Blue Moon Aug 31. Walking along the beach on the NSW South Coast I was lucky to watch the end of a day and begining of a new night in startling technocolour as the sun set in the west just befor the moon rose in the east

I didn’t expect to see the moon rise as the cloud cover appeared to touch the horizon. Then in a moment it was cresting the edge of the world

This will be that last Blue Moon for a few ears with the next being in, I think, 2029. There will be a blaze of photos gracin the pages of blogs and social media of the event over the next few day. This is my contribution and I invite you to enjoy the images and perhaps share this blog with your friends and followers. I welcomeany comments that you might want to share

The beginning of August brought with it a change in the weather from very hot days with a late afternoon thunderstorm, to solid rain, with constant passing thunder. The blessing, I guess is that the temperature has dropped a little and, in fact, after the first major storm of the month, the temperature dropped a full 10 degrees within minutes and, although still in the high 20’s caused a few shivers and even prompted me to dig ot a hoodie for a bit.

During the few short spaces between the rain showers there have been moments where the sun has attempted to push through the clouds and the butterflies have arrived in droves to sip nectar from the flowers that line many of the pathways that thread through the Mai Chau Valley,

I took up my camera and spent some time over the last few days photographing the many different types and also the odd other insects that gathered there. I am lucky that just outside Nha Tan Homestay & Tours, where I have made my base over the past few months, is a row of West Indian Lantana plants as well as Sulper Cosmos flowers that prove popular for the nectar seekers here.

As usual, I have posted a gallery of what I consider the best of the bunch of photos, some because they are great images and others because they tell a story. Please enjoy and leave any comments below if anything takes your fancy. I have had some interest from folks wanting to put some of these onto canvas as wall art and I am happy to arrange that if anyone is interested.

It’s alway nice to be able to kick back amongst the flowers and watch nature at work. Today, just a stroll outside Nha Tan Homestay, I spent some time with my camera shooting the many butterflies that pottered about the flowers growing along side the lane. Please enjoy the results of my labours and leave a comment if you like them.

Arriving back in Mai Chau after a few days in Sam Son Beach, I stopped in town for a cool ice cream from the local Winmart.  As I came out I noticed a Honda XR 150  parked alongside my little Nouvo.  As I was eating my ice cream I gave the bike a good look over until its owner came out.

We struck up a conversation and it turns out that Jakub was from Czechia and travelling to The Pu Luong for a day or too before heading on down to Ninh Binh. We talked about where he could go to see a beach and I told him that I had just come from Sam Son which was an OK place but the water was less than crystal clear due to the the rivers spewing out silt from recent rains

He was surprised that I remembered the old Czechoslovakia, which I admitted that I only new because my father, as an escaped prisoner of war had trekked through during WW II to find the allied lines after escaping a prison in Italy

We discussed the merits of his Honda XR which left me more convinced that it was probably a better option for my amount of travelling than my little Nouvo scooter.  (Dreams are Free)

Wandering around the lanes that intersect the rice fields in the Mai Chau valley one gets close to nature. This Common Leopard butterfly can be seen all along the pathways visiting the wild flowers that grow there

Another butterfly that is common here is the one that is commonly called the Blue-Banded King Crow (Euploea eunice) and is found throughout the Indo/Himalayan area. This one was resting on the steps up to the Sleeping area at Nha Tan – Mai Chau Homestay & Tours in Mai Chau

I have been trying to find a way to lower my overhead for photo management. It goes without saying that Adobe Lightroom has, arguably, the best photo management system available but with its ongoing cost it becomes a reasonable vẻ head for those of us on fixed incomes. With this in mind I have turned to Affinity Photo which, although very good, has failed to produce a viable photo management system, preferring to rely on Apple Photo to keep track of photos.

Affinity Photo does have some great abilities and one of them is in compositing photos to create an artist impression of a photograph. I say Artistic impression as i still believe in the old adage that a photograph never lies. With that in mind as soon as one makes digital changes that lie outside of the normal developing processes that align with the old film darkroom techniques, then the photograph becomes a lie and so becomes a fiction.

