More Vietnam stuff

I am sitting here in my hotel room.  I have my shoulders and chest soaked in aloe vera gel.  I have been in the sun too much and too long.  I need the shade for now on I think.  Today, I took a gondola ride up the top of a mountain.  The view was fantastic.  When I arrived on top, another plus was that I was totally alone up there.  I guess it's most popular during the night as people like all the light displays up there and overlooking the city

Once you arrive on top, they will drive you around to see all their displays. I chose to just walk and take my time.  Another mistake.  That was a LOT of walking and getting roasted in the sun.  So, the following pictures are some of what I did today.

Waterfall on top of mountain

I liked this bridge for some reason.

After walking some, I came to the waterfall which was the only sound you could hear on top of the mountain, and it was the background music for the rest of my time up there.  The have am Impressive sized Buddha statue at top.  You can see this for miles and miles away.  Moving along, I saw a sign that said "Wild Boar" with an arrow pointing to a path.  After thinking about this later, I was like "a blind, winding path with a sign that says Wild Boar, might not be the safest or smartest thing to do"  Anyways, I went and was pleasantly surprised to meet some new friends.

Big Bird

Funny thing about the ostrich bird.  You just cannot tell if they like you, or are getting ready to head butt you.  There were about 30 of these prehistoric creatures.  I got to looking at them pretty closely as it isn't every day you come eye to eye with such a freak of nature.  Have you ever seen the "Feet" of an ostrich?  They are talons made for warfare.  If one of these birds got on you with their feet, they look like they could just rip you in 1/2 fairly easily.

Feet were longer than mine.

view of Vung tau from top of Mt.



They did have some wild boars as well, but I didn't feel they were picture worthy.   I said my "Hellos" to them all, and then went about my way.  I also soon came upon 3 monkeys in a large cage which again I didn't take pictures of.  So, it was nice relaxing day.  Got some sun, got some pictures, got some pizza, and came back to my room.  When I started writing tonight, I turned around and noticed that Vietnam was putting on a sunset show, so I took a shot of the evening sky.  Thats it for today - See at the next stop  :-)

Vietnam sky from my room.

Up Coast from Vung Tau

I got up this morning at the ripe time of 12:30pm.  Still a little off kilter from the jet lag I suppose.  Well, it was high time that I got up and showered.  Had another motorbike ride to take today.  It wasn't too far into my ride when I stumbled on my future home.  It was just like I have envisioned it.  This is where you can find me a number of years from now, or maybe sooner than that :-)  What a cool place to have.  This looked to be about 1/4 mile from the shore.  Yep, I'll take it. Also, if you don't know, you can click on the pictures and enlarge if you wish.  Okay, lets roll......

The mission for today, was to drive North and head up the coast to where the "Monkey Temple" is.  A local guy was telling me about it, so ofcourse I had to go check out the monkeys.  Seems that where Thailand has elephants, Vietnam has the monkeys.  I have seen though, many monkeys in Thailand too, but Vietnam doesn't have the elephants.  This turned in to about a 2.5 hr pleasant ride, then a little bit of offroad.  A person would just never find this place unless you are a local.  This is why, the best thing you can do when you travel abroad is hook up with a friend.  They are proud to show you all the cool stuff which are NOT in the "guide books".  Plus, you wont be playing w/ the tourist crowd.  I like the back 40 stuff myself.  So, quickly after we arrived, I knew this was going to be a special place.  Very quiet......all you could hear was monkeys up in the trees, and these wonderful metal wind chimes on the temple.  The surrounding rocks speak for themselves.  Here you see a Bhuddist alter of some sort.   This would be a good time to mention what I noticed as somewhat of a surprise.  I have actually seen more Christian and Catholic chapels than I have seen any other religion, though Bhuddism is still a quite popular belief for many.

The trail on search of monkeys

I know you have peanuts, hand em over.

Soon, I found my monkey friends.  It is a complete different experience throwing peanuts to wild monkeys, vs. ones behind bars at the zoo.  You have to really watch these rascals.  I was told they have taken peoples cameras, purses, and food.  I never felt threatened by any of them probably because the ones I saw were very small.  But still, they do have teeth.  We didn't come across any monkeys at the temple as is usual, so we began to hike up the hillside on this ancient trail.

Soon, you could hear them thrashing throughout the trees.  They seem to know that  maybe some treats were coming.  You should have seen these creatures FLY through the trees!   What amazing acrobats!!  I could have watched the for hours on end.  They would go high up into the trees, then launch like 30 feet out and down, and land in some bushes or another tree.  They can also catch.  You can throw a nut to them over 10 ft away, and they will catch it.  Funny things, monkeys  :-)

Buddist Monk cleaning floor of temple

And, I'll add a few more pics of this place w/ captions.  Very glad I was able to visit this place.  I will remember it forever.

Inside of the temple.  Notice size of door.  

Along the route back, came upon this little fishing district right on the coast of the South China Sea.  These were just different families doing this work.  On this particular street, there were probably 20 different outfits working sided by side.  This is drying fish in the sun.  Yeah, didn't smell that great.  But this is the real McCoy here.  When next you are in an Asian store and you see the vaccuumed packed dried fish, here is where it is made.

Typical Vietnamese lady (old school) working on her fish.  Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY has seomthing to do here.  

more fish...........

