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Vietnam War (Long Tan) & KL – 2010

The itinerary is built and the hotels are booked. I would have liked to have organised a side trip to Angkor

Wat in Siem Reap (Cambodia) but I dont think we are away for long enough to justify another internal flight

- more customs negotiations and a massive day.

This trip is not as fast paced as the Europe trip in 2009 - however we will visit lots of places too, but have

loads of spare time to get the maximum from those places. For example we will spend the entire day at a

water park etc.

I have booked many things in advance including the hotels as mentioned and one tour covering grandfinal

weekend - to Vung Tao. The organised trip will cover Nui Dat, Long Tan, SAS Hill among other things -

you need government approval/permission to attend the area, hence why I pre-booked.

Titanic Exhibition - Melbourne

There is a quandary there - if the Pies make the grand final - we are out on excursion - I will have to get

updates if we can get coverage. I will have to try and find a bar that has foxtel with Australian stations etc.

There are a heap of fun park type places on the itinerary, so should keep the kids happy. Of the three

hotels we are staying, two have swimming pools so that should be well received also.

Some salubrious events planned include High Tea at the Legend Hotel, cocktails at the Rex Hotel

(Synonomous with the American GI's of the war); and the Sheraton Hotel Wine bar for ahhhh, you guess

it...wine; I might savour a cigar at the top of the Sheraton with a good glass of red. I have booked a dinner

at the Royal Selangor Club in KL too so keen to have a look inside there.

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I think the kids are getting excited about another overseas adventure, I know I am...

The countdown has begun - we are 65 days out...and counting...rock on...

Update

All the bookings are complete; hotels and tours. I've had one tiny problem though that I had to solve and

thats the performance of my footy club - the Collingwood F.C. They are on top of the AFL ladder and

outright premiership favourites at the present - which poses a problem for me. We are away on Grand

Final day and also away in Vung Tao on a tour - the Nui Dat Tour. Suppose that Collingwood make the

Grand Final - we would be busy. I need that day off - and need somewhere to watch the telecast.

Solution. I changed the date of the tour for the Sunday following Grand Final Day; the tour operator agreed

to changed the date for me; which was a relief. Ive sent a few emails to bars in Vung Tao too - some I

wrote in a 'translater' in Vietnamese so that there was no excuse for the 'other end' to not understand me. I

still have not receieved one email back from the two bars I contacted - even though one was in their own

tongue. The web based translators are good for writing in a foreign languague - you write in English and it

auto translates to the other language - pretty cool technology - then you copy/paste into your email

browser.

I've made up some maps - so we know where we are headed using public transport. The itinerary is

complete and I have some tickets for some activities including the Sunway Water Park in KL.

We have the count down clock going and are 40 days out from leaving. Roll on.

After a dozen beers and some Muscat from my barrel - a cuban cigar - we watched the Pies thump the

hapless Pussies - what a great first half of football. I cracked open a bottle of Muscat I have been keeping

in the cellar for a little while - a bottle of Morris' Grand Cellar Reserve - hmmmm victory never tasted so

sweet - pardon the pun.

We bought the last of the supplies - goodies for the flight and a couple of Sav Blancs out of Marlborough for

Malani; as wines can be quite expensive abroad. I have the camera charged - a new battery for this laptop

and a fully charged itinerary. Leaving home at 2000 hours - I know there is works on the Monash FWY

tonight - closed from Toorak Road to the tunnel - so we'll head up Nepean and take the Montague St On

ramp out to the Bolte and the airport parking.

Final bags are packed - we get to watch the first quarter of the STK V Dogs game - hope they both smash

the absolute F&%k out of each other - I understand Luke Ball just had cramp last night; no hammie - this is

great news and I hear there was no head collision between Daisy and Selwood - so hopefully Daisy dosent

even get charged.

