Kon Tum

Dear All,

Jennifer is now back in sunny (and sometimes rainy, cold, windy and stormy) Sydney and I first must apologise for our lack of a summary post - life post-holiday has been quite hectic for the two of us. Jen flew out of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) on the 7th while I have stayed on in Vietnam. On the 8th, I made my way to a 'dusty little town' as Lonely Planet states, named Kon Tum, where a large population of ethnic minorities, particularly Bahnar people, reside.

A traditional rong house - where the Bahnar people meet for celebrations etc. it is a communal area.

 Three young girls attempting to ride a bicycle four times too big - they had endless fun falling over.

Apart from the dust, dirt and the occasional bullock-and-cart, Kon Tum is home to six orphanages, named Vinh Son 1 through to Vinh Son 6, each caring for orphans ranging from newborns to adolescents - the larger orphanages care for 200 children while the smaller ones care for nearly 40 children. Through a family friend who regularly visits KT to assist the orphanages, I had arranged to volunteer for just under two weeks and offer what (little) skills I have to be of some assistance - to, well, anyone really. From my understanding, most of the children under care at the orphanages still have at least one parent who is alive, however due to poverty, especially within the ethnic minorities, they are unable to care for their child (NB: there are also Vietnamese orphans).

After arriving and visiting Vinh Son 1 & 2, I was lucky enough to link in with a Nurse and Doctor who had been running health check clinics for some of the orphanages as well as the members of local villages - due to communication barriers with the local hospital/medical centres and also the cost involved when attending such a facility (all must be paid for by the individual), many of the local villages do not seek medical attention. Over the course of the next week, I assisted during health clinics and was fortunate enough to apply some of my clinical skills gained over the past year. This was a fantastic experience and has to be one of the most rewarding things I have done.

One of the buildings at Vinh Son 1 - due to the location of the Wooden Church, a popular tourist attraction situated next to VS1, the orphanage is one of the better-equipped facilities.

The Doctor having a joke with some of the young children - who happen to be ecstatic to see us.

Through local interpreters, we were able to communicate with many of the local villages - although it was still difficult at times.

The health clinics we were one aspect of the visits, we also delivered necessary food, medications as well as equipment that was needed by the respective orphanage. From donations we were able to supply Vinh Son 6 with new plastic table/chairs as the older children did not have any when eating meals (they were using school desks and chairs for 4 year olds). As VS6 is a fair distance from Kon Tum itself, approximately 20km, it sees very little visitors and therefore, in my opinion, it has to be one of the poorest orphanages in the area. We were also able to supply VS6 with 10kg of dried fish, which they were very happy with. NB: All of the pictures below are of Vinh Son 6.

Very excited with new footballs.

The children always seem happy, even if they had very little - they rarely seem to fight with each other and are always content to play around outside.

Chillin'.

A very eager young one unwraps the tables!

Vinh Son 6 on a beautiful day.

The children enjoyed a bit of the ol' Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - next stop, Australian Idol for me.

At Vinh Son 4, during an initial health check, a young girl (6 years old I believe) was referred by the Doctor to the local hospital where she was subsequently diagnosed with Tuberculosis. We were able to supply her with a full course of  medications (6 months worth) as it is quite an expensive burden on an orphanage who cares for 130 children. Unfortunately, Vinh Son 4 is infected with scabies and the only treatment available in Kon Tum contains DDT, toxic by any standard - an attempt to source an alternative therapy is underway. NB all the images below are from Vinh Son 4.

Such a poser.

 How much fun can be had with a woven bag and a tyre tube? Heaps.

The local interpreter and friend singing Incy Wincy Spider with the children.

The remaining money donated is being put towards the children at Vinh Son 6 - in my opinion they are of greatest need. I would like to thank those who donated, I'm sure that we've brought some warmth to the lives of those who are in need and are much less fortunate than ourselves.

Other notable activities I have undertaken while in Kon Tum include assisting in the renovations of Vinh Son 5. As I am about a foot taller then the average person here, I was put to work and helped with the installation of a roof ceiling - I don't think safety standards would have met Australian Occupational Health and Safety regulations....It's okay Mum, I'm fine! I also took a lesson of English (I know, I can barely speak it!) with some young ones at Vinh Son 1. 

Some of the roofing.

 .

I was lucky enough to be invited to a Vietnamese wedding - I'm happy to report that I am the tallest person in Kon Tu.

The Bride and Groom to-be.

The Bride in her pink dress.

The view from the bridge over the Dakbla river.

The same bridge at sunset.

 Another shot.

 And another.

A view from a hill on sunset.

Kon Tum at sunset.

 The local Convent where the Sisters were drying coffee beans in the courtyard.

Weaving at the Convent.

So folks, that brings to an end my journey in Vietnam - I have had a wonderful time exploring, eating and experiencing this country which has so much to offer. I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog as much as I have enjoyed creating it. If there are any questions, queries or q-comments, feel free to email me. Best wishes for the coming year.

Until our next journey,

Mitchell.

