25th March - gearbox dramas - honeymoon story - Sapa Saga

Monday 25th March

So what happened to Tobias Fahey…and Tony Bullimore..and even Our Jessica Watson?  Yes – they all had to turn back…

I am not sure what has happened, with 2XS.  I got a sad textmessage from Pete, around 4am – never the best time, for humans.  Problems with the port side gearbox.  Again… We thought this issue was resolved, done and dusted.  They have stopped overnight at Long Point, on the East Coast, and I have yet to hear what has happened…maybe they have turned back, maybe they are all fixed and flying up the coast, maybe they are just…stopped and struggling with the pesky gearbox. 

Watch this space!

One of my friends has a close connection with a young bloke who got married a few weeks ago.  He and his bride are just nineteen, both still studying.  Nineteen!!  And why did they get married?  Well because they are very much in love…have been together since they first set eyes on one another in Grade 8.  And they are Christians, fervent and happy…not a chance of consummating their great love unless they are married.

Their wedding was a very joyful occasion, full of love (and happyclapping, I am sure.)  My kind friend thought a nice wedding present would be a stay in a hotel of their choice, for the momentous Wedding Night.  They chose the grand Chancellor, overlooking the waterfront.  When they returned from their honeymoon, she asked how they had liked this hotel.  Well…it was just wonderful, of course, they said, all starry eyed.  Beautiful views!  Lovely room!  Delicious breakfast!  But…they hadn’t been able to turn on the lights, or anything electrical, in their suite.  There must have been a blown fuse, they said.  They are both too young and too polite to think of “pestering” anyone in reception.  And anyone in reception could have told them they just needed to put their key card in the slot at the front door, to make all of the electric connect, like magic…

Sapa continued – 2008

Our walk down the mountain track was challenging but absolutely beautiful; just as I imagine Shangri-La.  We got to the river at the bottom of the valley and had a beautiful swim in the fresh cool water in a big pool between the rapids.  There were lots of other people along the track, some of whom just dipped their toes in, but Pete and I were straight in.  (The Hmong are very modest, so I swam in my t-shirt and modest black underwear.  In case you were wondering about offences to public decency…)       

Eventually we came to some sort of chalet at the bottom of the valley, on the edge of the swiftly flowing river.  Kerry and Rina were just arriving, Rina still arm-in-arm with her Hmong guides.  Pete was very impressed.  “Just look at Rina!  It’s too hot to hold hands, for me, and there she is, so loving and affectionate and snuggled up.”  We sat at big tables in a sort of concrete bunker room, wondering what was going to come, in the way of food.  Ker had efficiently gathered up our money - 40,000 each - $3… At our table we met some very good-looking Dutch people, Linda and Jeff, who were looking just a bit wild-eyed.  Still polite but just a bit cross… They had been waiting for food for two hours!  Ours came, within ten minutes of Ker placing our order, at the same time as theirs… We asked Ker why, and she said Linda and Jeff had paid in advance - bad mistake!  The food was just delicious, and plentiful - rice, prawns, lots of veggies, chicken, all stir-fried.  Jeff was a tall, handsome bloke in his early thirties.  I asked what sort of work he did and he looked a bit wary.  “I work for the Dutch Defence Forces,” he said carefully.  I told him I had a son in the Australian army and he relaxed immediately, and told me he is a sergeant major in the Dutch marines.  He has been to Iraq and thinks he will have to go to Afghanistan - not really happy about this… I thought Linda, his girlfriend, might have been in the army too.  She was a very tall strapping young thing, blonde and blue-eyed.  I thought she was just gorgeous but Pete and Kerry admired her from a great distance…she was too Amazonian for their liking.  And no, she said, with a lot of laughter, she was NOT in the army, couldn’t think of anything worse, she did something soft in an office in Amsterdam.