This is the original taken as a raw photo but with too much of a difference between the bright sky and the darker tones in the Foreground. (Dynamic Range). While good practice is to expose the photo for the brightest part of the scene, in this case the foreground would have been impossible to recover cleanly. My solution was to insert a blue sky into the sky area, as per the photo above, thus making the above photograph a work of fiction

In the world of literature there are many genres including fiction and non-fiction. Maybe the photographic world should create some terminology that mirrors these worlds as they relate to photographs. Maybe something as simple as Compositing and non-composite. The use of such a “generizing” would give the true blue photographer back his credibility as in today’s world few people trust any photograph as being “straight from the camera”.

I would be interested to hear any opinions around this as it is something that I struggled with for a long time when I first started making photographs as I believed in getting the shot as close as possible right out of the camera and then only tweeting the exposure levels etc to try to recreate the scene as close to what I had been presented with when I took the photo.

Early mornings in winter can reward the early riser with some stunning sunrises. The colours in this photograph were certainly popping and the the patterns in the clouds lead to a dramatic image

For most of us Covid put a stop to any travel plans and I was no exception. Having decided it was time to see the world my plans ground to a halt at the beginning of 2020. AFter several months in lockdown I decided that I might as well go back to work and so headed to Cairns and Far North Queensland for what turned out to be around two years. Here are some memories from that time

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I have spent a week with friends at Nha Tan Homestay & Tours in Mai Chau on my way back to Hoa Binh following my few weeks back in Australia. While here I ran into two great guys who have been holidaying in Asia and needed to get out of the big city for a couple of days. Tom and Chris come from New York and spent two days (one night) at the homestay and spent the time visiting attractions in the valley and surrounds under the guidance of Tan and Vinh.

Tom has just completed the gruelling study years on his way to becoming a doctor and is about to begin an even more gruelling time as a Resident in a New York Hospital.

Chris lives in the IT world where he divides his time between technology and marketing.

Over the two days I got to enjoy their pleasant company and sharp wit and wish them well on their travels into the next phase of their lives

Yesterday, while wandering around in the Mai Chau Valley I came across this tiny little bird. The beak suggests it is not a finch as it is smaller and more pointed but without a decent guide to Vietnamese Birds I am unaware of what it actually is.

I had left Ninh Bình at around midday, heading back towards Hoa Binh. The rain had been steady all morning and I kitted up with as much rain gear I was able to. The misty ride through the mountain passes and valleys was beautiful. Even on this cold and cloudy day. The huge rocky outcrops that line, the valleys are very dramatic, and with the misty cloud across their face, they were even More so today. Riding through one of the villages, I noticed a stall selling Banh Mi and not having had breakfast this morning, I turned back and ordered myself one. I definitely think that these are my favourite meal.


There was a group of locals sitting around the store, and one young lady came to help take my order, as the vendor did not understand English. It turned out that Huong was a teacher from the school across the road. She taught her students English, and she clearly had a very good grasp of the English language. Probably better in some of the foreign English teachers I have spoken to while I’ve been here.


While I sat and ate my lunch, we chatted about the English language and about Vietnamese culture. Sitting there, with these friendly people I felt very relaxed, and at peace. A bunch of her students came out of the school building and made a big show of waving to me as I sat there. Huong invited me to attend her class with her students. As it was getting late, and I still had some way to go, I had to take a rain check  but promised that we would keep in touch and should I be passing at a convenient time I would be happy to call-in to her class

Down Town Hanoi, although this could be almost anywhere in Vietnam. The habit of smoking a Điều Cày, or Bong, is commonplace. The attraction seems to be that the tobbacco used is much more potent in Nicotine than that which is used in cigarettes. The user generally gets a much stronger hit and it is said that a wave of dizziness is not unusual.

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After waking late this morning I was treated to this view from my balconey as the sun began to show itself behing the easterm mountain ranges. The blue haze that is always in the air due to a habit of burning fires at any excuse here cast pastel hues across the eastern skies

While there is much talk about changing the rules around the 30-day E-Visa in Vietnam, I am still much enjoying the opportunity for a ride in the mountains to Na Meo on the Laoation Border. This month’s run was no different except that I took a few extra days to have a short run over the border.

