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Musings on Vietnam
Not knowing what to expect when we arrived ones viewpoint is complicated. Random voices of other travellers suggested that the people would be surly, not like the tourists and rip everyone off. None of this is true but as always it isn't that simple.
What makes it more difficult is the inability to talk with ordinary people in the street as we do not, and nor do they have a competent grasp of their language. So any views are based on limited contact. Nevertheless one aspect that we find here as in Cambodia is the absolute desire to get you to buy things. So yesterday, we went on a short boat trip in a marsh, which was picturesque and delightful. A very pleasant woman and her friend paddled the boat and the journey outwards was enjoyable, at least until we had to paddle under a 120-meter tunnel. However, on the way back they began the hard sell and we were trapped. Buy this cloth, I made it was the general drift of the pressure; and the tablecloth was good. We do not want it and anyway we do not have any space for it, or indeed anything else. But she persisted until we continued to say no. But the pressure is hard. This does not endear one to these people. It happens everywhere and when it is not over demanding, and they accept the 'No thank you', graciously all is fine.
However, most of the time they are a very friendly people. All of those we have met in the hotels have worked very hard to make us feel at home. They have smiled a lot and been pleased with our attempts, limited though they are, to say the odd word in Vietnamese. Sometimes it has been almost embarrassing to have so many people, usually young and occasionally too honest, rushing around looking after our needs…at the door on arrival, at meal times where they rush to fill or coffee cups or clear the table.
However, we have our two Vietnamese people, men, on the bus and they are interesting. They are called Duc, our guide, and Mr Nam, our driver.
Mr Nam is very quite but does the most important job of all: he drives safely! Like other Vietnamese he is quite short, maybe 5'6" but he handles the bus well.Also, apparently, he also has a fine line in some close friends at all of our stops, a sort of 'wife' in every port! Given the road conditions here this is just as well. Look at the video shots of the roads to see what I mean. One line of busses is nicknamed by our guides as the 'flying coffins' and they way they behave is really mad. The pass precipitously almost anywhere and seem to ignore much of what we think of as safe driving. The problem as we see it is that the majority of the traffic are bikes which travel at say 60 kmp and that means they are slow. That and the fact they drive casually, on the wrong side of the road and so on. The worst times have been when we drive at night eg after about 5.30 pm when trying to spot if the up coming vehicle is a bike or car is very hard. So far so good. All of which makes Mr Nam vital.
And then last Sunday the unexpected happened; he got pulled over by the police for speeding. Well they said he was doing 51 in a 40 zone and this would cost him 1 million Dong, or about 50 dollars which is a lot out here. It was a great pity but our trip man Brett will sort the fine for him he says. On the following day his stage of the journey was over and we got a new driver, and we all hope he is as good.
Duc who, like Mr Nam and many in Vietnam is short, is our local guide. He is very good at his job and has an amazing knowledge of the places we visit. He also answers our questions in detail although it is fair to say that I probably try his patience a little. I ask lots of questions and some are not easy to answer…but he tries. He has a very good sense of humour, laconic at times, sometimes in a deadpan manner which rapidly changes into a laugh as well all enjoy his joke. There is also something of a gallows approach to issues but he is always good fun. Duc has a fine line in mimicry particularly related to his explanations about eunuchs and 'honeymoons'! His high pitched, wide smiling explanations of the work of eunuchs in the courts of the emperors has everyone in fits. He also tries to explain how and when the 'concubines' were prepared for their 'honeymoons' and given that emperors had over 100 each this seems to have been frequent. Except that Minh Manh was gay so he wasn't sure what happened in that case!
Duc speaks very good English even though he has never visited an English speaking nation. However, he can watch the BBC World if he wants.Therefore, we do have the occasional slips in word usage. One of these early slips was truly hilarious. He was trying tell us about a particular local food that makes use of peanuts. Unfortunately this came out as 'penisis'! That rocked the whole coach but he enjoyed the fun as well. Duc refers to the many people we meet as his 'cousins' or 'relations' and this helps keep us going. We have learnt something of his background in relation to, what he calls the Domino Theory War (for us it's the Vietnam or American War).
Today Duc had to go to the rescue of our English guide Brett who inadvertently threw away our tip for the driver Nam amounting to several million dongs. He had to run for a local bus and return on a 50 minute journey into the mountains to collect it. And when heretrieved the envelope it was wet but still sealed and nothing had been taken, much to everyone's relief!
Both are very good men and we are lucky to have them on our trip!
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