Vietnam week 9 - My Birthday, Miss Universe & Hospital Openings!

Hello everybody, please get comfortable, it has been an extraordinary week here in Hoi An, this week, and not solely because of my birthday! Monday (my 29th birthday) started the weeks proceedings, with a trip to 'My Son' a national heritage site, with old ruins, surrounded by tree covered hills. myself and Anne (my ex-house mate from home), enjoyed a beautiful, if not hot, morning looking around the small set of ruins and enjoying the company of lizards and butterflies, before the tourists arrived! I ventured into work in the afternoon, to share the day with my great colleagues, who presented me and my colleague John (who had birthday 2 days before), with a gorgeous birthday cake, that said 'happy wedding day - john & dan'... hmm... the frivolity continued Monday evening, with a meeting at my colleagues restaurant at the tourist beach, before heading to a lovely local sea food place with some Vietnamese staff from work , and Caoimhe, Anne, Jo, Liz Carole, & John. Major event number one occurred here, as when myself and Anne on my motorbike, tried to set off, my motorbike shot forward, causing Anne to lose her balance, and in my rush to hit the brake (lever on the handlebar) I pushed the gas more, causing the bike to shoot forward again, this time hitting a stationary bike in front of me, and more seriously, one of the wooden beams that supported the roof of the restaurant.... all this in front of my colleagues family who owned the place, and three Australian OT students which just happened to be there at the restaurant! One of the pregnant Vietnamese workers, managed to help me dislodge my motorbike from the one I'd hit, before pushing the wooden beam back up to support the roof, i was just waiting for the ground to swallow me up, or the restaurant to collapse all around me!!! needless to say the next meal i have there will be expensive, if they let me back!!!

The next major event of the week, was without doubt the Miss Universe Parade that just happened to be here in Hoi An, we couldn't believe that a Miss Universe contest would be here as how would the make-up not run in this heat??? still the parade ran through the crowded streets as Miss Vietnam to Miss Peru were driven around the place until in true Vietnamese style, the temporary lighting rig, blew the fuse box a street corner, causing flames to go shooting up into the air! The police, who had until this point stood around the streets with batons, trying to keep the crowds away form the Miss Universe contestants, decided to try and regain some order, and pushed the crowd around a while. Having blocked most streets off which led to the main stage, local people were using their own local boats to cross the river to see the rest of the ceremony... following suit we jumped on a boat, crossed the river, and enjoyed beers with the rest of the locals whilst watching the beautifully decorated Japanese bridge (main stage area. That was until the Hoi An weather intervened, and the rain began to pour down, sending the Miss Universe woman running for cover, all live on tv!!!! After taking shelter in a local restaurant, we watched as the surrounding streets flooded, with several inches of water, and ensured a premature end to the Miss Universe debacle!

Lastly, and certainly not least, yesterday I was invited to attend the opening of the 'Rehabilitation wing' of the Binh Dan Hospital in Da Nang. Van (one of our physiotherapists) met me at 0800, (after a rather heavy night of drinking), and drove me 45 mins, on our rented motorbike to Da Nang, where we were met by Phuong (our other physio). After being seated on small plastic stools, as you are everywhere here, we had to endure hospital staff doing a bit of 'have a go karaoke', and then more hospital staff dancing a traditional dance. All very bizarre! After another hour of speaking a short tour ensued around the rehab facility, with Vietnamese TV camera's following me and an American Physio around, as we the only non- Vietnamese people there, other than the American representatives, who had set up this venture! A 3 course lunch was provided to help my now serious headache, unfortunately is was served with several can of Heineken beer!!! ow! You could hear me shout "Oh my kingdom for a sprite!"

Me and our 2 physios made our excuses after the meal and headed off for a cool fruit juice in a local cafe, before setting off home, where I had took the driving duties as Van, was actually falling asleep whilst driving the motorbike home!!! we got home safely, and i have since spent the weekend sleeping, recovering for the next week ahead!

it's a 0615 reply of the Euro 2008 final, for me tomorrow, and I have Spain in the sweep stake!!! Come on Torres!!!

Hope you all enjoy the blog!!!