After doing my usual stop over at Nha Tan Homestay in Mai Chau, I reached Na Meo around two oclock and completed my documentation in just a few minutes. Taking the bike with me required my Blue card and I had to pay 200,000vnd for the customs tempoary export paper. On the other side at Laos I also had to pay a further 100,000vnd for temporary registration for two months.

I was also asked by the imigration guy for 15,000vnd to put a stamp in my passport. I told him that I had never been asked before and stared at him until he waved me away. Pretty sure that that was tea money.

It was after the Border crossing that things became interesting. The roads took a definite turn for the worse and although the seal was wide in most places, and also not very old, landslips had covered the road in places and had been crudely cleared and there were patches where the seal had deteriorated to the extent that if you hit the patch at any speed you were likely to come off. Pot holes were a constant danger as well and they were arguably some of the largest I have encountered in over half a century of driving.

That said the landscape was interesting and one could see a change the further one went into Laos. The significant thing was probably that the rice paddies here were still dry and cattle grazed the stubble of last year’s crops. Just over the border in Vietnam, planting the new crop was well underway. The road followed the valleys and the terraced field were a constant companion until one had to negotiate a mountain pass and the paddies became distant patterns on the valley floor far below.

The weather was warm, almost uncomfortably so, and I was riding in the lightest gear I could with a mind to safety. My destination was some fifty-seven kilometres away from the border gate at a place called Vieng Xai, a journey that would take around an hour fifteen of riding although I stopped several times to get a photo where I thought it looked interesting. Sometimes I even turned back after my mind slowly registered a good opportunity after I was well past.

My phone dropped out within a few Kilometres of the border and so Google was unable to keep me updated on my progress. Worse than that, I would have no warning of where the turn into Vieng Xai from the highway. I thought that if worse came to worst I would truck up into Sam Neua some twenty kilometres further on.

I stopped at the first village of any size to try and get a new sim card and, as luck would have it, it was right at the turnoff. I headed into Vieng Xai shortly after dark and found a quaint guesthouse sitting, literally, over a lake. This was Saylomyen Guesthouse & Restaurant and I was happy to unload the bike and relax over a tasty meal of Fried Rice and Egg. This was accompanied by a bottle of Laos beer which I found a little heavy to my taste, but nice enough. Later, as I made my way across the dining hall to my room, I was accosted by a friendly Laotian who had reasonable English and he insisted I join his group for just one glass of beer to celebrate the coming Solar New Year. I joined the table and soon enough found that getting away after just one beer was never in the plan. I did manage to make it to my room, not to much the worse for wear but thankful to lay my head down on a fairly comfortable pillow

The next day, after an omlette for breakfast I triedto find the Vieng Xai Caves which are probably the main attraction in the area. Google led me along a street only to stop me at a private house. I could find no sign of the info centre and so after the deadline for the last tour of the day had past I decided to head on to Sam Neua. This was a much larger centre some twenty kilometres up the road. But that is a story for another day.

If you enjoy these journals of my adverntures through Asia please share with your friends and give me a like. Send me your comments of your own experiences, especially if you found things different to what I have seen.

As always the following Gallery is a photographic records of my travels related to this post

There is not a lot of information about doing a border run from Hanoi to Na Meo and what there is I have found to be conflicting. The main theme coming through in the available information is that it should not be attempted as it is too dangerous with large trucks and poor roads. As a disclaimer, this is my personal experience and there may well be others who have a different story to tell. If so please tell it in the comments below and hopefully it will assist others who may be wanting to try this route

I have made this pilgramage three times now and have found it to be a pleasant enogh ride. I would like to put my experience out there as it may encourage others to try it.

