Burning Desire For FIRE

Financially Independent, Retired Early(ish) at 57.

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Japan Day 3: Mt Fuji and the cat.

March 14, 2025 / / 2 Comments

I took many photos of Mt Fuji today, and this is the best one. It is also the first one.

I would have saved myself so much time and energy if I’d realised that at the time!

“Sometimes Fuji is shy. She hides her face behind the clouds like a quilt. We see the Fuji twice on this trip, so we have a good chance to see her,” said Ben.

Fuji is actually 4 mountains and it has 2 craters. It last erupted 300 years ago, from the crater on the side. It was so large that the sand on the beach is still black. 

There’s an 80% chance that it will erupt in the next 30 years. People in Tokyo have regular drills on what to do when it happens.

Of course, Mt Fuji is big Kami.

Fortunate Frogdancer is on this tour! It’s cloudy, but the top of Mt Fuji can clearly be seen.

We arrived at the museum and raced to the top floor to see Fuji.

I’ve got to admit, I was more moved than I expected to be. It was so beautiful!

After I’d snapped a couple of shots, I went downstairs and watched a 10 minute video about the mountain. They did a good job – it was actually interesting. 

I spent more time in the gift shop looking for a decent souvenir of Fuji than I actually spent looking at her, so after I selected the least hideous magnet, I went upstairs again. Clouds were beginning to sweep across the top of the mountain and it looked very different, even in such a short time.

Our next stop was Lake Kawaguchi, where we were to grab lunch and then jump on a boat to catch the best views of Fuji.

Barbara, Lyn, Robyn and I went to a cafe called ‘ The Apple Pie Lab’ which seriously had the best apple pie I’ve ever eaten. The coffee was strong, too. If you ever see one, you could do far worse than to grab a lunch here.

We wandered around afterward, and discovered this sculpture that an artist who was 101 made. Isn’t it beautiful?

We had a little time to kill before the boat ride and as I walked beside the harbour, I was suddenly filled with happiness. The sun was shining, I was looking at a snowy place with not even a jumper on, I could hear birds in the air and my little black ducks with the white faces were swimming in the water. It was all so peaceful and lovely.

The boat ride on the lake was amazing. The view of Mt Fuji was incredibly impressive. However , I couldn’t get a decent view on my phone for you, and believe me… I tried. In the end, I put my phone away and lived in the moment.

The photos are wishy-washy but the view in real life definitely wasn’t!

This was me thinking I’d left it too late to get a decent shot of the mountain, but it actually isn’t too bad. Anyway, once we were on dry land, we were in the bus and away. It was a full- on driving afternoon.

I slept on the bus after this, but every now and then I surfaced to see the view. This reminded me of the Alaskan/Canadian trip, with snowy mountains by the road. Admittedly, the Japanese ones were smaller and were further away from the road, but the echoes were still there.

A view from the wrong side of the bus. Hey, I can’t be Fortunate Frogdancer ALL the time!

We arrived at Nagano, a town high in the Alps region, at around 4:30.
Ben said that our rooms would be small by Australian standards…

There’s no window behind that curtain.

I appreciate how, despite the lack of floor space, the toilet still has everything I’ve come to expect.

If there’s one thing I’m beginning to appreciate, after being on so many trips, is that if the guide recommends something, it’s probably a good idea to check it out.

I knew that if I went and got dinner immediately after checking in, I was going to end up with lots of time on my hands. Even with writing this post – these travel posts take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours to put together – I’d still be left with nothing but a book to read.

As we drove into town, Ben recommended going to see a “very famous” shrine a kilometres walk from the hotel.

Now, you all know how much I hate exercise. But I thought of my tens of readers and decided to take that walk. It was up a hill, so I hope you appreciate it.

Actually, it was terrific. Always listen to your guide!

As I walked, I snapped a few photos.

I liked the look of this garden. Did I mention that this walk was uphill?

I knew this place would be awesome when I saw this.

How whimsical!

This is a close-up of the statues in the first gate.

Then there was a row of shops. Luckily for me, most of them were already closed for the day. The Art shop was shut. Phew! I still haven’t quite recovered from buying the silken embroidered piece from Hoi An 2 weeks ago.

There was something fabulous here that I didn’t notice until I was on my way out…

Looking back the way I’d come. It was getting cold and I had to tuck my hands into my sleeves to try and keep them warm. But I was very glad I’d come.

Walking up towards the last building.

These buildings were all original. They’d escaped being bombed in the war.

Look at his expression! I’d find a place for him at home in a heartbeat.

This was a sneaky shot.

How could I have missed seeing the cat?? 😂😂

I may have quickly stepped into traffic to take this shot. I like the way the buildings relate to each other.

And another echo of Canada. I was reminded of Banff when I saw the mountain at the end of the street.

I bumped into Lyn and Barbara at the supermarket and we bought our dinners. I’ve demolished mine, and I’ll finish my little bottle of sake while I finish my book.

Tomorrow it’s another early start.

I’m enjoying this tour. Even though it’s a large number of people, everyone is chilled, on time and agreeable. There’s no one who’s annoying.

Unless… oh god!… maybe this means that it’s ME??? 😳

Dad Joke of the Day:

Japan, day 2: Tokyo.

March 14, 2025 / / 1 Comment

This morning I woke up and I could see Mt Fuji from my hotel window. I was so excited. We travel to see her tomorrow, but even if the weather turns bad, I’ve seen her with snow.

Today was an optional tour, costing around $100 AUD. It was money well spent as far as I was concerned. I have no idea what to see here. If you were a more independent traveler, or had friends you wanted to catch up with, then the flexibility to choose would be great.

Our first stop was a Buddhist temple.

Shinto temples, like the one we saw yesterday, are empty. Buddhist temples are very different.

It’s very common in Japan to believe in both religions. Buddhism came from China, originally from India. If people believe in the same faith, it’s easier to control them, so the government built lots of temples.

