Hoi An. Before the Fever.

Last days at the Hoi An beaches. Won't reveal the graphic pics that the kids sketched on their buried dad who was napping in the warm sand bath, none the wiser...

The Roberts kids love the surf!

We had an outstanding cycle home from the beach. We got a bit lost, and caught up in some pathway construction, and we were hot and hungry, and we think it was this day that caused Savvy's fever (heat exhaustion!?), but it was so peacefully and stunning. One of my favourite afternoons so far.

Oh the shame of getting lost amongst the rice paddies and finding myself in this wet concrete path, a stretch that had been painstakingly paved and is now ruined for ever by my clumsiness. How much worse that I couldn't just muscle through and had to stomp through the concrete while looking all around and hoping, praying to Buddha, that none of the locals were watching my destruction!
I am sorry, farmers of Hoi An. I am so sorry!

Hello Hoi An!

We've posted a few mini blogs of Mac Ride in action on the Mac Ride site, but didn't want our RobDobHow collection to miss out on our cycling tours and adventures...

 
 
 
 
The river crossing was peaceful enough, even with loads of folk and bikes and mopeds jammed on board at either side of the ferry. The boat has a number of life savers tucked here and there, but how anyone would access anything if we tipped is beyond me. We were so tightly crammed in with a low roof above.
 
Rice noodles in the making
 
Sleeping mats on the go.

Through our travels, the kids are appreciating some of the basis wonders we have in Canada and we are happy. This is something we really wanted for the spoiled monkeys from this trip.

Historic Hue

A single night in Hue with a boat ride, a long walk and a Citadel were all we needed to recover from a long, long train ride, and to prepare for more travel to Hoi An.

We have been pretty good about shielding the kids from the more difficult parts of Vietnam's history. (We probably made a bad call, on balance, taking them to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum in Hanoi...but we managed to skim through the creepy white-beard-dead-body part and focus on the area and the men dressed in sharp white clothes... We'll be very careful in HCMC, taking turns on the war museum there.)

But when it came to Hue, without thinking, I made the mistake of reading about the historic city's Citadel we were about to visit out loud over breakfast from the Lonely Planet guide book:

During the 3 and 1/2 weeks that the North controlled the Citadel, more than 2,500 people were summarily shot, clubbed to death or buried alive....The USA and South Vietnamese responded by leveling whole neighbourhoods, battering the Citadel and even using napalm on the imperial palace. Approximately 10,000 people died in Hue, including thousands of VC troops, 400 South Vietnamese soldiers, and 150 US Marines-- but most of those killed were civilians.

I was deep in thought, reflecting on some of the other horrors I'd been reading about from the war as they relate to the Coast we were about to visit, when Glen and I noticed Mac was not himself. He couldn't really articulate what was wrong, but he needed to be cuddled and he silent cried for a good long while. Ever since, he's had a lot of questions and fear about death and we've had to really buffer him from anything dark, even at temples etc. The wee lad talks a lot about guns, light sabers, and fighting with dad, but truly, his heart is as sweet and gentle as Savannah's.

Savvy and Mac Updates from Vietnam

Savannah has been in great form. At times, she huffs and puffs about the food, and gets poopy and panicky about her homework, but mostly she's a brave and strong young girl, surprising us with huge hikes, bikes, and swims, tackling them only with a giant smile. For example...
The train toilets are pretty hideous. Hideous as in, they have a constantly swirling, mulching system only inches away from the toilet seat surface, that shows you everything turning and churning below like a giant poo cauldron. Sav headed off to the loo one night with a roll of toilet paper under her arm and simply said fiercely: "Tally Ho!" as she marched down the hall.

Mac is enjoying his rock star status. His arms and cheeks get pinched by Vietnamese locals at every turn. He sometimes just leads the way, saves the folk their breath and states on arrival in a new environment: "I am SO CUTE!". The wee lad has heard it enough, he's starting to live the hype.
Mac took the longest to get over jet lag, and fell asleep in his dinner most nights for the first week. He's on track now though, and can play a wicked game of cards until 8/830pm no problem.
Mac's also taken his short-speak to a new level. At home, he had this ritual of cutting his words in half: Can I have a ban? (banana). Can I have a stor? (story)
In Vietnam, it's gone to the extreme: B? (can I have a banana?). K? (are we going kayaking?) M, do I have to B? (mom, to I have to brush my teeth?). The tragic thing is, we understand him!

We're very pleased the two monkeys are travelling so well and are really thriving on the trip. Though they do miss home and I am sure they will be over the moon to see family faces when we arrive in Ota.

Halong Bay-- Cave Stuff

Dear Diary,

Day 8 of our Vietnam adventure - Ha Long Bay, surely the most majestic scenery I've seen in my 4 and 4 and 11/12ths years.................... but now, let me show you the caves of Halong Bay. There was quite a lot of talk from Dad about staligmites and staligcites, which was fine enough, but mostly I was trying to hide from the GIANT spider we spotted and to run from Dad's gassy travel bum (tough stuff, in a confined space in particular) while showing off that I was the one who didn't need to duck...until the last biggie cave, where even a Giant could stand tall!

xx Mac

Many of the caves at sea level offer great hide and seek spots, then give way to larger entrances to some pretty incredible caverns.

We thought we hit the cave jackpot on this excursion (below)

But on day three, we were taken to the Mother Cave. It was a bit more touristy than the other more remote spots (less crawling and squeezing through passages), but for understandable reasons.

We sauntered through three connected caverns over the course of 45 minutes.

Last cave done, it was time to dine and sail to shore for the bus back to Hanoi.
Big thanks to the friendly couple who played about a 100 hands of Uno with us!

Halong Bay-- Sea Stuff

 On the bus we go, from Hanoi to Halong Bay. A tidy 4 hours each way, including the rest.

 Initial view from the boat was the same as all the postcards. Amazing.

 Amazing excursions to isolated beaches and caves via smaller boats and kayaks.

 

 
First jump into the sea. It says..."Are you sure there are no sharks?!"

Food was amazing. So so amazing. Even these creepy eye ball fruits!

Vietnam-- Sa Pa

Sa Pa, you were good to us! We lucked out with an amazing guide, "A" and her adorable son, Noah. She was full of life and the kids took to her right away.

We got hit hard on our first 14km trek with some serious "Scottish mist". Lao Chai and Ta Van were the villages we visited. It was a tough one, but still a great adventure. 

 Day 2 was a shorter day, 10km to Cat Cat and Ma Tra. We lucked out-- the skies opened up and the views were breathtaking.

 
A kept calling this village the Santa village. It all made sense when we pulled up to a wee corner shop to see the village's women in action.

 Sapa's lovely square above. Perhaps the only area of peace in the buzzing, honking village full of women selling their crafts.
On day 3, the fog set in and the kids played a long game with the locals in the square. And by locals, I mean Sav too, who has taken to dressing as a Vietnamese flower girl.