Hey allI’m so sorry its taken me so long to get back in touch but life in Vietnam has been pretty hectic. I don’t think I have ever been to a country that has stirred up so many conflicting emotions in me. I started this blog post over 3 weeks ago when I arrived in Hanoi in the South…and reading some of what I wrote then almost seems alien to me now. Obviously, I’m leaving it all in here because its true to how I felt at the time…..but right this minute…I’m looking forward to leaving the country tomorrow.

                          Hanoi

Can I just start by saying…..I absolutely LOVE Vietnam! Lonely Planet describes it as one of the most intoxicating destinations on earth and I would have to completely agree!
Out of all the places I have been to, Vietnam is without a doubt my absolute favourite!!

I arrived in Hanoi after a 24-hour bus ride from Vientiane. To sum up the journey; let me quote some of the inscriptions “scratched” by passed travellers onto the back of the bus.

“Welcome to the bus ride from Hell.”
” Vientiane to Hanoi longest 47hours of my life”
“Prepare to be left in the bus for 6 hours without air conditioning“

I had heard before I booked the journey that the bus ride was horrendous…but being the ‘seasoned traveller’ (That we ALL know that I am;-)…I made the mistake of thinking…”Really!! How bad can it be?“

(Never think those words!)

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Each person is assigned a bed that basically looks like a narrow dentist chair. Your feet then have to go into a plastic box that is about 1/2 a meter long. The box then narrows down to a height of about 15cm. ….so unless you are a size 3 shoe (Midget you would have been fine) you are unable to put your feet upright while sleeping on your back. Of course if sleeping like a ballerina, in the first position, is comfortable for you then you would have loved this bus.

Unfortunately ‘not’ putting your feet in the box is just not an option as there is simply nowhere else to put them. Each bed is also not completely horizontal which means that you can’t lie flat either.
Let’s just say its not a comfortable ride…and yes we did stop for 6 hours without air conditioning. I, however, was very lucky to have one more emergency sleeping pill on hand which worked like a bomb…so I slept through it all!

All that been said though…the bus was clean and once again nothing brings people together like mutually shared discomfort! I still don’t know which is worse…the comfortable, filthy, noisy buses in India or the clean, bone-crushingly uncomfortable buses in Vietnam??

I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive about coming to Vietnam. After the numerous, less than favourable descriptions I have heard about the Vietnamese people, I was a bit dubious as to what I should actually expect. Compared to the Laos people…they always seem to come off second best. Now I have to agree that the Laos people are lovely, gentle and sweet….but on a whole I found them to be a little a bit bland…or maybe a kinder word would be ‘shyer’ (especially after India). They are incredibly honest and would never try and trick you out of your money…but they also very seldom interested in any form of conversation with ‘Fa lang’ (foreigners). I realize that this is due to the fact that so many of them don’t actually speak any English. The Vietnamese, on the other hand, have been described as rude, overly persistent and cheats who are generally just after your money.

No sooner was I off my bus in Vietnam and ordering my first meal did the waitress attempt to overcharged me 3 times the price for my meal. With one: “What the hell, are you bloody crazy look from me????” she then literally fell over herself in an absolute fit of giggles. Shouting to all co-workers who also seemed to find it just hilarious and then graciously accepted the correct amount of money from me.
If I were, to sum up, the Vietnamese people I would say that they are just plain cheeky. And I absolutely love it. My first day in Hanoi…I literally spent the whole day laughing. From the taxi driver who tried to overcharge me and then wanted me to get a room with him, to the rotten teethed old man who tried to pull me in for a kiss when I shook his hand. What normally would have been mildly uncomfortable situations always seems to be diffused by their ability to laugh at themselves and you. For a nation that has spent thousands of years fighting off the Japanese’s, French and Americans their vitality and love for life are just amazing!
I would have to say indisputably that the Vietnamese just ‘get’ my sense of humour! I can be sarcastic, cheeky and overdramatize things to my heart’s content and always be guaranteed to get a laugh. (Granted 1/2 of the time they probably don’t know what this white woman is going on about…but never the less they pack out laughing anyway. In Vietnam, I am the funniest person in the world! What’s not to love?;-)

Hanoi itself is absolutely beautiful. Thanks to the French, every single shop

has a street name on it which makes it an absolute joy to walk around. I was very lucky to have arrived in time for the 1-week celebration of Hanoi’s 1000 birthday! The entire city was absolutely heaving and buzzing with smiling, happy people. Similar to India I had many people coming up to me wanting to have their photograph taken with me…… except here…. they don’t simply stand next to you – They throw their arms around you and cuddle right in;-)

                             Halong Bay 

After I spent a day in Hanoi I took a 3-day boat trip to Halong Bay, which was absolutely beautiful.

