Gutted!

Kia Ora!

Gutted--like insides torn out. That was the feeling this past week as all of New Zealand watched their team go down to defeat. I speak of the America's Cup yacht race recently completed in San Francisco Bay. The defeat is particularly hard to take because hopes were built up as the Kiwi boat, Aotearoa (with a mainly Kiwi crew) was leading Oracle, the USA boat (with only one American qualifying for the crew; the rest were Aussies and turncoat Kiwis) 8 points to 1, after 11 races (Oracle was docked 2 points for cheating in earlier regattas.) Then, like some miracle, Oracle won the next 8 races to reach the 9 points required to win the regatta. What happened?

The Kiwi team sailed expertly. But Oracle (we can hardly call it the American boat, can we?) had a secret weapon, aided by... wait for it... Air New Zealand. So said yesterday's news. Just a business deal. A device used by airliners for stability (I may be wrong on this, I am no sailor) was made for Oracle. The judges preapproved its use so all was fair and square. Team New Zealand asked for their help also, and Air NZ refused as a rival airline supported the Kiwi challenge. That was pretty obvious (see photo); Emirates "bought" the Kiwi sail as a bill board. But who owns Air NZ? The NZ government owns the airline, and the government legislated support for the Kiwi boat also. This gets a bit circular, doesn't it?

The Kiwi crew flies home tomorrow. You can bet they will receive heroes' welcome. 

My photo taken from our telly during race

Kiwi Traveler and fan of New Zealand's America's Cup challenger

The Way An Airport Should Be

Kia Ora!

Imagine an airport terminal that provides travelers on a layover with diversions such as a koi pond and a butterfly garden. Others with a longer layover are offered a free tour of the city. That would be Changi International Airport in Singapore.

Travelers chill out with waterfall, butterflies and koi here

Free tour of Singapore offered

Pleasant alcoves and plantings offer those in transit attractive places to bide their time.

Sculpture and plantings

Waiting...

Three hotels on site provide a comfortable place for sleep. Banks of computers provide free access to the Internet. Stores are open 24 hours a day and flights come and go all hours of day and night.

Checking in for horizontal, quiet rest

A 5 minute walk or take the Skytrain

One can hike the entire length of the three terminals or take the trams from one to another. For those walking, signs advise how long they might expect the walk to take.



The outstanding thing that distinguishes Singapore Airlines are the attractive female flight attendants dressed in traditional Malay dress. But the airport is first class in every way.

Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler back in Timaru, New Zealand

Saigon: Searching for my Son

Kia Ora!

Did our son live near here?

Our 5th child by entry into our family and oldest son by age is half Vietnamese and half American, a gift from the Viet Nam/American War. I had an emotional need to see where he came from, to search out the essence of the child who became our son by adoption. As a child, our guide, Anh lived at the port near where some of the mixed race children grew up. We drove through that neighborhood in Saigon, but I have no inkling of what part of this vast city our son came from. We may have been close to that locale or not. He talked of a traffic circle and of a pond. The city of Saigon may no longer resemble the city in which he was born.

Moon over Saigon skyline

Saigon City traffic circle

Defensive driving?

Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon is a modern 21st Century city in every sense of the word. Cars swirl around traffic circles and motorcyclists don defensive wear covering every inch of their bodies. We passed fast food chain restaurants, upscale neighborhoods and high rise towers. Our hotel, Liberty Central, is a 5-star hotel in the center of the city. From out the hotel window we viewed the Saigon skyline dominated by the shiny Bitexco building, the tallest in Saigon with a heliport projecting from an upper story.

High rise and high price apartments

Saigon Mega-mall

Upscale neighborhood

City market

Nearby was the city market, one square block of stalls jammed with every imaginable type of merchandise. I did a bit of last minute shopping at a shop in that market.

Something for grand kids here maybe?

