Back in Viet Nam

After an absence of 14 months, I am finally back in Ha Noi. I have no idea why but I love this crazy, noisy city and its stern looking residents who are so easy with a smile and a helping hand when needed. I guess it took me all of about 3 hours to feel at home once more. It is only a visit but thankfully an elongated one for a total of 2 months.

My life when I lived and worked here was busy and pretty intense. Here as a visitor I am enjoying a more relaxed way of being something between a tourist and a visiting dignitary. I had many Vietnamese friends when I was here and have been catching up with all of them. Visiting my old haunts. I was astonished and delighted to find that when I visited the area in which I lived that I was recognized by a number of the local residents.

One elderly lady and her younger daughter live in a small house in an alley that I traversed every day to and from work. I walked by thinking A) they might not be there or B) they would not remember me. Far from it, I was greeted with such warmth, dragged into their room and regaled with a barrage of unintellible Vietnamese 99.9% of which I understood nothing of and it mattered not at all. We laughed and I looked at.she is totally adorable. We have never been able to 'talk' in the conventional sense but it really does not matter. I found the same with another older lady and her family who have a shop selling flowers and a young teenager who used to give me a ride on his motorbike sometimes when it was very hot and I was carrying shopping home from the market. The teenager has grown into a charming young man in the time I have been away.

their family photos that I have seen a dozen times before and basked in the warmth. I did get that the elderly lady is now 80 and looking just great. She goes out for a walk every day down the alley and back with the help of her daughter. Otherwise, she sits on her bed greeting passers by like some sort of Queen in waiting...

I spent the first few days in a hotel but since then the only 'problem' is deciding which offer to accept to stay at my friend's houses The welcome and warmth of heart is quite overwhelming at times and totally wonderful.

My stay here is going to be all too short...the longer I am here, the more that I know that to be the case. I simply must find a way of spending as much time as possible here for as long as I can.

So if you are reading this and are tempted to come.....do so. If you want information about travel etc, I can recommend www.hghue.com, a travel agent based in Hue but covering the whole country and Indochina. I own up to be a little biased as I have written their website and help with their marketing. And if you are planning a trip to Sapa in the north, visit www.sapatourguide. info. Again, I hold my hand up to being rather biased. Panh (pronounced Ban) is a local lady from the Black H'mong tribe and is a dear friend and I developed the site to share her wonderful skills and personality with anyone visiting the area. You will totally fall in love with her....... her English is impeccable and her sense of humor is quite wicked at times.

So yes I am biased. Which is why I spend time talking to whoever will listen about the wonders of this lovely country and supporting people I meet in any way I can to better themselves. So get your ticket, pack you case and come with an open heart and a big smile......and have a great time!!!

Pat