In olden days, if you were sick, you’d go to the temple first. Buddhism explained everything, which was a comfort to people before science. As we walked towards the temple proper, I could smell the incense so strongly. Lighting incense, then waving the smoke towards where you feel I’ll, is a tradition from the oldest times that still exists today.

During the Meiji restoration, there was a resurgence of nationalism and they tried to ban Buddhism because it came from China. They tore down a few temples but met with great resistance from the local people. After all, it had been here, entwined with Shintoism, for hundreds of years. So they separated the two religions, which is how it is today. 

China is intolerant of other cultures. Ten years ago, it was safe to wear Japanese kimonos on the streets. Now, people will point and question why you are wearing a different culture’s clothes, which is a bugger for Chinese kids who like anime. If you don’t take off the clothes yourself, they might “help you “. Ben is from China, so I believe him. “It’s a worrying sign,” he said. “It’s very bad.”

Here is one of the two shoes that are periodically made for Buddha. The Japanese believe that he is very, very big.

Pagoda has a huge column suspended from the top floor to absorb earthquake tremors. The Japanese learned how to do this centuries ago.

This temple also has its fund-raising efforts.

You can buy little fortune-telling things that tell your luck. If it’s bad luck you can leave it here and Buddha will cleanse it. If it’s good luck though you can bring it home with you. Isn’t that convenient?

Before he set us loose for a half hour’s free time, Ben took us to see the koi. He told us of a lovely custom.

Buddhism famously believes in reincarnation, where, depending on how you behave in your current life, you may come back as a human or an animal. On October 15 every year, people go to the market and buy a fish and then return it to the water. It might be your grandmother or your brother…

As I was walking around, I noticed lots of young women dressed in traditional clothes. Was this a thing that people did? Was this a special day?

Later, as I was walking back through the market, I saw rental shops for the clothing. Apparently, it’s a thing for young people to do.

Just like the churches in Europe, you can light a candle. I lit two, wishing with all my heart that Mum and Dad would stay upright and breathing for years to come.

Look up! Something Scott taught me in England…

After I battled my way through the crowd, I bought a good fortune charm for my Christmas tree. That’s Japan done!

I have to say, the Japanese don’t seem to mind mixing religion and commerce. The market, right outside the temple, was doing a roaring trade.

I didn’t buy this bag, but maybe I should have.

I DID buy this dachshund key ring for Georgia.
Scout is her favourite housemate, after all.

Zoom in on this dog’s cheek. Can you see the crocheted flower? 😂

I liked the contrast of the traditional figure in front, with the huge tower behind.

I’m not exactly sure why these cats are shaped the way they are. They remind me of something…?

This looks like a fabric shop, doesn’t it? But it’s paper.

Here is a sculpture that the Japanese affectionately call’The Golden Poo.’

It’s supposed to symbolise the eternal flame of life that burns within us all… but yeah. Giant golden poo.

Our next stop was the old fish market. I didn’t expect to enjoy it all that much, but it was great! It helped that I had the freshest salmon and scallop sashimi for lunch for around $6. Talk about living the life!

This place was packed with tiny shops, some selling ingredients while the rest were selling all sorts of things to eat. Barbara and Lyn called out, “We’re coming with you, Frogdancer!” as I set off in search of lunch. Ben had directed most of the group to a shop that sold a very popular beef stew, but to my way of thinking, if you come to a fish market, you really should eat fish.

The only exception to this is if you go to a banana market, in which case you should stay on the bus and avoid all contact with that disgusting fruit.

Barbara and I chose to eat sashimi, which was absolutely delicious, especially the scallops.

Lyn doesn’t eat fish market, so when I saw these rice dumplings dipped in soy glaze, she dove right in.

Before we got off the bus, Ben warned us about checking the prices.
“People think that because it’s street food, it’s cheap,” he said. “That’s not always the case.”
With Japanese yen, you wipe off the last two digits and you’ve got a good swap for the Aussie dollar. Now admittedly, these strawberries were almost as big as my fist, but I’m not paying $12 for one!

Look at the marbling on that steak!

Afterwards, we had some time to kill before going back to the bus, so we walked a block to see a shrine that had an early flowering cherry.

Our next stop was a garden that reminded me in some ways of the Butchart Gardens in Canada. It’s centred around a lake and it’s very beautiful, though in a very different style to the Canadian one.

It’s called the pure and clean garden. It used to belong to the founder of the Mitsubishi company. He used to hold meetings there after he bought it from an old samurai family early last century. He donated it to the government to become a public garden.

It was a lovely place to wander around.

I still have Wanda with me.

We were set the task of finding the three wise monkeys. They were here, amongst these very old sculptures.

In the group chat, this was posted with the caption, “Found them!”

This park is all about the rocks. The Mitsubishi guy shipped back rocks from all over the world to place in the garden. As I was stepping along the beautifully manicured trail, it occurred to me that these boots and I have stepped on many different trails; from cobbled streets in London to the rough climbs in Central Australia to the carefully crafted paths in Japan.

How wonderful life is!

And just like that, we were off to something completely different.

Godzilla, anyone???

Today we went to Shinjuku, Tokyo’s biggest station, where an average of 3.6 million people A DAY commute. It must be hell during peak hour.
We were here to see Godzilla, the 3D cats and the red light district.

This is only part of it, it was the silliest and most impressive thing I’ve seen.

And here’s a bar advertising the young men available for women to buy a drink for them.

Prostitution is illegal here, and the conservative attitudes coupled with the insane work/life imbalance means that some weird things are big business here.

“Liquid business” is huge. This is a description of bars where men and women go to flirt and talk with gorgeous young things who get them to buy drinks at hugely inflated prices. There is no sex involved… yet to lonely people these liquid workers can seem like a boyfriend or girlfriend.
The first time you go to a place, you can choose which girl to see. After that, every time you go back, you have to see the same girl. You can see how people will feel like they have a relationship with that person after a while.
Apparently, it’s acceptable for married people to do this. After all, they’re only talking…

It’s a bit sad.

Some more of Ben’s Fun Facts:

Fermented beans for breakfast is a traditional dish. . “You try once. Once is enough!!”