From Hanoi, there are two possible options as per the google map search. I have not done the shortest as I start out from Hoa Binh so my account is of this route only

First things first. After asking at both the Laos Embassy in Hanoi and at the Border gate in Na Meo (Laos side) it is not possible to get a Visa On Arrival at Na Meo. You must first go to the Laos consulate which is at 40 P. Quang Trung, Trần Hưng Đạo, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội. It opens at 08:30 and shuts again at 11:30 for lunch before reopening at 13:00 until 16:00 for tyhe afternoon session. It is important to get there before 11:15 as you will then be able to collect your passport complete with Visa by 15:00. I have just missed the lunch deadline and had to put it in as soon as they came back. I was fortunate to still get my visa by closing, however I wouldn’t rely on it.

You will need to take along a passport style photograph which you will paste on the application form . If you don’t have one, there is a place you can get one fairly close (Address of Photo). The cost is UD$35.00 but you can pay VND for which you will fork out 100,000. (around 180,000vnd or US$7.50 dearer)

The next step is to apply for your Vietnamese e_visa online. Becareful that you get the official portal as there are some reported scams operating in the area. (https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/). The time for turning this around varies but the site says that it will be at least three working days. I have done a few of these and found that mine come back inside four days but I have heard of others who have had longer waits. Best advice is to not leave it until the last minute to apply for it. You stipulate the border crossing of arrival and the date you want it to start so it doesn’t matter if you get it a couple of weeks ahead.

Another thing on the the subject of the e-visa is the payment. Many people have found that when they put their payment through it fails and necessitates starting from the beginning again as it wont accept a retry. I have had the same issue but I think it may be related to the page where you select the card you will be using. There are seemingly two options.. 1 is eftpos and the other is credit/debit card. It looks like one long button for selecting the credit card option however, that bar is, in fact, a series of buttons; one for each card type. eg Visa, Master Card etc. The second time I applied I had changed from Visa to Master Card and that was when I first had trouble. SInce ensuring I select the Master Card button I have never had an issue. I don’t know if this is the solution but it has certainly solve the issue for me. Anyone who might read this that has a diiferent experience please feel free to comment as it might well debunk my theory.

Ok. As I said, although there is a shorter route from Hanoi, my account will be of the route that takes you though Mai Chau. The first part of the route to Hoa Binh will depend on where in Hanoi you start from. After leaving Hoa Binh you start to climb almost immediately after you leave the city. Care should be taken on this first climb as there is a fair amount of traffic and larger vehicles that tend to disregard oncoming traffic when overtaking. The road then levels out to a long slow climbe until you near Mai Chau when, once again the road climbs steeply to the summit of the ranges overlooking the Mai Chau valley. There are some great view looking back over the valleys below and there are a couple of places near the top that offer a safe haven if you want to take photographs.

Once over the top there is a steep decline down to Mai Chau itself. There is a lookout about three quaters of the way down but be aware that the parking for it is about 75 metres before the lookout and if you go past there ino safe place to stop.

For me, even though it is only a short way into the ride I stop at Mai Chau at Nha Tan Homestay where the hostess, Tan provides a friendly and comfortable place to rest and perhaps take a look around the local area. It is a beautiful valley and I think it has a nice feel which is why I always take some time out to stop there. If you want to take an extra day, Tan will give you some insites into places of interest that yu might check out.

From Mai Chau, following the google map, (QL15) you will have three options for which way to go. The first leg for all three is the same and it is when leaving Mai Chau Village that you will come across the first stretch of substandard road. It is only around ten kilometres and the first part of that (The worst) is because of road works. Once completed this paragrapgh will become obsolete. After around ten kilometers the road improves and it become a pleasant enough drive, much of it along the river or through ethnic villages.

The first turn is about an hour out of Mai Chau, at a place called Cầu Hoồi Xuàn, where you have the choice of going straight ahead along the longest route, but perhaps with the best roads,(QL16) or going over a mountain with awesome views going up and interesting highlights of the locals working with bamboo along the sides of the road.

If you choose to take the mountain route you will turn right here (QL16 – DT520) and cross the river before turning back on yourself and following the river for some 50 kilometres. There is just one tricky corner along this stretch at Cau Nam Dong where you must be sure to take the right hand option and recross the river. If you go straight ahead you will still get there, and is only a few minutes longer, although I have not yet taken this route. Turning left or going straight on here will also get you there but will add time to your journey.