For me, one of the best things about travelling is the friends you make along the way. It’s a given fact that you are continuously making and meeting new friends….but inevitably you will meet someone that you just absolutely ‘click’ with, that uber, crème de la crème, “BIG Double mac with large fries” travel mate. Within a couple of hours, you are best friends and you feel like you have known each other for years. It’s these travel mates that make all the frustrations of travelling alone just sooooo worth it! It’s these travel mates that you will always remember even if you only spend one day with them.
Over the last week, God has been smiling and I was sent 3 such amazing friends.
Laura, Jessica and Micah! (All American…I might add)

Laura and I only really had a couple of hours together because they had put her and her boyfriend on the wrong boat. Needless to say, when they tried to remove them later on that evening we did everything humanly possibly to keep them with us….we begged, we pleaded, we performed and we offered money (well she did that) ..but inevitably they had to leave and I think we were both mildly heartbroken.

Then, however, I started chatting to Jessica and we pretty much spent the next two days in Halong Bay swimming,

canoeing, (Well….sitting in the canoe and talking) sun tanning and more talking….. you would have thought we would have run out of things to talk about but we never did! It never ceases to amaze me how many gorgeous, intelligent single women there are out there! Jessica is definitely one of them!

On the trip back to Hanoi City, where I was preparing myself to have to say goodbye to my gorgeous NBF Jessica, I then met Micah.

A 19-year-old American that is more mature than most 30-year-old men I have ever met. From the moment we met…you guessed it…we didn’t stop talking. Its hard to believe a 19 year could have done so many things with his life already. Last year he went to Uganda to help with the child victims suffering under “the Lords Army ” run by Joseph Coney. The stories that he told me were pretty gruesome and for the sake of the weak hearted, I don’t think I am going to repeat them. But have included a blog I found that pretty much summed up what I heard from him.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=3580397&blogId=239671799

(Just in case anyone is interested!)

Needless to say, I found talking to him fascinating!

We had arrived back in Hanoi just in time for the final night of the Celebrations. We had a fantastic evening and I am convinced that Micah was sent to remind me that the kind of man I am looking for “Does exist”!
All I need to do now is to find the 16 years older model…. who isn’t already hopelessly in love with his girlfriend!! 😉

The following day I set off on the night bus for Hue! (Pronounced: Who – ay) I had booked my ticket 3 days before, so imagine my frustration when I arrive at the travel agent only to be told:

‘OOOOOOOh soooweeee sleeping bus full. You go sitting bus!”
“I was livid, to say the least, but what can you do? SO sitting bus it was. I watched in dismay as all the other travellers crammed into the very uncomfortable sleeping bus and I got put into the equally uncomfortable sitting bus with all the locals.
2 hours into the journey, our lovely sitting bus broke down and we where left sitting on the side of the road for 3 hours while they tried to fix it!
I have to admit I absolutely marvelled at the calmness of everyone…..I could only imagine the anger and moaning had this been a bus in a Western country….but everyone filed out of the bus settled down and waited.
At 1am another bus was sent and we were finally on our way!

In the last 14 days or so I have pretty much spent my time travelling down from Hue, to Hoi An, Nha Trang and now Ho Chi Min City. Which is where I currently find myself sitting.

                         
                                Nha Trang

At the movement, It feels like every inch of my body is absolutely seething with frustration! To be fair I have had an amazing 3 weeks…..there has not been a single minute where I have been alone and I have met some absolutely lovely people. I have been to the most amazing water Park ever, did a Vietnamese cooking class and even did some parasailing! (Kinda like parachuting except you are harnessed to a speedboat!) I have no doubt I will look back and remember all the great times I have had….but at this point in time, there seems to be a massive shift in how I feel about Vietnam. And this is where I find myself now….confused and not to sure what to make of the country that I declared my undying love for a couple of weeks ago. I think it all started on my trip from Hoi An to Nha Trang. Once again I was on one of the wonderful sleeper buses. I remember lying there listening to this German girl who has lived in Vietnam for 2 years go on and on about how much she hated the Vietnamese people.
I lay there listening to her…wondering why I seemed to have such a completely different perception of them. I distinctly remember thinking how I seemed to be in this little “I love Vietnam ” bubble….that was just so the contrary to what most people seemed to think. I decided then and there that it was simply her negative attitude and chose not to listen to her any more.

