Well, I'm not too sure if anyone still checks this blog out or not but I have been inspired to continue this diary thing a bit longer by Iain and Lorna who are still over in Auckland (mcavoyandginger.blogspot.com - sorry, I had this wrong!) I've just been reading through both their posts and my old posts and I am so glad I have this as we have already forgotten so much of what we have done, and reading back it brings back all the emotions and thoughts of the moment. So viva the blog, long may it continue...........
Ok, so life isn't quite as interesting now as, "will we go and see some orangutans today?" - "nah, let's kayak down the river today and do the orangutans tomorrow". But it is still rather exciting in a different way ("same same but different" as they say in the markets in Vietnam when asked if something is fake or real.) It's been so great to catch up with family and old friends. There just hasn't been enough hours in the day to see everyone and we still have friends who we haven't got round to yet. It's also been great to be able to explore Glasgow again - it's the old thing about you don't know how good you have it until you've been away and come back again.
In my last post I was basically just updating you on our return to Scottish Soil but now I can update you on everything that's happened since. Have we actually been back 4 and a half months already? Unbelievable.....
Anyway, so Katie got her great job with sportscotland and I got some supply teaching in Motherwell two days a week along with some photography jobs (which were pretty stressful given that I hadn't done that kind of thing for two years and I didn't have my Apple Mac.). Katie started her lecturing again at Jordanhill and I started doing the child protection tutoring again.
We were also living with our friend Clare which although was nice and very convenient, it certainly wasn't ideal. I think flat sharing must be lots of fun when you are 18, after that I think it's best left alone.
Since then I have luckily managed to get a job at a school in Giffnock full time until Easter and we have moved into a flat in Strathbungo in Glasgow. (everyone always asks, including me when Katie told me we were viewing a flat, "where's strathbungo?".) It's basically just next to Queens Park and two minutes away from Pollokshaws West train station.
I have been looking for a good karate club but as yet I haven't found one, if only i could commute to Wellington for training........I really really miss it.
Since the start of December Glasgow has been reintroducing us to cripplingly cold temperatures and dangerous driving conditions. In Wellington there was maybe one icy day I can recall in two years but there was still no need to scrape the car windows. At the moment this is a daily chore. some people think the weather is a real pain in the backside but Katie and I are actually quite enjoying it - I did have to leave my car at work when the school closed though and walk home in the snow. Thankfully there were a healthy number of pubs between my school and my house that we just had to pop into to heat back up again.
So this is Christmas - and we are really looking forward to our first family christmas in 2 years. We have fantastic memories of last Christmas with Iain and Lorna on the beach in the bay of islands but this one feels pretty special being home again. We are also excited about the fact that we can afford to buy real presents for each other again and not have to shop for each other in the local New World supermarket.
Merry Christmas one and all, and never forget to stop once and a while and look around to be thankful for all the things that you have - family, friends, gifts, jobs and most importantly your health if you are lucky enough to still have it.
Steph and Katie xxxx
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Catching up - the blog is back!
Hi folks,
Well, it's been quite a busy old time since we got home as you can imagine so I will do my best to now update what's been happening. It's quite funny (and pleasantly surprising) hearing how many people have been tuning into the blog whilst we have been away - I suppose now the audience will be changing as our Kiwi friends look us up to see what's happening.
First of all, I must say again what a wonderful welcome home we had being met at the airport by all our family and dougie vipond from the bbc (most people thought he was there because Rangers were on the flight but I know differently).
Here's the last few shots of the trip and the first couple after touching down.....
The Airport in Bangkok - a tense wait
Us on the plane on the way home - tired but excited
A blurry shot of our family waiting to greet us - my Mum's in the centre
Gazebo in the back garden - champagne and rolls and square sausages
We certainly had to hit the ground running - Katie had a job interview a few days after we got home and I had to act quick to get on supply teaching registers. We also had to deal with a flooded kitchen at the flat and Clyde Property's incompetence again.
We stayed at my Mum and Dad's for the first week or so and Katie spent some time down in Carradale. I was able to get myself down for the first big event of returning home.....The Mull of Kintrye music festival!
Katie's Mums house - very peaceful!
Campbeltown main street - and the world famous pipe band. It's reassuring that Scotland really is still more Scottish than New Zealand ;o)
Some shots of the weekend of madness....................
Katie and Chantal
Some of the Campbeltoon guys
What country are we in?
The legendary Survivors Sunday night.......
And then it was back off to Glasgow, Katie had heard she had got the job and we moved in with Clare Young from Uni.
But we still had some catching up to do with the rest of my family - so it was off to Aunt Christine's for a BBQ and some more gazebo action - on a sunny day!
That's all for now - more to follow _ including Brosley's wedding, more job news and the flat floor flooding fiasco.
