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!