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| This is an Eight foot Cobra in a bottle |
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| at the Snake Restaurant |
| Ha, Eric, Loi, Cong and Tai |
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| drinking Rocket Fuel |
| Ha, Eric Loi, Cong and Nhan |
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| drinking more Rocket Fuel |
| This is the snake that we had for |
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| lunch...4 1/2 hours of eating and drinking |
| Me and an Eight Foot Cobra |
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| The Owner of the Restaurant |
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| at Le Mat Village |
| This is the beautiful woodwork at the |
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| Snake Restaurant |
| The first temple on the way to |
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| Chua Huong |
| A large boat full of people from a firm |
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| out for a group trip to the pagoda |
| Le and Tai on the steps of the first |
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| temple |
| This sea of people was a sign |
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| of things to come |
| Our rower Thom who lives on the river |
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| who would be as good as any Olympic rower |
| On the river travelling to the start |
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| of the track to Chua Huong |
| A young boy on the river |
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| Still on the river |
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| On the track to |
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| Chua Huong |
| Me on the track to |
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| Chua Huong |
| The huge sea of people in the cave |
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| of Chua Huong. "Nam Thien De Nhat Dong" |
| Looking from the main Cavern back to |
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| the 120 steps that lead down into the Pagoda |
| Inside the Pagoda, people jostling to get their |
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| food to the altars so the Buddha can bless it |
| A Temple goer with his offering |
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| of food after it has been blessed by the Buddha |
| Me and Tai outside the Thien Thu |
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| Pagoda |
| Me and Le |
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| I was standing on the lower step |
| Le and her big brother Tai |
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| Le and Loi |
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| her nephew |
| The first temple inside the |
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| Thien Thu Pagoda |
| A Graveyard in the grounds of the |
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| Thien Thu Pagoda |
| A Nge (half dragon half dog) in the grounds |
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| of the Pagoda |
| One of the many Buddhas in the |
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| Pagoda |
| Le by a blossom garden |
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| Thom at the end of the trip |
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| still as fresh as a daisy. Wearing high heel shoes |
| Le's Graduation class at the Ha Noi |
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| Law University |
| Nhung, Ha, Ngoc Anh, Viet, Le and Huyen |
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| after the Graduation |
| Le and Ngoc Anh in the Hotel |
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| after the Graduation |
This week has seen some really interesting things happen...I
went to Le Mat Village to a snake restaurant with Le's brothers, the food was incredible...the snake we ate was nearly
3 meters long and we sat and ate for 4 hours, and drank some wine which can only be described as rocket fuel!!! and the total
bill was 780,000 VND or about $70 NZ... The brothers have invited me into their family so I have now the blessing
of Le's parents and her brothers and sisters...
The next thing to happen was a trip to the Perfume Pagoda or
Chua Huong...we got up at 04:30 for the trip and drove for about 1 hour to get there...as we got closer we were assailed by
about 30 - 40 people on motorbikes trying to get us to use their boat to travel up the river to the Pagoda...even more attractive
to them when they saw a foreigner (me) we had prearranged a boat so they all were flagged away...Our rower turned out to be
a really pretty woman called Thom, she lives by the river and has 3 children, in the off season her family farms for
rice...if Thom were to enter a rowing contest then she would probably clean the opposition off the water...she rowed for 1.5
hours non-stop to the village at the start of the track to the pagada and 1.5 hours back and never stopped once and with every
stroke you could feel the power in her propelling the boat...we got to the village and had breakfast...then started the long
walk to the pagoda...about 1.5 hours, if you walk non-stop...there were people from 3 years old to about 70 years old and
some of the track is pretty hard walking...but the older people just keep on going...when we finally got to the Pagoda, WOW,
I have not seen that many people crowded into such a small space before...the main cavern is huge but was absolutely jam packed
full of people that had come to pray...I felt very strange there coz I was the only foreigner...I did not see any others,
they were possibly there but coz of all the people it was hard to see more than 1-2 metres...Even though I felt strange, I
felt safe as most of the people there were very well mannered...coming back was another experience as when we were coming
close to Thien Tru Village it started to rain and as people were slipping around on the stones and other people were running,
it was interesting to say the least...but we got there and had dinner or a very late lunch...then went by boat back to the
car...again with Thom who showed us her house and kept up a running comentary, all the time rowing her heart out, she never
seemed to run out of breath or energy (sort of like the Energizer Bunny)...it was dark when we got back and we were the last
so we had to walk (scramble) across three other boats to get to the shore...no-one fell in...we got back to Ha Noi at about
9:00pm and sat down with Big Le (Le's) older sister, (actually Thanh Le, my Le is Hong Le) and had late dinner and a lot more
Rocket Fuel...
Then was Le's graduation from Law school, she now has 2 Bachelor's
Degree's...one for Economics and the other for Law...(Makes me look dumb) hahaha...she got 10 out of 10 for her Thesis presentation
and I am very proud of her...
Le and I are going to Ha Long Bay for 3 days next week so there
will be a few more photos to come...that will be the finish for this trip...I am going back to NZ on March 7, we are still
waiting for the Visa, so I will go back to NZ and come to Viet Nam and get her and the boys when it is ready...of course it
will be hard but I have asked her to be as positive as possible and use the time to improve her English and also the boys...so
hopefully it will not be to long...(fingers crossed) and if you could all say a little prayer for us or cross your fingers
we will be so grateful...untill next week...Tam Biet...
Oh and by the way, the error message that some of you are getting
when you try to log onto the Guestbook is not an error message at all...it is a sales gimmick so just close down that screen
and continue as normal...
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