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Coached my basketball team to a win this morning too - we play in a cut throat final as soon as we get back

- so I got the team to practice several things including one on one defence; and 'pass n cut'. We dominated

with only one sub and ran out 16 - 27 winners. Jack had a good game.

We are all getting excited...

Day 1 - Tuesday 22nd September 2010

We got our organized mini van from our hotel in KL and drove out to the International airport. It was about a

50 minute trip and the driver was falling asleep – Malani told me to wake him up as he was doing the 'nod'

thing – not good when he’s crusin at 120KPH. Anyway I kept him chatting as best I could with the

language barrier. Van cost RM 135; which was good we got there direct, no stuffing about and alive.

Earlier I had a panic about the ticketing arrangements with the airline; I thought I had stuffed things up

again; as my itinerary and airline print out showed different times; the airline printout was 0730 hours and

my itinerary showed 0915; it was 0700 when we arrived at the airport. About 4 months ago the airport

SMS’d me and the flight details were changed; so no I hadn’t stuffed up.

Our Hotel at the Thuan Tien in HCMC.

Our flight went smoothly enough and 55 minutes later we landed in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC); I

hadn’t organized transfers to Malani’s displeasure and opted for bus 152 from the airport. This was fine as it took us direct to Ben Thanh; problem was my map wasn’t that detailed and didn’t have all

the streets on it. I knew we were only 250m from the hotel – but what direction? I asked a few locals and got blank stares; I showed them my map and congregations of people surrounded me; pointing at the map and each of them pointing in a different direction – hmmmm not helpful. We then hopped on another bus on the advice of another local and ended up on this bus for about 40

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minutes – we had 3 suitcases and my large RAAF Duffle Bag – not good on a small bus when the locals pack tightly in. Our stop was interesting; as we had to get all that gear off and past the locals;

anyway job done and we had a laugh about it.

Checked into the hotel; and we got a free upgrade to a larger room; we have two rooms; not interconnecting; only by the hallway. LOL. Plenty of room for us however.

We ventured out into HCMC the hustle and bustle, motorbikes everywhere; smells of cooking and

sewer mixing together and turned next door to an adjacent restaurant. We had beef and black bean; spring rolls; fried chicken among other things – a nice introduction to Vietnamese tucker. It

cost all up with several Tiger Beers about AUD$25.

Back to the hotel to get some things and we are out again. This time we walked up to the War Remnants Museum – several blocks away in the heat sapped Zach and made us all thirsty. Entrance fee was 15,000 VND each; or about 80 cents each. There was several tanks out the front, Howitzers,

cannons; and a full size Chinook helicopter. On one side of the Museum was an area dedicated to political prisoners from the north; where they were tortured by all used of whips; canes and wire; to

Tiger Cages where they were made lay on their stomachs within a cage of barbed wire. Stories; photos, dioramas on the wall tell the unfortunate story of victims with before and after photos of

acid/phosphorous torture; blindings, beatings; limb breakings and the like.

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Inside the museum there was a host of pictures that were quite foul. The Dioxin found in Agent Orange has wreaked havoc on local families; with birth defects and miscarriages rife among the rural

communities; there are some fetuses in jars; pictures on the wall of deformed people; while the stories tell of hardships for Independence against the tyranny of the United States and Australia.

Out of there and back to the hotel. Jamie and I went for a walk to the Ben Thanh Nightmarket and had a wander about, there was so much for sale. We bought a hair tie for Jame. Went back to the hotel and got Malani and the others (Zach feeling like a sleep so we left him there). Found a local

eatery and ate beef; (think it was beef); prawns; a mud crab, Jamie had a Snapper and some noodles with several Tiger Beers. A feast was had by all.

Saturday 18th September 2010

We left as planned and ventured up Nepean HWY due to roadworks on CityLink. Parked at the Airport

Parking and got a lift in with the minibus; all was smooth sailing and going as planned. We were early for

check in; so I suggested to the crew a short pit stop at the closest airport bar – to serve two functions; beer

and a score check on STK and the Dogs. A Carlton Draught at the airport is a top drink; it represents to

me, adventure and boundless experiences coming our way; one of those pivotal moment type drinks; a

definite ‘cheers’ drink.