Regards from Vietnam

Dan

Vietnam Week 8 - Birthday celebrations & fond farewells

Hello everyone, well we've gone up another notch on the humidity scale this week, I feel like i'm melting away layer by layer with each new day... almost everybody was visably shattered by the end of the week, and we even had a relatively early fiday night at the bar!!! (unheard of so far!)As it's my birthday tomorrow, yeah that's right (june 23), and my colleague John, had his birthday yesterday we had a joint celebration last night, starting with drinks for 15 people down by the river, which ended in a shouting match between local stall holders who complained that we didn't share the business out!!!!,It ended with pizza, drinking and lots of pool at the 'before & now' bar, where myself and john showed some Irish & English lads, and some French girls that we could hold our own, on the pool table, before i got distracted by one of the French girls and missed a vital shot! that's my excuse anyway! My former housemate (& landlady) Anne arrived here on Friday and has been sampling the delights of the Hoi An food, and tailors, and i do mean sampling the tailors, with daily trips to the cloth market!!!we have booked a trip up north in a couple of weeks too, up to the mountains and to Ha long bay which is supposed to be stunning scenery! so lots of adventure to come!! We've hired a motorbike for 3 days and i've been enjoying playing the tour guide! Work has been all about wrapping up the 2 Australian Occupational Therapy Student placement, as Nicole ( the educator) left on Wednesday and Amber & Briee left yesterday morning at some ungodly hour! I even got up to say goodbye, before returning to bed, until the bloody musical garbage truck decided it would park itself out side the house for a good 20 mins, to ensure i got no more sleep!!! I'm really sad to see them leave, because i'd only been here 2 weeks before they arrived, and it feels like I am going to be lonely from next week, but still, that's life and it was better to have them here for a short time that not at all... so a quick hello & goodbye to them from me! Briee & Amber are currently now somewhere in the Mountains of the north, and Nicole is on a plane across the ocean back home as i write this! I am due to go to 'My Son' tomorrow morning at 0700 which has old ruins and some beautiful scenery, but getting up at 0600 on my birthday is just cruel!!! I'm hoping to end the day tomorrow with a meal and swim at the beach and sitting by the lantern light with a few freinds from here... weather pending, knowing my luck it will rain tomorrow!!! Don't really want to go on too much as other things this week have been regular things like another night karaoke, including singing, 'like a virgin', 'staying green - kermit the frog' and other bizzare choices!!! i think i need to leave the karaoke along for a while! and now i need to sleep before we get up for an early day!
sorry to be short this week!!!!
Regards from Vietnam
Dan