Later that night while I was sleeping I kept feeling something touching me…I thought it was just the guy who was asleep on the floor next to me bumping into me by accident. At one point I definitely felt fingers on my back trying to pull my blanket off…I turned around and it was the Vietnamese guy on the top bunk leaning over me. Needless to say, there was no way I was going to sleep after that so I spent the next 2 hours just lying there. Him watching me. Me watching him. At one point he leant over and started trying to touch the girl on the top bunk above me, at which point I screamed at him and hit him with my pillow. (GIRL POWER!)
It wasn’t anything to hectic…but I have to admit it was the most uncomfortable I have ever felt travelling…even in India none of the men would ever have dared touch you! I always felt reasonably safe and respected!
Thank goodness the bus arrived in Nha Trang about 20 minutes after that at about 5 am in the morning. I arrived at my hostel exhausted, only to be told by the grumpy guy working there that he only starts work at 6 am so I would just have to wait for an hour. Never in my travelling life has that ever, ever happened……hotels and hostels are usually only too pleased to go out of their way to make you comfortable and welcome you! In frustration and defiance I walked away….declaring I would go somewhere else ……only to return an hour later, hot sweaty and miserable with my tail between my legs because I couldn’t find any other hostels in the area!

Nha Trang is the beach/party town of Vietnam and the attention you get here is simply relentless. From the moment you step out of the hostel and onto the street you are followed by taxi men on bikes and women selling sunglasses, books, jewellery…you name it they will probably have it!
Where you go?
Where you from?
What’s your name?
You want sunglasses?
You want massage?

A quiet day at the beach? Think again. A peaceful dinner for 2….not on your life….these people actually come into the restaurant to try and sell you their stuff. It absolutely amazes me that they are never, ever sent away.

Now the women sellers I have to admit I actually quite warmed to after a while….they are always smiling and pretty eager to have a chat, even if its spurred on by the hope that you will eventually buy something. (which I did;-)But the men down this end of Vietnam…..mmmm…not to sure about them. They are just so different from the jovial, non-threatening men in the North (massive generalizing going on here I know….but bare with me) I supposed the fact that we were walking around in beachwear didn’t help much but you just feel letched at all the time. Its the sordid winks, the cat whistles, the way they looked you up and down when they talk to you and the constant harassment for lifts. In Hanoi…they simply sat on their bikes and called to you…in Nha Trang, they follow you. I just didn’t like it. My last night there I was out with a couple of friends from the hostel. We came out of a club at about 2 am and within seconds we were surrounded by 3 guys on a motorbike and 4 Vietnamese girls. The girls were simply laughing and trying to hug us….a couple of seconds later after yelling at them to leave us alone…I discovered that my camera was gone and so was my friend Pete’s wallet!

Trust me to be mugged by the “hugging” gang!!!

         Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

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Yesterday I arrived in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) and ended up spending th day with a very lovely Welsh girl called Nia. In the morning we went to the War Remnants Museum which was absolutely heartbreaking. So many shocking photos of the Vietnamese people killed during the war. There was also a whole section devoted to the victims of Agent Orange (a chemical that the Americans used to kill the dense forest that the Viet Kong where hiding in. ) The birth defects of so many thousands of children as a result of this chemical are just unbelievable. (Vietnamese and American)

In the afternoon we set off to buy me a new camera…mmmmmmmmmmm…that in itself was an experience and a half. It seems that in the streets you are continuously bombarded by sellers trying to get you to buy ANYTHING and EVERYTHING…..but no sooner than you walk into many of the shops, you totally ignored. We would walk in…wait…and then watch as other Vietnamese customers got served before us. They simply did not seem interested in helping us and would often just walk away to the back of the shop when we approached them. It got to the point where we couldn’t help but laugh at how completely insignificant we were to them!

