Sa Pa Hilltop

8 Nov 2019

After a nice breakfast at the Rex penthouse restaurant, our Eco SaPa driver picked us up for the 5 hour drive to this hill resort town.

We were delivered to the Pistachio Hotel where we were greeted by our guide Ta May and a very nice room.

The roads in Sapa are very narrow, and are mostly undergoing repairs, widening and upgrades.  

They are either one or 1.5 lanes wide, and shared with pedestrians.   The drivers perform near impossible squeezes.

Our first visit was to the Cat Cat village.  This is a hillside village constructed for the H'mong people of these hills, purely to attract the tourist trade.

So the undulating steps were lined with shops, points of interests and photo stops.

They also put on performances of traditional dances, music and artisan crafting.

They are allowed to grow hemp for weaving, but the leaves smells very much like a AC/DC concert.

Ta May then took us to Heavens Gate where the views of the mountains are spectacular.  

It was misty so we didn't see much.

They built a temple and some cheesy artifacts at the top of the viewing platform.

But the builders didn't bother to clean up after themselves and left a lot of building rubbish amongst the statues and buildings, ugh.

Then we stopped over at a small waterfall before going back to the hotel.

The power points in Vietnam are wonderful, they work for everyone!

Come On Hanoi

6 Nov 2019

Continuing our tour of South East Asia, I decided to book a private tour of North Vietnam.  It was gonna be a 8 day tour of Hanoi, Sapa hills and Lan Ha Bay.

I also managed to secure a "promo" business class fare from Malindo low cost airline for RM800 return each.  Well, it turned out to be a low cost business class.  

The meal was bad, and the seat didn't really work.  We had seats 1D and 1F, anymore forward and we'd be in the cockpit.

We arrived in Hanoi after 2 hours 45 mins.  I picked up some data sims for D200k each, and we were out to meet our guide David who was waiting for us at gate 1. 

The drive to Hanoi Old Quarters was 30 mins in light traffic.  After check in and a short rest, David was back to pick us up for the street food tour.

First stop was for a spring roll snack and thirst quenching beer from this lady pouring straight out of a keg.  The beers were D5k about RM1 or 35 NZ cents.  That's David in black.  

Then we stopped at a satay stall for a stick of pork satay.

For our street food mains, David selected Bun Cha.  This is sweet beef stew with green papaya.  You soak rice noodles and veges in it.

We sat next to another family in very low stools, about 3 inches off the floor.

It was good and we found getting up difficult.  It is like getting out of a Porsche 911.  So if you can't stand straight up, you tuck and roll off.

We did a bit of walking through Hanoi Old Quarters.  The streets are organised into specialities.  So we have a jewelry and gold street, a flower street, worship street where they sell praying stuff and wedding street.

By this time we were really full and look very bloated.  But David still made us share a bowl of fruits in coconut cream.  We gingerly lowered ourselves onto those stools again, crashing the last 6 inches when we lost muscle control.

7 Nov 2019

Today's tour covered the significant Hanoi sites.  First off was Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.  Uncle Ho lies in-state here  perfectly preserved, and hasn't aged a day since 1969.  I looked for Madame Tussauds sponsorship sign but found none.

We weren't allowed electronics so there is no proof we saw him.  We have to dress and behave respectfully as we filed past.  Hats off, no folded arms or hands in pocket.

The large park area also houses the Presidental Palace, a pagoda and the HCM Museum.

President's Palace of French build.  Above is a pagoda.

The Vietnam Parliament is across the road from HCM. 

Next point of interest was the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius.  It was also the location of the first Vietnam University built in 1070.

I didn't know humans could write then, but there you go........  Apparently all the classes were conducted in the court yard.

It was full of temple type prayer rooms.   

Next we visited the Dien Bien Phu railway track that's really close to houses and shops.  A tourist was run over and died last week, so they posted a cop there to stop people from crossing.

The shops on the other side were very sad.  

David then took us for a walk along Lake Hoan Kiem.  Hoan Kiem means return the sword, and in Cantonese too.  There is a back story to that, but I can't remember it - haha.

We continued this spiritual and significant sites of Hanoi by visiting the Aeon Mall at Long Bien for coffee beans and assorted other purchases.

We were on our own for dinner that night, so we firstly visited Dream Beans coffee for some wonderful egg coffee and coconut coffee. 

Egg coffee is layered with condensed milk, expresso coffee and beaten egg yolk.  Photo of Egg coffee below before stirring.

 

Cold coconut creme coffee above.  Tuan the proprietor was a great host explaining the construct and how to partake.  He buys the raw beans directly from farmers up north and roasts them himself.  We will be back to work through the menu.

We then ate dinner, rice flour rolls at a low rise cafe next door before adjourning home.

And we took in Saint Joseph's cathederal on the way home.

We stayed at the Rex Hotel in the Old Quarters.  They have a roof top bar and a penthouse restaurant.  You can make out Hoan Kiem lake on the left.