...and more and more and MORE FISH!!!

Okay then, that is all I have time for tonight.  Am having fun.  Riding the motorbike through heavy traffic and round abouts,  feels like being inside an arcade game.  It is a total trip.  I called it "Organized Chaos".  Somehow, it works.  It's less driving, and more avoiding impact.  Fun as can be!  Okay, I will update later as things move along.  Tomorrow I think I'm just staying here by pool and get a full day of reading in.  R&R day tomorrow.  I also had to respond to a few critical emails to my work in Qatar, so it's not "ALL" fun and games.  This is more of a "working vacation"   :-)

Vung Tau, Vietnam

Okay, so I found a shop selling Nikon equipment.  Surprise surprise......In Vietnam, or ANY where in SE Asia, if you're looking for something, it's ALWAYS just the next shop away.  I love it.  So now, I can download a few pix.  The first pic here, is of a bowl of
Pho.  If you have never had it, make sure you do.  Again, I would recommend the Pho 99 behind Wendys in Sehome Village.  Same Same.

I left Saigon today, catching a hydrofoil through and down the Saigon river to a coastal town called Vung Tau.  I immediately rented a motorbike from my hotel, and all of a sudden - - there appears a guy who asks me what I needed?  I said "Nothing, I'm all good.  Just heading out for a drive".  He asked if he could go with me and show me some sights, so I said "Sure, lets grab something cold first".  As we pulled up to the first market, which was near the pier, here comes a guy and actually wanted to CLEAN my tennis shoes.  I just bought them 2 wks ago and they were perfect.  However, I'm a sucker.  I told him "If you really want to do this, then here you go."  He did a nice job! 

I watched them earlier, polishing leathers for some people, but this was the first for me!  Okay, clean away if you wish.  I paid him and he was happy.  A lot of SE Asia is like this.  Everybody has to make some coin any which way they can think of, so I try to entertain them all.  What strikes me most, is how happy they truly are.....We westerners have missed something right in front of our noses....

I had to add a picture of the lunch I had in Saigon earlier today.  Yeah, it was that good :-)

Guy was thirsty, obviously  :-)

Here is a really neat statue of the Mother Mary, holding Jesus.  This statue is immense.  If you click on any of the pictures, they will enlarge - though it will still do no justice.  Just a real neat piece of work.

Then I found myself at some tunnels the Americans dug into the hillside.  I wasn't too comfy being here. That war caused a lot of destruction, and I'm just not really into that sort of pain for people.  I'll leave it there.  There are lots of "tours" which will take you around and you can crawl through man-holes the Vietnamese dug in the ground.  You can even get your picture!  Not interested, its just me.  I still see the devastation from that war today.  It's sad to me.....Enough of that.....

Went through this garden today, and there were wonderful examples of bonsai trees.  I took lots of pictures, but here is just a sample.  While taking these photos, what struck me was how completely quiet it was.  I noticed that.........I couldn't hear anything, 'cept maybe a bird way off in the distance.  I sat for about 20 min and just enjoyed.......

I will add more pictures later, just wanted to add something as I finally found a data cable.  As I said, I am in a coastal city of Vung Tau.  I will be here for the next 6 days.  So, take care all you folk.  I cannot access my FB account here from Vietnam.  The country, for some reason, has it blocked.  I've tried going on private proxies and anonymizers, but no luck so far.  I'll be back soon.  Ciou!   XOXO

Ho Chi Minh City (Old Saigon)

Uggggggg!!!!!! I cannot Believe this!!!!!!!  I have taken a number of pictures and went to download them for this blog.  I realized I brought my charger for my Kindle, my Itouch, and nothing else!  I have no Nikon patch cord to download my pics.  Totally bummed.  Well?  What is one to do........it is what it is.  I will have to download them when back in Qatar in a couple wks and resume this blog.

Another surprise was to find out that Vietnam has blocked access to Facebook.  Whats up with that?  So, I have a friend leaving a message on FB reporting this to explain my absence.

I had a wonderful bowl of Pho soup today.  Wanted to see how to compare with the local fare at home.  I can tell you this:  If you like Pho, or you would like to try, I recommend going to Pho 99 in Bellingham near Sehome village (behind the Wendys) , as it was exactly the same.  Just a wonderful bowl of beef shank, broth, onions, chili peppers, basil, noodles and more!  Killer soup after a late night  :-)

I am in a nice place here in Saigon.  I only booked 3 nights.  Then, I venture Northbound to more rural settings.  I will rent a motorbike and go explore some history!  Per capita, Vietnam has the highest number of scooters in the world.  You wouldn't believe the traffic.  I thought I'd seen it all in Bangkok, but the traffic here in hcmc is WAY crazier.  You just hold on and go with the flow.  I was in a "rick shaw" today, the man peddling his bike while i'm in this little cart, and there just isn't any rhyme or reason how the traffic works here.  You honestly think you are about to die!  After a while, I just began to smile and laugh at the closeness of it all and began taking pictures.  Never saw one wreck, which is a miracle.  Okay folks, I'll add photos when I can.  Sorry for that goof up  :-(

It's hot here........just out of the pool so that was nice.  I haven't seen a drop of rain since I left on March 3.  I wouldn't mind seeing a little right now.  Okay people,  on to new adventures...............update soon

Jeffrey