Well, it's been quite a busy old time since we got home as you can imagine so I will do my best to now update what's been happening. It's quite funny (and pleasantly surprising) hearing how many people have been tuning into the blog whilst we have been away - I suppose now the audience will be changing as our Kiwi friends look us up to see what's happening.
First of all, I must say again what a wonderful welcome home we had being met at the airport by all our family and dougie vipond from the bbc (most people thought he was there because Rangers were on the flight but I know differently).
Here's the last few shots of the trip and the first couple after touching down.....
We certainly had to hit the ground running - Katie had a job interview a few days after we got home and I had to act quick to get on supply teaching registers. We also had to deal with a flooded kitchen at the flat and Clyde Property's incompetence again.
We stayed at my Mum and Dad's for the first week or so and Katie spent some time down in Carradale. I was able to get myself down for the first big event of returning home.....The Mull of Kintrye music festival!
Some shots of the weekend of madness....................
The legendary Survivors Sunday night.......
And then it was back off to Glasgow, Katie had heard she had got the job and we moved in with Clare Young from Uni.
But we still had some catching up to do with the rest of my family - so it was off to Aunt Christine's for a BBQ and some more gazebo action - on a sunny day!
That's all for now - more to follow _ including Brosley's wedding, more job news and the flat floor flooding fiasco.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
And then they were home......
After a quite crazy final day of shopping for pressies, we flew out of Hanoi the next morning at 9am headed for Bangkok. We were going to have a long wait at Bangkok airport but that was going to be better than rushing around and having the fear of missing our connection to London.
The flight was uneventful and the day in the airport was rather uneventful too I am sorry to say - the highlight of being in Bangkok airport for any length of time has to be plain and simple good old fashioned people watching. What kind of people were we watching? Well, generally it was ugly, pasty, sometimes tattooed Westerners who were walking hand in hand with tiny Thai ladies. Without jumping to conclusions and without ruling out the remote possibility that these relationships may well be true love, we watched as as these odd couples roamed the airport - often with what we thought was the Thai girls sister in tow. We even saw one very old white haired guy get down on one knee to propose to a Thai girl who he may have been better trading in for a newer model.
Anyway, we had to wait 8 hours before we could check in and when we did we tried everything to get an upgrade to first class - we even said that we had tailor made suits we could change into if that would help. It was all to no avail however unfortunately.
One of the reasons for this failure may have been the fact that Rangers were also on our flight and they had actually taken up the entire business class section. This probably meant some people had already been bumped up from business class to first class to accomodate them. Rangers were on their way back from Sydney and joined us not only on the flight to London but also the flight to Glasgow. So it was good to see not only all of our family at the airport but also Dougie Vipond and a camera crew there to greet us.
When we left London on our flight it was reassuring to hear the pilot say "The weather in Glasgow today, is.....well, showers with sunny intervals and a light north easterly breeze". Glad to hear that the weather forecast has stayed almost exactly the same - what an easy job it would be to forecast the weather in Glasgow. What do these people get paid for exactly...I'm talking about you Sean Batty ;o)
So, we arrived back in Glasgow and were delighted to see our families there to greet us - my Mum and Dad had put up a Gazebo in the back garden and had some champagne on hand so we could all have a wee toast back in Garrowhill. Hilary (Katie's Mum) had even made a marathon journey up from Kintyre to welcome us home and to drop off Katie's VW Golf before jumping back on the bus to get home again. (We thought we'd had a long trip!)
So the trip has ended but the adventures will be continuing for a while yet so I think I won't quite retire the blog as yet as there are now people who are on the other side of the world who may want to read about our adventures back home (don't worry Lorna and Iain we will keep your fingers on the pulse). The audience may change but we think we will continue to write some entries so please do check back from time to time to have a peek and see what we've been up to in our quest to set ourselves up all over again.
All the best,
SB & KO.
The flight was uneventful and the day in the airport was rather uneventful too I am sorry to say - the highlight of being in Bangkok airport for any length of time has to be plain and simple good old fashioned people watching. What kind of people were we watching? Well, generally it was ugly, pasty, sometimes tattooed Westerners who were walking hand in hand with tiny Thai ladies. Without jumping to conclusions and without ruling out the remote possibility that these relationships may well be true love, we watched as as these odd couples roamed the airport - often with what we thought was the Thai girls sister in tow. We even saw one very old white haired guy get down on one knee to propose to a Thai girl who he may have been better trading in for a newer model.
Anyway, we had to wait 8 hours before we could check in and when we did we tried everything to get an upgrade to first class - we even said that we had tailor made suits we could change into if that would help. It was all to no avail however unfortunately.