I have to admit Nia was an absolute angel and spent a good 3 hours walking around patiently with me. While we were withdrawing money from an ATM there were about 5 street children at the machine next to us trying to get money out with a card. They gave us the card and wanted us to get money for them. We looked at the card and the name on it was of a Dutch/or may German Doctor so it definitely wasn’t theirs. We decided to walk over to a policeman and handed the card to him…he spoke to the children and agreed that it wasn’t their card but didn’t seem to want to take it. (Clearly, he knew better than to anger little Vietnamese kids….we, unfortunately, were not so knowledgeable.) We made the executive decision to simply take the card and destroy it!!! Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg mistake. We then spent the next 30 minutes been stalked by 4-7 bloody, angry little Vietnamese terrorists. (they seemed to gather more friends as they walked) The scariest being a little 6-year old that kept running up to me hitting me. I did my best teacher yell and he seemed to back off for a bit…but they just would not go away. We went into a camera shop only to have them all waiting outside for us yelling and screaming. We eventually walked out but the oldest one cornered Nia and wouldn’t let her pass. I literally had to pull the child out of Nia’s way. Eventually, we decided the only way to get rid of them was to get on a bike taxi. In hindsight, I realize that all they are thinking is that we were going to use the card to get the money that they so desperately wanted. They had no concept that the card itself was useless without a pin.

And this brings me to this morning. There is only one word to describe the traffic in Saigon. Insane. Like most Vietnamese cities the motorbikes rule the road and trying to cross safely is always a bit of a ‘life and death situation’ That been said most of the bikes do slow down and allow you to weave through them…
This morning Nia and I were trying to cross the road to get to an internet cafe, She didn’t have any travel insurance and wanted to just book something for the rest of her travels.

And low and behold……..She is then hit by a motorbike! As we were crossing the road this guy was coming at us at about 3 times the speed of all the other bikes. I jumped forward in front of him but he went straight into Nia. She had a massive 3 cm cut under her eye and on her leg which was just pouring with blood. It all happened so fast. A couple of people went to help the guy on the bike, who promptly climbed back on and rode away. I helped Nia up only to have the taxies and cars hooting angrily at us to move off the road. A couple of people came to help from the side of the road but in all honesty, I was absolutely appalled at the lack of concern by the other drivers. We then went to a restaurant and they were quite helpful. Nia who, may I remind you, doesn’t have any travel insurance,  was really reluctant to go to the hospital….

SHE,

however, wasn’t looking at the gaping, bloody, gushing eye that I was, and I managed to persuade her to go. We spent the next 4 hours getting her sorted out. She had to have stitches on her face and leg and has a hairline fracture on her wrist. I have to admit it wasn’t the best of experiences, especially since the guy who did her leg started stitching before the anaesthetic had kicked in, so she could feel everything. She came out almost in tears. I just really hope that they sewed her face up properly….it would be so awful for her to have a massive scar there!! We later discovered that her bag was broken and on talking to a couple of local people it seems that the guy was most probably just after her bag.

And this is where I find myself now……I can’t help think about how different this whole situation would have been had we been in India. The indifference that we seemed to be treated with today was just quite heartbreaking. At one point we walked up 6 flights of stairs at the hospital trying to find someone, anyone to help us.
I can’t figure out what I feel for Vietnam anymore. I feel frustrated that I have felt so, so angry and jaded these last couple of days….because this is definitely not who I am.

Last day in Vietnam today and 40 minutes till Nia and I leave for Cambodia….so I have to finish this blog. I have been thinking a lot today about Vietnam and how hard it is to figure out!
There definitely seems to be a massive difference between the North and the South. I find it interesting that the North was the communists in the Vietnam war and the south was the Republicans supported by the Americans. It makes you wonder why we try so hard to bring our ‘Western culture’  to other countries. I clearly loved it in the North…….but at the same time, I definitely don’t want to over-generalize and completely discredit the South. I have to admit its very easy to allow negative events to taint your perceptions and I do honestly feel like that has been a big part of my frustrations these last couple of days. I left India feeling calm, centred and good about myself as a person…..but I leave Vietnam feeling ever so slightly ashamed that I have allowed myself to be sucked into all the ‘negativism’ that so many of the foreigners seem to dwell on here! It’s so easy to follow the pack! Maybe its been a good reminder of how easy it is to be positive when all is well…..and how much harder we need to work at it the rest of the time!

And that brings me to the end. Nia and I had a fantastic day today crossing the road like two little old women and following Midgets advice by hiding behind locals.

So all is well and happy and I have a TAN!!

I miss you all and apologize for the severe lack of emailing this month……but rest assured…it was only because I was out having too much fun!;-)

Lots of love
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