Curry with rice. The Japanese curry is sweet. 

Beef wasn’t eaten until the Meiji restoration. Beef comes from working animals, so for an agricultural society, it’s too expensive to use cattle for eating. They ate fish almost exclusively.

Now, Japan’s wagyu beef is the best in the world. The farmers bring up the cattle to feel no stress. For 2 years, the cattle are fed feed mixed with leftover sake products. They definitely feel no stress!

Horse meat is considered a delicacy and is eaten raw.

See the squares on the roof of each balcony? They’re designed to be able to be pushed through in case there’s a fire and people need to escape. I never would’ve noticed them if Ben hadn’t have pointed them out, and yes. They’re everywhere.

The city of Tokyo has been destroyed twice. In 1923 there was an earthquake and typhoon on the same day. Then, WWII.

There are two professions that are the living history of Japan – the geisha and the Sumo wrestlers.

There has only been one foreign geisha and she was Australian. She came here to make a documentary about the geisha year she can they allowed her to run a geisha house.

Girls who decide to become a geisha have to lead a very traditional lifestyle. They cannot even hold a mobile phone. The hairstyle is very elaborate and takes 1.5 hours to do and it gets done once a week. They have to sleep on a very high pillow. “ They say you get used to it after 2 weeks.”

Contrary to what some people think, a geisha is not a call girl. She sings and dances only.

If you become a champion sumo, you are now Kami and people can worship you. You don’t live as long as most people, though. The life expectancy is 60, due to the weight and diet.

Tomorrow we head out of Tokyo to see Mt Fuji up close. It’s been an action-packed two days and I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.

Dad joke of the day:

Japan Day 1: Tokyo.

March 13, 2025 / / 2 Comments

Our plane was bang on time to Tokyo, but then we had to wait 2 hours to pick up people from Brisbane, who were delayed because of the cyclone. It was ok… I found a quiet corner and read half a book.
It’s called ‘Fourteen Days’ and is edited by Douglas Preston and Margaret Atwood. It’s good. Over 30 different writers have written a story and they’re interwoven into one narrative. Only at the end can you find out who has written which story. Already, I can’t wait to find out!

Ahhh, travel! I’ve never seen this in an Aussie airport.

Here are some snippets about Japan that our guide told us on the way to our hotel:

Less than 50% of the land in Japan is habitable. The whole of Japan is 5% the land mass of Australia. And they have 130 million people, as opposed to our 26 million.

8,000 convenience stores in Tokyo. 

7/11 atms are the best places for money.

Cut 2 zeros off the yen to get the Aussie dollar value.

Toilets are designed to be in the strongest part of every building. You can even drink the toilet water… this is designed to be helpful in case of earthquakes. You need water to survive…

Sashimi is raw fish. Sushi is with rice.

Mt Fuji is a third again higher than Kosciusko. It nearly killed me to climb our mountain- no way I’m trying Fuji!

One thing I noticed was that Japan drives on the correct side of the road! This was a nice surprise.

I had my first taste of the toilet culture in Japan when I reached the hotel. Warm toilet seats! And I’m already a fan of the bidet function. When my ensuite toilet needs replacing, I’m getting a Japanese one!

80% of trash here is burned, to provide heat.

38 people are on this trip. This is the largest group I’ve been on. I met a couple of people, Barbara and Lyn, who invited me for breakfast. Later, I walked to the nearest convenience store and met some more people in the group. That Aussie accent is very distinctive!

The photo is from a wedding we saw at the first place we visited, called the Meiji Shrine.

There are vending machines everywhere, even at a sacred place like this.
“There are even vending machines at the top of Mt Fuji!” said Ben, our guide.

You can see I had Wanda with me, jut just in case, I bought the afternoon tour with cash so I could get some small notes and coins. They have both hot and cold things.

Vending machines don’t take 5 yen coins, but the shrines do. Kami will take the coins!!

The gateway. These are obviously like doors, so instead of knocking – there’s no door – you bow. The 3 round gold discs over the top are chrysanthemums, which are an imperial sign.

For a sacred place, there was an awful lot of commerce going on. These wooden things are where, after paying a fee, you tie them under this one of two sacred trees and they stay there for a day.

Here’s a view of both trees.
Shinto. Only in Japan. There are more shrines than convenience stores here. Kami is like fate. After so many disasters, Shintoism developed. Kami can be happy or angry. They also believe that Kami lives in the toilet, which is why, as a mark of respect, toilets are kept clean.

This was part of the shrine that was not destroyed by bombs during WWII.
There was a book written in the 7th Century to worship the royal family. It was required reading before WWII- not today! It supported the whole “fight to the death for your emperor “ thing.

14 years ago yesterday, the quake that caused the tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident happened. The shrine was packed. Missed it by a day!

Emperor Meiji was the first emperor to live in Tokyo, which was then called Edo, breaking a thousand years of tradition. Anyone who has read James Clevell’s ‘Shogun’ would know that the Shoguns had the actual power in Japan for centuries, with the Emperor being kept as a figurehead in Kyoto.

The samurai class came to power in the twelfth century, and didn’t give it up until the mid nineteenth century.

Meiji was brought back to power after Westerners came to Japan, and the country basked in economic good times. So naturally a shrine was built to celebrate him.

3 1/2 million people visit this shine here for the five days of New Year.

There’s also a temple for the car, you drive it here and then ask the priest to make it safe before you drive on the street. This is the first place you go to after your purchase.

Protective amulets, anyone? You can buy them here, but they only last for one year. You’ve got to come back and renew them each year…

What a disheartening job. It’s being walked over even as he’s doing it.

Next stop was Tokyo Tower, to see the view. The only interesting snippet about this place was that the orange tower is actually made from melted US tanks after the Korean War.

The view was nice, though.

I had ramen for lunch. Beautiful!

One guy on our tour had pizza. Seems odd to come all the way over here to get Italian food, but there you go.

There was no way I was expecting to see cherry blossoms in Japan, but Fortunate Frogdancer strikes again.