One of the reasons for this failure may have been the fact that Rangers were also on our flight and they had actually taken up the entire business class section. This probably meant some people had already been bumped up from business class to first class to accomodate them. Rangers were on their way back from Sydney and joined us not only on the flight to London but also the flight to Glasgow. So it was good to see not only all of our family at the airport but also Dougie Vipond and a camera crew there to greet us.
When we left London on our flight it was reassuring to hear the pilot say "The weather in Glasgow today, is.....well, showers with sunny intervals and a light north easterly breeze". Glad to hear that the weather forecast has stayed almost exactly the same - what an easy job it would be to forecast the weather in Glasgow. What do these people get paid for exactly...I'm talking about you Sean Batty ;o)
So, we arrived back in Glasgow and were delighted to see our families there to greet us - my Mum and Dad had put up a Gazebo in the back garden and had some champagne on hand so we could all have a wee toast back in Garrowhill. Hilary (Katie's Mum) had even made a marathon journey up from Kintyre to welcome us home and to drop off Katie's VW Golf before jumping back on the bus to get home again. (We thought we'd had a long trip!)
So the trip has ended but the adventures will be continuing for a while yet so I think I won't quite retire the blog as yet as there are now people who are on the other side of the world who may want to read about our adventures back home (don't worry Lorna and Iain we will keep your fingers on the pulse). The audience may change but we think we will continue to write some entries so please do check back from time to time to have a peek and see what we've been up to in our quest to set ourselves up all over again.
All the best,
SB & KO.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Halong, Sapa and 3 days in Hanoi
Hi folks, this is just a quick update on our last few days so apologies for the brevity and lack of pics......
We are now back in Hanoi after a very busy old week - first of all we arrived in Hanoi and stayed for one night (even managed to squeeze in a run around the lake in the old quarter). Then it was time to get busy again with our final sightseeing itinerary.
Due to a diminishing amount of available time we bucked our usual D.I.Y approach and booked some tours to Halong Bay and Sapa. Halong bay is a stunning world heritage site and our tour involved staying overnight in an old style Junk. it was a really brilliant trip albeit probably a little bit quick. During the tour we did some kayaking, jumping off of the junk and visited the "amazing" cave (formerly known as the surprising cave apparenty). One of the funniest things about this tour was that almost all the food was shellfish and with my uncertainty whether I have developed an allergy or not I avoided it - unfortunately for me however that meant my menu for meals consisted of tofu, tofu and some more tofu. It also meant that for the convenience of the staff (so they made sure we go the right meals) Katie and I had to sit closely to an overweight, pale, vegeterian psychiatrist from Austria who looked utterly miserable and she really didn't utter more than two words the whole time (all in all a wonderful advert for not being a vegetarian)
We got back to Hanoi and we had four hours to wait before our trip to Sapa began. Sapa is an old town settled by French and is quite far North (close to the Chinese border). our tour began with a sleeper train which wasn't too bad (the highlight of which is hiking the length of the train many times with Simon and Nadine from Germany in search for the mythical restaurant car and a cold beer - I am considering selling the rights of this adventure story to Peter Jackson) we then trekked most of the first day to a few local villages (followed everywhere by villagers whose mantra is "you buy something for me", "good for you" etc etc.) The trek was stunning and we got some really nice weather for it - as part of our tour we had elected for a homestay where a group all come together and sleep in a quite traditional and basic villagers house. This wasn't the kind of homesetay I imagined where we would sit with the family and sing songs etc but in fact much more of a youth hostel feel with all the foreign guests talking to each other and drinking beer. It was a good time and we spent a lot of time trying to list famous Dutch, French and Scottish people. The vote for the most well known Scottish person with some of the Dutch youth? Paulo Nutini........oh dear.
The second day in Sapa involved another long trek and finished with a heavy rain, muddy shoes, a waterfall and a sleeper train back to Hanoi. We arrived back at 5am this morning and are now staying in the medallion hotel in Hanoi for three nights of luxury and relaxation before the trip home.
I should mention that one of the great benefits of doing a tour like we did is meeting like minded people and making some new friends. Particular mention must go to Nadine and Simon (Simon works in sport) from Germany, Sylvain (sports coach) and Milla (teacher) from France and Shane from Manchester. All great people who we hope to see again some day.
So our time away from home is almost at an end - you'll be glad to hear we are very much looking forward to it and can't wait to see everyone again. Unfortunately because we won't have jobs you will all have to feed us and look after us for as long as it takes for us to get on our feet again - perhaps you cuold all get together and put together a roster for accomodation and meals ;o)
You will also be glad to hear that we have carried our waterproof jackets all the way from New Zealand because we are almost guaranteed to need them when we walk out the door of Glasgow Airport on the 2nd of August.
All the best, see you all soon,
SB & KO.
