Sunday, February 27, 2005
25 on the board, still 11 or so needed....
Okay, before the football update, a bit about our jolly nice visit north to see some hill tribes.
All aboard the night train to Lao Cai and then onto Sa Pa - the nearest Vietnam gets to a hill station. 3 days of trekking in the countryside surrounded by rice fields, mountains and aforementioned hill tribe people.
Westerners aren't trusted to follow paths and maps and find their own way through the villages, so we had to bite the bullet and hire a guide. Hanh was the lucky guy who had to put up with me and how I always know best (despite him being the guide) for 3 whole days. 22 years old, a fan of the Eagles and the Vengaboys, he quickly told us his favourite tour to act as guide was not our 3 day trek, but the 5 day market town circuit - chief characteristic being a lot of driving and minimal walking. Anyway, he's now promised to correct the error of his ways and follow Crystal Palace and not 'Manchester'.
Casting aside the usual cynicism, the countryside was fantastic and the villages - and principaly the villagers themselves - equally enthralling. The usual hello pen brigade of children had really come of age here. Trying to sell embroidered blankets and pillow cases, these children could speak English perfectly and had a never ending array of phrases to counter your reluctance to buy - 'No way Jose' and 'Liar, liar, pants on fire'. They could even ask what your name was in Japanese.
Anyway, as luck would have it there was a festival in celebration of something or the other. This meant that everyone donned traditional costumes for purposes other than selling Westerners embroidery. Water buffalo races, strange face paint and a competition to see who could climb a greased bamboo cane. Freed from selling duty for a day, the children spent most of the time dragging Courtney round by the hand to meet more and more cousins, sisters and friends. If I thought that certain more critical commenters on the site wouldn't tear me apart for being pompous, I'd wax lyrical about how it was like returning to a bygone era when noone needed to lock their doors and children needn't be scared of strangers...
Which just leaves us with the fair city of Birmingham. 6 points out of 6. Thank you very much Mr Bruce. We were stuck on a train back to Hanoi and with the signal on the phone coming in and out it wasn't till 1am that the joyous news was confirmed. So excited was I at the result, and knowing better than to wake Ms Love, I laid awake for the rest of the night calculating the chances of averting relegation...
All aboard the night train to Lao Cai and then onto Sa Pa - the nearest Vietnam gets to a hill station. 3 days of trekking in the countryside surrounded by rice fields, mountains and aforementioned hill tribe people.
Westerners aren't trusted to follow paths and maps and find their own way through the villages, so we had to bite the bullet and hire a guide. Hanh was the lucky guy who had to put up with me and how I always know best (despite him being the guide) for 3 whole days. 22 years old, a fan of the Eagles and the Vengaboys, he quickly told us his favourite tour to act as guide was not our 3 day trek, but the 5 day market town circuit - chief characteristic being a lot of driving and minimal walking. Anyway, he's now promised to correct the error of his ways and follow Crystal Palace and not 'Manchester'.
Casting aside the usual cynicism, the countryside was fantastic and the villages - and principaly the villagers themselves - equally enthralling. The usual hello pen brigade of children had really come of age here. Trying to sell embroidered blankets and pillow cases, these children could speak English perfectly and had a never ending array of phrases to counter your reluctance to buy - 'No way Jose' and 'Liar, liar, pants on fire'. They could even ask what your name was in Japanese.
Anyway, as luck would have it there was a festival in celebration of something or the other. This meant that everyone donned traditional costumes for purposes other than selling Westerners embroidery. Water buffalo races, strange face paint and a competition to see who could climb a greased bamboo cane. Freed from selling duty for a day, the children spent most of the time dragging Courtney round by the hand to meet more and more cousins, sisters and friends. If I thought that certain more critical commenters on the site wouldn't tear me apart for being pompous, I'd wax lyrical about how it was like returning to a bygone era when noone needed to lock their doors and children needn't be scared of strangers...
Which just leaves us with the fair city of Birmingham. 6 points out of 6. Thank you very much Mr Bruce. We were stuck on a train back to Hanoi and with the signal on the phone coming in and out it wasn't till 1am that the joyous news was confirmed. So excited was I at the result, and knowing better than to wake Ms Love, I laid awake for the rest of the night calculating the chances of averting relegation...
// posted by courtney and pete @ 10:03 