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After the hops had departed my palate we found ourselves at our check in counter; behind about a plane

load of people; there must have been about 200 people in front of us. Some of those cattle winding ropes

snaking their way about with a host of differing nationals; surfboards; suitcases and foreign tongues;

everyone seems abit peeved because it is about 2230.

Batu Caves

About an hour in the queue and we finally got to the check in counter; Im pretty organised for an ex military fella; got the 5 passports; bar coded plane itinerary and feeling pretty good about getting

the hell out of here and I suppose the Draught is kicking in too by this time. Hand on the passports; itinerary in hand; walk up to the airline broad and hand em over. Done this a zillion times; yep there you go; check that crap out; with a bit of a confident gaze to the teevee in the distance. Just about to put the first suitcase on the conveyor belt for weighing (note there was no bogey board bag); and the attendant checks my itinerary with her colleague. Im thinking, nah we’re all smooth; I’ve got this

stuff nailed; some formality type airport drill I’m sure. Attendant comes back, “Um, sir, you were supposed to be on last night’s flight; you are a day late”. She hands me back my itinerary. I study

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it. The draught beer effect has gone; fuck, she’s right. How in the hell did I stuff this up? I put it down to one occasion. The damn Collingwood Preliminary Final; I thought I had planned around it –

but nup, I was a day late.

That sinking feeling of ‘what now’ came upon me, just like the Carlton Draught mellow; but now the complete opposite anxiety mellow – which if you could describe in a colour; was red.

Off to the customer service counter. I spoke with the sheila there; and I ascertained that there was 10 seats left on the plane; and I needed 5. I had to pay a transfer fee for my tix for the previous day

and 15kg of baggage per person. Suffice to say my bank balance got a short quick Muay Thai uppercut from my dum stuff up.

Anyway that sorted and a sigh of relief, we are on the plane; we get through customs, no time for

Duty Free, we virtually board straight away.

Sunway Water Park - KL

Wow the seats are small in Air Asia. We got messed about too with our seating because we were ‘booked

on late’. But the youngest two got to sit with mum; Zach was a few rows back – he didn’t care much as his

iPod kept him company; and I was squished in with a Chinese couple; she was dominating the arm rest too

and I let it go at first. Once the plane got in the air; the rude cow suggested I move a seat over where there

was two seats free. I didn’t appreciate her broken English tone and didn’t like being told to move

somewhere else. So I said, ‘Nup, Im staying here’ and I took charge of the armrest; like a ten year old

smarting from an argument with his sister. About half an hour goes by and really the Chinese bird beside

me is right; if I move seats across; I’ll have a spare beside me; which means stretching out and less cramp,

with no armrest challenges. I moved – international relations smoothed over. I glanced over to my

Chinese nemesis and gave her a wink. She gave me the ‘told you so wanker’ look; and that was that.

Kuala Lumper was damn hot on arrival and it was 0700 hours. We got out of the terminal fairly quickly; got

an airport bus (all up was RM 26 one way for all of us) to KL Sentral. Found our connecting line and got

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the train to Dang Wangi (10 Ringgit). Used the wifi at McDonalds; which came in handy to get on line. I

had printed out before we left, some Google maps; and one was from Dang Wangi to our hotel. A short

and hot walk to our hotel and we checked in. I was still in jeans and a black shirt and the ten minute

journey felt like 2 hours.

We got to the hotel - I tried to get out of the day before booking – as I was staying at this hotel for the next

3 days; but nup; have to cough up; and it is really difficult to argue when you know damn well you have

stuffed up. Alas I try...and I fail miserably. At least I check in at 8am and we can go straight to our room.

