Hue and Hoi An

Hue & Hoy An'>Photos from Hue and Hoi An Trip Feb 2010



After three weeks of induction training and two weeks of work (which was just great!), we had a week's holiday. The whole country took at least one week to celelbrate the Tet holiday and the start of the Lunar new year.



I travelled down by overnight train to see my two colleagues (who arrived with me) who have moved to a town in the centre of Viet Nam called Hue with Sarah and myself going further south to Hoi An for a couple of days.



The adventure starts when I arrive at the train station. No signs at all, no-one speaks English and few clues other than a lot of people with oodles of 'things'. And I do mean 'things'....bags, suitcases, motor bike helmuts (of course), flowers, boxes of fruit and assorted food stuff, trees in pots....all as gifts for Tet. I am in Ha Noi and assume that the buzz of people are all heading south as I am (given the sparcity of concentrated living North) so I decide to sit it out and go with the flow...literally. Every one moves, I move! Well, the strategy worked and I find my berth without any problems and find a charming Vietnamese family already settled onto the bottom bunks. The train pulls out on time (11.00pm) and I settle down to sleep. And sleep I do until I am bruskly woken up at 4.30am by the ticket collector. Bizarelly, this is the first time anyone has wanted to see my ticket.



I arrive in Hue refreshed and ready to go which is all to the good as a full day is planned. After something to eat and drink, we head out for the Citadel. Hue is much quieter than Ha Noi (not too hard to do) and much slower pace. Three of us have a great time at the Citadel (an old walled city of the Kings). Its impossible to avoid the extensive damage that the Citadel received from the bombing in the war but enough beautiful things to see to get the atmosphere and charactor of this piece of history.



The Citadel led into drinks and we met up with one of Sarah's many new Vietnamese friends. He was a darling and spent the rest of the evening with us when we celebrated the start of the new year with fireworks and the general frivolities connected to any new year celebration anywhere in the world.



The nesxt day, we went on a boat trip down the Perfume River to see a Pagado and some tombs. Well actually, in truth, we only saw one of the tombs ...the best one.....and just enjoyed the peace of the rest of the day. A good day except for lunch which was quite disgusting. Vietnamese food is wonderful except for a few exceptions....at Tet, they serve up a speciality rice cake...sort of like the Christmas cake tradition. But believe me, this tastes NOTHING like Christmas cake. It has a combination of a disgusting taste and texture that defies my taste buds......ugh!!!



Day two of Tet is when people invite friends as well as family to their homes and Sarah had received a few invitations which the two of us followed through on. It was a great honour and pleasure to spend time in local homes. Why the Vietnamese are not obese is one of live's mysteries. Eating is the focus of their lives and they see it as an obligation to ensure that everyone who visits them is eating something for the majority of their stay. The fruit is just wonderful as are a lot of their sweet things but then there is the ubiquitous rice cake that has a nasty habit of re appearing with undigestible regularlity. I learnt that the trick is to always keep hold of your food bowl and, wherever possible, hold it on your lap. It is an absolute guarantee that, if you put the bowl down on the table, it WILL be filled up with food of some sort.



And then to Hoi An. Sarah and I are excitied about Hoi An. This is the town of tailors where you can get clothes made to measure cheaply! Or so we thought. Becuase of Tet, most of the shops were closed and I think in all truth, the only ones to open were probably the ones that needed to because they were not the best. Sarah did find something but in all truth it was not the best experience and was expensive (everything is more expensive at Tet!!!). But we had a wonderful hotel and generally had a good time. Day two we focused on the history of Hoi An and went to visit the beautiful temples and meeting places (which appeared to our uncultured eyes like larger temples).



Back to Hue and a few adventures with Sarah's friends.......partying at Brown Eyes (to be recommended), shopping for a bridesmaids dress for a friend, driving around Hue on the back of the bikes of some young, enthusistic and totally charming people. And all too soon it was time to head back for Ha Noi.



But there was one more adventure for me to engage in. On the trip down, I had booked a sleeping berth. The return trip was supposed to leave at 4.30 (in fact it was 2 hours late) so I decided to book a reclining seat rather than a berth. This would give me a different experience and would give me an insight into how the average Vietnamese person who is travelling, travells. So this is a 'normal' train carriage where people eventually snuggle down to get some sleep. The thing is that the Viet concept of personal space is very different to the Western one. With the obligatory bags and baggage stuffed in any available space, people take shoes and socks off and grab whatever comfort they can. As the night progresses (12 hours of it!) , feet, arms, legs, all get entwined together. One moves, all move. In my case that meant 5 of us as I was sitting in a chair facing two other chairs where there was Mum, Dad and 6 year old little girl. Thankfully, the man sitting next to me was on his own. The only downside of his 'company' was the regular visit to have what smelt like a packet of cigarettes....the blessing was that he was not allowed to actually smoke IN the carriage....that would have been a step too far for me to take I think.



So I did get an experience and, I have to say, that next time, I will be booking a BERTH.

Any comments and observations made in this Blog are my made from my personal point of view and in no way reflect any views, opinions or comments connected to VSO.

