What an interesting couple of days - and a miracle that we have survived them!

Friday night was our party for the village. After trips up and down the steps of our hotel, we eventually got down all the supplies we had bought!

When we arrived in the village, people were very excited. The priest decided to take us on a tour of the extended village, stopping on the way to deliver a blanket we'd bought for an old lady with an amputated leg (see photos from last week) and some tricycles we'd bought for the pre school (that cost us a whole $10 each!). So on we piled onto the back of his tractor.

We went on a nice scenic ride, miles out of the main village. We'd just turned around and started heading back, when wouldn't you know it, it started raining. And not just any rain - torrential rain. So here we were on the back of a tractor, chugging along down dirt roads that were quickly turning into mud roads, knowing that we had at least another four hours there, and that all our dry warm clothes were a half hour taxi ride away back in the hotel! We stopped briefly to hide under a shelter (a bit of tin) until the rain "slowed down", then the priest put us all back on the tractor, instructing us that we'd have to stand so our backsides didn't get wet. Now, I don't know if you've ever tried to stand and balance on a tractor driving on roads that have now turned to slush, but I assure you it isn't an easy task!

So we arrived back in the village sopping wet, and set about making up 210 goody bags to give to the kids at the party. It was still raining, so by this point we were doubting that the bonfire that had been sat soaking in the rain was going to light. To our surprise though, they moved the soaked wood over to in front of the church and lit it! Naturally when you light wet wood, the smoke that comes from it is amazing, but Peggy took it as a good opportunity to dry her wet clothes.

I watched the whole village come out to set up the party with interest. Of most interest to me was the sound system that was being set up for the dancing and pass the parcel. It was set very carefully on wet concrete, then when it wouldn't work, the guys pulled out a cigarette lighter and started melting the cords together - while it was plugged into the wall. I decided then that it might be a good idea for me to steer clear of that and let them run the music for me, as I can even blow up things that haven't been tampered with!

We played a game of pass the parcel around the bonfire, which the kids really got into. They kept trying to hand their prizes back to me though, not used to being given things they can actually keep.

We were then officially welcomed to the village by a group of old guys playing traditional instruments and drums, and a group of girls dancing. They then played some games, and I gave a dance lesson to all, which went down very well.

We had gifts, party bags and drinks for everyone, and the smiles on those kids faces were huge, especially when they realized they got to keep everything. It was the most amazing night, and we all agreed our best one since arriving in Vietnam.

Then came Saturday . . . how we made it through this day and lived to tell the story I don't know. It was meant to be a simple trip from Da Lat back to Saigon. Well . . . we got the shuttle to the bus station around 7am. We then sat on the bus for half an hour waiting for everyone else to get there. We made a few jokes about the bus not being able to make it all the way to Saigon, as it was nowhere near as luxurious as the one we'd had coming up.

Little did we know! About 25 minutes down the roads (which I should mention are windy roads basically leading straight to vertical drops over cliff edges), the bus blew a tire. We heard it and so did the driver. So he hopped off, took a look, got back on and kept driving! After another 10 minutes driving at a snails pace, he stopped, got off again, took his screwdriver, poked around, got back on and continued driving.

When he had gone another 5 minutes with the bus going all over the road (should point out at this time that it was the front wheel that had blown, the one that controls where we go), he got off again. He stood on the side of the road, had a chat with some nearby people, had a cigarette, and just stood there. Next thing we knew, he'd disappeared, presumably on another bus heading back into the city. Gone without a word, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere with no idea where he had gone or if he was even coming back. We didn't have much choice but to wait it out.

We got off and checked out the damage - a vehicle that was clearly impossible to drive. After about half an hour, our driver arrives back, hops on the bus like nothing has happened, and keeps on driving - swerving all over the road and being passed by toddlers on foot. When the bus started tipping, he gestured at everyone to urgently move to the side of the bus that didn't have the flat tire!

At this point in time, we knew it was not a good idea to stay on, as he clearly planned to drive the normal 7 hour trip (which would have taken a year in the state that bus was in) with the bus like that! However, he spoke no English, and out of the few words of Vietnamese we had learnt, "we need to get off this bus or we will die when we fall off a cliff" were not part of our limited vocabulary.

Luckily for us, a Vietnamese woman in front of us, who also spoke English, ordered the driver to stop so she could get off. She also asked us to get off with her, so we did, along with her husband, a Swiss girl and Chinese girl who were also on the bus. Our next challenge came when we tried to also remove our luggage, as the bus driver was not happy that we'd got off - probably knowing that if he rocked up in Saigon with no passengers, questions would be asked. We insisted and basically stood right in front of him til he handed it over (slamming Naomi's arm into the luggage compartment as he did it). He continued on driving away (slowly!), while yelling at us what I can only guess were top Vietnamese swear words.

So we were now all on the side of a road with all our bags, with every scooter and vehicle passing us honking at us, when the Vietnamese girl again came to the rescue, arranging for a bus with all four tires and a driver who could drive to take us through to Saigon. Our 7 hour trip turned into an all day adventure, and we eventually made it to Saigon.

Today we will hopefully be taking a peaceful ride into Cambodia . . . fingers crossed!!

PS: Will put pics of party and our bus nightmare up as soon as I can, this connection is really slow and I'm not even going to attempt it now!!