Museum of Old and New Art Tassie

2 April 2019
We leave Cradle Mountain for Hobart today.  I decided to take the A5 Highland Lakes Road to Hobart instead of the main Highway 1.  This took us up to 1,1120m on the Central Plateau.  

We stopped at Cruzin' In The 50s cafe at Deloraine for some coffee and fries before the drive up to the plateau.

The cafe is decorated in 50s American milk bar, gas station. 

Ladies toilet at Cruzin' In The 50s.

After about 40mins we reached the Great Lakes lookout on the plateau.  The drive was one of the best drives I've had, with enough wind to keep things interesting but hardly any traffic either way.

We pulled over at one of the boat ramps by the lake for a close-up of the Great Lake and Marcus in front of the car.

After no time at all (3 hours of great driving) we were in Hobart.

Too tired to eat out, so Wang Theng and Marcus cooked pasta at our Sandy Bay AirBnB.  With a face-masking after party.

Another great booking Maylene, nice beaches, restaurants and shopping all within walking distance.

3 April 2019
We are visiting the Mona, Museum of New and Old Art, owned by the famed Tassie mathematician/gambler David Walsh.  It has a brewery, vineyard and restaurants built-in in a very scenic location.

The museum itself is as much an exhibit as is the collections within.

We were issued iPods to explain the concepts behind the vision, design and construct of each exhibit.

It was too complicated for me and I returned my iPod pretty soon.

There were sharp pointy things.

And then there were blue things.  And also red things.

Bikes that don't work. 

And lunch was at Prince of Wales Pub at Battle Point.

We went for a walk around that area including Salamanca without the weekend market.

An Indian curry dinner ends our very nice Tassie road trip, a treat from Maylene and Marcus for our 60th and 57th birthdays. The hot curries gave Marcus a nosebleed.  Thanks kids.  Back to Melbourne tomorrow.

Tasmania Mania

28 March 2019

Wang Theng turned 60 today as we wing back from Wellington on the 6am flight to Melbourne.  Dinner was at Supernormal Fusion Restaurant on Flinders Lane, where we have a picture of every dish on the buffet menu.

Tessa Maylene took us to the Trinket Bar for drinks while we waited for our table at Supernormal.

30 March 2019

The LIM team is together again, as we fly to Hobart on JitStar (hehe).  The Hobart airport is tiny like Kuching airport.  There is no air-bridge here and stairs were brought to the plane for front and rear disembarking.  Now we know how it feels to get off the plane like POTUS.

Marcus hired a Holden Equinox SUV for our road trip in Tassie. 

First stop was Hobart where we parked the car and joined the Salamanca weekend market on the water-front.

Some pies were procured for a snack and sour dough bread for tonight’s dinner.  We are staying in Coles Bay tonight, a 3 hour drive along the east coast highway.  I wanted to join the Sullivan Cove Whisky tour but missed the 11am tour by inches. 

This distillery won the Single Cask Whisky champion award last week, and they increased the price of that blend to $550 a 700ml bottle.

After lunch of Tassie scallop pie and buying supplies at Sorell, we checked into the very slick AirBnB in Coles Bay. 

Tessa Maylene did a good job booking this place, there was nothing missing in this modern unit at this near seaside place.  We were entertained by Netflix that night.

31 March 2019

We have an early 9am departure to cover Wineglass Bay, Launceston and Erriba. 

First stop at Wineglass Bay involves a 80 min return uphill hike to the lookout with views of Coles and Wineglass bays along the way. 

Although downhill, the return walk felt longer.  Perhaps time slows down when you have a full bladder.

Queen of the World.

Then a short boardwalk loop walk around the Tourville Bay lighthouse which was above some steep cliffs and crashing waves.  Glad it was a fine sunny day.

A 2-hour drive to Launceston for lunch, refuel and pick up supplies for our remote Erriba AirBnB.  This Launceston City is deplete of people although cars were a-plenty.  We also struggled to find a restaurant opened at 2pm on this Sunday.   Found a pub open Steve's Grill and even then they had to check with kitchen if they were cooking at 2pm.

We were well fed at the pub.  I have to say the small Tassie scallops are delicate and flavourful.   After lunch, we crossed Wellington St to shop at Coles.

It took another 2 hours to get to the AirBnB cottage in Erriba.  We await to do our Cradle Mountain walk tomorrow.

1 April 2019

We drove to the Cradle Mountain visitor centre where the shuttle bus took us to the start of the walking track at Dove Lake.

  

It was a 1.5 hour hike to Marions Lookout elevation 1,230m.  We walked past Wombat Poo(l).

There were beautiful views above and below on the way up.

A kind walker took a family photo at the lookout.

The way down was less taxing on the muscles but more jarring on the knees. 

They built lots of boardwalks to reduce impact on the flora on the ground.

And on the return leg we were fortunate to see a wombat and her family.  Up till now it was just their poos.