Andy & Gillie's Big Adventure!: November 2019

Sorry we haven’t been in touch - had a lot to see and do. Didn’t actually realise that the last time we posted was before England saw off the Aussies in the QFs. Watched that in a tiny bar full of Australia-supporting Welshmen. WTF??!! The following day we hunted high and low for a bar full of France-supporting English fans, but couldn’t find one. So we happily sat with the Wales-supporting English and Japanese fans - and cheered on Wales. Lucky or what? Sad for Japan later that evening, but a dream RWC for them. Look over your shoulder Scotland...

Our journey took us from Kyushu up to Matsumoto where we enjoyed the lovely city and fort before going on to Kanazawa for some respite in advance of our last week in Japan staying in Tokyo. We stayed in an ‘interesting’ typical ‘apartment’ (lots of inverted commas used here as choosing words carefully), quite close to the river, with a ‘kitchen’ and ‘sleeping quarters’ - basically futons in the only room of the ‘apartment’ that were laid out on tatami mats each evening. We had come across this a couple of times before, so were used to it. Kinda needed some chairs every so often, though. Saw lots of lovely sights in Kanazawa - see pix - and relaxed.

Girding our loins for the weekend and the Semi Finals, we had booked an early train to Tokyo so that we could find our lodgings and get to a bar nearby for the match. All was going so smoothly until we reached Tokyo station...imagine the Westfield Centre or Meadowhall or the biggest shopping mall near you, on steroids, on four levels with no daylight, full of people who don’t speak your language, all going somewhere else in a hurry, with signs that are literally hieroglyphics...

Andy, Starbucks, level B1/2/3?? ‘You stay here, darling, I’ll go and get us the subway passes.’

Andy, an hour + later Starbucks, level B3/2/1?? (Not the same Starbucks obviously) to Starbucks server: ‘where am I?’ Starbucks server (imagine Manuel in Fawlty Towers) ‘que?’ But in Japanese.

Time’s running on. The match is about an hour away and wife and luggage and adoring husband still some levels and distance apart. By some miracle and the goodwill and help of several Japanese people, all were reunited, we made it to our accommodation - a hostel in Asakusa - who very helpfully directed us to the bar nearby that was showing the match. Except it wasn’t. ‘Oh no, rugby over.’ ‘No it isn’t you f!@£$. Not for us!’ Raced round the corner to a restaurant with a rugby ball image outside. ‘You’re showing the rugby?!’ More a plea that a question. ‘No - over’ ‘ No no no no - look we’re still in it, with your second favourites New Zealand!’ ‘Oh, ok’.

We sit in the corner drinking beer, eating edamame beans and chips and trying not to shout too loudly to disturb the late lunchers who thought they would have wallpaper tv. About 15 minutes before the end of the match, the picture dies. Andy is on his fifth heart attack. A lovely man brings his phone over to our table so we can watch. By the end of the match, the whole restaurant is fully engaged with the action and actually applaud the result [this may have been applause for Andy’s performance throughout the match - ed]. Wow.

An uneventful week in Tokyo followed (just kidding). On the Sunday we found our way to the Yokohama fanzone to watch Wales lose to South Africa. Couldn’t see either side presenting a problem to the team that beat The not-so-mighty All Blacks...

We spent the week enjoying many of the sights and sounds of Tokyo, including a very big shrine just two minutes walk from where we were staying, the famous ‘Scramble Square’ in Shibuya, hop-on, hop-off bus around Tokyo, the charming Edo Museum and we celebrated Brexit Day (‘do or die’, dead in a ditch’, ‘come what may’ etc et fucking cetera) 450 metres in the sky at the top of the Skytree Tower - brilliant views as the sun went down on Johnson’s promises.

The Big Day came - and went. What should have been a celebratory hangover the next day was quite the opposite and we made our way to the airport hotel slightly cast down - but wotthehell archy wotthehell. It’s only a game and nobody died (or was sent off).

Flew off to Vietnam the next day - Gillie’s birthday. The plan was to enjoy a street food walking tour in Hanoi that evening to celebrate, but the Vietnamese love of bureaucracy and apparent dislike of information signs meant a longer than planned wait at Hanoi airport for visa formalities so we postponed and went local to our hotel for drinks and food. We found a really great place and loved watching the people passing and absorbing the atmosphere.

The next day we were picked up to start our two-day cruise through Halong Bay. Hanoi in the morning seems as crazy as Hanoi in the evening. Over eight million scooters and mopeds for a population of 10+ million, nobody stopping EVER, drive on whatever side of the road suits at the time. Just step out in front of traffic, don’t stop, don’t run, don’t open your eyes until you are across - not safely, just across. PHEW!