80% of the trees in Japan are of a later blooming cherry, but we were taken to see a street with an earlier blooming one.

Before the samurai times in the 12th century, they preferred the plum. Confucius praised bamboo, pine tree and plums for having strong spirit.

Needed a Japanese identity- you might have a short life, but you can be beautiful and memorable.

We had thirty minutes here, so I walked around in the rain.

Look at the skyscraper looming in the background!

The Emperor’s palace. It’s surrounded by pine trees, each one differently shaped by bonsai masters. Pine trees are evergreen- the symbolism isn’t subtle.

One of the three tragic samurais of Japanese history.

He saved the life of the emperor, just before 700 years of Shogunate rule started. So for 700 years he was reviled as a traitor. When the Emperor came back into style, suddenly he was a hero!

Half of the area is open to the public, but the emperor’s family still lives here. This is as far as you can get. It was very pretty.

But look at this duck! Remember the ducks that live on the lake at Lake Crackenback, where I stayed in November after the Crazy Road Trip? It’s exactly the same!

A yellow plum.

Yeah, I don’t know what it is, either.

The famous “loyal dog” statue in Japan is the bronze statue of Hachikō, an Akita dog, located outside Shibuya Station. I pinched this sentence from a website because I couldn’t remember his name.

He accompanied his owner to the station every morning and waited for him at night. Unfortunately, one day the owner collapsed at his desk with a heart attack and never made it home. His dog waited every day for him for the next 10 years.

Here’s me, hoping Scout loves me that much.

Then it was time for The Scramble… that famous intersection where 5 streets meet. Here’s what it’s like to cross the road.

And here’s what it’s like from above.

Random facts we were given as we drove an hour back to the hotel.

14 million people live in Tokyo. 

800,000 people vanished from the population last year. Haha! I made that sound like a science fiction novel, didn’t I? The population declines every year. Median age in Japan is 50. The fertility rate here is 1.2.

Nappies for adults sell more than nappies for babies.

Women are expected to give up their jobs when they get married. The economy is not great and so the incentive for women to have kids isn’t high.

Marriage here doesn’t sound all that wonderful. Women can’t work, while men are expected to stay at work for hours longer than we do, with drinks, dinners and karaoke after work being an expected thing. Men have far less personal time than women. I don’t know how they would have a meaningful relationship with their wives and children.

But all is not lost. If you get lonely, you can hire a girlfriend for a whole day and hold hands- 40,000 yen.

Dad joke of the day:

I’m off again in 3 days!

March 8, 2025 / / 6 Comments

I have a week between Vietnam and Japan which is rapidly drawing to a close. It’s been a strange mix of relaxing and lots of activity with my parents. I’m beginning to suspect that Dad’s modus operandi is going to be that he saves his health dramas for when I’m home…

Yesterday was a case in point. Out of nowhere, he was suddenly carted off to hospital with a suspected heart attack. Twelve hours later, he was brought back to Bonbeach because the hospital couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Obviously, that’s the best result and we’re all glad.

His health has deteriorated so quickly, and so everyone is conscious that we need to keep on top of anything that might be happening with him. Only two months ago, he was considered the healthy one and we were more concerned about Mum.

How things can change!

I took my Hoi An embroidery straight to the framers and it’s now there waiting to be done. It’s going to look fantastic. I wonder if I’ll see anything for my walls in Japan?

Miss Scout has learned the rules for me going away. She pined for weeks until I got home from the Crazy Road Trip in November, but Georgia said that when I left for Vietnam, Scout turned and followed Georgia back to her room and was with her all the time until I arrived back home.

That little traitor!

Actually, I’m glad she’s taking my travel in her stride. It takes a weight of worry from me.

Wanda is still with me and she’ll be coming with me to Japan.

I’m travelling with TripADeal for this trip, and there are a lot more additional expenses that I have to take care of. Vietnam was with Wendy Wu, which was a higher upfront cost but all meals and most excursions were included. Not the case for Japan.

With TripADeal, only breakfasts are included. I’ve heard that convenience stores like 7-11 are great to get bento boxes of food from, so I’m anticipating that most of my meals will be bought from here, and I’ll pay using a card.

There are optional excursions that I have to pay by cash, so I made sure I had the exact amount in Japanese yen for each of them that I want to do. They’re in 3 separate envelopes. Tips are 10AUS a day, so I’ve got 14 X $10 notes – apparently they are fine with Aussie money so that’s what they’re getting from me.

I only have around $30 in extra yen, but that should be fine for any little purchases I might like to make. I’m anticipating that most places in Japan will be like here, where a card is preferred.

In Vietnam I used an esim for the first time and it was great, so I’ve purchased another one to use in Japan. I went with Airalo, as that’s the one that Morgan from Antarctica said he uses. I had to watch a couple of youtube clips to work out how they worked, but I managed to switch it on ok and it was good being able to message the kids whenever I wanted, instead of waiting for the wifi in the hotels at the end of each day. They were surprisingly cheap too – I think I paid $11 for Vietnam and $14 (for more GBs) in Japan.

Here’s Dad back at the house, starting up one of the vintage cars to make sure that the battery doesn’t go flat.

Today (Saturday) is a packing day. Japan is freezing cold at the moment, but I’ve decided to still take just my carryon case. I’m using today to pack, and to iron the rest of my clothes. I only have 6 days between Japan and Africa, so it makes sense to iron my ‘nice weather’ clothes now. Who knows what shenanigans my parents may pull?

See you in a few days!

Dad joke of the day:

Vietnam Day 10: A morning walk through Hanoi.

March 1, 2025 / / 9 Comments

When Robin took me on the motorbike ride last night, he drove to the market at the end of the street, then across to the lake, so I could tell everyone where to go for a walk in the morning.

Some of us were getting picked up at 9, so we met in the foyer to say goodbye.

Then, I stupidly announced that I was going to see the lake. Jen said she’d come with me. Everyone else was suddenly very busy…

But she was pretty good, apart from announcing very loudly that Vietnam should have a “CLEAN UP VIETNAM DAY.” I hoped that there was no one nearby who spoke English.