We are now back in Hanoi after a very busy old week - first of all we arrived in Hanoi and stayed for one night (even managed to squeeze in a run around the lake in the old quarter). Then it was time to get busy again with our final sightseeing itinerary.
Due to a diminishing amount of available time we bucked our usual D.I.Y approach and booked some tours to Halong Bay and Sapa. Halong bay is a stunning world heritage site and our tour involved staying overnight in an old style Junk. it was a really brilliant trip albeit probably a little bit quick. During the tour we did some kayaking, jumping off of the junk and visited the "amazing" cave (formerly known as the surprising cave apparenty). One of the funniest things about this tour was that almost all the food was shellfish and with my uncertainty whether I have developed an allergy or not I avoided it - unfortunately for me however that meant my menu for meals consisted of tofu, tofu and some more tofu. It also meant that for the convenience of the staff (so they made sure we go the right meals) Katie and I had to sit closely to an overweight, pale, vegeterian psychiatrist from Austria who looked utterly miserable and she really didn't utter more than two words the whole time (all in all a wonderful advert for not being a vegetarian)
We got back to Hanoi and we had four hours to wait before our trip to Sapa began. Sapa is an old town settled by French and is quite far North (close to the Chinese border). our tour began with a sleeper train which wasn't too bad (the highlight of which is hiking the length of the train many times with Simon and Nadine from Germany in search for the mythical restaurant car and a cold beer - I am considering selling the rights of this adventure story to Peter Jackson) we then trekked most of the first day to a few local villages (followed everywhere by villagers whose mantra is "you buy something for me", "good for you" etc etc.) The trek was stunning and we got some really nice weather for it - as part of our tour we had elected for a homestay where a group all come together and sleep in a quite traditional and basic villagers house. This wasn't the kind of homesetay I imagined where we would sit with the family and sing songs etc but in fact much more of a youth hostel feel with all the foreign guests talking to each other and drinking beer. It was a good time and we spent a lot of time trying to list famous Dutch, French and Scottish people. The vote for the most well known Scottish person with some of the Dutch youth? Paulo Nutini........oh dear.
The second day in Sapa involved another long trek and finished with a heavy rain, muddy shoes, a waterfall and a sleeper train back to Hanoi. We arrived back at 5am this morning and are now staying in the medallion hotel in Hanoi for three nights of luxury and relaxation before the trip home.
I should mention that one of the great benefits of doing a tour like we did is meeting like minded people and making some new friends. Particular mention must go to Nadine and Simon (Simon works in sport) from Germany, Sylvain (sports coach) and Milla (teacher) from France and Shane from Manchester. All great people who we hope to see again some day.
So our time away from home is almost at an end - you'll be glad to hear we are very much looking forward to it and can't wait to see everyone again. Unfortunately because we won't have jobs you will all have to feed us and look after us for as long as it takes for us to get on our feet again - perhaps you cuold all get together and put together a roster for accomodation and meals ;o)
You will also be glad to hear that we have carried our waterproof jackets all the way from New Zealand because we are almost guaranteed to need them when we walk out the door of Glasgow Airport on the 2nd of August.
All the best, see you all soon,
SB & KO.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
New photos and Hoi An
I have managed to upload some photos to our flickr page, just click on the new images to the right of this post to be transported there - unfortunately they are a bit mixed up and I haven't had time yet to add a description but it's hong kong, k.l. and saigon.
I am having trouble uploading photos from Katie's camera (which will be a bit more fun and interesting) - I will persevere. ;o)
Just arrived this morning 7.30am in Hoi An - staying at a really nice place and Hoi An itself looks fantastic. It is the place to get luxury fitted clothes made to order at cheap ish prices so I am envisaging a bit of a shopping afternoon or two.
For those who want to know - the 12hr sleeping bus was actually ok albeit cramped and the fact that some vietnamese couldn't grasp the fact that smoking on the bus wasn't really to everyone's taste. The bus driving was appalling but we both managed to get a fair bit of sleep. They tried to put us in some seats at the back which we didn't want (it was liike being in the boot with 3 other people.) But Katie wasn;t standing for it and got us shifted to our original seats. Hoorah.
I am having trouble uploading photos from Katie's camera (which will be a bit more fun and interesting) - I will persevere. ;o)
Just arrived this morning 7.30am in Hoi An - staying at a really nice place and Hoi An itself looks fantastic. It is the place to get luxury fitted clothes made to order at cheap ish prices so I am envisaging a bit of a shopping afternoon or two.
For those who want to know - the 12hr sleeping bus was actually ok albeit cramped and the fact that some vietnamese couldn't grasp the fact that smoking on the bus wasn't really to everyone's taste. The bus driving was appalling but we both managed to get a fair bit of sleep. They tried to put us in some seats at the back which we didn't want (it was liike being in the boot with 3 other people.) But Katie wasn;t standing for it and got us shifted to our original seats. Hoorah.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Nha Trang and the worst shave ever....
