First and Last of May

It’s the end of May and I’m sitting here listening to Emi Fujita’s soulful rendition of ‘First of May’. It’s among one of my favourite songs.

First of May

When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall,
we used to love while others used to play.
Don't ask me why, but time has passed us by,
someone else moved in from far away.

Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small,
and you don't ask the time of day.
But you and I, our love will never die,
but guess who'll cry come first of May.

The apple tree that grew for you and me,
I watched the apples falling one by one.
And as I recall the moment of them all,
the day I kissed your cheek and you were gone.

Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small,
and you don't ask the time of day.
But you and I, our love will never die,
but guess who'll cry come first of May.

When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall,
do do do do do do do do do ...

Always thought the song was about growing up and reminiscing some lost childhood love. Or maybe just a song to mark the start of spring; or perhaps the international Labours’ Day. That was until I came across Barry’s explanation …

BARRY GIBB: 'First of May,' that was my dog's birthday. When Linda and I first moved into an apartment near St Paul's Cathedral, we got ourselves a Pyrenean mountain dog and named him Barnaby. The idea came from then. Sad to say, Barnaby's gone but the song lives on.

Vietnam 2006 Part 8 & 9 : Absolut Hanoi

Day 8 & 9(Sat-Sun) : Hanoi and Back to Singapore

We arrived in Hanoi early on Saturday and decided to walk to the Old Quarters. Along the way we witnessed the local folks engaging in all forms of exercises around the tranquil Hoan Kiem Lake. We then managed to find a place for an early morning bowl of Pho and ‘Yau Char Kwai’.

After breakfast we found Salute hotel opened. This was the real Salute. The one I actually found on the internet. Though a little pricey at US$25 for a room for two, we found the rooms quite well furnished and well worth the price. As check-in was around noon, we dumped our bags and went off for some unfinished sightseeing.

Here is what we did in our final two days …

Second Breakfast at this French-styled café with a great view of Hoan Kiem Lake.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. You might ask why bother waiting in a long queue and getting yourself checked by security just to see one embalmed dead man. Well, this was no ordinary man, this is the most revered leader in this young nation’s history. He’s like what Mao is to China and Stalin is to Russia.

HCM Museum. Everything you need to know about Vietnam’s struggle to become an fully independent nation.

One-Pillar Pagoda. Self explanatory.

West Lake. The biggest pond in Hanoi. Pretty misty, so didn’t stay long.

Elevensies. Yes, we were eating like Hobbits. Hmmm … and there were four of us. Anyway, near the west lake we had porridge and more ‘Yau Char Kwai’.

Lunch at Little Hanoi Restaurant. This place was mentioned in the Travel Guide. There’s a few copy-cats around. The food was so-so.

Shopping Streets in Old Quarter. Good for souvenirs, cheap t-shirts, hand-woven bags, Russion Dolls, DVDs, and other branded imitations.

A local market selling almost anything under the sun.

Dim Sum Buffet on Sunday. Quite a delectable spread for only 75,000 Dong each.

Our trip finally came to an end on Sunday. Bags packed and with heavy hearts, we wave farewell to this fair city, one that is bustling with new-world industry while still holding on to its old charms.

All in all, this trip was quite an eye opener and pretty enjoyable, meeting most of my pre-trip expectations. Still got the rest of the country to visit, so I will definitely be back in Vietnam again one day.

Signing off. Tam Biet.

Vietnam 2006 Part 6 & 7 : Trekking down the valley

Day 6 & 7(Wed-Thurs) : Trekking through Sa Pa

Mist-less morning
If you ever decide to come visit Sa Pa, do not miss the treks down the mountain. There are a few to choose from, but try to squeeze in one that has an overnight stay in a village.

We woke up to a bright new day. Outside the window we could see the grand view of the surrounding hills and valleys. The heavy downpour the previous night did us a favour by clearing away the mist. However the downside, which we found out much later, was that it also made the mountain trails all muddy and slippery.

After breakfast, we headed off with our local Vietnamese guide, Dinh, down the mountain. Dinh was a local graduate who worked as a part time tour guide during his holidays. He spoke surprisingly good English, had good local knowledge, and had a cheeky good-natured demenour. And he just loves to tease the local H’mong girls.

A view of Sa Pa town

So we set off on our 11km trek down the mountain.

There were slippery down slopes, narrow trails through rice fields, rocky paths next to running streams, muddy village roads, and sturdy suspension bridges. All the way down we had a wonderful panaromic view of the valley, rice terraces, shallow streams and a backdrop of bluish-green mountains.

