Vietnam - Mekong Delta

Today we went on a tour of the Mekong Delta.  It is home to about 17 million of Vietnam's 90 million people, and most of these people are farmers. The majority of the farmers are rice farmers, but they also farm sugar cane, tapioca and a myriad of fruits including bananas, pineapples and papayas. They raise animals and fish in the river.

One thing we have learned in Vietnam is that last minute planning is quite alright, and actually cheaper than booking online. The Mekong delta tour is a very popular tourist activity, do there are many options to choose from. At our homestay there was a brochure for the "luxury" cruise which takes tourists down the river in a speed boat. It also offered a bit different tour than the other options so we opted for luxury.  We were glad we did. 

Early in the morning we were picked up near our homestay and taken to the river. There we joined 8 other people and our guide, captain, mate and helper.  The luxury service included breakfast (a cheese sandwich - really the only mediocre thing about the tour), lots of fresh fruit and unlimited drinks (water, pop, and ice tea) and a traditional vietnamese lunch. 

There were some ship yards on the river

There are also a myriad of different types of boats travelling along this waterway carrying many different cargos. The most common we saw were barges and "barge-like" boats carrying sand and rock for construction. There were also cargo ships for food and other goods and then the small fishing and cargo boats. 

Barge-type cargo boat.

Barge with crane

Barge and tugboat

Cargo boat

Boat loaded with lumber. Our guide told us that people will often overload these boats in order to make more money. So our captain always slowed down to keep the wake waves smaller and not rock them too hard. The wood they are transporting is melaleuca wood which they use when constructing their houses along the river. This type of wood will last about 15 years in the water.

Boat carrying sacks of rice

Ferries.

"Personal" boats for a variety of tasks

The sheer number and variety of boats was astonishing as was the variety of goods they were carrying.

Bali - Kuta Beach

Our last day in Bali was spent on the beach.  In hindsight I would have liked more time to sit and watch the waves....guess that means we have to go back to Bali...

We walked along the beach until we spied two empty chairs...we haggled a bit about the cost for using them....(about $15 for the day) and parked ourselves.  This is pretty much the view I had all day.  There were many people of all ages surfing even right there by the beach.  As at Boracay, vendors came by to sell all manner of things - hats, sunglasses, towels, sarongs, and souvenirs. One man came and chatted with us for some time.  He was selling boys and arrows, but seemed just as interested in talking to us about where we were from and where we had been.  He had many interesting things to say about the various nationalities of people he had met on the beach.

Both of us went in for a swim.  I was unprepared for the strength of the surf.  For those who have experienced surf before you will likely nod your head wisely....it is SO powerful.  I thought the waves coming in would be the waves to watch for, but it was in fact the receding waves which were the scariest because they sucked me back out to the deeper water.  And as each wave broke, it took up huge amounts of sand, so that when I was finished with my little swim I was full of sand...every part of my bathing suit was full of sand.

 Bob is heading out for his swim.

From my chair I was able to watch (with the binoculars) both the surf at Kuta reef (where the experienced surfers go) and the action at the airport.  For a small island, there is an unbelievable number of planes! 

I tried taking a picture with my phone through one side of the binoculars with some success.

 Kuta reef waves in the background.  The vendor who stopped to talk to us said that the surf at the reef was 3.5 to 4.5 metres high, and the surf at the beach 1.5 to 2.5 metres.

 A plane arriving.  At most times when I looked at the airport there were either planes landing or planes waiting to take off, or both.  Pretty constantly.

As it got later in the evening the beach filled with people who were obviously there to watch the sunset.  Unlike our more familiar latitudes, here so close to the equator, the sun sets at about 6:30.  Then it gets dark pretty quickly.

A glorious end to the day.

Mt Batur...a Bali hike

Rita and I joked about how long it would take before we remembered this adventure with fondness, and maybe even a bit of laughter.  As I look over the pictures, I see us smiling in most of them.  Is this a result of a lifetime of training?  "Smile for the camera!"  Perhaps. 

