TravelStream™ news feed for member rholmberg on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/rholmberg en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:12:09 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1225618800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1225618800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1225618800/tpod.html Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:12:09 -0500 Arriving in Hanoi on short notice.

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Hanoi, Vietnam

Below is an article from the Internet about the floods and heavy rain this weekend. One source said that&nbsp;350 ml of rain has&nbsp;been measured in some parts of the city. Our district is not too bad as we sit high above the&nbsp;Red River. However, any low-lying suburbs have been under about a metre of water, as the drainage can&nbsp;not cope. At school, many of the Vietnamese staff have had water through their houses and had to go home early on Friday to sort things out. It has rained fairly constantly from early Friday morning and is still going now, late on Sunday afternoon. The river has risen, but as yet is not posing&nbsp; problem around the city.&nbsp;All the workers in the huts below us have had to vacate their accommodation and are not living in the uncompleted shell of a 20 story building they are working on. All Saturday morning they were carrying out bedding, cloths, TV's, motor bikes, cooking gear, etc, as the huts went under about 50 cm of water front he creek beside them.The Vietnamese never let an opportunity go by and now you see all the men wading through the flooded fields laying out fine fishing nets, or working the water with two bamboo poles fitted with electrodes which put a current through the water and stun any fish between to poles. One guy below us managed to stun a small snake and quickly flipped into his basket.<i>HANOI: Floods and heavy rain have left at least 22 people dead in the last two days in central and northern Vietnam, with the capital Hanoi hardest hit, officials said Sunday. The dead, among them four children, drowned or were killed by falling trees, houses collapsing, being electrocuted or struck by lightning, said Hoang Quang Dung from the National Flood and Storm Prevention Committee. "Rains have hit northern and central Vietnam from Phu Tho to Ha Tinh provinces", he said. "They could continue until Wednesday." Vietnamese authorities also said around 55,000 houses and 180,000 hectares of crops had been flooded and estimated material losses at tens of millions of dollars. In Hanoi alone, hit Friday and Saturday by the heaviest rain since 1984, nine people died. The extreme weather caused traffic chaos in the capital Friday, leaving many people stranded. "Several houses and neighbourhood are still flooded Sunday," Dung told AFP, saying the authorities were taking all necessary measures to tackle what he described as exceptional flooding, especially for the time of year.
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Hanoi, Vietnam

On UN day everyone came in national costume which&nbsp;was a&nbsp;wonderful sight to see. To add to the excitement the school&nbsp;was celebrating it's 20th birthday so all the kids&nbsp; made little flags to decorate a huge cake that was made. We had an assembly and my class performed a freedom song about Nelson Mandela along with body percussion, it sounded&nbsp; amazing - I was impressed! A huge outdoor stage was erected metres of carpet rolled out and hundreds of chairs set up. The education minister of Vietnam , a representative from the UN and our head of school made speeches which was the formal part of the day. All parents were invited as well, so there was people galore!&nbsp; As well, the parents organised traditional meals for the day so we had a real international banquet&nbsp; after the concert. It was a great day, but very busy for the last day of term.
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Sapa, Vietnam

During the October school break, Jenny and&nbsp;I went to Sa Pa with Jenny's sister Elizabeth and her friend Sue. Sa Pa is a town close to the Chinese border in Northern Vietnam and is home to the H'Mong people, one of the many ethnic minorities in Vietnam. We traveled by over-night train form Hanoi, leaving at 9:15 and arriving in Sa Pa at about 7:00 in the morning. After a quick breakfast in one of the town's many restaurants, we headed off&nbsp;for a 5 km walk through a couple of the local H'Mong villages. Many of the women&nbsp;still dress in traditional clothes&nbsp;and have become experts in selling items to the increasing number of foreign tourist who visit the area. They are very persistent, but at all times respectful, engaging and friendly. On any walk, they literally attach themselves to an individual, talking to you about where you come form, how old you are, if you have any kids, etc, etc,&nbsp;Most of them have picked up a reasonable amount&nbsp;of English&nbsp; from the tourists, They walk up and down the trails plying their trade on every tourist that&nbsp;comes along. We did manage to visit a local village school and see some of the kids working in their classrooms. Never will I complain about conditions again. Our guide told us that the Government is supporting these minority groups in maintaining their culture and staying in their local villages though schools, medical services and business grants.Sa Pa is&nbsp; high in the mountains and for most of our stay we were enshrouded in thick fog or light drizzle, so umbrellas or raincoats were essential. That didn't stop us from getting out and experiencing what the area had to offer. It is the sort of place you need to see on cloudless days to really appreciate the scenery of both the mountains and terraced valleys. Perhaps we need to go back there during the spring on 2009.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1220342580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1220342580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1220342580/tpod.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:32:11 -0400 Arriving in Hanoi on short notice.