The kids and I went down to the pool straight after tipping the bell hop RM$2 (yep big tipper me); and then

borrowed some pool towels and splashed about in the shadow of the Patronas Towers in the

distance. The chlorine got to us in the end and ensured we only played about for 45 minutes; so we off and

retired to our room. We are stuffed and lay about on the beds for a while; I know if we don’t get motivated

we will do this and fall asleep and wake at 3am. We did this before in London last year.

Sumway Water Park - KL

So all dressed up and KL to go – walked the streets looking for a decent food place. Through

haberdashery joint after textile shop after nick nack shop. We found a local eatery and had 5 Mee Goreng’s with Fried Chicken; this typical Malay noodle dish was just OK; not too popular with my

family to be honest; they didn’t like the chicken very much; it did seem overcooked. The cigarette butts on the floor; the flies and the plastic chairs and tables were fine, but the kids were not used to the local way of dispensing with knives and forks and using one’s hand to eat; rice and curry. They

were entertained to say the least.

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Out of there and back to the hotel. We caught up with our afternoon tour after a couple of Tiger

Beers in the hotel; in really large chilled Carlsberg glasses. First stop was the Royal Selangor Pewter Factory; this is where they make from scratch trophies; cups; and all sorts of tin based products for export. The kids even got to have a go at hammering the pewter cups; and terrible they were; I had

a go and was equally terrible. Some of the intricate pewter designs were remarkable. We have a competition in these types of places (we started when in Europe) of who can find the most

expensive item. Zach was unchallenged on RM$250,000, until I found a gold/pewter bowl – RM$600,000; it was a big arse bowl.

Next stop was a Batik shop; like the old fashioned, 1960’s tie-dyed stuff; but done with wax and

much more artistic flavour. Jamie modelled a few sarongs and did a great job. The wax stops the colour from running together and the clothing is used for special Malay functions.

Next was the Batu Caves with it’s massive Hindu Deity standing guard at the front of the entrance. This is

the world’s tallest golden Hindu statue; massive piece of gold I must say; and behind was 270 steps to the

top of the caves. We climbed them and watched the monkeys playing about with the tourists and the

cheap trinkets shops set about the gongs for the Hindu ‘no shoes’ temple worshipping that was about to

begin. We bypassed the worshipping and dipped the lid on the way past to the good great god of

Collingwood; to smile down upon us in one weeks time. We summoned our great coin in the pocket and

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purchased some cold cokes to wash down that divine destiny and headed back down the zillion steps.

It is here that the Hindu’s do those crazy religious stunts of ‘trance’ based self torture. They have hooks

placed upon their bodies, through their back fat, their lips and noses, eye lids and other body parts; without

any pain. With seemingly no effects; because they are here, at the Batu Caves and feeling the groove with

the Hindu God of the Pies. (Ok I made that last bit up).

Dinner was the Royal Selangor Club; I got a Guernsey here via the Melbourne Cricket Club reciprocal

agreement and we did the Chinese Restaurant here. I ordered:

· a prawn and black bean;

· sizzling prawn;

· scallop in hot pot;

· chicken and cashew;

· beef and black bean with fried rice and

· several beers for about $65 Aussie.

Man that was awesome buying; and some quality tucker I might add – we were saying this was on par with

Ling Wah of Frankston and similar to a restaurant of equal standing we attended in London’s West

End. We had a view of the oval in front of us and it was a pleasant place to dine.

Taxi’s back to the hotel; everyone was asleep about two pages ago. We are jet lagged and knackered

from a very full day; including trying to adapt to the oppressive heat. Im signing off, need some sleep –

another big day planned for tomorrow.

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My Blackberry has a new case (so has Malani) and Jamie got a case for her iPhone – AUD$30 for the lot –

which is good buying.

Andrew and co in KL.

Monday 20th September 2010 – Sunway Water Park

A sleep in – batteries recharged and a piping hot and long shower. No water restrictions over here - so long

showers are highly recommended.

