu Chi tunnels (again Nancy had already done this).   This is a village some 30 km from Saigon where they have preserved some of the tunnel network that the Viet Cong used in their war against the South and the Americans.  

Cu Chi tunnels

During the war there was a very extensive network of tunnels (100’s of miles of tunnels across the entire area outside Saigon).   The VC lived down there and came out to wreak havoc on the enemy.  Now there is a small section where the tunnels have been preserved and it has become a tourist destination.  There are displays of how the VC lived, fought, and how they were victorious against the US with their very simple low tech devices (various man traps with nasty bamboo spikes).  Just to make the trip worthwhile they add in a shooting range where you can sign up to shoot all manner of weaponry - I didn’t do that bit.

I returned to Saigon for our last afternoon in the city before boarding the train for Hanoi.  We wandered around taking in all the flower arrangements for Tet along the main street.  We also took a trip up to the observation deck of the Bitexco Financial Tower. This is a truly impressive building - one that would be appropriate in any modern western city not to mention a ‘Communist’ country like Vietnam.   The views from the top (47th floor out of a total 67 floors) were impressive indeed.

Saigon - Bitexco Financial Tower

That evening we had tickets for the train to Hanoi - for me one of the high points of the trip.  Not so for Nancy who was not impressed by the thoughts of a 32 hour train journey.  We had First Class Soft Sleeper seats - the best you can get - but to be honest it was a bit of a let down - not quite as clean and not quite as soft as we would have liked - actually quite primitive.   They certainly found some very old and well used rolling stock for this trip.   

We had to displace a family who were squatting in our compartment, and then I had to restrain Nancy who was ready to leave and take a flight.  We were joined in our compartment by a nice family traveling home for Tet (they had the top bunks we had the bottom ones) and as night fell we rolled out of Saigon and were on our way north.  At midnight the peace was shattered as they decided to announce the New Year with some extremely loud music over the carriage speaker system.  It went on for ages and ages and ages - repeating the same song interspersed with meaningless (to me) speeches.   I was ready to do some vandalism to the speaker when it finally ceased.

Saigon to Hanoi Train

In the morning our compartment friends left and we had the compartment to ourselves for the rest of the day.   The weather had changed overnight and it was grey and cloudy outside with occasional rain.   Not that inviting and we didn’t get to see a whole lot through the mists.  What we did see looked like it would be quite nice on a good day - lots of hills, lots of rice paddies, all very rural.   We passed through Nha Trang, Qui Nhon, Da Nang, Vinh - all the major towns up the coast, but alas we didn’t see much - just the landscape passing by through our somewhat dirty carriage windows.

Just before dawn of the next day we rolled into Hanoi and the end of our trip.  That was a 36 hour trip - a long time to be on a train.  While I kind of liked it, Nancy was not so enthusiastic.   Next time I might plan a stop in the middle somewhere.

At the station in Hanoi, it was still dark and raining.  We had another experience of a taxi driver trying to take advantage of us on our way to our hotel, The Metropole.  It’s hard to strike a good cheap deal when you are wanting a ride to one of the best hotels in town so I have some sympathies for the taxi driver.

The Metropole was another wonderful old hotel (Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard stayed there on their honeymoon) and even though we were arriving at 6:00 in the morning, they were nice enough to give us a room.  It was great to clean up after the train trip and experience the wonders of the breakfast buffet - the breakfast buffet is one of my favorite things to do in a nice hotel.

Hanoi - Bridge on Hoan Kiem Lake

Later in the day I took in the sites of the city.   There aren’t so many, but I did visit the Lake in the center of town, the Hanoi Hilton Prison, the Cathedral, Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum (alas closed on New  Year’s Day) and I wandered around a lot.  It was nice just to walk around the old parts of town and check out the life on the street.  Since it was New Year’s Day, things were a little quiet.   In Hanoi there did not seem to be so much hustle as in Saigon, and there was more evidence here that the country is a Communist country - things were just that little drabber, less prosperous and more disheveled than Saigon - of course the weather being cooler and greyer didn’t help.

Hanoi Hilton Prison

The next day Ho Chi Minh was open for viewing so we did the mausoleum tour.  Just like Lenin and Mao, poor old Ho is embalmed and exposed for the world to see in his mausoleum.  It was very busy (it’s the thing for all Vietnamese to do) yet quite reverent, the Army guards keep everyone in line and moving around the coffin.  He looked just like his photos but it could have been a wax dummy for all I could tell.  After the mausoleum, we paid a visit to his house and office complex.   He apparently remained a simple man living and working in a modest wooden house by a lake near where his mausoleum is now located.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

I didn’t bother visiting the lake where John McCain parachuted into during the war, but I did see his flight suit which is on display in the Hanoi Hilton prison.  For the remainder of the day we wandered around the streets of the old town. It is quite a nice walking city and there is an interesting mix from people cooking/selling/eating food on the street to chic shops that would not have been out of place in any city in the US.

Hanoi - Street Vendor by Hoan Kiem Lake

On our final day in Hanoi (Thursday), we had pretty much seen all there was to see, so we just did more walking around. We got to know certain bits of the city quite well.   Nancy bought a bootleg North Face back pack - the exact same design as you would get in the USA but with lower quality material and zips, etc.  For about $10 you can’t complain, unless you are North Face.  They even had the North Face label on the product - quite blatant copying.

North Face back packs - very well priced

In the late afternoon we made our way to the airport for the last leg of our trip the flight to Vientiane Laos.

There are more photographs up on Smugmug - the best ones are here and all the photos fit to print are here.