Follow QL16 along until you come to a smaller road to your left. Take this and you will begin the mountain climb. It is steep and the road is OK but not great. It winds and there is a small chance that you might meet a large truck so take care. More of an issue is the cattle which camp on this section of road so don’t be tempted to speed. Once over the top the road descends more moderately and you will see the bamboo workers doing their thing along the road side. I have stopped and chatted and managed a few photos with these folk who are all pretty friendly and have a ready smile.

Once down the Na Meo side, at Kìệt Vì, Google suggests a slightly shorter route (four minutes but a full eight kilometres ) which, perhaps, is an indication of the state of that piece of road. Both roads take you along a river and are pleasant rides except for the condition of the short cut. There is also an opportunity for refueling where the mountain road joins the Na Meo Highway (QL217) at the village of Muong Min. Just turn left and its around a hundred metres or so on your left.

The longer route is a much easier drive now that the road works are all but complete. It is only about fifteen minutes longer although almost thirty kilometres further. For the inexperienced rider or anyone wanting a relaxed ride, I would probably recommend this route but does have a few trucks heading down to Thanh Hoa on it.

The last stretch into Na Meo is a pleasant drive with wide sweeping curves and a good surface. You will know when you reach Na Meo as the road deteriorates again for the last kilometre or so.

Once at the Border, you present your passport at the immigration office and, if taking your bike across you will need to go to the customs office for an export paper that you will need when returning. There shouldn’t be a cost for stamping the passport but you may cope a fee for the export paper. I think I paid 200,000vnd

Then you walk or ride across the bridge to the Laos Gate and fill in an entry form that they will give you. Again there shouldn’t be extra fees, although I have been asked once for 15000vnd to stamp the passport. After I told him that I had never been asked for that before he bcked down and waved me through. If you are continuing on with a motorbike you will need to check with the customs guy in the office halfway through the gate on your right. For 100,000vnd he will issue you with a temporary registration for your bike when you present your blue card.

For those who are just doing the visa run, you simply cross to the other side of the road and go through the process of stamping out of Laos and stamping in to Vietnam. I have never been asked for any extra fees on this return journey. Ironically, on the last trip, which was the one where the guy asked for a stamping fee, I encountered him on the return side. Although it had been a few days he clearly recognised me and no mention was made of him being paid for stamping my passport

Although a long post, I have written this purely as my experience in doing the Na Meo bordergate for renewing my e-visa in Vietnam. As I say it is my experience and I hope it might assist others who are confused by some of the information that might be found on the internet. Despite much being said of the dangers of this run, I have found it to be a pleasant and, if one takes reasonable care as they should, a safe trip. There is no Visa On Arrival at the bordergate so a Laos visa from Hanoi is esential.

If you have had a different experience or you enjoyed this post please drop a comment.

After my first 30 day e-visa to Vietnam expired I headed to Chiang Mai from Hanoi Airport. It was a two part trip with a three hour stop over at Bangkok. Too short a time to do much but recheck my bags to Chiang Mai and grab a quick bite to eat. I landed in Chiang Mai at around 3 pm and by 4pm I had cleared the airport.

The usual crowd of hustlers were there, trying to tempt me to catch their particular mode of transport to my lodgings. I had researched the relative costs of taxis etc and so had an idea when a inflated price was asked. Eventually I came a cross a taxi driver who had the right price and we set off. I had booked a place just out of the city in what Americans might call the Projects. The area was a cluster of high-rise apartment buildings,(13 in the complex that I had booked into) with a security gate at each entrance.

I found my apartment after asking at an office that served the complex and made my way up the three floors to what I expected would be my home for the next 4 weeks. I had booked on-line with AirBNB and as a newbie to travel I had failed to pick up on some warning signs; eg. no communicating texts from the landlord…. A knock on the door brought an American Fellow and I introduced myself, thinking that he was my new landlord. To my surprise he said that he had a lease on the place for a year. We compared notes and the photos on AirBNB showed that this was the apartment that I was supposedly renting. He called his land lord who confirmed that it was and that he had never heard of me, my booking, or any payment from AirBNB in relation to the booking.