We dropped into the market first. Pigs trotters, anyone?
You can see that Wanda was with us.

Poor things. They were so frightened.

After that, we wandered out to see the lake.

We spent the next hour or so just wandering around the streets and people watching.

Shopping. The woman in blue was incredibly picky about the fruit she was buying.

You can understand why people here buy their food fresh every single day.

Her hat looks toasty warm.

She matches the flowers. I thought she was selling them, but we came back later and she was gone. The flowers were still there, though.

We had the lake on our right and the people on our left.

Coconuts.

A picturesque old house. It must have been beautiful in its heyday.

This was where Robin got married, 20 years ago. There were 1,000 people at the wedding. In Vietnam, you invite EVERYONE.

Meet Lucky, the dog in pink. He’s 11 years old.

These free exercise stations are dotted all over Hanoi. Not a bad idea…

Every now and then we saw people fishing in the lake.

But it’s ok. These people were clearing out the litter.

These murals were outside a primary school. They’re a lot more wholesome than the pictures we saw in the primary school in North Korea!

This is the view from my 4th storey window while I’m waiting for my iPad to charge. We’ve seen so many bonsais and pot plants in Vietnam. The person who lives here is clearly nurturing these plants.
I’m pretty sure I’d be doing the same thing if I was born here.

The restaurant across the street from my hotel is a Pho place with a Michelin Star. I thought it would be a good idea to eat here for my last meal on Vietnamese soil.

It was delicious. And only 50,000 Dong!

That’s $3.15 Australian…

I’m pressing Publish on this and then in 20 minutes I’ll be heading for the airport for my flight back to Saigon and then home. This will be the first time I’ve actually stayed totally up to date on a holiday’s blogging!

I’m looking forward to seeing Scout. Oh! And the kids, of course…

Dad Joke of the Day:

We tell actors to “break a leg” because every play needs a cast.  

Vietnam Day 9: Halong Bay and back to Hanoi.

March 1, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Remember when Megan and I were on the cruise to Alaska and I’d share the view each morning? This was this morning’s view outside my cabin door.

By the time I emerged ready for the day, we were parked outside the island we’d be exploring. The difference from yesterday is that this time, we’d be going inside. This whole thing is pretty much hollow.

We’re going to see Sung Sot Cave. It was discovered by a pair of Frenchmen in 1901.

Again, it was a steep climb to get where we were going. It looks like there’s a lot of people here, but apparently this is nothing. We got here as soon as it opened. Later in the day it’s mayhem.

I don’t know who’s thick enough to need this sign to keep them from plunging over the edge, but here we are.

There are 3 caves here. Robin, who’s been here about 400 times in his 20 years of being a tour guide, told us that they get progressively bigger.

The official version of this is that it’s a pointing finger, but it looked a lot like “cucumber and tomatoes “ to us.

The caves were huge. It was clear that the whole island was simply a hollow shell.

Wanda was with me.

The guides were using laser pointers to show various things. I’ve forgotten what most of them were, but this one is meant to be a dragon.

This one is a turtle, with Chinese people leaving money next to its head for luck.

Romeo and Juliette on the balcony.

It was a one way walk through the caves, with our tender moving around the island to pick us up at the other side. It took around 45 minutes from go to whoa.

And Robin was right. The last cave was HUGE.

John took this shot.

As we ate breakfast, the boat turned around to take us back to the bus.

I would happily come back here and spend more time with. It’s so beautiful.

All too soon, we were in the bus heading back to Hanoi.

There are 3 million children in Vietnam who are affected by Agent Orange. We stopped at a big shopping centre/coffee shop that employs people affected by it.

30 years ago an ex soldier opened up the coffee shop. There are now 4 centres across the country to help the children.

I bought some lotus tea. I thought it would go well with the weasel coffee I bought in Hoi Anh.

Lots of communist flags everywhere. This was a particularly striking colour combination.

I started taking shots from the bus window. It was a long drive.

Vietnamese houses are incredibly tall and skinny. Here’s a view of the house from the side…

And here it is from the front.

Rice paddies everywhere.

Suddenly the bus stopped. Robin had spotted a field with farmers in it, transplanting the little rice plants. Those of us who wanted a closer look walked over.

1 month ago they planted the seeds. Now they’re digging them up to replant in the big rice fields. 3 months later it is harvested. If they’re lucky and have good weather, they earn $800/year.

It’s mostly old people who plant the family rice field. The kids prefer to work in the factories. Sometimes a family will let a neighbour work their land, because the government will take back fields that aren’t being used.

Here are the tufts of rice plants, ready to be transplanted into the big fields.

One woman decided to make use of the pesky tourists by getting Maree and I to hold the bag for her.

Organic pesticides… ducks!

Then we were in the city.

The Guinness Book of Records recognised this roadside art as the longest ceramic picture in the world. 11 kms.

Tonight is my last night in Vietnam. Tomorrow I have a late flight home.

But look at how I said goodbye to Hanoi…

Robin took me on a ride through the Hanoi traffic!

Dad joke of the day:

If anyone has any salad jokes lettuce know.   

Vietnam Day 8: Halong Bay.

February 28, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I snapped this photo directly outside our hotel in the centre of Hanoi this morning. Amazing.

We stopped at a pearl farm on the way to Halong Bay, and guess what I left in the loo again? Luckily Maree was the next one in and recognised Wanda hanging from the door.

I’ve decided to name her Wanda, because on this trip, she’s always wandering about…

We were given a quick tutorial about how they make the oysters produce pearls, how the pearls are graded and also how they grind down inferior pearls to make into face cream.

”Tomorrow is my birthday and I am 103!” said the fresh – faced girl doing the tour.

It may surprise you to know that I resisted buying anything in the shop. Yes, even this very fetching tiara.

The boat wasn’t ready for us when we arrived, so Robin dropped us off at an open-air market for an hour. It was interesting, especially on the lower level where the food and flowers were. It was full of colour and movement.

You had to keep your wits about you!