As mentioned in the last quick post we are now in Nha Trang ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nha_Trang) and I have just had the worst shave ever.....
Before I get to that I should explain that Nha Trang is a bit of a touristy beach resort and therfore a bit like Majorca (I have never been to Majorca but from what I have been told it has the same feel) but we aren't here for long, we catch the overnight bus tomorrow to Hoi An where we will stop for a few nights before doing a crazy double bus journey to Hanoi (first bus 6 hours in the morning from Hoi An to Hue and then leaving at 5pm and staying on the bus until 6am the next day waking up in Hanoi - almost 24 hours of bus - hell. But we want to get to Hanoi a.s.a.p so we can arrange some relaxing tours to Sapa and Halong Bay)
Anyway, the worst shave ever........you can't make this stuff up you really can't...
I hadn't had a shave in about a week and it was getting a bit too hot for a beard. It had crossed my mind to go and get one done in a barbers or something as a bit of a novelty, and then yesterday we bumped back into some Australian fellas we had first met in Saigon and one of them had went to a place for a shave and said it was really good and it was really cheap. A recommendation I thought, it's a safe bet, - I'll do it, I will go and let someone who doesn't speak english run a straight razor over my face for two quid. What a good idea.....
When I imagined my first shave in a barbers I imagined a big elderly plump fella with a very tidy moustache, perhaps some kind of dress trousers on, a smart shirt, perhaps a pair of braces on, definitely some form of apron and of course, a courteous manner and happy demeanour. I also expected the shave to last for about oh, 10 minutes tops.
The person I got to do my shave was a very short girl who must have been about 20 years old at the most, who didn't speak english, had hairy armpits, she wore jeans and a vest top that had seen better days. The "shave" took about 45 minutes.
With hindsight I am now thinking that she didn't actually work at the "salon" and her job description or professional training may have not included "shaving faces". Or indeed anything to do with touching faces.
She was able to find my face though and after a quick rub of it with some cold water and moisturiser she was ready for the shaving foam and spread it all over my beard....unfortunately my nose and my lips as well. To her credit however she did attempt to wipe those bits back off with a cloth that smelt like it had been last used to clean her motorbike.
The fact she wasn't a plump jolly man or the fact that she has made a bad start with the shaving foam I kind of put to one side and thought - "well, these things are small details, I will close my eyes and relax and enjoy the unrivalled feel of a warm, sharp razor effortlessly cutting through the hair and leaving my skin baby smooth. She can't possibly get this wrong!"
I was wrong, she got it spectacularly wrong. The razor was cold, blunt and had probably been used during the war for making tunnels. Not only that but she clearly hadn't had explained to her the basic rule of shaving that every 10 year old boy learns from their Dad in preparation for adulthood - Don't shave against the grain. She was prepared to rip in any direction to see what would happen.
This girl was more of an artist than a scientist I would have said and she definitely had her own style and no structured plan or procedure - chopping and chipping away at a bit of hair - finding it a bit too difficult and then leaving that bit and moving onto another bit. I am a pretty patient and polite person but when she started to cut sideways with this blunt razor into my moustache I had to tell her to stop and showed her how to cut properly. I should have called the whole thing off there and then but for reasons unknown I decided to stick it out and it was simply dreadful from beginning to end. (to top it all off about half way through all the electricity went off and the room became unbearably hot - another member of staff stood for ten minutes fanning me to keep me cool)
The only positive thing was that she didn't manage to cut me - but considering the razor she was using she would have had a hard time cutting a banana let alone my jugular.
When she had finished she threw some truly disgusting aftershave on my face, gave me a 4 minute head rub and then decided that it was a good idea to try and over charge me - after agreeing 60,000 Dong at the start the new price was 100,000 Dong. (30,000 to the pound) I looked at her with disgust, thought about telling her that it was the worst shave ever and not paying her at all. But in the end I paid her 60,000 and decided against telling her - it's all part of the experience and to be honest I don't see her ever shaving someone's face ever again after today. She looked a bit shocked - as did I. As did the French fella who was sitting at the door watching the whole thing.
I will be shaving myself next time unless I can locate the fat jolly fella with the moustache. If anyone knows where he is please let me know.
Before I get to that I should explain that Nha Trang is a bit of a touristy beach resort and therfore a bit like Majorca (I have never been to Majorca but from what I have been told it has the same feel) but we aren't here for long, we catch the overnight bus tomorrow to Hoi An where we will stop for a few nights before doing a crazy double bus journey to Hanoi (first bus 6 hours in the morning from Hoi An to Hue and then leaving at 5pm and staying on the bus until 6am the next day waking up in Hanoi - almost 24 hours of bus - hell. But we want to get to Hanoi a.s.a.p so we can arrange some relaxing tours to Sapa and Halong Bay)
Anyway, the worst shave ever........you can't make this stuff up you really can't...