WOW!! 5:30 pm and nowhere to stay in a strange city.. I have always said that I am one for experiencing life and this was certainly one to add to my list. Fortunately, back at the office, a woman called Nim offered me an apartment but it was unfurnished and she went to buy sheets and pillows for me. The first night I had power but no water and it wasnt until I went down to a small communal area the next morning to get something to eat that I met a young lass called Ka Tai who offered to take me back up and show me where I might find everything.

With the water on, I had a shower and felt a little more human but I was also feeling the first effects of a UTI and realised that this had been coming on for a few days. I went to look for a ride into town to get some antibiotics but discovered that the heavy rains the night before had cut us off from the rest of Chiang Mai and there was no possibility of a ride.

The apartment was pretty spartan, having only two beds and matresses and no cooking facilities. Eating out was a must and I was lucky enough that the comunal area sold just about everything I needed in the way of food and drink – just no antibiotics.

The next day someone from the area offed me a ride on the back of his motorbike and I headed int the Airport Central Shopping centre. This place is pretty huge and my first stop was the pharmacy. I explained to the pharacist how my bladder had become a manufacturere of razorblades and how long I had had it. She went out the back and returned with a course of what turned out to be a pretty strong course of antibiotics. Feeling unwell as I was I had no great desire to go anywhere that was more than a few minutes from a toilet so I stayed in the shopping centre until almost dark when I took a Tuk Tuk home. Even at this stage we were breaking that if its flooded forget it rule (not that I thought the idea had reached that part of the world) but we soon made it back to the apartment.

I went to bed and stayed there, pretty much for two days. That night was pretty much the worst night I have had for many years. I sweated my way through it, and at one stage was almost convince I was checking out. My world had concentrated itself into a long black hole and I was quietly drifting away to blackness. I was just with it enough to think that this was what dying might be like before that blackness swallowed me completely. It seemed that my visa was not valid at the pearly gates (or even the gates of hell) and I woke late in the morning. I realised that if I got any worse I was pretty isolated and so went back on AirBNB and booked a hotel room in the Old Town where I felt there might be some support around if needed.

And so it was that I came to meet Pim, the hostess of Centre Home City, a guest house above a small but fun bar. SItuated inside the moat in the south eastern corner, it was well situated to make the most of both the Old Town and the area outside – The Saturday night markets, just outside the moat being a mere 6 minute walk for example. Pim and her staff were the best. Any question or need treated as if you were the most important part of their world and nothing was too much. At night I was always welcome in the bar even though I was not drinking and a game of pool aginst one of the girls or a fellow traveller was always a lot of fun.https://flic.kr/p/2nV6RSc

I dislike wordy posts (my preference being that photos tell the story) but during this time I had little opportunity nor inclination to take many photos and so break it up. I do feel however, that this was a part of my journey and needs to be written down for the record. I did learn some valuable lessons as a result of these experiences and hopefully they will ease my way in my future travels. The most important perhaps being that a course of antibiotics remains firmly inside one of the zip compartments of my travel pack.

Another was that, if one is having difficulty getting assistance from a provider, (in my case AirBNB) just end the call and call back later. My first call was fielded by a person who got stuck on sending a security code to my phone in Australia that no longer exists, other than as my WhatsApp number. No matter how many of the other questions I answered to verify my identity she was adamant I couldn’t be helped until I returned the code she texted me. I ended the call and called back several hours later. I assume the Australian call centre was closed by this time and I had a Filipino woman take the call. When we reached the Text messgae part, I explained the situation and she quickly found a solution. While there was little she could do to provide a roof over my head, she made sure that my money was refunded and that I was in an OK place.

While previously, I had thought that AirBNB took care of everything, I discovered that they are just a shell and that one needs to monitor the booking oneself and make sure tyhat contact is made directly with the host.

Enough said. I will chronical my stay in Chaimang in more picturesque posts over the next few weeks which I am sure will be more easily digested. As always I invite readers to engage in conversations visa the comments. Everyone has different experiences and I’d love to hear of yours

I came across Tan Homestay in Mai Chau through word of mouth.  I had been staying in nearby Hoa Binh visiting a friend and in the course of our conversation, I mentioned wanting to visit this little mountain community.  As it happened my friend’s partner had a sister who ran Tan Homestay and so I made a booking.  