I didn’t see it, but John and Maree were walking around here a bit later on and saw a skinned dog carcass, ready to be bought.

They certainly love their flowers here.

After a while we emerged and walked around the streets nearby.

These stalls were fishmongers.

Most of the stalls had these bowls, with air being pumped in to try and keep the fish, snail, octopuses and shellfish alive. Poor little things.

Then a few minutes later we were horrified to see this woman descaling a fish while it was still alive……

I guess there are no animal rights in Vietnam yet.

Pearl farms are all over the place here. Many were damaged 6 months ago when the huge typhoon raged through. It was the biggest typhoon in 60 years. It bankrupted many people, because few people here buy insurance. These buildings are also empty after the typhoon. It must’ve been dreadful.

We had rose petals thrown on us as we boarded the boat. It was a replica of one of the steam boats that the French used when they were here.

My room was gorgeous. Then the ship lurched and we were off!

The legend of Halong Bay is that long ago, in the time before humans, a mother dragon and her babies decided to fly away and settle where there were no wars.

And if you fly here by helicopter, you look down and there is the one very big island and the other 1960 small islands so we’ll be sailing around the mother and the babies. 

We are only here for one night, but I’m calling it now. It would be amazing to have 3 or 4 nights here, just gently cruising around. Even with the overcast weather we have, this place is spectacular.

Soon after lunch, we had the chance to go to one of the islands and climb to the top. Of course, I leaped into the boat and we were off!

However, when the boat got closer to the island, I started to have second thoughts. Look at how high that pagoda at the top is! It’s almost at a 90 degree angle! I wasn’t sure I could do this…

But then again, I wasn’t sure if I could do the Rim Walk at Kings Canyon or make it to the summit of Kosciusko, but I did them both. So I stopped doubting myself and set off.

Yes, it was steep. But there were so many people ahead of me that there were lots of pauses, so that made it easier. And before I knew it… well, almost…

… I was at the top.

Just to prove it!

Then, of course, we had to walk down again.

People on this tour have suggested that Wanda should be included in more photos, so here we are on our way back to the boat.

Our next excursion was to another pearl farm, but I chose to stay on the boat. I resisted temptation at a pearl farm once today… I didn’t need to push my luck anymore!

People were saying that this place must to incredibly beautiful with sunshine and blue skies, and they’re probably right.
However, I just love my misty, mysterious looking glimpse of Halong Bay.

In a surprising move, I haven’t drunk any alcohol on this trip. Until now. Two for one during happy hour was too good a deal to pass up.

After dinner, the Aussies took over the dance floor on the top deck.

Nadine was able to synch her Spotify to the speaker and we let loose.

It was such a fun night.

Dad joke of the day:

Who wrote the book ‘Fifty metres to the toilet?’

Willy Makett.

Vietnam Day 7: Hanoi.

February 28, 2025 / / 8 Comments

Today we were up bright and early to get to Train Street on time to see the train go through. I saw this propaganda poster celebrating 95 years of communism in Vietnam on the way and it was yet another echo of North Korea. Hanoi also has a statue of Lenin in the middle of the city.

On the first day of the trip, I asked Robin if we could go to Train Street. Most people on the bus hadn’t heard of it, but the rest of us were keen. And now here we were!

Train Street is one of the must-sees of Hanoi. You can see how narrow the street is, even before you factor in a train running down the middle of it. Cafės line the edges, and people come to sip a coffee and watch the train go by 2 inches from their noses.

Here’s where I had a run-in with Jen.
On the way in, Robin said to us that he’d booked seats and tables for us at one of the cafės. “The owners have to pay rent, so it’s important that you buy a coffee or something. If you don’t want a coffee, just buy a bottle of water. Just something to help them out.”

Not a big ask. A coffee is only $2AUS. As you all know, I’m frugal, but a couple of dollars to pay for a spot 2 inches from a moving train is good value in anyone’s book.

But no. We had ordered our coffees and we were chatting, when a disturbance on our left caught our attention. Jen was loudly proclaiming, “But I don’t WANT anything!”

The coffee shop owner left her and went over to Robin, who came back with him and had a word to Jen, who ended up ordering a coffee. Once Robin and the owner had gone, she started grandstanding about how outrageous it all was.

She moved closer to me as she was complaining.
“For Gods sake Jen, it’s $2,” I said. “ These people have to make a living.”

No, Frogdancer, that’s not the point,” she said. “The point is that I didn’t want a coffee.”

I decided to be blunt. We were all getting so tired of her.

No, YOU’RE missing the point,” I said. “ The point is that we’re renting the space in the front of his shop to see something we can’t see anywhere else. The rent we pay is $2 for a cup of coffee. If you don’t want to pay, you should never have left the bus.”

She took a tiny step back and began to justify herself when the train’s horn blared. Thank god! Everyone forgot everything else and we lifted our phones and waited for the train.

How incredible was that? It’s so dangerous and so exciting! We saw 2 trains, then we headed off to see one of the oldest universities in the world.

The Hanoi university was established in 1076 and, if it wasn’t for the royal family leaving Hanoi in 1802 and taking the uni with them, it would have been the oldest continuously operating uni in the world. That honour is for Bologna in Italy.

There are 2 small temples on the street outside, at the outer borders of the property. Even the king and queen, when they rode past, had to get off their horses and walk, to show respect for the knowledge within.

The first part of the uni is all original. Sadly, the back end of it was bombed to oblivion during the war, because it was very close to the train station.

Robin showing the university is on the 100,000 dong note. This is worth $6 in Australian dollars.

See the fishes at the top? These symbolise the normal students. They turn into dragons when they graduate.

And on we went to another courtyard. See the bonsai? They’re everywhere here.

Having a child go to university is still a source of pride for Vietnamese families, but it was even more rare back in the day. When a boy graduated – because girls weren’t allowed to go to school until 1910 – he had his name engraved here.

The dragons! Here are where the classrooms used to be.


