Rainy day

Tags

life, SaPa, vacation, Vietnam

This morning I went to the City Auditorium to get my first shot of Pfizer. Got their on time and was ushered in to see the nurse, the place is run by the Red Cross Volunteers and nurses from the PEI Health Dept. It was quick and painless and then you sit in another section for 15 minutes, nurse are present to monitor you in case of a negative reaction. After that you are free to go home.

So far 75% of all Health workers have been vaccinated, 90% of all people in long term care homes, 22% of the general population.

Will has been going through photos of our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam some 15 years ago, absolutely lovely trip and such fond memories of the place we visited.

Back then visiting such areas was more tranquil then today, less tourists and the various areas where still very much the way they had been in the past, excluding the war and the murderous Khmer Rouge. Very nice people everywhere and the scenery was beautiful. I was working in Beijing back then and this trip outside of China was a very nice break, different culture, cuisine and traditions.

In Sa Pa, in Lao Cai Province amongst the various rice paddies of North West Vietnam. A simple dish of home made noodles in a broth of vegetables and pork prepared for us at the house of the uncle and aunt of our local guide. This region borders with China and the Chinese town of Kunming. Sa Pa in French Colonial time was the Summer Resort town North of Hanoi. Sa Pa is also not very far from Dien Bien Phu which was the site of the final French defeat in 1954 forcing them to leave Vietnam once and for all after 80 years of colonial rule, only to be replaced by the Americans who would be finally defeated in 1975.

The view of the man made terraces all around us, as can be seen the mountains are sculpted to accommodate rice culture. Truly back breaking work using water buffalos and an ingenious natural gravitational watering system.

Will eating his lunch, because of the altitude it is always cool in the region and fog and rolling clouds is a very common feature. This was the beginning of our trip from North to South in Vietnam, a very beautiful country.

The famous water buffalos, very placing and slow moving beasts but much bigger than a cow.

Such a wonderful trip and so unusual on so many levels. To this day I think of this trip made to celebrate Will’s 60th birthday as one of the best we made.