Ha Noi Traffic

Yeh, finally I am getting myself organised to write my Blogs.

For those who have been to Ha Noi, you will not be surprised to see the heading of 'Traffic.' Before I came here, I looked at videos taken and was both amazed and horrified. Nothing but nothing, really truly prepares you for the reality of Ha Noi roads.

Let me see if I can paint something of a picture for the unititated and offer a reminder to the experienced.

As far as I can see, there is only one rule of the road that exists here....the bigger the vehicle you are driving, the more the right of way that you have. No-one argues with the buses...they are supreme. The cars come next followed by the motor bike. Strangely, the simply bicycle appears to simply finds its place within the hayhem of the motorized vehicles.

A road that would carry 3 lanes of traffic in the UK or US can carry 5 or 7 lanes of traffic here. There are NO lanes. It is basically a free for all within the power structure mentioned above. All vehicles travel side by side and nose to tail. Interesting no matter how many vehicles there are, the traffic rarely actually stops....not even at a red light!!!

Getting the picture!?

Next week is Tet here. Tet is like Christmas, new year and Thanksgiving all rolled into one and everyone is busy getting ready. The Vietnamese people buy flowers and trees in adundance for this event. The main tree purchased is a tangerine tree full of fruit.....the bigger the better. Sort of like in the UK we buy Christmas trees, here its tangerine trees. Now the vast majority of people travel by motorbike so, the trees are transported by the mode of travel available...on the backs of motor bikes. The tallest that I have seen so far was around 7 feet tall. They strap it on and off they go.

They must be born here with some innate sense of balance and spatial ability. They keep their bikes upright when anything in science and common sense says that it is an impossibility. They weave through gaps in traffic that just DO NOT exist. I love going on the back of a bike but will never NEVER get on the front end to drive one.

And when there are no trees to transport, there are always glass cabinets, beds, roofing tiles, the kitchen sink and. of course, the whole family fits neatly onto that one small double seat. It seems that a baby is deemed to be able to take part in this mode of transport unsupported and unshackled from the age of around 10 months!!

Which brings me to the pedestrian's rights! Well that is even simpler to understand than the rules of the road......you have NONE. So how do you get across these wide and busy roads? Well, you step our and start walking on the assumption that everyone will MISS you....the bikes that is. And it does work. The trick is to walk at a steady pace so that the bike rider can judge where you will be and avoid you. Cars and buses will just run into you so you do need to stop to let them go by which often necessitates simply standing in the middle of the road as bikes whizz around you until the car or cars have passed. You then continue.

Oh one thing I forgot to mention that can be quite important. They often drive the wrong way down the road and if the roads are really full, the bikes simply take to the pavements....going, of course, in either direction. Oh yes, and do you remember when you were learning to drive and you were taught to 'mirror, signal, maneuvoure'? Well, here its simply GO!! No-one looks, checks over their shoulder or uses a mirror...they just start the engine and go!

So as a pedestrian you take your choice of walking on the road side and assuming that the traffic will miss you or walking on the pavement and assuming that traffic will miss you. On most pavements it is marginally safer walking on the road due to the broken paving slabs, parked motorbikes, restaurents and just general family meetings that are held on the pavements.

You come to Ha Noi and you have two choices in terms of the traffic. You can complain and get irritated by it all or you can simply do what the Vietnamese do and go with the flow. I choose to do the latter and find the whole thing hugely entertaining.

I often wish I had my camera in my hand and ready to take a snap but yesterday something happened that would have been just perfect to capture. I am waiting for a bus on one of the busiest roads that I have come across in Ha Noi yet. I wide and long road where traffic is nose to tail and side by side. Two women suddenly appear pushing a cart full of rubbish/trash. They collect trash left on the side of the road and then head off across the middle of the road going against the traffic. Everyone blew their horn at them but they carried on slowly and steadily pushing the cart to their required destination.......just perfect!!!

Ok, enough on traffic. Its Saturday tomorrow and I am going down town WITH camera posed and ready for action so wil gather a selection of photos in an attempt to share with you some of the wonder and chaos of this wonderful city.

Talk again soon
Pat

Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam

17th January 2010

Ha Long Bay Photos

My blogs are a little back to front right now as this set of photos were taken on our first weekend in Ha Noi and I am about to step into my fourth but I am sure you will enjoy the photos despite that.

Ok, so we are in Ha Noi for a week and three of us are eager to go and visit Ha Long Bay. Before I move us to Ha Long, let me explian a little. Five of us arrived on the same day. Three of us from the UK, one from the US and one from India. All new recruits bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for the joys and tribulations of Viet Nam.

We had a great first week (despite the quirkiness of the language and the challenge of learning a language that has 6 potential meanings for a word all depending on whether the intonation goes up or down.....more on that another time). Two of us were keen to go exploring to this place that we had heard about and a third member of the group was more than eager to join in with the fun. The remaining two were very focused on trying to find somewhere to live and, happily, their quest was very successful and they did find an apartment in the exact area that they wanted to be. Anyway, back to Ha Long........