I hadn't had a shave in about a week and it was getting a bit too hot for a beard. It had crossed my mind to go and get one done in a barbers or something as a bit of a novelty, and then yesterday we bumped back into some Australian fellas we had first met in Saigon and one of them had went to a place for a shave and said it was really good and it was really cheap. A recommendation I thought, it's a safe bet, - I'll do it, I will go and let someone who doesn't speak english run a straight razor over my face for two quid. What a good idea.....
When I imagined my first shave in a barbers I imagined a big elderly plump fella with a very tidy moustache, perhaps some kind of dress trousers on, a smart shirt, perhaps a pair of braces on, definitely some form of apron and of course, a courteous manner and happy demeanour. I also expected the shave to last for about oh, 10 minutes tops.
The person I got to do my shave was a very short girl who must have been about 20 years old at the most, who didn't speak english, had hairy armpits, she wore jeans and a vest top that had seen better days. The "shave" took about 45 minutes.
With hindsight I am now thinking that she didn't actually work at the "salon" and her job description or professional training may have not included "shaving faces". Or indeed anything to do with touching faces.
She was able to find my face though and after a quick rub of it with some cold water and moisturiser she was ready for the shaving foam and spread it all over my beard....unfortunately my nose and my lips as well. To her credit however she did attempt to wipe those bits back off with a cloth that smelt like it had been last used to clean her motorbike.
The fact she wasn't a plump jolly man or the fact that she has made a bad start with the shaving foam I kind of put to one side and thought - "well, these things are small details, I will close my eyes and relax and enjoy the unrivalled feel of a warm, sharp razor effortlessly cutting through the hair and leaving my skin baby smooth. She can't possibly get this wrong!"
I was wrong, she got it spectacularly wrong. The razor was cold, blunt and had probably been used during the war for making tunnels. Not only that but she clearly hadn't had explained to her the basic rule of shaving that every 10 year old boy learns from their Dad in preparation for adulthood - Don't shave against the grain. She was prepared to rip in any direction to see what would happen.
This girl was more of an artist than a scientist I would have said and she definitely had her own style and no structured plan or procedure - chopping and chipping away at a bit of hair - finding it a bit too difficult and then leaving that bit and moving onto another bit. I am a pretty patient and polite person but when she started to cut sideways with this blunt razor into my moustache I had to tell her to stop and showed her how to cut properly. I should have called the whole thing off there and then but for reasons unknown I decided to stick it out and it was simply dreadful from beginning to end. (to top it all off about half way through all the electricity went off and the room became unbearably hot - another member of staff stood for ten minutes fanning me to keep me cool)
The only positive thing was that she didn't manage to cut me - but considering the razor she was using she would have had a hard time cutting a banana let alone my jugular.
When she had finished she threw some truly disgusting aftershave on my face, gave me a 4 minute head rub and then decided that it was a good idea to try and over charge me - after agreeing 60,000 Dong at the start the new price was 100,000 Dong. (30,000 to the pound) I looked at her with disgust, thought about telling her that it was the worst shave ever and not paying her at all. But in the end I paid her 60,000 and decided against telling her - it's all part of the experience and to be honest I don't see her ever shaving someone's face ever again after today. She looked a bit shocked - as did I. As did the French fella who was sitting at the door watching the whole thing.
I will be shaving myself next time unless I can locate the fat jolly fella with the moustache. If anyone knows where he is please let me know.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Easy Riders
We have left Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) and travelled to Delat in the Highlands which is really impressive - we did a day on motorbikes with guides and visited amongst other things a hill tribe and a silk factory.....
When we got back fror our trip we walked around the most incredible market - dog etc...
We are now in Nha Trang but we are only here for two days then heading to Hoi An.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Rainforest Music festival
I'm slightly out of sequence now (I will correct the order before the book goes to print';) but I forgot I hadn't told you about the Rainforest music festival that we went to in Kuching. (anyone know the difference between rainforest and jungle? I had to google it.)
We picked the busiest weekend of the year to visit Kuching - there was the rainforest music festival on and it is a big deal. check it out here Rainforest music festival
We finally got some accommodation in Kuching by the way - first night in the best hostel in the world but the next two nights we had to splash out and get a proper hotel which still only cost 30 quid a night.
The festival itself took place in a Cultural village about 40 minutes out of Kuching - you are just kind of delivered to the edge and you have to make your own way through the rainforest to the village. Once you are there it's quite a spectacular setting with authentic tribal villages and huts mixed in with marquees, food stalls, beer tents and music stages.