The Rest of Hoi An

Dear All,

We are now onto the final leg of our journey through Vietnam together having arrived in Mui Ne midday yesterday after a 17 hour night bus from Hoi An. Starting where we left off on our last post, the second half of our time in Hoi An was event and appointment filled. On the Wednesday, we decided to improve our culinary abilities respectively and we undertook a cooking class at a local restaurant named Day Night. Since Hoi An is a hotspot for tourism, there are many cooking classes available, its hard to gauge what is good, bad or plain ugly - we chose Day Night after having  been delighted with delicious dishes for lunch and dinner (and after asking if they did cooking classes!). Our personal instructor (it was only the two of us in the class) was the owner/chef/Maître d', Ms Ahn. We chose the dishes from the menu that we wanted to learn and we were off! We first cycled to the markets with Ms Ahn and had a guided tour through the maze of stalls - at a cracking pace, Ms Ahn doesn't stop for any person or animal!

Jen and Ms Ahn riding to the markets.

At the markets, we bought fresh tuna, herbs, noodles and all the ingredients required to make our dishes - Banana Blossom with Beef Salad and Tuna cooked in Banana Leaf.

Herbs and Banana Blossoms

 "Secret Cau Lao Noodles" supposedly everyone in Hoi An uses them from this lady!

 The market was slightly crowded!

We departed the markets and cycled back to the restaurant to begin preparation for our meals! See below for pictures of us preparing the dishes!

 After our cooking classes we had a few appointments with tailors - nothing too interesting! The next day we cycled to the beach which turned out to be a half nice day - our time in Vietnam has been great however good weather with blue skies seems to be somewhat elusive.

Over our last day and a half in Hoi An we took it easy, although it ended up with last minute adjustment appointments scheduled throughout the days with the tailors-Mitch's suits fit just right now!

As written earlier, we took the night bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang and onto Mui Ne - this was an experience in itself. As we're on the tail end of the trip, we're not being very active here, eating some great fresh seafood and we'll see some of the sights around Mui Ne this afternoon, hopefully the current rainy conditions change. We'll make our way back to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) tomorrow in preparation for Jens flight back to the land down under on the 7th. We'll try to post before the flight!

Jen and Mitch.

Hue and the gem of Hoi An

Dear All,

Taking off where we left on the last post, we arrived into Hanoi after the bus-boat-bus trip from Cat Ba Island. After turning down a hoard of sketchy taxis near the bus terminal, we managed to haggle ourselves a ride with 2 other travelers to the train station at a basement bargain price of 50,000 dong (when the journey on the way to the bus station had cost 70,000 dong on the taxi meter - we're finally getting a hang of this!). We had some hours to kill before the 11pm train, and were feeling a little peckish (as we normally are), so we had some delicious street food!

BBQ street food! (yes-we bought raw beef off the street!)

The ever-inviting Hanoi train station!

We boarded the 'soft sleeper' train around 10.30pm and arrived into Hue, Central Vietnam, on Friday mid-morning - the ride was reasonable, until around 4am when a change in our 4-person cabin brought along a family with their screaming 2 year old.


Hue is, to Mitch anyway, somewhat reminiscent of Hanoi - just a step below in craziness - the streets are large with tree-lined walkways and there are very few hassle-rs. The remarkable feature of Hue is that most residents of the city still live behind the 10km long (2m thick) walls of the Citadel. The city was the capital and home to the emperors of the Nguyen empire and thus it is fortified by citadels (3 in some areas) and similarly there are many tombs, pagodas and temples. We only had the pleasure of staying for one night in Hue as we were keen to make our way to Hoi An - below is a number of photos of Hue. On the first afternoon we visited the city's Citadel followed by the Imperial Enclosure and the Forbidden Purple City (a citadel-within-a-citadel-within-a-citadel).

Tree-lined streets - and Jennifer!

The side entrance to the Imperial Enclosure

Spot Mitch!

As we only had a half-day before our onward journey to Hoi An, we hired a motorbike for half a day and visited the Tomb of Tu Doc - Emperor from 1848 to 1883. See photos below!

We took a 4-hour bus ride from Hue to Hoi An - a considerably easier journey than our last overnight train! Hoi An is a beautiful city that has a long history steeped in trade with other countries. The city itself is charming - quiet streets where cars are not permitted (the sign says for "primitive vehicles only" - I guess that means Homo sapiens ), great food (probably the best we've had in Vietnam) and in general, a relaxed atmosphere. On our first full day, we hit the pavement looking for the best tailor we could find - and I'm happy to report that we now have a tailor in the Orient. We spent the first day mostly searching for the right tailor, and in the evening (around 7pm - the Hoi An-ese work hard, their days start at 8am and run until 9:30pm!) we placed our orders for a suit each. Today we visited the My Son ruins from the Cham civilisation - although encountered our first real downpour, which is actually pretty good considering it has been forecast-ed to be raining non-stop! See the photos below!

Enjoying another quality meal!

 Hoi An

Bring sexy back.

 

 

 Guard dogs in Vietnam are generally quite relaxed.

Jennifer being fitted!

We are now planning to stay in Hoi An for another 3 nights, make our way to Mui Ne and then onto the final leg of our journey together back to Saigon. We're planning on undertaking a cooking class tomorrow - so we can make some killer Pho Bo (not dog) when we get home!


Jen and Mitch