Tan Homestay is situated just out of the main part of Mai Chau in a rural setting along one of the myriad of narrow roads that crisscross the area. It nestles at the edge of the green (at this time of year) rice fields below towering mountains covered in thick Vietnamese jungle. The dormitory sleeping quarters are high-set built on sturdy poles above an open dining/seating area which is spacious and light.  

The seats and tables in the dining area are made of bamboo and each table is large enough to seat around eight people. For added comfort, there are soft cushions to temper the hardness of the bamboo.  There are two separate sleeping areas of the dormitory style with foam sleeping mats under individual mosquito nets.  Fans in the ceiling ensure that the room is kept cool and airy.  

The amenities area is shared although the individual bathrooms are always kept to a high standard of cleanliness.

As mentioned this is a rural setting and there is a constant background thrum from the wild and not-so wildlife that live in the area.  It is customary for families to keep an assortment of poultry that peck and scratch their way in the backyards and roadsides.  In the nearby rice fields, frogs carry on a chorus of chirps, cracks and whistles that rises to a crescendo in the early evening.  Yet all of this noise is a peaceful backdrop to the activities of the day.

The people in this mountain community are very friendly, happy folk: always with a quick smile and cheery Halloo as you pass by.  Take a moment to stop and chat and you will soon find yourself being offered a cup of tea and a low seat to sit on.  While there is very little English spoken here the locals make an effort to communicate and to that end a translation app on your phone is helpful. When things get too difficult they will call up someone who knows English to translate.  I was constantly impressed at the efforts the locals made to make me feel at home

The meals here are mouthwatering. Tan goes to the market several times a day to ensure that the meals she serves are the freshest possible.  If there is a large number of guests she is busy during meal times tending to their needs but, in my case, I was the only guest and so I was privileged to eat with the family.  The food was amazing and a far cry from the meat and veg that I had been brought up on in New Zealand and Australia.  Rice is a staple and is served with almost every meal.  Meals usually consist of several dishes with a mix of meat and vegetables and each guest can select the morsels from the dishes as they wish.  

Tan will hire you a pushbike to ride around the community as the valley floor is mostly flat and the narrow pathways lend themselves well to this form of transport.  It is also very pleasant to still along between fields of green.  I am told that October is the rice harvest month and the green turns to gold as the rice ripens. I did notice a few flowering heads in some of the more mature plantings

(picture of Ripening rice)

Just a short bike ride from Tan Homestay is the village of Ban Lac which has positioned itself to display the traditions of the community and here you will find streets lined with craftspeople making wooden swords or weaving a fabric cloth. It is possibly the closest you will get to an area catering for the tourist trade.  I was particularly impressed with the handwork of one chap making crossbows. (picture of crossbows )

Big groups can tour the area in one or several of the electric “golf” carts that you will see here.  I did one trip around the village just after dark one evening and was surprised that, even midweek, the shops and stalls were still open and trading

You can also hire a motorbike and take a trip up into the mountains.  One trip I did was to a waterfall where I took a dip.  Here again, I was stunned by the friendliness of the locals.  As I pulled into the car park a young couple, arriving at the same time, went out of their way to make sure I enjoyed my visit there.  Needless to say, via the medium of social media we will be keeping in touch.

A few kilometres further up the road you will find awesome views of the large lake formed by damming the Da River near Hoa Binh.  Well worth the ride but just remember to keep to the right on the right on these narrow country roads.

Tan Homestay is a family-run business and you will get to meet the children and  the family dog ‘Dam dam’ as well as the neighbour’s rooster who seems to have taken over Tan Homestays’ yard as his own

If you want to immerse yourself in Vietnamese life then Tan Homestay is a great place to experience a relaxed holiday.  The mountains have an easy peacefulness to them and I for one will return here again

Bookings can be made on Booking.com or directly with Tan (0344 290 001) or Ty (0906 036 306)

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