Vietnam week 7 - A Vietnamese Massage

Well hello everybody,
Despite another wonderful week of fun filled laughter and tears, there is only one place I begin this week's email, and that is with the massage 'expereince' i endured this week, with Nicole (Australian Occupational Therapist working with me). We decided that after a few tough weeks of supervising the students we would treat ourselves to a relaxing massage, nearby where we work. It looked a reputable place, and after some concerns that the massage would take place in the open reception area, we were happy to be led upstairs to a very nicely decorated room, with tranquil music, four massage beds/tables and a wall sized mirror at one end. The two staff that accompanied us, instructed us o begin undressing, and as i was quickly removing my pants (trousers) off, the girl shouted, "no, not you" pointing at me, but ordered nicole to strip down to her underwear! I didi the gentlemanly thing of closing my eyes as Nicole stripped, (she has instructed me not to tell you all what clour/type of underwear she had on! sorry!). The staff hurried back in to the room, giving me a pair of boxer shorts to wear, though i quickly protested explaining that i had claen underwear on already! "no, put these on" was the order as she scurried out of the room giggling along the way! I therfore had to strip naked, in front of nicole (well she was turned to face the wall with the full sized mirror), as i did as i was told...on comiing back into the room me and nicole were told to lie on our front, face looking down through a hole in the table... not before nicole was instructed to remove her bra! Please understand, that me and nicole did not really know each other so well, before we were exposed (excuse the punn), to this situation!So the massage began well enough with with some serious leg rubbing, getting a little high up the leg,for my liking, but after the legs were finished the fun really started! The table creaked a little when i moved around on it, and i now could hear it creaking, but i knew i was not moving, i suddenly felt a knee, next to my hip, and then another knee next to my other hip... i was being straddled by the masseur, and i didn't know if nicole was having the same experience as i could only see the floor... whilst expecting a back massges, the next thing i know, my bottom is being rubbed in all sorts of ways i did not know was possible, and i'm thinking i ordered the wrong massage!!! where would it end??? i could just about hear nicole trying not to laugh, and figured well, having my bum rubbed does not constitute sexual assault in this situation, does it????the massgae progressed without too much more incident for me, but whilst being turned over for a chest rub, poor nicole had further discomfort, for obvious reasons!!!! She also told me afterwards that she had her hair pulled during the final part of the massage!!! I say thank goodness for short hair!!!upshot of it all... i'd go back!!!! As for more work related matters, well i continue to go from being enthused to being frustrated with many of the childrens cases we see, i saw yet another older child this week (who looked several years younger due to poor nutrition and growth), who had such poor posture and severe contractures, which had been left untreated for quite a few years, that we could not really offer a service for the family or child. Another case was discussed where the child can not walk and needs carrying to the toliet, despite being unable to walk and having to move around using only his arms, he was going to school, but he stopped going to school after the family sold the motorbike to pay off debts... yet it turns out the debts are gambling debts of the father, and now we face an ethical issue as to whether we pay for any changes to be made to the family home to help the child, because we cant be seen to be giving care to the poorest fmilies (if they are gambling!!!) We had another game of beach football, this week after work, where i managed to score the winning goal (it hit the post - a shoe, but i thought it would have bounced in the net if it were a real post! honest!!!) which at least made up for the fact that after ten minutes running in sand, and sweating so much, i look like the sand man from the film spiderman 3!!! a quick evening swim in the sea sorted that out at least, and we even got some of the vietnaese staff to come in the water with us this time! The Australian OT students finish this week too, which i will be very sad to see leave. They have been a great help, and source of amusement too, especially during friday night pool playing sessions & karaoke sessions -despite picking some wierd 'Aussie' songs!!! Ok enough for this week...
Regards from Vietnam!
Dan

Week 6 - Marble Mountains & the sad reality of life here.

Hello everybody!
Well as i'm sure you are all aware, the Euro 2008 Football Championships started yesterday, and the games are on here in Vietnam. Unfortunately the matches start at 2300 or 0145, so people do watch the 2300 game in cafes, in the evening, but then watch the replays of the second game the next morning before work, (at 0600).... it's going to be a tiring month for me i think! Life here this week, has definately had it's ups and down's. Many plus points form this week have included a team building exercise, organised by yours truely! (which i have to say went well, considering the language barrier), and today's tourist trip to the 'Marble Mountains' with Nicole (Australian Occupational Therapist). After hiring a motorcycle for the second time, in two weeks, and after a bacon sandwich breakfast, we headed off 30 minutes down the road (at 0800) to the marble mountians... as is common here many people will drive up alongside you on route to anywhere, ask you 'where are you from' and then tell you, that by complete coincidence they are heading that way too, and "oh yes you must come see my friends shop, very very close and you can leave your motorbike there for free, you just buy one samll thing" (which is priced at some astronomical figure)... so we did! (oh dear!) To Call the place a mountain would be a lie, but it was a large rock formation, with caves, pagoda's and had clearly been some kind of monk-like sanctuary. It had fantastic views and some amazing dark caves, requiring access for only those people who are double jointed, or who can fit into a small box! Still, after surviving through the unofficial pot-holing course, we enjoyed the larger based caves which were lit with that special 'indiana jones' lighting, where one beam of light focuses on the cave floor, leading to a spotlight effect!! Not being someone to ignore the spotlight, I did a quick rendition of West Side Story, before leaving the cave to rapturous applause, from the other tourists.... (ok well the bit about raptuous applause isn't quite true!) A quick trip to 'China beach' (very famous in the war, as this area was used by the USA to land their planes and take off for bombing missions in the south). During a very relaxing swim in the ocean Nicole managed to burn herself to the point where you can now see exactly what shaped outfit she was wearing, including sunglasses! The team building exercise at work on Friday went well, and the staff appeared to enjoy the concepts of team work, and ways of communication in the workplace, but i must share one particular interesting exercise... each person was given the chance to take as many sweets out of a bowl as they would like, what they were then told was that for each sweet they had, they must tell the group one factt abou tthemselves that nobody else knew. Normally people give such information as 'my favourite colour is'.... or 'when i was younger i wanted to be a ...' but oh no, some of our staff clearly felt more able to share more personal aspects of their life including... how old they were whilst still sleeping in bed with parents, the age at which they stopped wetting themsleves, or my personnal favourite the age at which they first were intorduced to the concept of love... (read into that last one what you will). It is just an interesting take on what any one individual wouuld consider to be personal or not so personal information.... On a far more serius note I feel it necessary to share my experience of a home visit I did this week, to a 15yr old boy with Scoliosis (when the spine curves). This boy lived with his family, including granparents who looked after him during the day as the parents had to work to afford to live. He could only lie on the floor and not sit up at all, without causing discomfort and some breathing difficulties. His spine was so severely curved to the left, his right ribcage was pushing out of its normal position and was beginning to press down on his right hip, causing the start of a pressure sore. The family don't have the money to pay for any surgery and i would suspect it is far too late for any kind of treatment now. If this had been caught earlier, and if treatment was available to all, then these situation would not occur here,but that is a reality of life.... no money, no help, no one checking the growth of children with health conditions. All children under 6 are supposedly entitlted to free health care.... but that government directive is not fully followed through. seeing this poor boy really gave me a reality check, and helped to reinforce the size of the task here, for all health organisations! Sorry to end on that note....
Regards from Vietnam
Dan