Here’s Robin gesticulating wildly as he explains the symbolism of the sculpture. It’s about yin and yang… opposites helping each other. The turtle symbolises long life, while the crane is beauty. When there are floods, the turtle lets the crane rest on its back. When there is drought, the crane carries the turtle to water.

Confucius.


The doorways of most south-east Asian buildings are like this. It’s because humans know to step over, but spirit ghosts don’t, so they can’t enter the house.

Instead of a school bell they had a drum that beat at the end of every hour to signify the end of a period.

It’s so peaceful here, but in the background you can hear constant Horn beeping from the traffic .

The Clintons came to visit here in the year 2000 so they made sure they had this part finished so it looked decent .

This is a shrine honouring the headmaster of the university 700 years ago.

He taught the son of the king and then when the boy became king,  he told him about corrupt ministers but the king didn’t listen and didn’t fire them.  The headmaster resigned and went and opened up a school for the poor people. He’s like a second Confucius in Vietnam.

Then we were taken to see how Vietnam’s national art – lacquer – is done. It’s beautiful stuff, and unlike Chinese lacquer which has 3 layers, it has 10 layers. It takes 3 months to make an item from start to finish.

I couldn’t help it. This was the first thing I saw when I walked into the showroom and after 15 minutes of denial, it found a home in my suitcase.

Any parties that are held in the countryside , any man who doesn’t have a son has to sit with the women. There’s 52% boys in Vietnam.

After lunch, we were given an hour to walk around and see a bit of Hanoi and maybe do some shopping. 

I walked up to the cathedral to orient myself, then set off. On the way I met John from the group. We walked and talked and got thoroughly lost.  After a while I tried Google Maps, but it led us in the wrong direction. Finally I said to John, “Let’s get a rickshaw and head for the cathedral.”

I bargained him down on the price, saving us a whole $3, and within a few minutes we were back on familiar ground.

The WhatsApp group was full of people in the same predicament. Amazingly enough, we all arrived at the meeting place on time. Phew!

I’m not sure how fresh those undies would smell after being dried among all the exhaust fumes!

Pretty much all my life I’ve had short hair. A year ago, I decided to let it grow to see what it would be like.

Bloody awful, as it turns out. It was always in my face and driving me crazy. So while most of the group went to see Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, I decided to find a hairdresser and get my hair cut.

In Hanoi, when a hairdresser washes your hair, you lie down. So much more comfortable than sitting in a chair and leaning back. I also received a scalp massage. Lovely!

And here I am, back to normal. Funnily enough, the first people I saw when I stepped out on the street were Robin, Maree and Tina. They were on their way to get a massage. They applauded when they saw me. 🤣

Dad Joke of the Day:

I named my baby daughter ‘Grandma.‘

She’ll grow into it…

Vietnam Day 6: Hanoi.

February 26, 2025 / / 2 Comments

We took a flight mid-morning to Hanoi, so all of our morning was taken up by travel.
Once we arrived, Robin was joyful. Hanoi is his hometown and his eyes were alight.

”I have crazy honeymoon tonight!”
He’s had this running joke about how when he is away working, the postman looks after his wife.

Vietnam is a thin country. So are the houses.

Unfortunately, it is raining today. Not two seconds after I took this photo of the street where our restaurant was for lunch, a car clipped Peter, one of the guys in our group and knocked him onto a couple of bikes.
He was livid. He got up, thumped the car and abused the driver. But being an English gentleman, he then apologised to us for using foul language.

Despite this, I really like Hanoi.

Before 1888, Hanoi was only 1 km square. Then the French came…

Now it’s 3,326 square kms. Two times bigger than London.

Before1954, men could have many wives, then the communists came in and banned it. Robin’s grandfathers both had 2 wives. It was very common.

Robin was born in 1975. He said that there were many bunkers in Hanoi during the war, and people would have maybe 20 minutes warning to get to a bunker before the B52s would arrive. His parents met in one of those bunkers.

Our lunch was delicious. In Saigon the food has a Chinese influence and is sweeter than here.
then after lunch we went to taste a Hanoi delicacy – Egg Coffee.

Egg coffee dates from 1954. Hanoi was so poor that there was little milk available for everyone. A coffee shop owner decided to try whisking up egg yolks and putting it in coffee in place of milk. 

They drink it with ice in summer, but warm in winter. I was dubious as to whether I’d like it, because I don’t have milk in my coffee, but it was delicious.

Everywhere you go in Vietnam, there are people sitting outside of shops and chilling.

Here’s me with slightly scary eyes in another rickshaw. We went for a slow trot around the old section of town.

Echoes of North Korea and the Kim family, but of course this is Ho Chi Minh.

Everyone is glued to their phones… it doesn’t matter where you come from.

KFC in Hanoi. As Robin said, “ He look like Ho Chi Minh!”

All of a sudden, louder than the beeping traffic, was a huge sound of squealing and shouting. Schools sound the same the world over.

If the temperature goes below 6C then schools close for the day. The kids arrive by motorbike and it’s too cold for them. In Hanoi, for every 100 people, 6 own a car.

When we got to the hotel, we had a couple of hours to chill. Robin said, “ If I am a few minutes late, please wish me luck. I might have to chase away the postman!

Here’s the view from my hotel window.

Now, I know I posted about a woman called Jen and how I wasn’t exactly warming to her abrasive personality. I haven’t posted anything more about her because I felt like maybe I was the only one who felt that way. Everyone else seemed to chat away with her quite happily, so I began to wonder if I was just being a bit of a bitch.

Imagine my relief when today, over lunch, Jen left the table to go to the bathroom and people let loose. It’s NOT just me! She’s driving everyone crazy. I think we were all glad that we are all on the same page. We were all wondering if we were the awful ones.

Dad Joke of the Day:

My fear of moving steps is escalating. 

Vietnam Day 5: Hue.

February 25, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Today was a driving day, with over 4 hours between Hoi An and Hue. Hue is like Vietnam’s Rome… the history village.

It was the capital of the country for a couple of hundred years from 1809 onwards, with the king’s weekday and weekend palaces here. During the war, however, the Pink Palace, which was the main palace, was bombed extensively by the Americans. It’ll take another 20 years for it to be restored.