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Mia Chau, Vietnam

On Saturday, 30th August, 14 of us headed off from Ciputra, Hanoi for a weekend motor-bike ride to Mia Chau, approximately 200 km. south-west of the city. The group consisted of 12 teachers from UNIS and two parents. all riding a variety of bikes. Many chose their belching, never-say-die Minsk, which all performed well. Others had hired trail bikes and a couple of smaller tour bikes. One guy even rode a Honda 750 Shadow, which although looked impressive, was a little impractical for this type of trip. But he enjoyed himself even if he didn't get over 80 kph at any stage. Mind you, that speed on these smaller bikes was enough, especially with the unpredicable road conditions and local traffic. I rode my trusty 200cc Honda which did a great job.Getting out of and back into Hanoi was the worst part of the trip, as the traffic is chaotic and it is very easy to loose contact with the group, so we stopped often to make sure everyone was together. Once out of the city, the traffic died down and things became much more relaxed. The scenery also became very interesting and and the roads good for riding. It took us most of the day to get to Mia Chau, due to the mandatory bia hoi and lunch stops every couple of hours.Mia Chau is a hill village where the local White Thai people have set up traditional stilt-house accommodation, which suited&nbsp; us fine. They knew we were comimng, so there was plenty of cold beer and fresh local food. We had a great night with lots of laughter, jokes and "deep" conversations. We decided to come home a different way and followed a river valley through some great country with fantastic motorbike roads. It was funny to see the local people come out and wave when&nbsp;our grooup road through their village. We finally made it back into Hanoi at around 6:00 pm, then had to fitght the traffic for the next hour to get back to Ciputra. At our final de-brief at our local bia hoi, we&nbsp;began planning out next trip, which we think will be up to Sa Pa, which is up in the moutains near the Chinese boarder....can't wait!!!
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Bright, Victoria, Australia

During our break back in Austalia we managed to spend a weekend with our girls in Bright, staying at Kay and Bruce Reid's house in the Buckland Valley. We were lucky with the weather as it was cold, but sunny. It was great to catch up with Kay and Bruce and find out what they have been up to lately.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1219150740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1219150740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1219150740/tpod.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:50:05 -0400 Arriving in Hanoi on short notice.

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Sanur, Bali, Indonesia

We spent a week in Bali on our way back to Hanoi to resume our teaching jobs at UNIS Hanoi International School. We stayed in Sanur and Ubud, enjoying both locations for what they had to offer. We plan to go back there in the future to explore the island at our own leisure, getting out to some of the more remote loactions. Enjoy our photos.Rod and Jenny
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1218897720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1218897720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1218897720/tpod.html Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:46:53 -0400 Arriving in Hanoi on short notice.

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Mandurang, BENDIGO, Victoria, Australia

We celebrated Eb's 21st while we were home from Hanoi. All our familes gathered at the Lynvalle Winery near Bendigo for the occassion. It was a great day and a beautiful setting.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1208066340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1208066340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rholmberg/1/1208066340/tpod.html Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:55:49 -0400 Arriving in Hanoi on short notice.