Vietnam week 5 - Perfect party guests, tailoring & hair cuts!

Hey folks, (it's a long one today, so sit comfortably!) 5 weeks in already and time is flying by so quicky! This week I must share with you a tale of Vietnamese culture and a Hoi An (town where I live) speciality...So Tuesday night this past week we had our House 'wetting' (warming), as dictated by my lovely Vietnamese staff from work... after spending days worrying about what the bloody hell the procedure was here for organising a party, and what food should I make, I was assured by my Australian colleagues that the staff wouuld 'sort everything out', - "wait" I said, it's my party, I should make the arrangemnts, but I was again told just to have some beer and soft drinks and the rest would be 'arranged'...a funny custom I thought, letting the guests arrange a party... I decided that I should take some active part in this though and came up with the idea of cleaning the house, (well sweeping the parts that people would be in at least! - mum, you taught me well!) so to the day of the party, the staff ordered food for 20+ people picked it up after work, and borught spare seats on their motorbikes, they invaded my house like an army, and marched past me into the kitchen where they proceded to grab plates, cups and dishes to lay out the food and then set the dining table out with a vast array of sea food and meat dishes with shrimp, rice and noodles.... it was fabulous and just when I thought these wonderful colleagues of mine couldn't surpass this treat, they did what for me was the unthinkable... after everyone had finished eating, the girls began clearing up the plates and washed everything up... by this point I felt embarrassed so I made one final assualt to take the sink, but was beaten away with dish clothes and told I could not participate in the cleaning up.... and remember when a party is finishing it finishes within 5-10 minutes here, no lingering around... to conclude I think you would have to agree that I had 'the perfect party guests'!!!!! I also wanted to share with you my first experience of the Hoi An tailors, after I decided yesterday to go and have some smart/casual shirts made, as its as cheap to have clothes made here as it is to buy them!!! so after a flick through a catelogue yesterday and selecting some material of my choice, I was asked to return today to have a fitting....it was hot hot hot today and by the time I headed down to the tailors my t-shirt was stuck to my back with sweat, and having lost some weight in this heat my shorts weren't far from falling down to my ankles. I arrived in the shop to be met by Xuan (the tailor) and her young assistant, they showed me the finished shirts and insisted I try them on, but with no where to change that I could see, and being on a fairly busy road in an open-fronted shop, I wondered if I should just strip there... well no time to wonder as the young assistnat just began yanking at my t shirt, and no sooner as I had it off she was holding up the first of my 3 new shirts and buttoning it up on my bare chest.. I wondered if this was included in the price? after giving me lots of compliments of how it looked (as you'd expect) she was once again moving toward me at lightening speed to begin undressing me... I was pretty conflicted at this point wondering if I should be horrified that I was being undressed in full public view, or try to conceal the fact that this was quite the enjoyable experience!!!! all three shirts were good, and i'm heading back there tomorrow for a full suit fitting!!!! (just kidding!), My third strange experience of this week, is the one thing that frightens me most about staying in another country for a while... getting your hair cut that first time... will they understand that 'take a little off' does not mean leave nothing on! It was too hot to put off this task so I asked the local cafe to recommend a place, and they pointed just two doors down, to a barber on my street.. a local place how perfect! as I entered the very small room, with two leather chairs, that appeared to tilt further back that a massage chair you see at airports, I wondered if I should try and leave quietly... not a chance, as a young guy appeared from the back room, full of enthusiasm for cutting my hair, and using my most polished sign language I shouted loudly, please don't shave the top bit!!! he began shaving off the sides of my hair, and then once the scissors were in his hand, he appeared to cut my hair in quick rapid movements, whilst standing, in what appeared to be the most complex of all yoga positions.... still, he was clearly out to impress, and after giving me that well practised G.I Joe look, I began to get up... noticing I had left pools of sweat all over his leather chair!! thats going to hike up the price, I thought. Placing a hand on my shoulder he thrust me back down into the chair and said "I not finish", I said I'm not Finnish either, I'm from England" but he didn't get the joke... and opened a draw, where he took out a rather scarey looking sharpe blade... ok I thought, people in the street can see whats going on, you'll be ok, deep breathes... and then without warning the barber began scrathing at places on my face where I didn't even know there was any hair to remove... my forehead, and then my ears, on my ear lobes!!!! what a bloody cheek I thought!!! thats not subtle!!! at 60,000 dong (£2) I thought I got the tourist price too!!! I think I'll go back though! Work has been good with a friday afternoon party for international children's day (today), lots of kids attended and we all sat in a cirlce singing and talking, with my party piece of 'ba ba black sheep' going down a treat! I've also been making some great contacts with the Australian OT's who are here, and teaching me a whole new language.. including phrases such as: 'cracking sads' (eyes watering), 'how did you pull up' (how were you feeling the day after), and 'shooting through' (are you leaving early?) And I thought Vietnamese was the only language I was going to have to learn!!!!I could go on, but I'll leave it there for this week!
Regards from Vietnam
Dan