We had a look at the undamaged weekend palace. But first, we stopped at a marble carving place.

Robin told us about the superstition surrounding the laughing Buddha.
“If you want your child to be smart, you rub the Laughing Buddha’s head and then rub your child’s head. If you want your child to be rich, you rub the Laughing Buddha’s tummy and then rub your child’s tummy. If you want your child to be a tour guide, you rub the Laughing Buddha’s mouth…” and he grinned.

I have a tiny collection of religious figurines… weird for an atheist, I know, so I went hunting for a little Buddha. I found one made from tigers-eye. I forgot to snap a photo before she wrapped it up, sorry. I’ll show it to you when I get home.

We set off along the road to Danone and Hue. The sea is the South China Sea, though in Vietnam it’s called something else.

As we drove along, Robin regaled us with some interesting facts about astrology and relationships up in the mountains.

In the countryside, fortune tellers and astrology are very important. The fortune tellers are mainly men, which surprised me a bit. City people don’t pay it as much mind as the country people do.

When a new building is being built, the fortune teller will decide which day to start and which brick to lay first.

First day of the year, someone from the Rooster or Buffalo years should enter first for good luck. People line up a friend or neighbour born in the appropriate years to do this. Robin said, “People from every other year tend to stay at home on the first day of the year. They’re too scared they’ll give someone bad luck if they’re accidentally the first guest in their house!”

Dating someone? In the country, if your signs don’t match up, they try to break you up. In the cities, it isn’t taken seriously.
Foreigners can only buy apartments in Vietnam, and only for 50 years. Sounds more like a lease to me…

Danang is the 3rd biggest city in Vietnam, with 1.3 million people. It has a casino, but only foreigners are allowed in. You have to show your passport. Eastern retirees prefer this city, while Westerners prefer Hoi An.

Danang was a huge US base during the war.

We were driving through the mountains when Robin mentioned the Love Market. Naturally, we were all intrigued by this.
“It’s hard for boys and girls to meet each other in the mountains,” he said. “It’s not like in the city where you meet at a bar or club. There’s so much distance between villages. So on Saturdays, it’s a normal market during the day, but at night it becomes a place where families bring their sons and daughters to meet. It’s called the Love Market. If a girl and a boy talk and get to love each other, they get married.”

”Oh” he said. “ I forgot to say that before they get married, the boy has to kidnap the girl and keep her in his room for 3 days and feed her breakfast, lunch and dinner. If she eats all the food, she is saying yes. At the end of the 3 days, he has to let her go, whether she accepts or refuses him, it doesn’t matter. He has to let her go.”

This island with all of the houses on it is where Vietnam houses its lepers. There aren’t as many people suffering from leprosy as there have been in the past, but it still exists here.

The last king in Vietnam abdicated in 1945. He is buried 500m from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. When he got married, he promised his wife that she would be his only wife.

He didn’t exactly keep that promise, having 13 wives in total. His last wife was french.

Still, that was positively restrained when you consider that the average number of wives the kings had was around 100.

Every night, the king was presented with a table with all the wives names and he’d select which women he wanted to sleep with that night. Eunuchs grew rich with the bribes the wives gave them to put their names forward. It was important to give the king a child. When he died, the wives who were childless were buried alive with him.

One king was famous for sleeping with 6 wives on the one night and getting 5 of them pregnant. He ended up having 165 children.

When the kin selected the lucky ladies, they would be brought to him, wrapped naked in blankets “ like spring rolls,” said Robin. “ So they couldn’t bring weapon to kill the king.”

I’ve been cropping out the litter left everywhere, but this is how much of the space looks. It’s a shame, because this place is so beautiful, but you see evidence of human plastics and paper just about everywhere.

After lunch, we went for a boat ride on the Perfumed River. So named because back in the day, there were many apricot trees upriver, and when the fruit fell into the water, the river was scented.

There was a shop on the boat. Immediately, all the women snapped into gear. After yesterday’s effort, I wasn’t going to buy anything, but when I saw that fridge magnets were $2:40 AUS, I bought one.

I’m only human.

A 400 year old Buddhist temple. This was built on the site of a Muslim temple that had been there for hundreds of years before.

This reminded me of when Helen and I went to the temple in Beijing and lit some incense.

We only had about 5 minutes here, but it was beautiful.

Happy Buddha.

Vietnam has small shops and markets everywhere.

Our next stop was the second palace. The king had a weekday palace in the east ( near the rising sun) and a weekend palace in the west that when he dies becomes where his tomb is.

When the king dies, he is cremated and then 4 bodyguards take his body behind a big door and bury it there. Straight after they emerge, they’re killed, so no one will ever know where the king lies.

The entrance to see the king is long, so that when people finally meet him, or more usually, the upper ministers, they are already hot and tired and at a disadvantage.

The chocopie offering is a nice touch.

This used to be the king’s bedroom.

You’d have to be careful going up and down this set of stairs!

This is the part of the river that flows through the palace, so if they were ever under attack, they’d still have water. It’s also how goods were delivered before trucks.

And finally … the door. I wonder if it was weird to spend your weekends there as the king, knowing that one day you’ll be hidden behind here, or if it brought comfort.

It must’ve been lovely to spend time here. It’s so calm and beautiful.

Then it was time for a rickshaw ride through the old citadel. This was an optional extra. It cost something like 250,000 dong, which sounds like a hellava lot but is only $15.

Those guys worked hard for that $15.

We stopped once for a look at the top of the citadel. The rest of the time we stayed in the rickshaws as the traffic swirled closely around us. The drivers here have nerves of steel.

It was interesting to be in the thick of it, but sometimes the exhaust fumes were a bit strong.

We were dropped off at the Romance Hotel, where we were booked for the night.
I walked in and started laughing… look at the size of the bed! I put my iPad on it for scale.

You could have an orgy here with no worries whatsoever.

Totally wasted on me, however!
Dad Joke of the day:

Never iron a four-leaf clover. You don’t want to press your luck.  

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