getting shacked.qxp:layout 1 20/10/11 23:56 page 3 … · with windsurfing (and carrying all ......

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learnt to windsurf at 16 in theearly 70s and did an RYAinstructor course when I was

19, working around the beaches ofnorth Wales for a couple of yearsafter that. After falling out of lovewith windsurfing (and carrying allthat gear around), I got into 'bread-head' mode and the IT industry,working around London. I did tenyears off and on in the heart of thecity during the prime yuppie years asa computer consultant in the banks. Ifinally saw the light and headed off

on a round-the-world trip for 18months, but got sucked back intothe money trap again when I cameback for a couple of years. Thankfullyit was only to replenish the bankaccount, escaping again to tour Indiafor six months and 12,000km on anEnfield Bullet motorbike. I went backto the city one last time before theyfinally booted me out in 1998.

I had been playing around withthe internet and websites for acouple of years by then, so decidedto start my own web design

business, managing to graduallybuild the business up with mypartner over the next three years.Working our balls off we survived thedot com bubble burst in 2000, butthe business turned to dust in thesecond half of 2001. Our biggestcustomer’s biggest customer wasCantor Fitzgerald, whose offices wereon the 101st floor of One World TradeCenter – virtually all Cantor’s staffperished in the 9/11 attacks, as did alarge part of our revenue. Nineteendays later Barclays cancelled ouroverdraft on the strength of 9/11recession fears (they let me know bybouncing my cheques, then waitingfor me to phone them – I guesstrying to save the cost of the call).We sold the business’s softwareassets, customer contracts,computers and paper clips twomonths later, 24 hours before theVAT man came to shut us down. Wemanaged to clear all our debts (just),and I walked away with the shirt onmy back, but nothing more. Afterthree years of 80 hour weeks Ivowed that I’d never make work ormoney my god again.

Free again, I bought a ticket forthe Caribbean island of St Martinwith my air miles, wrote a credit cardcheque for £1000 and headed off. I’dheard about kitesurfing and lovedflying Peter Powell stunt kites as akid. I had a gut feeling that it wasthe one for me. Once there I tradedmy website skills for a hotel room, akitesurfing course and a WipikaAirblast kite, and started a love affairthat has lasted longer than any otherI’ve known.

A year later I settled back in theUK in Brighton. It was obvious to methat a proper job was just going tointerfere with my kitesurfing – inBrighton you’re a slave to the windand the tides, which rarely dovetailwith the 9 to 5 grind – so I resolvedto find ways of working which didn’tinvolve much, well, work. Idiscovered the wonderful world ofaffiliate marketing, my particularniche being to buy online advertisingand send people to an airport carparking website who paid mecommission if someone bought aparking space. A beautiful businessmodel which involved very little work

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GETTINGSHACKED

Intro > Most of you won't knowIain Fullerlove, but many will havecome across 'Shina' - as he's morecommonly known - if you've spent

much time partying and kitingaround Mui Ne in the last six

years. He has a cracking story offalling in love with kiting, leaving

his city job in London and windingup with the sweetest of lifestylesin Vietnam. He's also built a kite

pad to die for and here he explainshow the foundations for such aset-up were cemented in place

words > Shina Caption > Shina's Mui Ne kite cribphoto > fisheyeproduction.com

Caption > Apparently being able toroll from bed to pool was in the plans

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once the ad campaigns were set up. Brighton is a great place to live

and an awesome place to kite in theright conditions, but after kitingthere through two summers andwinters, I knew I didn’t have anymore European winters left in me. InSeptember 2005, looking down thebarrel of another season of sixdegree water temperatures, five millwetsuits and frozen fingers, Igoogled 'Asia kitesurf wind' and upcame Mui Ne, Vietnam. Within twominutes I knew where I was headedfor that winter.