Week 4 - Football, Team Building & Motorbikes

Hey Everybody, I must explain why football features so heavily in my email this week.... On Thursday morning at 01:45 I watched the Champions League final between Man UTD and Chelsea (Man UTD won, or should I say Chelsea threw the game away), this game did not finish until 04:30 (Vietnamese time). I watched it with my colleague John, who is a Chelsea fan... ouch!!! poor guy...I cycled from my house to his through the empty Hoi An streets, with only a large number of rats for company, and it was such a wonderfully cool ride around town! That evening after work, we (all 17 staff members from my work) went to the beach after work, where one of our staff has a family owned restaraunt on the beach, and played our own version of 'champions league football', which was followed by swimming in the sea and then being driven on the back of motorcycles to another lovely sea food restaraunt where the staff ordered a fantastic banquest for us for just 45,000 Dong (£1.50) including two beers!!! That is what I call a team building exercise... Today (Sunday) I was even more fortunate to top Thursday's fun, by hiring a motorcycle with three freinds here, and riding over 50k north to a high pass through some hills/mountians past Da Nang, which was quite a strategic point duting the Vietnam war! The scenery was breath taking, and more impressively it was the first time I have ever driven a motorcycle... I had a few near misses as cyclists, ambulances and locals all thought they'd test my reflexes and ability to swerve around them, but I have ended up in one piece with only a few minor cuts! It only cost me 30,000 Dong £1 to hire the motorbike!!! serious bargin!!!!!The other major event for me personally this week has been the start of the placement of the Australian Occupatioanl Therapy Students (Amber & Briee), at my work. They are both very nice and more importantly really down to earth and confident to express ideas. I am learning a lot from them about the Australian training system, and lots more about Australian humour.... hmm.....Other highlights of the week have included a fun barbeque at Doctor Josh's house last night which ended in a very poor sing along guitar session afetr too many beers and scotch!!!! we thought we'd give the local kareoke singers a run for their money! I have found out many things about life here this week and just wanted to share some of them with you all... 1) houses here are very thin, but tall, as you pay more tax the wider your house is... 2) over 14,000 kids drown here every year because they can't swim! (amazing really when you consider Vietnam is one big coast line, and all the kids go in the sea everyday, but just never learn to swim!) 3) there are good and bad 'luck' days to get married throughout the year, today was a good luck day and so there were lots of marriages! 4) the reason I sepnt my first 5 days thinking there were lots of ice cream trucks around, but never seeing any, is because the music is played by the garbage truck, loudly every morning!!! 5) staying on a musical theme, music is played in the street by the government with songs telling you how to be a 'good' citizen and how to love your country! 6) Some students have to live & study for two years in a hostel type accommodation room, housing over 30 students, with the only study space being their bed! Hope you enjoyed that little bit of information!well I felt like I could write so much more, about this week, but I think you don't need to know ALL my thoughts on this week's adventures!
Regards from Vietnam