We arrived about four o'clock and the first band weren't on until 7pm so we just mooched around, had some beer and noodles waiting for the likes of coldplay and U2 to make an appearance. Unfortunately when it did begin the line up was not quite up to Glastonbury or T in the Park but the torrential rain (it is a rainforest after all) made things rather more like home, very very muddy.
I won't go into huge detail about all the bands but the highlights of the Friday night were an Indian band (video to follow) you can watch them practice in their bedroom here Layatharanga, the low point was a Bulgarian trio called the bisserov sisters - if you follow the link I think you will get an idea of how well they might go down at a concert (and this looks like them in their prime about twenty years ago) They scored "nil points".
we had to get up really early the next day to go and visit the orang utans at Semengoggh the next day so we didn;t see out the night even though the rain had stopped - but we had a very funny day at the music festival and was well worth going along but probably not something you should specifically come to Borneo just to catch (or at least research the line up and make sure you miss the Bisserov sisters - in fact, I'm pretty sure they won't be invited back so you'll be safe).
What about the orang utans I hear you ask - well that's a different story with many more pitcures of the Ginger ones, we got closer to them this time, saw a full size adult male, and saw them walking around on the ground but these ones aren't as wild and authentic as the ones at Sepilok.
SB.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Vietnam
The Borneo wildlife extravaganza (we went to see even more orang utans in Semengoggh)
ended yesterday with our flight to Kuala Lumpur and then onto Ho Chi Minh city - and did we get a real shock to the system after friendly, helpful, generally English speaking, easy to navigate Malaysia.
Getting into the airport we had to arrange our visas as soon as we landed - they have a really crap system here where you have to apply for visas in advance and we tried to do it at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur but it was absolutely heaving with people (a bit like Vietnam itself actually) so we had to go through an online company that arranges a pre approval letter for you (for a fee of course) you then take that letter to a desk on arrival in Vietnam, fill out a form, pay even more money (of course) and then get your visa.
To be honest, that was the most straightforward thing we did yesterday - leaving the airport we were bombarded by taxi drivers offering a ride into town and that's when it is good to have done a bit of pre-arrival reading. The guy was wanting to charge us 500,000 Dong (15 quid) to get to our hostel - we had read in the book that it should cost 80, 000 Dong. Unfortunately our book is 5 years old so we knew the prices would be off but they are so off that when we finally got the guy to drop his price we didn't believe him when he said we couldn't get it cheaper than 150,000 Dong. Turns out I think he was right with 150,000 but anyway, never wanting to make things easy for ourselves we decided to take the public bus.
Well, the driver either didn't want to speak to us or he couldn't and there was a crazy old lady trying to get us onto the bus telling us the bus definitely went where we wanted to go even though I don't think she understood - but we just had no clue what was going on. We were looking for help.......
Thankfully another old lady appeared and she was fluent in French so with a little bit of standard grade and some je ne sais quoi we were able to tell her that we were Scottish and we wanted to get to a certain hotel - so she took control, had an argument with the driver who still wanted to over charge us, she eventually paid for our bus trip (refusing anything in return) and when she left the bus she got another family to help us. The other family took a team approach (a bit like family fortunes when they confer for the chance to steal the game) and between them they got us off at the right stop.
From there we had to cross one of the busiest roads in Ho Chi Minh with all of our bags - now crossing the road in Ho Chi Minh is all about blind confidence, in fact it would probably be safer if you did just close your eyes and go. The rule here is that you just walk, slowly, and let the traffic avoid you. Not the easiest to convince your brain this is a good strategy when there are 300 motorbikes travelling in both directions - imagine the game Frogger with motorbikes and you're getting close.
once we were across the road it was a 10 minute walk to our hostel - and it was down some very very interesting local streets, This place really is fascinating. There were three highlights of the walk:
1) A woman on a moped with two children under the age of five hanging onto her feet.
2) All the young children running around the street saying "hello" just because it is funny to say this to westerners.
3) A man on his moped tapping his young child on the shoulder telling him to look at us whilst having a good chuckle to himself.
So, in the end we got there safe and sound and seem to have found one of the more reputable establishments (no available room "extras for example). It's a place however that sounds like it would offer other services, Madam Lois's or something (it's actually called Miss Lui's - which is what a lot of people do here.)
before I go I should make mention of the fact that we went out last night to watch the world cup final at 2am. But because of the time difference it was really 3am for our bodies. We just about managed to stay awake, helped ably by Canadian Kurt who lives here and was able to answer all our drunken questions such as "Dollar or Dong", "Saigon or Ho Chi Minh" and "What are the top five survival tips for Ho Chi Minh" (the best of which was when you are crossing the road never ever take a step back)
We are ruined today - we didn't get to bed until 5.30 and we just had to get up for breakfast (it's included in the price) for 9.30 so we haven't managed to do much today I'm afraid. Just about time to go back out though and get some more noodles methinks.....