A three hour bus journey took us to the coast and to a truly amazing place. The photos just do not do justice to this place. It is quite mystical. You find yourself whispering at times as it just feels like it is a place with secrets that may be best left undisturbed. Legend has it that it is the place where the dragons decended to heaven and, in truth, if one surfaced, you'd probably simply take a photograph just as we would a dolphin or a whale.

We arrived around lunchtime and were taken to our boat. The first part of the journey is good...its always good to be on the water. Then the boat goes into the area of huge rocks that shoot up out of the water. They form some weird sort of fairy circle but designed for dragons rather than fairies. It's certainly an area to put on the list of must do's before you travel to the city in the sky.

We stayed overnight on the boat and were delighted to enjoy a perfect sunset and a clear starry sky. Sunday was spent meandoring through the bay and heading back to shore, lunch ashore and back to Ha Noi.

Lovely. Would do it again...and again. I just loved it.

Arrival in Ha Noi.

15th January 2010



Wow, what a week. I arrived in Ha Noi on the evening of the 11th January with three other VSO volunteers...two from England and one from America. The fifth member of our little group had arrived earlier that day and was already at the hotel. We were greeted at the airport by one of the VSO staff, escorted to the hotel and hence our adventure began.



I was put with Sarah as my room mate. Sarah is from Orlando so we immdiately had an affinity given my years of living in Bradenton. We were very polite to each other for the first evening while we sorted out our 'territory' in the room, had a great night sleep and woke the next morning both refreshed and ready to go. Since that time, we have had a great laugh together. I cannot have asked for a better room mate. She is just great AND she is picking up Vietnamese at an unprecedented rate. In that respect we are at the opposite ends of the scale as I am really struggling with anything more than hello, goodbye and thank you.



First impressions of Ha Noi? Friendly, noisy, interesting, delicious food, polluted.........love it. Luckily I had read a lot about the weather and so was prepared for the grey sky. It seems to be 'sunny' is used to describe a grey sky that is just a few shades brighter than the norm.



First impressions of VSO Vietnam? We have been looked after with such attention to detial that I am totally in love with everyone that I have met. They really have been just wonderful .... nothing is too much trouble for them.

The only sticky point so far is the language.......so watch this space!

Preparing for Vietnam

It's December 2009 and we are heading surely but steadily towards Christmas, the start of a new year and, for me, the start of a new adventure. On January 10th 2010, I head for Vietnam to live and work in the capital city of Hanoi certainly for one year, maybe longer.

Why Hanoi? Well, I am going to work for VSO in Hanoi (Voluntary Services Overseas) as a Disability Awareness Advisor. I will be working for two companies. I will spend some of my time in the VSO office and the rest of my time with an organisation called IDEA who support the development of services for people with disabilities. So, a new job in unfamiliar country (never been to Vietnam) doing a new job working with two different briefs for two different companies. Yikes!!

Not as though this sort of crazy, jump in at the deep end type of adventure is new to me. Back in 2005, I did a similar thing when I went to live in Florida to start my own business and a new life. That turned out to be an increadibly exciting (LOVED living in Florida), out of the stratesphere stressful and ultimately, excrutiatingly expensive adventure. US Immigration, horrendous bad luck, some bad decisions all topped off with a slice of the 2009 recession conspired to my losing the everything.

So what do you do when you have nothing and are back where you started? Well, I licked my wounds for a few months and then started to look at my live long wish list. One thing stood out for me that I put on the list in my early twenties and had never done......VSO. So I applied got accepted and here I am on the edge of making the next step into the unkown.

Why so driven?

In all truth I don't really know. I could settle down and get a job and probably be OK with my life. There are sacifices to be made for the life style that I have created for myself, of that, there is no doubt.

I think the drive for me comes from two angles. The first being that once bitten by the adventure of life, it IS a challenge to settle back to more 'normal' activities. The othe angle is my age. I am 59 and want to live life to the max. Life is such a gift to embrace and always wanted to do just that to the degree that I am able. I have missed opportunities in my life...who hasn't.....and I want to minimise that possibility as much as I can from here in.

There is one other factor that I would like to add into the mix and for some this will be a little off the wall so take it or leave it as you choose.

We are heading towards a major time in the calendar of this planet. The Mayan calendar does not stretch beyond 2012. Now this could mean that they just couldn't be bothered to write any more predictions, they lost interest of it coicided with the demise of their culture. Whatever the reason, the prediction suggests possibilties that some intepret as being the end of the world while others suggest that it is the end of the world as we know it. Enegies are shifting, changing, speeding up. Those who are responsive to 'energies' (and NO, I cannot explain what I mean...you know or you don't) experience life as being different to how it was a few years ago. There is a shift that feels like we are heading for something different developing for the planet. Some see it as doom and gloom, I see is as being different. And I want to follow any opportunities that arrive for me and just will not go away in order to be best placed for being and doing what I can to contribute to whatever happens.

So, there you are. Rubbish? Poppycock?.....possibly but all I know is that I am following my heart and there can't be too much amiss with that can there!?

See you soon
Pat