Week 3 Vietnam - Home Visits & Helping 'Vietnam Style'

Hey everybody, well it's the end of week 3 already and so much to say and report on. I must start by saying that today has been one of favourite days by far! After a 10 person road trip to Da Nang for a supermarket/city shop, I spent the ealry evening swimming in the sea, by moonlight, not long after sunset, and it was just fantastic! The water was warm and the beach was lit with numerous white lanters, as local kids played football around us... and this was followed by dinner on the main street, watching processions of people passing by with coloured lanterns to celebrate Buddah's birthday. All this was with our new arrivals Amber, Bree, who are Occupational Therapy students & Yvonne an Occupational Therapist educator, all from James Cook University, Australia, working with me for a 5 weeks on a university placement! It's been a long week at work as we continue to introduce more formal procedures to the staff, who have not been exposed to this kind of detail when planning services before, but with each week, and each new social venture for drinks and food, we are all getting better aquainted. The highlight from work this week was definately my first 'home visit'. We went to visit a very young baby with hydrocephalus and 13yr old boy who has severe contractures of his legs (he can't walk) and his family are currently carrying him to the toilet, at the back of the house.... and despite being good at school, the family claim to have soild their motorcycle (the only means of him getting to school) to pay off debts, so hence he is missing out on school too. Anyway, the journey to the children's home is waht I really want to share... setting out on the back of Van's (the physiotherapist) motorcycle, and Carol on the back of Lai's machine (an interpreter), we rushed through the busy streets, thorugh the crowded market, ignoring tarffic lights, and with my praying to god for a safe return to the office! We then pulled up at the river, where after loading the motorcycle onto the boat, we took a 10 minute journey across the river. The boat was heavily loaded with motorcycles and i was convinced they would fall off into the river at any point... once to the other side, we then rode through a few miles of rice fields, with shouts of 'hello' coming from small children from the most remote of houses, to a small village. On arriving at our first visit, what appeared like the entire village crowded into the house to watch what we were doing, and point, stare and giggle... there was no privacy (as I am quickly learning in Vietnam) and anyway, the house didn't have a front door or windows, it was completely open, so you couldn't stop people coming in if you tried! On to the second visit through more rice fields and more shouts of 'hello' to the odd looking and very white English guy! After the second visit we raced backed to the boat before returning to the office, which gave me time to sort out my horrific helmet hair that the journey had left me with! to give a quick comparison, on my last home visit, back in the UK, I had to stop at traffic lights every two minutes, whizz past a 24hour ASDA supermarket, and use an intercom to get in to see my client! My next short story involves an incident a week or so ago, and now I can understand why it happened, I can share the story! Myself, and two freinds (Bryony & Josh) set off to go relax at a place called 'Red Bridge', a very small resort with a swimming pool, whcih we had been invited to through a friend of a friend etc... we were given directions and picked up a sign that said 'Red Bridge 3k' so we followed it, and after maybe 3k we stopped to ask for directions, 'conitnue continue' was the cry, and as the advice was delivered with conviction off we went... another 2k down the road, we asked again.... 'over that way' was the response this time, pointing over to a fairly remote looking road, but again the guy seemed sure so we followed his advice.... another 3k later we cam to a main road, knowing we had come almost full circle. The next set of directions pointed us back the way we came, with a laugh. By now we were not laughing cos it was bloody hot!!! so we cycled all the way back to near where we saw the 3k sign, and again asked, and again we were told that we were close by..... but now we were losing faith, and after a fourth failed attempt we had some local lads on a motorbike show us where to go.... the place itself had taken its sign down to be re-painted... unlucky you may say, but why had all these different people sent us off in so many different directions??? the answer I have only just come to understand.... Vietnamese people are very polite and helpful people (apart from trying to get your money at the market!!!) and so rather than just say, 'i'm sorry I don't know where that place is' (and therefore seem unhelpful), they will happily guess a direction at random, to seem like they have been helpful, but I assure you, after cycling almost 10k extra in the midday heat, I did not find their behaviour helpful one little bit! I'll stop there as I need some sleep before tomorrow morning and it's late already!Regards from Vietnam
Dan

