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Why does the bus always come to a halt when the rain starts? We arrived, once again,in the dark and in the middle of a torrential downpour and found ourselves searching the bavkstreets for accomodation - this time in Ho Chi Minh City.One late night "happy hour" curry later - happy hour lasts all day and all night here, and a good nights rest later and we were ready to face the madness of Ho Chi Minh City-more like Scooter City! We spent the nexy day exploring some of the city (formerly known as Saigon) by cyclos - which are high pushbikes with a two wheeled chair on the front. It is a nice way to get around except for the traffic fumes and the fact that for the first few minutes you think you will never get across the road between the mass of scooters zoming at you. Never fear though, the cyclo drivers are experts !Apparently many of the cyclo drivers are former South Vietnaamese soldiers who come the Communist takeover found themseleves with no jobs,no homes no money and no rights.Cyclo driving gave them a small income and now twenty years or so on,as tourism grows their income is improving a little.
We went to the War Remnants Museum which is all about the Vietnam-American war.The many photos,displays of weapons and written pieces explains the years of horror and devastation that the Vietnamese went through. Agent Orange, Napalm and human madness left its toll for decades.
We noticed an offer at one of ho Chi Minhs many travel offices which gave discounted travel it you went and taught at a Vietnamese school for a couple of hours. So off we went in this taxi withd more than a little trepidation not knowing where we were going or what we were leeting ourselves into. Nerves aside the experience was fantastic, all of us took two classes for an hour each with children ranging from 7-16 years old. Text book teaching isn't the most exciting way of learning but the children seemed to enjoy a good game of hangman (always a classic).
A long and soame what dangerous bus ride to Hoi An, had many people gripping the edges of their seats and Bridgey having words with the reckless driver- over taking on blind bends seems to be a favourite pasttime of the drivers! Hoi An, the town of many tailors and shoe shop sellers had us spending one too many hours trying on clothes and having them tailor made. Boy, it's hard work (no really it is!), i think dad was glad to find retreat in a coffee shop ran by Nhi and her lovely deaf waiters. If you go to Hoi An make sure you visit Cute Dream cafe down by the river, also explore the market and try one of their panckes (just watch those trixy Vietnamese though who'll try and charge one too many Dong).We swapped the shops for push bikes and headed to the beach where we jumped (well, attempted to) the gigantic waves which sent you sprawling into the sand. Hoi An, despitebeing very touristy, has a great atmosphere and a quaint old French town feel, with it's colourful houses and many cafes.
We left with more bags than the three of us put together could carry (well we haven't been shopping for a whole year and we had to make up for it) and boarded a bus to Dong Ha. For some reason none of us had a good feel about the place, especially when a guy tried to kiss a some what taken a back, yet on the ball Josie, i soon pushed him away! The next day was spent on the back of two moto's, dad driving one and our guide (who looked like Mr Blobby when his coat puffed up) on the other, visiting the war sites of the De-Militarized Zone. We saw where "many, many die", "1967", as our guide kept on repeating and repeating whilst stroking dads arm. The whole village of Vinh Moc lived in a network of tunnels that spanned for miles underground. Everyday life carried on in the safety of the tunnels as bombs rained down above.
Our overnight bus journey to Ninh Binh allowed us to experience helpfulness and friendliness at its best as (excuse the bad language nan but only one word manages to sum this man up) the dickhead of a bus driver deliberately dropped us off at 4am, five km away from where we wanted to be, ladened with bags and no where to go. Needless to say that we were not too happy. However we ended up having a nice few days based here, we hired bicycles and rode out to the village of Tam Coc where the limestone pinnacles jut out amongst the rice paddies. Jojo also learnt to ride a moto (sort of -added by a Martin, who is no longer invited on any trips!).
From there we headed to Halong Bay by local bus, but suprize suprize the new bus terminal was 7km out of town. After much negotiation wwe got three moto's and drivers who took us into town and subsequently wanted us to pay three times the price that we'd arranged. Dad very calmly told them to (expletive, expletive), take what we had arranged or nothing at all. From here we took a boat trip out into the bay amongst the spectacular limestone pinnacles. We spent the night on the boat, visted an amazing cave full of stalagmites and stalitites that looked like alsorts of wild creatures, and dad and Bridge went off kayaking for a couple of hours-only to return hardly speaking to each other! Relate could earn alot of money if only more people went kayaking!
So long Halong, onto Hanoi! Here we spent a few days shopping, shopping and more shopping. Dad was so sick of souvenir shopping that he stopped and read his book outside every shop that we went into. Our visit to Hanoi ended on a high as we spent an hour watching a water puppet show. Watery puppetry origninated in flooed paddy fields with the farmers. The show was spectacular, at one point there was even fire breathing dragons.
After a month or so in Vietnam and with only a few days of our around the world trip left we waved goodbye to Vietnam and found ourselves once again in Bangkok's huge airport. This time around the madness of Bangkok that we, and in particular Dad, had been dreading seemed to have died down, the streets were quieter and Koh San no longer appeared as tacky or crazy for that matter. We paid a visit to our usual fruit lady who satisfied our cravings by whipping up a bowl of museli, fruit and yoghurt. We also spent a lovely evening with our Irish brother-Eric and his friends which was great.
After a year of being on our feet me and Bridge were begining to look alittle haggered (yes i know it's hard to believe) so we treated ourselves to a facial and pedicure thai style. Bronzed and beautiful (we wish) we were ready to embrace anything- even the biting cold of England. Home here we come.
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