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Wednesday 14th February - Happy Valentine's Day
Kate and I hire bikes and go riding off into the countryside through the rice fields. We feel like celebrities as we ride along as everyone says hello and the children cheer and wave - probably thinking - stupid tourists - tee hee.
It's Valentine's Day and I can finally open the present Simon has sent for me - hooray! Ah dark chocoloate - my favourite. And two nights in a posh hotel in Sydney when we first get there. Lovely luxury! What a sweetheart. We sit chatting on MSN instant messenger and he holds up my clothes which I left behind infront of the webcam as I try and decide which ones I'd like him to bring out to Australia with him. Kate finds this hilarious as Simon gets bored and starts doing silly things like hanging my tops off his ears! Tee hee.
I head back to the hostel and find Kate and all the other guests sitting in amongst the staff. Apparently the owner is throwing a small party for Tet and so I'm handed a warm beer, ice is plonked in it and am told to sit myself down!
We're invited to go out for karaoke with the Vietnamese staff this evening - how fantastic! Let's go. After all, you all know I love a bit of karaoke - how could I resist?
We catch some dinner round the corner, and a girl walks in who the waitress presumes must be our friend and directs her to our table. We tell her to sit down anyway once the confusion has ended, and so starts our friendship with Joti, a lovely australian girl, who we persuade to join us for karaoke.
The Vietnamese do karaoke very differently to us westerners. They rent a room by the hour, which would only be the size of your living room and there's no-one in it aside from you and your party. It's seriously spit and sawdust and they bring out the drink-stained english song list along with some very weak local beer.
The two guys serenade us with some really bad Vietnamese ballads, then Joti and I get up and do a dreadful rendition of Summer Nights from Grease! The TV screen gives us a 100% score - hey it can't have been that bad, but then again maybe it was from the look on Kate's face.
One of the guys keeps rubbing Kate's shoulder and saying he'll be her boyfriend - I feel sorry for them as they are clearly of marrying age but can't get a girlfriend as the women are only interested in money; and with the amount of westerners coming through here the girls and the boys are all hoping to catch a rich fish. Anyway, Kate keeps him at arms length as Joti and I wail away the night with one dreadful rendition after another.
Thursday 15th February
We toured around the city today taking in the Citadel (Royal Palace) and Tu Duc Tomb which had a beautiful man made island in the middle of the lake. At Vong Canh Hill we could look out over the Perfume River.
At lunchtime the waiter started talking to me and asked me to help him with his english pronunciation. He explained that it's considered rude to ask someone 'How are you?' in their language, as it's seen as a very personal question. He explained that instead they will ask foreigners their age instead and then respond with 'You are very young' or 'You are very beautiful'.
Certainly as we go through Vietnam my interest has been peaked to learn more about their history, for example, what Ho Chi Minh did for the people. The war with the americans. Also about Kim Phu - the 6 year old girl who was captured on camera running away from a naphalm explosion naked as she'd had her clothes blown off. Apparently the Vietnamese government used her as a marketing tool against the americans. She now lives in Canada and has nothing more to do with her government who she feels used her.
At the Thien Mu Pagoda, we learn about the monk who burnt himself to death in a public protest against the influence the Chinese government were having on the country. He sat down in the middle of the street, assumed the Lotus position (cross legged), and set himself alight. A wall of monks surround him to stop people putting the fire out. Unbelievable to have that much conviction about something. And he didn't move from the spot as he burnt to death!
In the evening there was a crowd of us for dinner, Joti was joined by someone she'd met a few weeks before and had bumped into her on the street; also Luca and Danilo, the italian guys from Halong Bay happened to wander past the restaurant we were in and stopped for beers. Small world!
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