 Friends chillin'  at street cafe

We hadn't had much of the famous Vietnamese cuisine but scored big with a fantastic lunch at Hoa Tuc, a fine upscale, but affordable, restaurant tucked into a courtyard on Hai Ba Trung St. Another lunch at a smaller cafe located in a small mall and

How do we eat this?

favored by locals and adventuresome tourists served tasty and interesting food I could not identify. We must have looked rather pitiful as the wait staff came to show us how to eat the food and later returned with a fork and knife--all part of entertaining the locals.

Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler

The American War

Kia Ora!

The American War. Americans call it the Viet Nam War. This sad piece of history is still fresh in the minds and on the bodies of the people of this country. We saw it everywhere we visited, from the Hanoi Hilton to Hill 57 in Da Nang to the museums in Saigon and bomb craters in the Mekong Delta.

Threading through jungle waterways

B52 bomb crater  in waterway

We paddled up streams cut through the jungle, crawled through the Cu Chi tunnels that at one time were 4 stories deep and hid secret armories, hospitals, kitchens, and openings cleverly disguised to ambush weary American soldiers. (The tunnels had to be enlarged to accommodate the fatter western tourists.)

Inside a Cu Chi tunnel

Tunnels cleverly hidden

At the museum, we witnessed photos of the maimed and dead, including villagers with degenerating disease and a generation of children born with birth defects, all from use of Agent Orange (dioxin). Over 30 journalists died attempting to express the futility and the inhumanity of war by placing armaments and soldiers in juxtaposition with peasants planting rice in a flooded paddy. It is not the first time our country has become ensnared--for whatever reason seemed justifiable at the time--in a civil conflict and sadly it is not the last.

Patch depicts cavalry horses

Cavalry horses now are helicoptors

This place and this war has personal meaning for me since it is here that my only sibling, Dodd Clifton Keller, lost his life at age 23 on February 1, 1966 in Operation Masher. I learned the unit insignia for1st Cavalry, Airmobile, his unit, and that he most likely was stationed and died at a location about 150 kilometers south of Da Nang near the villages of Tue Hoa, Ninh Hoa, and Dong Ba Thin. The map images came from a museum in Saigon, three stories devoted to evidence of the destruction and travesty of war.

I became politically active against the war following Dodd's death. I was a member of Another Mother for Peace, and still wear my medallion proudly on occasion. Generations come and go and warring does not cease. Perhaps it never will, but I believe...I still believe it might be possible someday to settle differences without killing each other.

Thoughtfully,
Kiwi Traveler

Rice Paddy Cemeteries and Rat Stew

Kia Ora!

Family crypts in rice paddy

 Tombs! Plopped, to these western eyes, in haphazard arrangement in the middle of rice paddies. There were single structures and groups of crypts. Our guide, Anh, informed us that while this system of entombing the deceased is still practiced, people increasingly are choosing cremation and a family crypt in a central location. In the past, a section for family tombs was created on family property. Ceremonies for the ancestors are held at the tombs.

Future handbags, maybe?

We visited a crocodile farm on our way back to Saigon. The Mekong River is the natural habitat for these crocodiles, though we saw none on our Mekong cruise. I was told they are now rare in the river. This family-owned operation was started about 30 years ago by an enterprising man. We toured his farm with several enclosures of crocodiles of various sizes and ages. There are breeding animals and the rest are slaughtered for food and skins. A store on the premises offered elegant crocodile wallets and handbags for sale for very reasonable prices.


 

Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh

Mid-day services

Three saints of Cao Dai

In the city of Tay Ninh we attended the mid-day services at a large temple, headquarters of the Cao Dai sect. This religious group was previously unknown to me. Their colorful temples in local villages reflect the prominence of this religion in the area. Persons who choose to dedicate their lives to Cao Dai may marry, raise a family, but live communally. There is a long road of service before becoming an elder, designated by variations in dress. Their three saints, Sun Yat Sen, Victor Hugo and Nguyen Binh Khiem, are depicted at the front of the large temple, along with the religion's philosophical principles of love, justice, humanity. I noted that each of these individuals were poets of some stature. Did their artistic expression influence the philosophy that drives this group?

Best way down a mountain--fast!