MY EARLY YEARS IN VIETNAM I booked a flight, packed my kites,and arrived in Saigon (or Ho ChiMinh City as the victorious NorthVietnamese renamed it) in earlyOctober 2005. I wasn't sure what toexpect – most of our perceptions onVietnam and the Vietnamese aresourced from the classic war films ofthe last 30 years – fanatical, ruthlessguerrillas, dense and rain soakedjungle. What I found was a vibrant,fast growing city full of friendlypeople, getting on with their lives,

working hard and loving life. The firstnight I was there I wandered thestreets until after midnight, chattingto people and soaking up theatmosphere. Despite what you mightthink, you can walk around Saigonsafely – safer than London or LA,that’s for sure. When you talk to theVietnamese, you realise that yourpreconceived ideas about Vietnamand the war are way off target – theAmerican war - as it's called overhere - is ancient history to mostVietnamese; there is a real culture oflooking forward rather than back –and there have been plenty of otherwars here in the last 60 years –against the French, the Chinese andthe Cambodians. And the Vietnamesehave won all of them, in the end.

I chose Mui Ne because it is oneof the windiest spots in Asia, but Iended up staying here because ofthe people who live here. From themoment I first pumped up on thebeach and got chatting to theinstructors working at the school onthat stretch of beach, I startedmeeting friends who I still have now.In those days it was pretty new for

all of us – there were only a handfulof instructors who were in theirsecond season, most were there forthe first time – and that first seasonwas magical. Despite the instructorsand beach boys working for differentschools, they were never incompetition with each other, it wasone party team; everybody eatingtogether, drinking together, partyingtogether – in just a few weeks I feltlike I had family there. Always a coregroup of ‘locals’ as we call ourselves,plus a heap of new friends drifting inand out. It's the nicest vibe I’veexperienced anywhere in the world,having travelled through quite a bitof it over the last 20 years. Somekitesurfing scenes can be pretty‘cliquey’ – Mui Ne never was – didn’tseem to matter whether you were anewbie just finished your IKO, or asponsored pro, you were part of theparty team.

I was kind of old for the scene at43 when I first came out, but for meit was like being teleported back tobeing 22 again – and that’s a goodfeeling! I’d take a bit of stick forbeing old enough to be everybody’s

dad, but I just partied as hard as therest of the guys...

OUR HOUSE IN VIETNAMThe idea of building a house herecame about almost by accident – Ihad transferred some money toVietnam to invest in a businessproject that didn’t come off, so Istarted to look for other ideas. Apiece of land came up, not right onthe sea, but in the countryside –and perfectly placed at a ten minutedrive between both Mui Ne beach,where most of the kiting goes downas well as all the after-kite partying,and Hon Rom, a wild wave beachwhich is directional-heaven.Suddenly, after living in $5 per nighthotel rooms for three seasons, thethought of a country house with apool started to sound like awonderful idea.

Managing the building projectmyself was way too daunting. I waslucky enough to find a couple ofguys who were able to help; RofailGerais, an Australian builder with 20years experience who now lives inMui Ne, and his Vietnamese

Caption > Shina at home at Hon Romphoto > Steve Hermann


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business partner, Cu. I gave themmy ‘back of an envelope’ housedesign layouts, hand-drawn ongraph paper, and they then workedwith a local architect to producedetailed plans for the house. Rofand Cu ran the project entirely,building the house to Europeanstandards but using local builders.

Rof says he loves working withthe Vietnamese builders, but findsthem infuriating at times – likebuilders everywhere, they’ve beendoing things their way for a longtime, and don’t want to change. He

reckons that there wasn't a singlespirit level used on the house –which is amazing when you see thefinished product. Primitive waterlevels or homemade plumb-lineswere used instead – often made outof a thin piece of string attached toan M16 bullet shell casing filled withcement – what else would youexpect in Nam?

The building team varied betweenten and 25 guys, depending onwhat was going on. They builtthemselves a wooden hut in front ofthe house plot, where most of them

slept and ate for the main part ofthe project. The house went up fast;the main construction wascompleted in about 16 weeks.

These guys don’t earn a lot ofmoney. At the time of the build, theunskilled labourers were paidaround $5USD a day, with thebricklayers and electricians maybegetting $8USD a day – althoughprices have gone up quite a bit overthe last couple of years. Highgrowth rates in Vietnam means thatinflation runs around 10% or moreper year.