Valleys and Hills

Rice Terraces

The best part of the trek was the company of local H’mong girls and women who easily kept up with us and kept us amused with attempts to sell us their wares.

"Now, to make you look tribal..."

After getting most of my shoes and jeans muddy, we finally reached Tavan village, our designated homestay for the night. That night our host, a Zay family, cooked us an assorted spread of meat and veges, and made us down a few shots of ‘Happy Water’, also known as rice wine. I decided to call it a night after dinner as alcohol and weariness took its toll on me. Downstairs, Ravi, Norman and Dinh continued to chat about Government policies and amusing tribal culture.

Dinner is served

Our home for the night

A Hand in Need
We woke up to another bright new morning. As we were having breakfast, we could see the Zay children all trudging off to their local school. We had another 5km to go this morning as we were headed for Giang Ta Chai village and then back up to the main road which is our pick up point.

The trek was even more challenging this time as the route was hilly and the rain again had made the trails extra slippery. We were lucky though as we were waylaid by a group of H’mong women at the start of our journey. They generously took us by hand and led us through the daunting steep trails and narrow mud paths. Without them I guess I’ll probably be falling over a few times and dirty all over from groping whatever plant or rock that helps me keep my balance. We of course rewarded their assistance by buying a few more shirts and bangles.

After a brief visit to Giang Ta Chai Village where the Red Zao tribes people live, we had lunch at a rest point. It was a short climb to the main road after that where a van soon fetched us back to our hotel.

A view of the trail we took

More shopping at the waterfall

Posing on the suspension bridge

Goodbyes
Back at the hotel, we showered and rested as we had a few hours to go before our trip back down to Lao Cai’s train station. We even had a visit from the friendly bunch of H’mong girls who we met on the first day.

After dinner, we took the van down to Lao Cai. Our train left for Hanoi at 8:30pm.

Under The Condor’s Spell

One just can’t get enough of Jin Yong. So the last two weeks were spent devouring the entire 41 episodes of the new ‘Shen Diao Xia Li’ (Return of the Condor Heroes) on DVD.

After watching ‘Legend of the Condor Heroes’ in October last year , I couldn’t wait for the new adaptation of the sequel. Then one day while surfing channels on TV, I stumbled on 8TV’s nightly screening of this widely popular martial art epic. Well, couldn’t put myself through 9 weeks of slow unveiling of the series, so went out to get the DVDs.

I must say these made in China serials are quite impressive with amazing sets and backdrops (China’s natural wonders to the fore), talented casts (some reprising their old roles from LOTCH), artistic direction and clever cinematography (not your common martial arts flick), and lots of film reel spent on capturing the essence of the constant anguish of Yang Guo and the mushy romance between the two lovebirds. One complaint though, Xiao Long Nu played by Crystal Liu Yi Fei, though all pretty and innocent, doesn’t quite fit the age or have the presence of the venerable little dragon girl.

The Condor(yes,the big bird) has improved too as the creators try to imitate the walking reptiles from ‘Walking with Dinosours’. However other CGs like the the nine tail fox and aerial view of Xiang Yang looked like something out of an old PC Game.

Maybe now they will remake Heavenly Sword & Dragon Sabre to finish off the Condor Trilogy.

P.S : For all those banana people out there who doesn’t read Chinese, there’s a forum with an entire translation of ROCH, episode by episode.

The Condor Couple ...

Crystal Liu as 'Xiao Long Nu' ...

Idy Chan as 'Xiao Long Nu' in the 1984 version. Still the no.1 fan favourite ...

Yang Mi, the doe-eyed beauty, as Guo Xiang ...

And the truth shall set you free...or so they say.

This entry at Savage Chicken just cracks me up. For a daily dose of chicken humour, or an escape from never-ending mails and excel spreadsheets at work, hop on over to savagechickens.com

Vietnam 2006 Part 5 : The Hills are Alive !!

Day 5(Wed) : Arrive at Sa Pa

Okay, I’m back to my write-up of my Hanoi trip. I know I’m kind of slow on this topic and it’s been almost a month ago since I returned, but bear with me, there’s only five more day or posts to go. Hmmm … five days … that will take me like weeks to complete. He he, just kidding. Anyway if you’re the impatient type, you can always read Ravi or Norman’s blog to know the rest of the adventure.