Week 2 Vietnam - working at CHIA

Hello everybody, I thought I'd make this an afternoon email rather than my usual Sunday evening mail, for two reasons: first, today is the final day of the English football premership, which will start here at 9pm, and secondly, I have one more day of free internet at this hotel, before I move into my Vietnamese Palace!!! Also today's email is going to be less travel centred, and more about the type of work i'm going to be doing here... I began work last Monday, really not knowing what to expect! How would the staff take to me, both persoanlly and professionally? How would we communicate? Just exactly what was I suppsoed to be doing here??? I started with a lovely ten minute bicycle ride (bicycle provided by work) to the office, which had a ground floor small 'therapy area', kitchen & clinic room. The first floor had the offices for the marketing, interpreters and administrative staff. I ws to based on the ground floor, in the clinic room, when it wasn't being used to teach the staff English, or by Dr Josh (American Doctor who has a clinic on a Wednesday afternoon). The team consists of Robyn, (Australian & founder of orgnaisation) John & Michelle (Marketing, & fundraising) Sally, volunteer from Australia (English teacher for Vietnamese staff), Carol (medical manager), Van & Phoung (Vietnamese Physiotherapists), Ly & Anh (Vietnamese translators), Binh (vietnamese supervisor), Loc (Vietnamese IT & assessment worker), Vu (newly started Vietnamese administrative worker)...After spending nearly two days going through the children's files, I was able to identify the main conditions that the children have: hydrocephalus (water on brain), Cerebral Palsy, Developmental delay, physical deformity (undegrown limbs, hands, fingers etc...) I wondered how much of the physical deformity could be linked to the chemical 'agent orange' used by the Americans for chemical warfare during the conflict here... some children's parents did have exposure to these chemicals... but I digress...Through numerous discussions this week about what an Occupational Therapist could do to help the organisation, we decided my role should focus on the devlopment of clinical practice for the physio's, and helping the service to establish a more formalised assessment & treatment process. (So a quick note to Nia, Mari & Hannah- I'll be needing some advice on physio treatment's for CP children!!!) To more social matters, my worries about being accepted by the Vietnamese staff were quickly forgotten, as they took me out on Wednesday for a meal at a real local sea food restaurant, and I got to ride on the back of their motorbikes which was good fun. They insisted on paying, which I thought was very sweet of them, and thankfully, as they ordered for me, they chose the star fish, rather than the river snail!!!! no joke!!! I began a quick question and answer session as a 'getting to know you/me' kind of thing, which was fun, but ended with me being given the nickname "moonflower' (translated from the Vietnamese), because apparently by Vietnamese standards I have had one too many girlfriends... and moonflower means... well i'm sure you guess!! Tomorrow I shall complete my move to my new home.. what a life of luxury awaits me! $600 US per month, between four of us... (Me, carol & sally from my organisation & an Irish girl by the name of Caoimhe from another children's charity), There is about 16000 dong to $1 US, or 30000 dong to the pound!! so you can do the maths! It has air con, a tv, ensuite bathrooms, four floors!!! yeah 4!!!! with a roof terrace, washing machine, kitchen & huge lobby!!! bargin!! especialyl as i'll be paying $150 month, and now i'm paying $10 per night now! Speaking of which, anyone coming here to Hoi An, on a travellers budget must must must stay here at the Hoang Trinh Hotel... the rooms are great and the staff are like family... they have been sending free plates of fruit up to me! The only negative note has been I have picked up an ear infection which has prevented me sleeping properly for days, and has had me confined to the hotel this weekend!!! I guess I should be more carefull about the water I drink here! It seems to be getting better! oh and I have had such bad luck with my bicycle, as I have had 3 flat tyres in a week!!! Unbelievable! Take care everyone and please feel free to mail me, so I know you are actually reading this!!! ha ha
Regards from Vietnam
Dan