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Hanoi, Vietnam

Hello &nbsp;Everyone,It's been some time since we updated our blog, so here is all the news since last time. Easter passed by here without any celebration, nothing mentioned at school due to the different religions I imagine. So&nbsp;we really missed the hot cross buns and Easter eggs . We worked on Good Friday&nbsp; - just another day for everyone here. On Easter Sunday our school had a tennis tournament which Rod and I played in. We set off on the motorbike to find the courts. Along the way we met up with other teachers who were also looking for the courts. We continued on in convey all on our bikes - eventually we found the tennis courts. It was&nbsp; a very relaxed day, most people only social players so we had a some fun. I lucked out and drew a partner who could actually play, so we ended up winning the tournament! The PE teacher who organized the day even had winning pennant flags for the winners and runner ups! We were photographed and put on the school email system for all to see.&nbsp;We had a great week away visiting Hoi An and the old capital of Hue. The New Zealand teacher _ Jenni Taylor came with us as well. She has traveled extensively and taught in Beijing for 9 years, so she has good tips for traveling. She had done lots of reading up about the places, so knew which restaurants to eat at, which tailors were the best, what&nbsp; places to visit etc. However we did contribute to the trip by organizing the flights and accommodation. The hotel where we stayed was old&nbsp; but quite grand. It was used for the officers during the Vietnam war during their leave apparently. It had a great big pool set amongst its gardens so we had a dip each day after dealing with the shops and scenic sights. Breakfast was served outside in the gardens which was very peaceful. I would definitely recommend it to you when you come over. &nbsp;Rod and I had some clothes made for school - Rod cotton shirts and trousers, me cotton skirts and shirts. I also had a winter jacket and pants made for when we come home in June / July. The tailor shops are amazing - a great supply of fabrics and many girls at your disposal for fitting and sorting out designs. We were happy with what we had made and would go back to them. &nbsp;Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage site, so the old buildings were just amazing and had lots of character. The town was set on a large river so lots of transport was done on the river via traditional boats. We hired motor bikes one day and rode the 5 kms to the beach and had a swim. The water was clear and the beach lined with palm trees - not what I imagined for Vietnam. &nbsp;We hired a driver to drive us to Hue where we stayed for 2 nights. The drive was very pretty along the coast. We stopped at a place called Marble Mountain where marble is quarried and carved into amazing statues and sculptures. They specialized in religious themes - Mother Mary, Jesus, Buddha as well as lions, dolphins and&nbsp; cherubs etc. Some of the statues were huge and&nbsp; quite expensive for Vietnam prices. &nbsp;In Hue we took a trip to see where the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) was during the war between North and South. Our guide was a war vet who fought with the South Vietnamese army. He was very interesting and took us through fields where there were still some grenades and shells that had not been detonated yet! Fortunately he knew where they were so we felt safe ( sort of!). We saw the Ho Chi Min trail and saw the tunnels that the Viet Cong built to avoid the American bombing. I braved the tunnels&nbsp; (despite my claustrophobic tendencies) and saw where whole villages lived underground during the war to escape the bombs. These tunnels even had hospitals as they housed up to 600&nbsp; villagers. The tunnels were only a metre and a half high and about a metre wide. They were pitch black and we carried torches with us to see where we were going.&nbsp; Back at school now for the last term of the year. As with all schools, the pace picks up a bit during this term with reports due and uncovered curriculum to be taught. It's amazing how many of our kids will be moving on at the end of this term, either back to their home country or to another international posting with their embassy, business or school. Their places will be filled immediately by other families arriving in&nbsp;Hanoi and so the cycle starts again.&nbsp;Student positions &nbsp;at UNIS are very sort after and there is a waiting list for each grade level at any stage throughout the year.&nbsp;We have booked our flights&nbsp;home and will be landing in Melbourne on the 19th June.&nbsp;&nbsp;We plan to spend the time catching up with our girls, family and friends. We fly our&nbsp;on the 26th July for two weeks in Bali before&nbsp;we head back to Hanoi to start the new school year&nbsp;on 11th August. We have a week at school with not kids, doing various forms of PD and planning. So hopefully we will catch up with with you somewhere in those five weeks, either in Melbourne, Bendigo, Elmore&nbsp;or Kerang....looking forward to it.CheersJenny and Rod&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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Hanoi, Vietnam

Hello Everyone,We are back at work at UNIS after our week off and a trip to Phi Phi Island in Thailand. It was great to catch up with our daughter, Ebony and her boyfriend, Alex, who were on their way back from Canada/USA. The weather was great and a change from the grey, cold skies of Hanoi. Phuket and Phi Phi were very crowed and packed with European tourists of all ages. The islands are spectacular, but now that we have been there, we're not so sure we would want to go back in he near future. Next trip will have to be somewhere within Vietnam when the weather picks up. enjoy the photos.Jenny and Rod
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Hanoi, Vietnam

We live in Ciputra, which is a huge residential develpment aimed at the expat community. It was designed and built be a wealthy Indonesion man who had a flare for the arts, hence the huge sculptures that feature throughout the streets.Our school, UNI, is within this development, which is great for many familes living here. It is all a bit surreal and removed from the ral-world outside the gates, but for many people, especialy those with young kids, it offeres security and relative quietness. we are uite comfortable here, but at some stage we wil look for a house in the local communiy close enough to school.The photos below give you soem idea of what the area looks like. CheersRod
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