Now, where was I? Aaah yes, on the train to Lao Cai.

Up up and away
The train finally rumbled to a stop at Lao Cai Station after about 8 hours of travel. It was already daylight outside the window. It was 5 plus Viet time. We quickly gathered our baggage and followed the rest of the passengers out of the train. There was another ticket checkpoint before we entered the station. From there, we took advice from the travel guide, and got a ride up to Sa Pa on a van for 25,000 Dong per person.

The trip up took the mountain took about an hour. We soon arrived at Sa Pa town and my immediate thoughts were ‘whoa, what can we see in this fog?’. But having read about it in journals, I was hopeful that the fog will soon clear around mid day.

Anyway we got the van driver to take us to Mountain View Hotel, a place which had relatively good reviews and was also recommended by Souplad. Yes, as the name suggested, it had a quite good view of the mountains. We took a look at the rooms on offer and decided to go for the US$8 ones with double beds.

At the entrance of Mountain View hotel

After taking a short nap and a much needed bath, we were off to explore the town and to taste mountain breakfast fare.

You buy from me?
Sa Pa is a small town of few streets, and the shops there mainly cater to the tourist trade. It was not too crowded when we got there, probably because it was a weekday. The people who lived there are mainly local Vietnamese who run businesses, and on the streets, moving in small bands are the H’mong women (and girls), tribes people who live closest to town.

The Catholic Church near the town square

As we were exploring the town square, we were waylaid by a small group of H’mong girls in indigo coloured costumes. They immediately surprised us with a slew of English questions, and you don’t get this from the local Vietnamese.

“What’s your name?”, “Where you from?”, “How old are you?” rolled of their tongues as they engaged us in friendly chatter. You can’t help but feel amazed by the friendliness and boldness of these young girls. They were a delight to talk to and they would follow us as we walked around the town. And finally, they would demonstrate their entrepreneuring spirit by asking us the all important question, “You buy from me?”. This while they pulled out trinkets, bracelets, friendship bands and small handbags from their bag pockets.

A group of H'mong girls

The Dynamic Duo ... who made sure I bought their goods before leaving the mountain

We found a place for breakfast at ‘Chocolat and Baguette’ and feasted on Ommelettes and Pancakes. On our way back to the hotel, we encountered more H’mong girls but resisted buying any of their craft work. Not yet anyway.

Sa Pa Market

Lost in the Mountains … almost.
After some refreshing sleep, we decided to do our own trekking in the afternoon. So we chose the simplest route which goes past Cat Cat and Sin Chai village.

It was still foggy as we made our way down the mountain. Soon we found the entrance to Cat Cat village. The village was like a showcase mini-village with huts lining up both sides of the stone stairways. Not to miss out on the tourist trade, some of these huts are fronted by shops selling all kinds of locally hand-woven clothes and hand-crafted art work.

Cat Cat hut

Bridge over narrow streams

For Sale in Cat Cat

Out of the village, we came to a small suspension bridge that led us to an old power station. Learning from the travel guide that there is a path to Sin Chai from here, we avoided the upward path and went straight ahead. However after about half an hour of walking and not finding the suspension bridge that was mentioned in the book, we became restless. Fortunately for us, we met an elderly H’mong woman crossing the river and decided to ask her where the path leads to. Her answer, “Fan Si Pan”. That is the highest peak in Vietnam, one day trek from Sa Pa. We were on the wrong path.

Armed with new knowledge, we had no choice but to track back to the fork in the path. We should have taken the path up when we passed the power station instead of walking straight. Anyway, it was another hour of walking and lots of climbing as the path led us back to the main road. We decided to give Sin Chai a miss and to plop ourselves at the first café we see. That’s when we found Pink Floyd Café. The ladies there were nice enough to offer us nuts and sun flower seeds that they were having.

Cold night
After tea, we made a stop at a tour agency to book our train tickets from Lao Cai back to Hanoi. We got them at 230,000 Dong each plus 10,000 extra for service.

We also decided to book for a 2D/1N trek the next day at the hotel. For a trek down the mountain to Tavan for a overnight home stay and a half day trek the next day to Giang Ta Chai, we managed to get the price down to US$18 per person.

That night we had a late dinner at one of the nearby restaurants. It was only past nine but I guess it was late by local standards as many shops were already closed and there were not many people on the streets. The freezing weather did not help either, so we called it a night and retired to our rooms to play a few rounds of bridge until sleep beckoned.