Home to SNOW

Wrapped up well for a walk in the hills! But I have to say that I'd rather wrap up to keep warm than swelter in too much heat; I'm a real northerner. Its good to feel cool again.

Snowdonia living up to its name! This is the famous view of Snowdon from the old bridge at Bryn Refail.

Next is a long shot of the tucked-away corner of a Welsh field that Rich can call his own!

DOHA

Saturday 3.am local time and I'm here for 6 hours before the final leg of my journey home. The 'quiet room' where one can stretch out on loungers, is overflowing tonight, so I'm sitting in an airport cafe with no food because I have no local money and only Vietnam Dong in my purse! C'est la vie. I did eat on the plane anyway and it is the middle of the night. It's really impossible to sleep here, even in the quiet room, because of constant announcements over the loudspeakers.

I had a taxi to the airport in HCMC, getting there 3 hours early because of fears of serious traffic jams, this being he beginning of Tet, which fears were proved groundless. The flight from Saigon was an hour late setting off but otherwise uneventful, if you can call sitting in a metal tube several thousand feet above terra firma while the world revolves below, uneventful! It seemed that the only moving events were the movies on every screen, many of which were very moving.

I should be landing at Manchester airport in12 hours time, with another hour or so to get home, which makes my total travelling time I think, 32 hours. Oh well, only 14 hours to go... it beats weeks and months at sea anyway. Isn't life amazing in this modern age?

3 days to go...

As I prepare to leave this tropical hothouse and wing my way back to freezing Britain, Vietnam prepares for the Tet New Year holiday.


This morning Ms Hahn and her friend Miss Ha took me to the flower market, which seems to be an important part of the Tet preparations. Miss Ha is an English teacher and her speaking is excellent. She seems to be interested in getting to know Mark a little better!


The Year of the Ox, or Buffalo as its known here, is ending and the Year of the Tiger will begin on Sunday 14th Feb... so for me this is very significant. I'm an Ox, slow and methodical, so I'll be needing the Tiger energy to achieve what I want to do in the next year. The Tiger symbolizes the female Yin energy and I'll be grounding myself in practical matters.

As I pack I'm getting rid of superfluous clothing to make room for trinkets for my grandchildren and hoping they're not in tiny pieces by the time I open my case at home!
At the moment I'm just glad to be in the air-conditioned comfort of Mark's room.

AVATAR

I must just have a rave about this amazing film, which you really must see in glorious 3D! It's magical!

I love the way innovative film makers weave inspiring ideas into their movies. Think about Captain Kirk and his multi-racial crew who boldly go to seek out new life... and not with the usual US Hollywood aggression either! We were gradually educated into new thinking, no doubt influenced by new age psychology that burgeoned in the 60's. I know, this is obvious, but I'm so glad when a film with a message gets really popular.

After seeing Avatar at our local Megastar cinema when it first came out, we actually went to Saigon to see the 3D version and found that it was completely booked up till Feb, so we got seats booked through a young friend of Mark's, to see it at 7.30 this morning. This entailed getting up at 5.30 and leaving soon after 6am for the 38 km ride into HCMC on Mark's bike. It wasn't easy finding the place either and we got there just in time. But I have to say it was worth the effort!

I was reading that China just took steps to limit the number of people who can see this film, by only allowing the 3D version to be shown in a limited number of cinemas, at a cost of more than most people can afford. Apparently the theme is too close to home!

In contrast, Megastar in Saigon is packing them in, with at least 5 showings a day, 7 days a week until, whenever! And that's not counting the normal showings in cinemas throughout Vietnam. The ecological message is getting through one way and another to all the young people who are flocking to see it.

That was a Good Morning Vietnam!