HOUSE DESIGNIt was awesome to get a chance todesign my own house – quite hard tosit with a blank piece of paper infront of me and think, what the helldo I want? The house really designeditself though, once I’d worked on thepractical points of the place I wantedto live in: a large open-plan livingspace, as much ‘outside’ living spaceas possible incorporated into thehouse, with the living spaces andbedrooms set around the swimmingpool and garden and simple ensuitebathrooms for each of the three

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KITING CONDITIONS AND SPOTSThere are lots of high season kiting options from mid-November toearly April. Mui Ne beach is the most popular place to ride, and usuallydelivers light wind in the mornings with a light chop, perfect forlearning. The wind builds during the day, peaking with strong windsaround 2pm, often with great ramps for twin-tip riders and a veryrideable shore-break for wave riders.

Mid afternoon, head off on a downwinder to Phan Thiet; an epic tripof 15 kilometres featuring variable conditions, numerous bays andbeaches, little flat water spots behind sea walls, a super-clean wavebreak, a fleet of fishing boats to ride through, a harbour entrance tonegotiate with a big harbour wall and fabulous flat water spot on theleeward side. The downwinder finishes on a beach which can havereally sweet waves, with a cross/cross-on wind direction. The trip canbe blasted in 45 minutes, but best to allow a couple of hours. Leavetime to nail a beer or two, then head back to Mui Ne in a taxi.

Another option is Hon Rom, around the headland to the north ofMui Ne beach – a wave riding heaven. You can find smaller, cleanerwaves at the leeward end of the bay, gradually growing in size as youhead down to the bottom end – where there are often overheadwaves with a big swell. There aren’t much in the way of facilities onthis beach, but it's a great place to ride, and always quieter than MuiNe in high season.

There are plenty of other spots to ride to the north and south ofMui Ne, and rarely explored by the masses. All you need is amotorbike and a sense of adventure!

Caption > Built for apres-kite entertainment photo > fisheyeproduction.com

Caption > Long term resident ripper,Twannie Van Lieshoutphoto > fisheyeproduction.com


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bedrooms. I wanted every room toopen to the outside on all floors atleast once, and windows as big aspossible to let the light flood in.

A quarter of the downstairs area ofthe house is outside, right in front ofthe pool, connecting directly with themain inside living area, via largefolding doors. This has workedbeautifully, the doors are alwaysopen when we’re awake, night andday, so you always have the feelingof being outside when you’re in theliving area. Rof managed to build theopen plan living area, covering half

of the area of the ground floor, withjust one central supporting pillar.

The master bedroom is on theground floor, with French doorsopening out right onto theswimming pool – it means I can bein the water with two steps from thebed. Polished granite is notexpensive here, so we were able touse it for the floating staircase upto the first floor, as well as thekitchen work surfaces. Almost half ofthe upstairs is also ‘outside’ – ahuge shaded living area overlookingthe cashew tree forest that

surrounds the house, as well as thepool, and is high enough to peekthrough the trees to check forwhitecaps on the South China Sea.The upstairs front bedroom also hasFrench doors overlooking the pool,and the back bedroom looks ontothe cashew forest.

The swimming pool itself is integralto the house living area, and alwaysjust a few steps away. Two sides ofthe pool have infinity walls and aswimming jet allows you to swimalong without turning round. We alsohave Jacuzzi jets at one end for

massaging those kiting-sore musclesat the end of a hard day’s riding.

We always wanted to make thehouse as environmentally friendly torun as possible, so we put in reallyhigh ceilings on both floors insteadof air conditioning and ceiling fans inevery room. The house is on a hillabove Mui Ne, so we feel the benefitof the breeze – it's normallypleasantly cool at any time of theday or night. We use only solarpower for water heating and it worksperfectly throughout the seasons inthis climate. The sun shines nearly

Caption > Christian Nerdrum indy front roll photo > Øystein Ellefsrǿd

Caption > Out of the dust she rose, without aspirit level in sight – but plenty of M16 bulletshell casings filled with cement photo > Shina

Caption > Mui Ne beach photo > Steve Hermann

Caption > Remember theimportant pre-build ceremony

before laying the first brick!


< KITEWORLD #54132

every day here and the temperature rarelygoes below 25 degrees.