We were definitely victims of false advertising...or at least misleading advertising.  The hike was billed as a "not too difficult" walk which would be suitable for most people and children.  It was, in fact a better than two hour walk, half of which was gentle to not-so-gentle slope over sand, and loose volcanic rock of various sizes, to steep and steeper slopes covered in loose volcanic rock of various sizes...all in the dark with flashlights.

A bus picked us up in Sanur at 2:00am for the two hour trip to the beginning of the trek.  The road there was narrow, bumpy, and winding...as I've shown in previous posts.  We arrived and joined at least 100 other people set to make the trek to see the sun rise.  We had 4 guides for our group of 9 people.  The  guide who took the lead, Annie, told us she does the hike four times a week. Other of our guides did it more often.  Though she was no bigger than a minute, it was Annie who got me up that hill...

 We all look our best at 3:00!  A quick trip to the bathroom and we are off!

Following this happy picture are two+  hours of increasing elevation to the top of the volcano...of course it was pitch black when we arrived...

 This is sunrise.  You can see that the weather did not cooperate.  We never did see the sun...or much of the spectacular (advertised) scenery.

  Coffee was a welcome treat!  It was cccccold up there.

 The breakfast shack.

 The edge of the caldera.  Our guide told us that a person died when he tried to take a "jumping" selfie and fell into the caldera.

 A steam vent...a welcome stop for a quick warm up.

 Bob went on a more extended hike, so did not join us for this part.

 Rita practiced yoga moves in the fog...

 See...we really were there, and didn't fake the photos...

 The advertised troops of monkeys obviously weren't fond of the fog either.  We saw three monkeys, which was quite enough for me.

 By a steam vent with two of our guides. The cold-looking young man lent his coat to Ada... My glasses were too steamed up for a picture.

 Time to head down.

 The path was as treacherous down as up...but in daylight so much easier to navigate.

 We meet at the halfway point on the way down...

We took the "easier" way down from there and looked out over the fields of overgrown lava flows...the bulk of which was from a 1963 eruption.  The most recent eruption was in 2000

So it was an arduous climb which gave us no beautiful sunrise at the top...but....did we look like we had a good time?  I think the shared adventure made it a memorable event...

Bali - A Villa in Sanur

I've decided to dispense with the numbering system...I feel it will become too onerous when we finally arrive in Canada...I'm going to stick to themes now...lazy?  Perhaps...

The second leg of our Bali vacation was in the town of Sanur, on the east side of Bali.  We met there with our Seoul school family - Vanessa, Rita and Cathy (three of the four other teachers who opened the new CBIS school in Seoul with us in Septembet 2012) and Ada, who joined them at CBIS this year.  The six of us rented a private villa a block from the beach.  We lived in the lap of luxury, enjoying the private pool, and lovely outdoor showers. The beach, eating and shopping were all close.  It was a wonderful time of friendship, visiting, sun-worshiping and relaxing.

 Our bedroom

 Deck and pool

  

It was a lovely place to call home for a few days.

The beach was a block away.  I didn't go and swim much, though the others went in the water.  Beach chairs could be rented for the equivalent of $5 per day, so the afternoon was often spent on the beach.

 Rita at the beach our first day.

 I did get my feet wet...

The sand was very interesting.  Up on the beach the sand was angular, down by the water it was round.  Walking by the water was difficult as our feet sunk into the sand badly.

 Angular sand

 Round sand.

The breakers were a long way from the beach.

 The white line....way out there is where the surf was...

This is a popular area for kite surfing...it was always windy!  Some people were really amazing.

Of course there were jet skiis!

Of course there was lots of touristy shopping in Sanur.  (And I note I took no pictures of these little shops). Bob and the others got quite good at bargaining,  I find it uncomfortable - at least on the beach - in the little shops it is a bit different.  You start with "how much is this?" And then when a number is given, offer back about one third of the asking price and go from there.  Generally the final price was between one third and one half of the original asking price.  It seems to me that it would be tiring constantly haggling over the price of things....

 Successful shopping with Rita and Ada.

 Remember the aluminum craftsmen?  Here are aluminum wares for sale.

On our last day we decided to go on a sunrise hike to Mt Batur, a dormant volcano on the island of Bali, about 2 hours from Sanur....but that is an adventure all it's own....