Week 1 Vietnam

Well hello there everybody, welcome to the new members, and hello to you the rest of you! Here is the first installment from Hoi An, in central Vietnam.... intro... I am here in Hoi An, to work for an organisation called CHIA (google it) or http://www.childrenhopeinaction.org/ . Please have a look, I am here volunteering for 6 months (money pending), and will stay based here in beautiful Hoi An. The rest of my colleagues are from Australia, and seem great fun already! More work stuff to come in the following weeks! So to the travels so far.... after a 12+ hour flight to Singapore, followed by 2 hours in Singapore airport (free computer games and internet!) I flew from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) arriving Saturday 26th at 0955. As I rolled out of the airport smelling worse than a homeless pig, I took a much needed air conditioned taxi for the ride of a life time. I'll just say this about Saigon- there are 8.5 million people there, 3.7 million motorcycles, few traffic lights, and no giveway system! crossing the road is more dangerous than sitting in the Stretford end of manchester united football stadium, in a liverpool shirt! Bicycles and motorcycles rule the road and go where and when they please. My hostel was a typically Vietnamese budget room, with bed and no sheets, and a shower OVER the toilet, so you can use both simultaneously!!!! no joke!I spent 2 days in Saigon, sleeping during day one and taking a city tour on day two.... well reccommended for travellers to saigon, with little time. The war museum opened my eyes to some real horrors of the infamous US war. I met some nice fellow tourists from Holland, Singapore and Japan on the trip to keep me company! Both evenings I went to a local bar that was showing the footbal and met some friendly dressed barmaids, unfortunately I was not impressed with their clothing as they wore Chelsea and Arsenal football shirts!!! disappointing! (and in case you are wondering, yeah i saw the liverpool chelsea game, and yes i'm still very upset!) I left Saigon behind me, by booking a 23 hour bus journey on the well publicised 'sleeper bus' which as its name suggets, was a bus with beds on it!!! this is real, and i slept reasonably well, despite the driviers need to beep his horn more often than using the gas pedal!!! this is a country wide phenomenon! After a grueling 10 hours, we arrived at a stopover point, where I was to change buses, unfortunately, I was infomed that despite paying for a sleeper bus, the next 13 hours would be on a 'normal' bus, cramped with 50+ other people... not my favourite journey! I arrived in Hoi An at 0630... but found a room, and was soon looking around this beautiful small town, with a lively tourist trade, and a fair few bicycles too... you can have almost any article of clothing made here for a crazy small price, as tailors rule the street! I met my new colleagues as I accidentally wandered past the office. My first few days have also been made special by the random chance meeting with a friend and former colleague of mine (Jenny Aindow) who happened to be here in Hoi An for a few days. With her, and her friends Josh & Bryony, we have been out eating, cycling and working in the rice fields (well we got some local workers to let us have a go at working in the rice fileds!). I managed to find a salsa bar, danced for a bit with some random Vietnamese people who were here during the public holiday this week. I have just today moved from my first hotel, to this one, until I find somewhere more perminant to live. We have been to view a few places and have hopefully found a mini palace! to rent for 600 U.S. dollars, between 4 people each month!!! It really is a palace!! if I move there I'll post some pictures! hotels are priced at around 10 USD (5 pounds) each night, and this hotel today is just amazing for that price, two beds in the room, ensuite bathroom and room service, the works... life is very good right now! One quick note to say last night I went to a sea food restaurant called the 'end of the world', that's exactly how I felt after I had to cycle 8km to get there!!! My job here have provided me with a bicycle free of charge, which is the only cheap way of getting around!!! Ok I'm going to leave it there for now....p.s some of you may get this email twice both in hotmail and facebook, techinal error on my part!!! just delete as appropriate! Wish me look for first day at work tomorrow! til next week!

The Hoi An Experience!

Hey everybody, this is just an introductory note to start my blog. The following blogs will be from my time here in Hoi An, Vietnam, and working at CHIA (Childrens Hope In Action). This is an organisation which works with disabled kids and poor families in this area. I'm an Occupational Therapist by trade, and am trying to assist in the set up of the 'Therapy Services' to be delivered by the CHIA organisation. Life here is interesting in every conceivable way, from musical garbage trucks, to Miss Universe competitions, I hope you enjoy sharing these experiences with me!