Breakfast in the hotel was a typical Asian affair – fried rice next to baked beans; beef bacon – yuk – very

chewy next to a toast machine that had Berenburg jams (from South Australia) – had to have some of that,

as I left the Vegemite at home. Coffee was percolated and I had some real milk – in these parts it is

common to get the creamer crap from a satchel – which you get over in a real hurry.

I lived here for 6 months with the RAAF down near Penang; on RAAF Base Butterworth – that was a top

experience and one that really planted the travel bug for me – my roster there was pretty good too – 4 on

and 6 off – the days off were excellent opportunities to explore.

Jamie modelling the Petronas Towers KL

I digress.

We left the hotel in the thumping heat and humidity and walked the ten minutes to Dang Wangi train station

– a series of escalators down to the bottom reminded me of Hong Kong and Singapore's light rail network,

spotlessly clean and so easy to use. We caught the train to KL Sentral – visited the ATM and got some

Ringgit; then headed down to the bus station – we were after bus number 76 – I had researched this from

home. The bus cost RM12.50 to get to Sunway; a clean well air-conditioned bus it was about a 40 minute

ride across streets and freeways of KL.

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Sunway Water Park was our destination; it is a series of theme parks in KL – consisting of a Water Park,

Adventure Park, Scream Park and Wildlife Park. Zach (14) is considered an adult and I had pre-purchased

a kids ticket for him – they wouldn’t have any of that, so I had to get another adult ticket – which was painful

because I had already bought all the tix. The water park was a massive hit with the kids – some huge

water slides, from the ones you go down on with mats; to ones you go down with inflatable rafts. A

playground with mini slides, water buckets and water cannons. A surf beach with real sand and a concrete

slide.

The kids had a go on the flying fox which took them across the surf beach and at a fast rate of knots – they

must have travelled about 300 metres; I’ve sighted that distance on a 300m range before; it’s difficult to hit

stuff at that range; the tip of the rifle sight looks massive against the target. They wouldnt let me on - I was

too heavy

Batu Caves

We did the wild Life Park and saw massive Python Snakes – one I thought had to be an Anaconda – it was

that huge. The park had panthers, tigers, water fowl, tarantulas, mongooses (is the plural 'mongeese’?),

turkeys, turtles, rabbits and crocodiles. A wide range of monkeys too; from Gibbons to Mandrills, they

entertained the kids with their antics and acrobatic stunts. A well stocked small theme park zoo – animals

seemed well cared for and fed. Zach made the panther snarl when he walked past.

Adventure Park was cool too – we did the Rocky Mountain Ride – down a steep slide and through the

water; to a small roller coaster and another white water rapid type ride – we all got wet. We finished off

with a Tiger beer watching the kids back down at the surf beach. We crossed the freeway via an overpass

and just missed the bus back to KL Sentral; so we had to wait in the heat and smog of the freeway.

Several buses went past and many of them were headed to Chinatown; which we didn’t want; so we kept

waiting. I was after bus 76 for the way back but it wasn’t coming and we were all stuffed from the park, so I

said to Malani that we should get on the next bus; if it heads to Chinatown – we should go there and have

dinner

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At Sunway

. Bus 63 came and we got on board and got off at Petaling Street Chinatown – home of the famous KL

Night Market.

We walked and negotiated our way down the skinny aisles of the market place checking out the stuff for

sale. Things like copy watches, shoes, DVDs, shirts, shorts and a heap of crap were for sale – and a host

of energetic salespeople; ‘I give you cheap price’, ‘Come look for free’, ‘You want?’ were common catch

phrases.

Dinner was a small outside restaurant. Two massive 660ml Tiger Beers with several dishes including Beef

and black bean, Fried Chicken Thai Style and Penang Noodles – yum. Jamie and Jack had prawns,

fried. Nice.

