Sionara Western World: Hello Vietnam!
>> 2009-04-08
Where to start!?
I think I'll start with the good news and a great book recommendation. If you haven't read it already we were introduced, by one of our wonderful Warmshowers hosts, to an author Gregory David Roberts and his novel Shantaram. Z. has finished this lengthy but captivating book and E. is about to start it. At 933 pages it's a bit of a brick but I assure you it's worth the read.
In other good news we've had an incredible and action packed time here in Darwin.
One of the many spectacular parks just outside Darwin
Z. met E.'s brother Jens for the first time and E. got to get to know her brother quite a bit better after indulging in some sister/brother bonding out a Kakadu National Park.
aboriginal depiction of long-necked turtle at Kakadu Caves
E. also got the pleasure of meeting the newest addition to the Ehrheart family line, Jens' son River!
River hamming it up for the camera
We've cycled the miles of bicycle paths that crisscross the city and suburbs, visited all the bike shops (only 5), seen Friday night track racing, gone to the movies, took the Jumping Croc's river tour,
Jens getting a second go on the Jumping Crocs tour
What would you do for a pork chop on a fishing pole?
visited Jens rural property and his new "locals" bar, and met some incredible hosts some touring cyclist and some non-touring cyclist. In the almost 2 weeks we spent in Darwin we've done a lot, and also spent a fair amount of time relaxing and reading in leisurely luxury (thank you warmshowers.org!). In the last few days we got to spend some good quality time with Jens' friends and roommates shooting the breeze and even getting out on the bay to do some mud crabbing.
Mud Crab!
It was nice to chat with some worldly, interesting, and incredibly funny folks and we'd like to thank them for the send off dinners and the sincere well wishes for good travels. Oh and Rockin' Rob... we didn't even have to listen twice to know that we love the music! You guys should tour the states so we can see you live!
The not-that-good news is that on Thursday, the day we were supposed to fly out to Vietnam, Z. woke up with a toothache that wouldn't quit. He'd already been to the dentist a few days before and was delivered the premolar abscess diagnosis but despite the antibiotics and the Oxycontin the tooth had upped the ante and had swollen out past the surrounding teeth and would not succumb to the heavy pain killers any longer. We'd already made the decision and the appointment to get the tooth worked on at an ex-pat clinic in Ho Chi Minh the morning after we arrived, but that plan was out by five o'clock Thursday morning. Z. just wanted the tooth out and by 8:30 am had the only emergency appointment he could get a 35 minute cab ride outside Darwin. Luckily the dentist was persuasive and educated enough to convince Z. to start a root canal procedure instead of pulling the bastard tooth, assuring him the pain would be virtually completely relieved and the temporary filling backed by antibiotic goop would last at least 2 months. The whole thing cost less than our new camera and Z. was in and out of the clinic in 25 minutes. E. stayed back and sent off a last minute package to the forest project in Auroville containing our sleeping bags and Thermarests - things we don't envision needing in S.E. Asia much but will be glad for in Darjeeling in 2010. E. also packed the straggling bits of our stuff and organized our flight vouchers and info, ready to leave that evening or book a new flight if we were forced to hold off on travel for dental reasons.
With the major disaster averted, our lovely host Theresa delivered us and our luggage to the small but efficient Darwin International Airport. Seriously the whole place was about the size of one terminal of the SeaTac airport back home. We easily cleared the bikes and other luggage and tried to spend our last few Aussie dollars on overpriced snacks and drinks. The flight boarded on time and left the gate without incident - more than we can say for most flights back in the states! We spent the flight leaning over one another to peer out the window into the dark, gauging poorly with the airline magazine map what island we thought we were flying over whenever we'd spot any concentration of light in the black below. We landed on time and zipped through the airport immigration counters and the customs queue. We exchanged about $300usd and received millions of dong in return, these denomination would take some serious getting used to and neither of us could discern how much we had actually payed for a cab ride to our hotel.
The night was warm and the air smelled vaguely like that of India, a bit sweetly smokey and with a distinctly foreign ring. The city streamed by in comparable chaos to what we'd experienced in the past five months. Motobikes flew past our windows in full career, seemingly heading in every conceivable direction at once. Traffic moved much more quickly here and with the accompanying of every tone and length of honking imaginable. When by chance we got caught up at a light we watched as rider after rider filed their bikes, cargo, and passengers into a thick, teeming mass of bright lights and dark eyes, tanned skin and polished metal, worn tires and dangling thongs. The light changed and we all accelerated as one off into the city beeping and maneuvering about each other. No one seemed to be in a particular hurry and the vying for position and posturing seemed, to my eyes, to be missing from the drivers interactions altogether. Shops were open everywhere and people were out on the town doing everything from drinking at bars to playing with children and it was all happening at ground level and spilling out from the sidewalks into the streets. Moto repair shops seemed to be doing a swift business right alongside electronics stores boasting the latest techie gadgets which were down the block from ice cream parlors offering a refreshing cool against the evenings heat. We arrived on our guesthouses street and a young guy showed us down a side street to a hotel, but not the one we'd booked. He didn't seem too put off when we declined his preferred guest house and slogged our way alone another 50 meters to 178/32 Co Giang. This was the only hotel E. had managed to confirm a booking with after trying a number of places listed in the Lonely Planet and online from our hosts house in Darwin. We were met at the door by the bright faces of 3 lovely young ladies who fetched the hotel manager for us. The girls then preceded us up the stairs carrying our lighter luggage and giggling at our sputtering struggle up the four steep and narrow flights of marble stairs that lead up to our room. We stumbled in our socks on the polished floor making our struggle that much more entertaining for the gigglers. After signing in to the guest log and saying a winded goodnight to the proprietor we headed back up the four flights of stairs to our first room on our first leg of our first ever S.E. Asia bike tour. We took a few moments to marvel at our good fortune before falling into bed.
