Tuesday night darts – Game 7 of 14 – B.I.A vs The Tavern

This week we played B.I.A at their home ground - a place called Gartenstadt - which will be remembered by me for selling the most overpriced beer in the city. It was nearly three dollars to a can (yes, a can not even draft) of tiger. Even the water was 2 dollars for a small bottle. Ridiculous prices for Vietnam. Anyway on to the darts.

Again, I wasn't playing well I lost my triples but my partner carried me through our doubles. In my singles match I was given a favorable tie against one of there weaker player. I was outscoring him, playing rather well and won the first leg. Sadly in the next two legs although I continued to score well I couldn't hit a double and consequently lost the match.

Good news was that although I contributed nothing to our team I did get 3+ scored and our team won. Even more good news is that our titles rivals drew so at the halfway stage of the season we are clearly top of the league!!!

So, goodbye to Gartenstadt - a pub I will never voluntarily visit again. Next week we start the second half of the season

Tuesday night darts – Game 6 of 14 – The Tavern vs Dreamtime

Our 6th match if the season saw us play Dreamtime at our home ground of 'The Tavern' on Tuesday this week. On paper this should have been an easy game as Dreamtime are second from bottom in the league having won only one of their five matches this season.

http://www.thesidl.com/

Things didn't start off very well. I lost both of my triples and doubles matches. This was mainly because I was playing really bad. I kept hitting 22, 26, 3, 15. I just couldn't hit more than one 20 with my three darts. 

After the first first 5 games of triples and doubles we were winning 3-2. It was turning out to be a very close match. We needed to win at least 7 matches to win the tie and stay top of the table, I was the last match up in the singles. At this point we were winning 6-4 and only needed one more game. I wasn't very confident of victory however the guy I was playing was equally as average as me. 

I won a close first leg but lost the second so It came down to the decider. Fortunately I started to play well and hit scores of 140 and 100 so had a chance to check out well before he did and I'm happy to say won the match!!!! We also won the 6 vs 6 final match so won the tie 8-4 in the end.

So other good news was that our closest rivals only managed a draw so we now have a one point cushion at the top of the table.

Next week will see us reach the halfway point in the season and pit us against B.I.A who are pretty good and drew with our top of the table rivals this week.

Exciting times!

The Cambridge DELTA - Module One

I've just started studying for a qualification called the DELTA. This is the Diploma in English Teaching to Adults provided by Cambridge University. Basically, it’s the highest qualification you can do in ESL with the exception of getting a ‘masters in linguistics’.

Its split into three modules which you can take together or separately (I’m doing them separately). I’m starting with module one which will require 4 months of distance learning before taking a written exam in December. If all goes well I will be looking to complete the final two next year. Module 2 is a bit more complex than modules 1 and 3 as it involves being observed.

However first things first, I need to pass module 1. I’m doing this through the distance delta program (the link is below) who give me my reading and exam tasks on a weekly basis.I’ll keep you all posted with the progress.

www.thedistancedelta.com

If I do pass this qualification it will open up lots of doors for higher positions around the world as well as training opportunities and management positions.

Tuesday night darts – Game 5 of 14 – An Udder team vs The Tavern

http://www.thesidl.com/

So, it was back from holiday, back to work and back to business in the Saigon International Darts league. This week we were away at the Spotted Cow, a bar I took my mum and Dad to when they visited Saigon due to their very tasty burgers. Our match was against ‘an udder team’ who were second in the table. This was a top of the table clash!

It didn’t start very well. We lost 4 of the first 5 matches (doubles and triples) which meant they only needed 3 of the remaining 7 games to win. Our team were pretty much all round playing badly. Myself included. I don’t think the weeks break had done us any good. Me and my partner lost our first ever doubles match to the pub landlord and their only lady player. She checked out in both legs and they played much better than us.

Anyway onto the singles matches, I was third up and was put against the girl who had just beaten us in the doubles. It seemed very likely that I would be getting back to back singles defeats against a girl. Our two best players won their matches which brought the score to 4-3. It was very important that I won my match.

This girl was very good at darts. She was also only about 5ft tall. Darts is probably one of the very few sports she would be able to beat me at due to her size. With her playing so well and me not playing well I wasn't very confident.

Miraculously I started to play well again and I’m pleased to say I won the match 2-0! I also scored a 140 which I was pretty chuffed with. Even more importantly my pride is intact for another week at least.