Bye for now.
ended yesterday with our flight to Kuala Lumpur and then onto Ho Chi Minh city - and did we get a real shock to the system after friendly, helpful, generally English speaking, easy to navigate Malaysia.
Getting into the airport we had to arrange our visas as soon as we landed - they have a really crap system here where you have to apply for visas in advance and we tried to do it at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur but it was absolutely heaving with people (a bit like Vietnam itself actually) so we had to go through an online company that arranges a pre approval letter for you (for a fee of course) you then take that letter to a desk on arrival in Vietnam, fill out a form, pay even more money (of course) and then get your visa.
To be honest, that was the most straightforward thing we did yesterday - leaving the airport we were bombarded by taxi drivers offering a ride into town and that's when it is good to have done a bit of pre-arrival reading. The guy was wanting to charge us 500,000 Dong (15 quid) to get to our hostel - we had read in the book that it should cost 80, 000 Dong. Unfortunately our book is 5 years old so we knew the prices would be off but they are so off that when we finally got the guy to drop his price we didn't believe him when he said we couldn't get it cheaper than 150,000 Dong. Turns out I think he was right with 150,000 but anyway, never wanting to make things easy for ourselves we decided to take the public bus.
Well, the driver either didn't want to speak to us or he couldn't and there was a crazy old lady trying to get us onto the bus telling us the bus definitely went where we wanted to go even though I don't think she understood - but we just had no clue what was going on. We were looking for help.......
Thankfully another old lady appeared and she was fluent in French so with a little bit of standard grade and some je ne sais quoi we were able to tell her that we were Scottish and we wanted to get to a certain hotel - so she took control, had an argument with the driver who still wanted to over charge us, she eventually paid for our bus trip (refusing anything in return) and when she left the bus she got another family to help us. The other family took a team approach (a bit like family fortunes when they confer for the chance to steal the game) and between them they got us off at the right stop.
From there we had to cross one of the busiest roads in Ho Chi Minh with all of our bags - now crossing the road in Ho Chi Minh is all about blind confidence, in fact it would probably be safer if you did just close your eyes and go. The rule here is that you just walk, slowly, and let the traffic avoid you. Not the easiest to convince your brain this is a good strategy when there are 300 motorbikes travelling in both directions - imagine the game Frogger with motorbikes and you're getting close.
once we were across the road it was a 10 minute walk to our hostel - and it was down some very very interesting local streets, This place really is fascinating. There were three highlights of the walk:
1) A woman on a moped with two children under the age of five hanging onto her feet.
2) All the young children running around the street saying "hello" just because it is funny to say this to westerners.
3) A man on his moped tapping his young child on the shoulder telling him to look at us whilst having a good chuckle to himself.
So, in the end we got there safe and sound and seem to have found one of the more reputable establishments (no available room "extras for example). It's a place however that sounds like it would offer other services, Madam Lois's or something (it's actually called Miss Lui's - which is what a lot of people do here.)
before I go I should make mention of the fact that we went out last night to watch the world cup final at 2am. But because of the time difference it was really 3am for our bodies. We just about managed to stay awake, helped ably by Canadian Kurt who lives here and was able to answer all our drunken questions such as "Dollar or Dong", "Saigon or Ho Chi Minh" and "What are the top five survival tips for Ho Chi Minh" (the best of which was when you are crossing the road never ever take a step back)
We are ruined today - we didn't get to bed until 5.30 and we just had to get up for breakfast (it's included in the price) for 9.30 so we haven't managed to do much today I'm afraid. Just about time to go back out though and get some more noodles methinks.....
Bye for now.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Rush job
Hi folks - well I am staying up late to watch Spain v Germany and I thought I would throw some quick posts and photos on the blog. Not much chat but just some photos - I have loads of others from our trip down the big Kitabangtangan river but I don't think I will be able to get them up anytime soon (a file difficulty)
Hope you enjoy the ones I have put up though and there will be lots more to follow shortly hopefully.
We are now in Kota Kinabulu - just flew in at 10.30pm - staying in a very basic hostel and checking out tomorrow to fly to Kuching where apparently the rainforest music festival is happening this weekend - we are starting to think we'll struggle for good accommodation as we have only just realised that this is a pretty big deal here and everyone wants to go to it!
Will keep you posted.
Hope you enjoy the ones I have put up though and there will be lots more to follow shortly hopefully.
We are now in Kota Kinabulu - just flew in at 10.30pm - staying in a very basic hostel and checking out tomorrow to fly to Kuching where apparently the rainforest music festival is happening this weekend - we are starting to think we'll struggle for good accommodation as we have only just realised that this is a pretty big deal here and everyone wants to go to it!
Will keep you posted.
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