I was not excited with the prospect of riding a cable car to the top of the Ba Den Mountain. Ho hum, a cable car is just a cable car, and the world is full of them. Ah, but a pleasant surprise! I could slide down the mountain in a small car on a luge-like metal track. Whoopee! What fun! (KC took the cable car back down.)


As we headed into the city, we saw piglets and chickens on their way to market. We also saw these--rats! They are trapped in the rice paddies and become animal feed. And yes, they may be prepared and eaten by people in a stew. Rat stew, anyone?

Headed to a dinner plate near us?

 Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler in Viet Nam

Cruising the Mekong: Part III, On the Cambodian Border

Kia Ora!

Weaving for the Tourists

Unlike the Cu Lao Gieng Island village we visited earlier, the people of this Cham community capitalize on the tourists that stop here. Obviously they are on the schedule for more tour boats than just Gecko Eyes III. Of course I did a little bargaining and ended up with more items than I anticipated. That is how the game is played. Vendors are quite happy to have their photos taken. That, too, is part of the deal.

Younger Citizens

The 4,000 residents of this village are Malay speakers, descendants of a migration from the west many centuries ago. The Khmer Rouge crossed the border to murder and terrorize these people. After defeating the Americans, the Viet Nam military chased the marauders back across the border to protect these legitimate citizens of their country. 

Cham Village

This is a Muslim village as noted by the dress of the citizens. Perhaps a purpose of Viet Nam tourism is to expose us to the diversity of cultures that make up Viet Nam.

Mosque Interior

Stilt House

Structures are on stilts to accommodate the flooding of the Mekong. More malaria?

Exiting and returning to our floating home was sometimes a bit tricky. The crew was very cognizant of our safety, holding a tree limb as a banister for our balance.

Cheers,

Kiwi Traveler

Cruising the Mekong: Part III, Shore Excursion 2 Photo Essay

Kia Ora!

Gentle warm rain graced our visit to Cu Lao Gieng Island, a Roman Catholic colonial community of about 7,000 inhabitants. We landed and immediately took shelter in the local barber shop. Note above the mirror, a Christian cross and photos of Jesus and Ho Chi Minh.

A prize fighting cock was produced for admiration.

Candy man

When the rain slowed, we walked the street through the village. KC distributed candy to the kids as he had been instructed by our guide. We can only hope dental care is available and free.

Girls cycling home from school stopped for candy. They are dressed in casual school uniform and are barefooted.

Street vendors

Food secure in glass case

Happy for a photo

Behind the main street

With the amount of water always present in this humid climate, one wonders about the rate of malaria infection.

Large RC church

According to a handout we were given, the island also has a monastery through we did not see it.



 There seemed to be no expectation of our visit or that candy might be handed out. Did this mean they were accustomed to tourists or conversely that they were not? As we strolled, people seemed friendly, gracious, and perhaps amused at our presence. I felt a bit of discomfort, as though I had dropped in uninvited to someone's home.

Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler

Cruising the Mekong: Part III, Shore Excursion 1

Kia Ora!*

Three fascinating shore excursions make longer postings than usual with more photos. Our first excursion was to visit a night market on the riverfront streets and wonder at the great variety of goods offered for sale.

Night Market

Selling red dragon fruit

We had been served several times a fruit new to me. White with tiny black seeds, it looks like polka dot fruit and is served in slices. Here I saw the fruit with it's red skin intact; it is dragon fruit.

Proud of her vegies

Fresh catch

Wrapping gifts for grandchildren

Peeled, similar to lychee

Eggs roasted on a spit?

Minding baby; everyone has a job

Singing the birthday song in English

Most pleasurable was strolling past an open front party room with a child's birthday party in progress. I must have looked intrigued as I was invited and then dragged in by the friendly Moms and tasted some of the birthday food.

Birthday Moms pleased I stopped by

Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler in Viet Nam


*Note: Why are these posts about Viet Nam if this blog is about living in New Zealand? Viet Nam is a common holiday destination for Kiwis, and we are following their lead in making this our holiday also.