The not-that-good news is that on Thursday, the day we were supposed to fly out to Vietnam, Z. woke up with a toothache that wouldn't quit. He'd already been to the dentist a few days before and was delivered the premolar abscess diagnosis but despite the antibiotics and the Oxycontin the tooth had upped the ante and had swollen out past the surrounding teeth and would not succumb to the heavy pain killers any longer. We'd already made the decision and the appointment to get the tooth worked on at an ex-pat clinic in Ho Chi Minh the morning after we arrived, but that plan was out by five o'clock Thursday morning. Z. just wanted the tooth out and by 8:30 am had the only emergency appointment he could get a 35 minute cab ride outside Darwin. Luckily the dentist was persuasive and educated enough to convince Z. to start a root canal procedure instead of pulling the bastard tooth, assuring him the pain would be virtually completely relieved and the temporary filling backed by antibiotic goop would last at least 2 months. The whole thing cost less than our new camera and Z. was in and out of the clinic in 25 minutes. E. stayed back and sent off a last minute package to the forest project in Auroville containing our sleeping bags and Thermarests - things we don't envision needing in S.E. Asia much but will be glad for in Darjeeling in 2010. E. also packed the straggling bits of our stuff and organized our flight vouchers and info, ready to leave that evening or book a new flight if we were forced to hold off on travel for dental reasons.
With the major disaster averted, our lovely host Theresa delivered us and our luggage to the small but efficient Darwin International Airport. Seriously the whole place was about the size of one terminal of the SeaTac airport back home. We easily cleared the bikes and other luggage and tried to spend our last few Aussie dollars on overpriced snacks and drinks. The flight boarded on time and left the gate without incident - more than we can say for most flights back in the states! We spent the flight leaning over one another to peer out the window into the dark, gauging poorly with the airline magazine map what island we thought we were flying over whenever we'd spot any concentration of light in the black below. We landed on time and zipped through the airport immigration counters and the customs queue. We exchanged about $300usd and received millions of dong in return, these denomination would take some serious getting used to and neither of us could discern how much we had actually payed for a cab ride to our hotel.
The night was warm and the air smelled vaguely like that of India, a bit sweetly smokey and with a distinctly foreign ring. The city streamed by in comparable chaos to what we'd experienced in the past five months. Motobikes flew past our windows in full career, seemingly heading in every conceivable direction at once. Traffic moved much more quickly here and with the accompanying of every tone and length of honking imaginable. When by chance we got caught up at a light we watched as rider after rider filed their bikes, cargo, and passengers into a thick, teeming mass of bright lights and dark eyes, tanned skin and polished metal, worn tires and dangling thongs. The light changed and we all accelerated as one off into the city beeping and maneuvering about each other. No one seemed to be in a particular hurry and the vying for position and posturing seemed, to my eyes, to be missing from the drivers interactions altogether. Shops were open everywhere and people were out on the town doing everything from drinking at bars to playing with children and it was all happening at ground level and spilling out from the sidewalks into the streets. Moto repair shops seemed to be doing a swift business right alongside electronics stores boasting the latest techie gadgets which were down the block from ice cream parlors offering a refreshing cool against the evenings heat. We arrived on our guesthouses street and a young guy showed us down a side street to a hotel, but not the one we'd booked. He didn't seem too put off when we declined his preferred guest house and slogged our way alone another 50 meters to 178/32 Co Giang. This was the only hotel E. had managed to confirm a booking with after trying a number of places listed in the Lonely Planet and online from our hosts house in Darwin. We were met at the door by the bright faces of 3 lovely young ladies who fetched the hotel manager for us. The girls then preceded us up the stairs carrying our lighter luggage and giggling at our sputtering struggle up the four steep and narrow flights of marble stairs that lead up to our room. We stumbled in our socks on the polished floor making our struggle that much more entertaining for the gigglers. After signing in to the guest log and saying a winded goodnight to the proprietor we headed back up the four flights of stairs to our first room on our first leg of our first ever S.E. Asia bike tour. We took a few moments to marvel at our good fortune before falling into bed.
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