We had managed, as a team to bring the score back to 6-5 at the end of the singles so had the chance to snatch a draw with one game to go. Sadly it wasn’t to be. We lost the final game and lost the match 7-5. However it was a cracking atmosphere and very tense on both sides due to the importance of the match.

It will be a great rematch when we play them again later in the season. We are still top of the league but only on legs won. There is still a long way to go in the season.

Sapa bus accident

Whilst we were staying in Sapa there was some sad news that one of the buses that takes people from Sapa to the nearest town, Lao Cai went off one of the roads on the side of the mountain. 12 people were killed with lots more injured. A link to the news story is below.

Link to Bus article on Thanh Nien News Website

On our way home we had to take the same route and at the time we travelled they were retrieving the wreck from the bottom of the cliff.

The top of the bus

People do drive like idiots here. Every bus journey I go on I see people and bus drivers overtaking on blind corners and driving much to fast for the conditions they are driving in. As a result of this there are many road fatalities each year. In 2013 a total number of 9,369 people were killed on the roads in Vietnam (29,500) injured. In the UK the figure was 1,730 fatalities for the 12 month period to June 2013. 

Much of this is because of motorbikes but I'm sure also a lot of the accidents are because no one is actually trained on how to drive safely. I'm pretty sure this crash is an example of that. 

I see car drivers in Vietnam who don't have a clue what they are doing. They drive cars like there motorbikes. They never use mirrors, rarely use indicators and don't have a clue how to reverse park a car, watching them would be hilarious if one of the consequences wasn't things like this happening.

I'm pretty sure the test is similar to the motorbike test where they drive around a track and then are free to drive on some of the busiest roads in the world. 

Anyway, not much I can do about it. Back to work next Monday to start a new semester. Its been an amazing holiday. Sapa's one of my favourite places I've been in Vietnam..... I just wish it was closer to Ho Chi Minh City!!!!

Journey up in to the moutains in Sapa

Today is our last day in Sapa. The lady who works in reception told us about a road which we should drive up which is not on the maps. 

I'm so glad she did because this road was amazing. It was about a 20 km circuit which goes up into this huge mountain. The accent it ridiculously steep and the weather changes so quickly. Its was really wet and cold but at the same time amazing. 

There were also lots of tribes people in huts living very simply. They get their water from the streams and grow their own food and look after their own animals. Saying that I did see one with a smart phone.

Sapa, amazing views

As you have seen form the previous posts. Sapa has some amazing scenery. Below are some of the 100's of pictures I took whilst we were out on the motorbike. The rice fields look so beautiful on the mountains with the clouds so close. Its easy to spend the whole day out on the bike and constantly stopping to take photos. Pretty much all these photos were taken at a deserted roadside. 

Sapa, the tribe people and visiting their villages.

Sapa is very well known for it's hill tribes. The H'mong people still live on the mountains in places and lead a very simple life. They come down from the hills and are everywhere in the town selling their stuff and always wear there traditional clothes. There are loads of really cute kids. You frequently see the children carrying babies on their backs. Apparently in the tribes the children start working from the age of 5 years old. This was pretty evident from them selling things on the street which was not very nice. 

There are numerous markets where they sell the materials that they make which are actually quite nice. 

We did some trekking to visit some of the tribe villages. The houses were very basic and one of the villages even had a Shaman! I didn't go and see him. You get followed by the tribe people everywhere as they constantly try and sell you stuff. There English is quite good though.

Sapa, around the town

In the past few evening and at lunch times we have been spending it around Sapa town. Its a really lovely relaxed place with lots of nice restaurants and people hanging around. Sapa was set up by the French many years ago and a lot of the buildings are very nice. 

Its a great place which is helped by the stunning mountains in the backdrop.

Sapa, waterfalls and Vietnam's highest mountain pass

We hired a motorbike and went out on the roads today. We visited some amazing waterfalls and drove on the highest mountain pass in Vietnam. It was pretty spectacular and I think the pictures speak for themselves. 

The waterfalls were great. As were in the mountains and its rainy season they were flowing pretty well. A lot of them just came off the side of the mountains and across the road so you had to drive through them. The one in the picture above was huge and came off the mountain. As your driving around the roads you can see them everywhere.

As you can see from the pictures below the view from the mountain pass was pretty awesome. We were so high up. The weather kept changing so quickly. It would rain, then you'd get a small amount of visibility, then it would be nice again.