Halong Bay was beautiful - all the images you may have seen and more. We packed in a lot over 24 hours, including getting up to watch the sun rise before a Tai Chi class, kayaking and exploring the Secret Caves - with about 5,000 other people - all before breakfast!

Our apartment in Hanoi was right in the middle of the Old Town so we had fun exploring there and again went on the hop-on hop-off bus. Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum is about the only place in Hanoi where the pavements are more than three feet wide and not filled with scooters and motorbikes. Just sayin’.

The French colonial influence is still very heavy, especially in the smarter, more expensive areas of the egalitarian, communist capital. Our highlight was a visit to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre - a centuries-old tradition of charming stories told using little puppets in a pool, accompanied by live music. We didn’t understand any of the stories, but there were a lot of fishes and dragons and a unicorn [probably would have appealed to the ERG - ed.] and we were enthralled.

We then set off on an overnight train to Hue. Not a lot of sleep there, then. We had originally intended to stay in Hue for three nights, but were advised by a local that one full day was enough so we changed our plans, but spent a very interesting day looking round the Old Citadel, a variety of emperor’s tombs - there were 13 emperors of this particular dynasty (the name of the dynasty escapes me, or we simply never learnt it) and we saw the tombs of the 4th and the 12th. Apparently the 13th emperor doesn’t have a tomb because he died in France in 1994 (in exile?). It was lovely to go out of the city and see some more of the country. We get the impression that, although Vietnam is an agriculture-based economy, there is a lot of money being poured into it (from China? Russia? USA?) for resorts and massive hotel complexes.

This is no more in evidence than the next place we went to. After a short train ride - two and a half hours - we arrived in Da Nang. There are literally dozens of massive resort and spa complex developments going up along the beach front there, so we were happy to take the 40-minute taxi drive to our paradise in Hoi An. Yes, it’s full of tourists and, yes, everyone is trying to sell you stuff, but it has this really nice laid-back hippy (can I still say that?) [yes - ed]. Our lovely bnb was only a five-minute life-in-your-hands stroll across the bridge into the old town where there were lots of river-front restaurants and bars and lots of lantern boats offering a ‘good price’ for a 15-minute boat ride. We had a great time buying clothes and haggling for a ‘good price’. We also found The Best Vegetarian Restaurant in the world [is there such a thing? - ed], where we enjoyed a wonderful meal as Vietnam was beating UAE in a World Cup qualifier, so the streets were generally emptier than usual.

Following our sojourn in Hoi An, we embarked on an 11-hour train ride to Naha Trang and are currently staying in a 40th floor apartment with sea and mountain views. Been on the beach this morning, but got a bit cloudy later, so have managed to find time for this epistle. Stay dry and warm all, will try to post again before we go to the polls.

JC4PM.

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PS. Me again. Phew I never thought I’d be a backpacker in my 70s but it’s certainly keeping me fit. In and out of trains, up and down millions of steps to tombs and shrines, Sleeping on a rush mat with a rock for a pillow, eating meals while kneeling on a wooden floor, sitting cross legged for seemingly hours on end waiting for some rugby match or other to start (or finish!) the list goes on... however you won’t be surprised to learn it’s all (or nearly all) wonderful, such great experiences and memories.

No toilet stories this time as the toilets in Vietnam don’t really deserve a mention!! It has been a bit of a culture shock coming from Japan to Vietnam and it’s taking me a while to adjust. There we were at a ‘locals’ restaurant in Hue, it’s full of locals and everyone is having a great time with loads of food and beer. However when a beer can is finished they just chuck it on the floor together with any bits of food they might spill. So when they have left the staff spend about half an hour sweeping all this mess that has piled up?? As Andy might say WTF???? I hope we have a photo of this to show you.

Now on to happier things...fashion. This bit may just be for the ladies but you all may be interested. When we were in Japan I noticed many many of the ladies wearing pleated skirts. Also in lots of the posh dress shops models were wearing pleated skirts. So really this is just a heads up if you want to be ahead of fashion, maybe just maybe if you root around in the inner depths of your wardrobe you may find the odd pleated skirt that you could bring out and wear to impress your friends. I actually think I may have one!! [I hope not - ed]. You can thank me later when you are known to be a trend setter. Enough of this as it’s time for another pot noodle. Take care all. Much love Gillie xxxx

PPS Sorry some of the photos are on their sides - can’t work out how to rotate them on iPad!!