Babs’ travels -The Peking to Paris Rally and other driving adventures.

We left Hanoi this morning and went to The Ho Chi Minh Trail Museum, where the rally proper was to start.  It's about 15kms from the city and it seems that very few tourists make it there.  Everything is well laid out and it has an extremely large collection of very interesting artefacts.  We watched a short, well made film about the trail and then had a really excellent talk from Digby, the Australian husband of one of our "fixers" and the owner of a large tour company specialising in motorbike tours in Indochina. He really brought to life just what an amazing feat the trail was and why the Americans could never have won with their tactics. They should never have interfered in the first place, quite frankly. What a waste of so many Iives on both sides. We collected our jeep, which was very exciting, and headed south, an easy run of about 70 miles.  We soon left the main highway and crossed through the emerald paddies on a mix of dirt tracks and a little concrete. It...

Rather thrillingly the day began with a visit to see "Uncle Ho".  His mausoleum, as you would expect, is a giant concrete communistic affair surrounded with much pomp and ceremony.  Immaculate soldiers in snowy white uniforms form the guard and ensure that decorum is kept.  You are not allowed to carry anything, wear sunglasses, talk, put your hands in your pockets, wear shorts or sleeveless tops and you have to walk two by two at a steady pace.   You get surprisingly close to the waxen body whose image, with its long, wispy beard, is so familiar.  He had very small hands. Afterwards we visited the Palace and the stilt house in its grounds, where Ho Chi Minh chose to live.  Then, a visit to the Army Museum completed our sightseeing.  I find the history of "The American War", as it's known here, extremely interesting but the hardware leaves me a little cold. What was very touching, to me anyway, was the large group of war veterans on a tour of the museu...

After just a month at home it was back to Cambodia, for two weeks, for me.  I was joined for the second week by our good friends from Canada, Lloyd and Treacy, whose feet did not touch the ground the whole time.  As soon as they flew in (literally)I whisked them up to the remote far north for three days where Lloyd was to do some medical checks on our children - the nearest doctor is three hours drive away from the village. It was certainly a baptism by fire and one they rose to magnificently. The hygeine programmes are working well and even the kindergarten kids are now brushing their teeth, at school, everyday.  It is all working better than I could have hoped for. Last Sunday, we were up with the dawn to go out to Knar school to collect 20 very excited children yo take them on a field trip that Lloyd and Treacy had kindly sponsored.  A group of 6th grade children, who had never been to the temples ( just 20kms away) were chosen.  We had taken out some breakfa...

A beautiful, misty start to the day for the 300kms drive to the outskirts of Yangon to await our police escort into the city.  We waited by the  beautifully kept war cemetery.  A moving experience.  Humble car 2 led the way as the traffic parted like the Red Sea for us on the way to the finish line. I felt like a Queen! We had a fantastic final dinner in the garden with a view across the lake to the Shwedagon Dagon pagoda.  A fitting end.  Prizes were awarded and, in a class of only three, we were awarded second place.   Our table was so covered in trophies it looked like the temples of Bagan.   This has been a stupendous rally, really quite outstanding.  Extremely well organised, action packed with so many fabulous things organised for us to see and do.  We have seen many wondrous sights and experienced many great things. One abiding memory will be of the great comraderie and endless laughter but, the memory that will remain always, is ...

Our first stop on our dusty 220kms journey today was to a village school where donations of school supplies were being made.  The village, well off the main road, comprised mainly palm leaf houses, some barely had side walls. The poverty was plain to see. What made it stand out, however, was how immaculate it all was.  Not one piece of plastic, or other rubbish, could be seen lying around.  The dusty ground around the tiny compounds was well swept and all was neat and orderly. The school consisted of two long concrete buildings, each with three different grades inside. The unpartitioned concrete buildingswere supplemented by one palm leaf building with a tin roof but open sided, with two grades in. There are around 200 pupils.  I was so impressed by what I saw.  The Head Teacher is doing a marvellous job. There are no facilities at the school, the only resource a blackboard, but the children's few exercise books were filled with work of an excellent standard. ...

Our Temple dinner was beyond magnificent; a memory that will remain forever.  As we approached the group of stupas where it was to take place we, quite literally, had our breath taken away.  Our path was lit with rows of candles with more placed all around the beautifully set out tables and chairs.  Most astonishing of all though were the stupas themselves, some several storeys high. Candles had been placed all over them - flickering flames soaring into the inky, star filled, night sky, creating a magical ambience, dream like and overwhelmingly beautiful. Traditional local musicians and dancers entertained us with an enchanting six year old boy playing the drum with perfect timing and rhythm; a superstar in the making.  It was a very, very special evening, which, inexplicably, several crews failed to attend.  They missed something very special indeed, a real highlight in a rally filled with wonderous experiences. Today has been a transit day.  166 kms to a ...

Temples.  Lots of them.  They're dotted about everywhere, thousand upon thousands, more than you can shake a stick at, and there used to be about gives times more.  Looting, earthquakes and neglect saw many of them disappear.  It is still a very impressive area to visit. The best place to appreciate the scale of Bagan is fom the air - so that's what we all did yesterday. The dawn balloon ride was marvellous beyond words.  We all agreed that it was a true 'once in a lifetime' marvel. It was the perfect start to the perfect day.  After breakfast a bit of a rest, we went to a tiny traditional village where we were warmly greeted and invited to look around.  Everyone was so hospitable, rushing to get bowls of peanuts, a crop the grow here, for us to try. Then lunch under the trees and a meander around the temples.  Yet another fabulous dinner, by the pool, with everyone wearing longyi completed the day.  If I seem to be talking about food a lot i...