Back through the night market we purchased a couple of ‘Skater’ hats for Jack, some ‘Piping Hot’ shorts for

Zach and a Nike wallet. We got some beer for the hotel and headed back; this time via taxi. We managed

to squeeze into a 4 seater taxi (there are 5 of us) and a short trip across town and $RM15 later we got to

the hotel without incident.

We all are fairly knackered from the big day out and hit the hay. The aircon is blasting away.

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Tuesday 22nd September 2010

We got our organized mini van from our hotel in KL and drove out to the International airport. It was about a

50 minute trip and the driver was falling asleep – Malani told me to wake him up as he was doing the 'nod'

thing – not good when he’s crusin at 120KPH. Anyway I kept him chatting as best I could with the

language barrier. Van cost RM 135; which was good we got there direct, no stuffing about and alive.

Earlier I had a panic about the ticketing arrangements with the airline; I thought I had stuffed things up

again; as my itinerary and airline print out showed different times; the airline printout was 0730 hours and

my itinerary showed 0915; it was 0700 when we arrived at the airport. About 4 months ago the airport

SMS’d me and the flight details were changed; so no I hadn’t stuffed up

The Entrance to the War Remnants Museum

Our flight went smoothly enough and 55 minutes later we landed in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC); I hadn’t organized transfers to Malani’s displeasure and opted for bus 152 from the airport. This was fine as it took

us direct to Ben Thanh; problem was my map wasn’t that detailed and didn’t have all the streets on it. I knew we were only 250m from the hotel – but what direction? I asked a few locals and got blank stares; I showed them my map and congregations of people surrounded me; pointing at the map and each of them pointing in a different direction – hmmmm not helpful. We then hopped on another bus on the advice of another local and ended up on this bus for about 40 minutes – we had 3 suitcases and my large RAAF

Duffle Bag – not good on a small bus when the locals pack tightly in. Our stop was interesting; as we had to get all that gear off and past the locals; anyway job done and we had a laugh about it.

Checked into the hotel; and we got a free upgrade to a larger room; we have two rooms; not

interconnecting; only by the hallway. LOL. Plenty of room for us however.

We ventured out into HCMC's hustle and bustle, motorbikes everywhere; smells of cooking and sewer mixing together; with all that we turned next door to an adjacent restaurant for salvation

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Tank and a Chinook Helicopter

We had beef and black bean; spring rolls; fried chicken among other things – a nice introduction to

Vietnamese tucker. It cost all up with several Tiger Beers about AUD$25.

Back to the hotel to get some things and we are out again. This time we walked up to the War Remnants

Museum – several blocks away and in the heat which sapped Zach and made us all thirsty. Entrance fee

was 15,000 VND each; or about 80 cents each. There was several tanks out the front, Howitzers,

cannons; and a full size Chinook helicopter. On one side of the Museum was an area dedicated to political

prisoners from the north; where they were tortured by all use of whips; canes and wire; to Tiger Cages

where they were made lay on their stomachs within a cage of barbed wire. Stories; photos, dioramas on

the wall tell the unfortunate story of victims, with before and after photos of acid/phosphorous torture;

blindings, beatings; limb breakings and the like.

Inside the museum there was a host of pictures that were quite foul, I suppose war is foul. The Dioxin

found in Agent Orange has wreaked havoc on local families; with birth defects and miscarriages rife among

the rural communities; there are some fetuses in jars; pictures on the wall of deformed people; while the

stories tell of hardships for Independence against the tyranny of the United States and Australia.

Out of there and back to the hotel. Jamie and I went for a walk to the Ben Thanh Nightmarket and had a

wander about, there was so much for sale; colour and smell overloads. We bought a hair tie for

Jamie. Went back to the hotel and got Malani and the others (Zach feeling like a sleep so we left him

there). Found a local eatery and ate beef; (think it was beef); prawns; a mud crab, Jamie had a Snapper

and some noodles with several Tiger Beers. A feast was had by all.