The plot size is about 700 squaremetres, walled in for privacy and security,although crimes against property andpeople are pretty rare in Mui Ne comparedto Europe or the US. We’ve built thegarden from scratch over the last 15months and during that time we’ve gonefrom bare red sand, to lush tropicalgardens. The Vietnamese love theirgardens, there are plant nurserieseverywhere, and the prices are incrediblycheap - a two-and-a-half metre alexanderpalm tree will set you back around $20,and you can get turf for a lawn for acouple of dollars a square meter.

LIVING IN VIETNAMVery soon after buying the land andmaking the first plans to build the house, Imet a beautiful Swiss girl called Christinawho was backpacking through Vietnam,and happened to wander into Mellowguesthouse, a locals' hang-out. I wastotally smitten and, after chasing her backto Switzerland a couple of times, Imanaged to persuade her to move out toVietnam with me to share my life here.

Life here for us feels balanced – a balancebetween work and play, high season and lowseason, the dry and the wet. Our typical daywill be to start off with a bit of yoga, thenbreakfast in the garden before getting downto do some work on the business – I lookafter the website, online marketing and

admin aspects of the business, Christinafocusses more on our customers andrelationships with the local guesthouses andhotels. After that, the only rule we really havewith our lives comes into force: if its windywe go kitesurfing – and in high season, itswindy most days. The constant strongnortherly winds of the high season arereplaced by lighter fickle wind from the southin the low season – but we still get to kite acouple of times a week on average, and thewaves stack up nicely for regular footeddirectional riders, and often deliver fantasticSUPing conditions.

In the early days before we had thehouse, we would eat out every night, thenhit the bars – but these days the temptationis to head back to the house, soak away thekiting aches and pains sitting in the poolgetting massaged by the jacuzzi jets, with abottle of Tiger in hand and some chilled outtunes on the music box.

After several years of helping friends,family, friends of friends and friends offamily to have great holidays in Vietnam,Shina and Christina started a businessdoing just that: Kitesurf Nam:www.vietnamkitesurfingholdays.com

Their house is available for rent for thecoming high season. Snoop around at: www.vietnamkitesurfingholidays.com/house

Sportif offer great packages to Vietnam:www.sportif.info

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Caption > Late night tales factory photo > fisheyeproduction.com

Caption > Drivers, take a break photo > Seb Hempstead


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PRACTICAL INFORMATION FOR HOUSEBUILDING IN VIETNAM Under current Vietnamese law, it is impossible forforeigners to own land in Vietnam, but there areways around this. Foreigners can have a 100%foreign-owned business in their name and thatcompany can own the land and house. Alternativelyfind a friendly local Vietnamese to buy the land intheir name, then have a private legal agreementbetween the two parties. Quite a lot of the residentshere are married to Vietnamese girls, which makesthe whole process a lot simpler – or morecomplicated, depending on how you look at it!Planning permission is pretty relaxed, just makesure the land you buy is already designated asbuilding land; if not then you may not be able tobuild legally on it at all. If your plans show you'rebuilding a structurally sound house, then you’re freeto build pretty much anything you want.

You'll need a ‘red book’ – the equivalent of thedeed for the land. Plenty of land has no officialpaperwork, so definitely avoid that. Get a lawyer tomake sure the paperwork is okay.

Land prices vary considerably, close proximity tothe sea or main roads ups the cost. Expect to payanything from around $20 per square metre up to$300 or more for beachfront land. Building costsvary according to the standard of build – but youcan expect to pay between a quarter and a third ofEuropean costs.

Plan your build schedule around Tet –Vietnamese New Year, the biggest holiday period inVietnam. Nobody wants to work over that periodwhich can span a few weeks. Also, nobody wants tobe involved in a project that is half-finished when Tetstarts – it's said that you will have a 'half-finished'following year if anything is half-finished when theholiday season begins. Consult the local specialistsabout the auspicious date and time to begin thebuilding project –this will depend on factors like thespot you’re building on and your birth date. Thereshould be a ceremony to mark the first brick laid,with some offerings to Buddha – very important!

Caption > Smiley, happy people photo > Seb Hempstead

Caption > Rob Kidnie with punch to the midriff photo > fisheyeproduction.com

Caption > A trip to Turtle Island is definitely worth the trek northphoto > Steve Hermann


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