I guess the full
moon celebration was definitely the highlight, but I'll get on to that shortly. As last week's blog ended with the 15 hour bus journey with the Hanoi kids, I'll start with them this week. After they finished their camp in Da Nang, they came to stay with their Hoi An counterparts, and I soon found myself regretting having agreed to help them go swimming, as the kids, yeah the kids, decided they wanted to go at 0530 in the morning!!! No joke!!! So having promised, I went to the beach for an hour and it was so beautiful, and not too quiet either, the water was warm and we all had fun, especially trying to teach some of the kids to float and swim! I also joined the kids for a karaoke session on the Wednesday, which was entirely in Vietnamese, and some of the kids even thought I spoke Vietnamese after I sang a Vietnamese songs with one of them! Not sure what that says about my singing! The kids and my friend returned to Hanoi (up north) on Thursday and I have to say I miss them, despite only having to got to know them last week.
moon celebration was definitely the highlight, but I'll get on to that shortly. As last week's blog ended with the 15 hour bus journey with the Hanoi kids, I'll start with them this week. After they finished their camp in Da Nang, they came to stay with their Hoi An counterparts, and I soon found myself regretting having agreed to help them go swimming, as the kids, yeah the kids, decided they wanted to go at 0530 in the morning!!! No joke!!! So having promised, I went to the beach for an hour and it was so beautiful, and not too quiet either, the water was warm and we all had fun, especially trying to teach some of the kids to float and swim! I also joined the kids for a karaoke session on the Wednesday, which was entirely in Vietnamese, and some of the kids even thought I spoke Vietnamese after I sang a Vietnamese songs with one of them! Not sure what that says about my singing! The kids and my friend returned to Hanoi (up north) on Thursday and I have to say I miss them, despite only having to got to know them last week.Wednesday night was this month's full moon celebration here, and despite having been here for the 2 previous full moon celebrations, I had yet to go explore the old town during these nights. Basically, the
entire old town, stops all traffic, including bicycles, making the area a pedestrian zone. All shops and buildings light coloured lanterns on their outside walls, and there is a boat with some monk-like chanting being broadcast by the river. Many local boats offer a cruise around the river, where there are even more flamed lanterns floating on the river. The scene is very quaint, beautiful, and gives the entire area a romantic setting. By pure chance, I was fortunate enough to have some female company too, in the form of Phuong (see picture). She was equally taken aback by the scene, being form a different part of Vietnam. For those of you planning a visit, this is one thing to definitely put on your itinerary, should you time your trip accordingly!
entire old town, stops all traffic, including bicycles, making the area a pedestrian zone. All shops and buildings light coloured lanterns on their outside walls, and there is a boat with some monk-like chanting being broadcast by the river. Many local boats offer a cruise around the river, where there are even more flamed lanterns floating on the river. The scene is very quaint, beautiful, and gives the entire area a romantic setting. By pure chance, I was fortunate enough to have some female company too, in the form of Phuong (see picture). She was equally taken aback by the scene, being form a different part of Vietnam. For those of you planning a visit, this is one thing to definitely put on your itinerary, should you time your trip accordingly!I have often alluded to the dangers of motorcycle driving here, and Friday night this week proved the dangers of simply crossing the road. Whilst a group of us sat having our regular Friday night drink at 'Treats' bar, we heard a rather nasty sounding collision, which sounded like two motorbikes colliding, however we soon realised that a young western child had been hit by a local on a motorcycle, the boy had been flung up in the air, and the driver had sped off. The reason for the driver speeding off, was rumored to be that it is fairly realistic threat of jail for a local Vietnamese person for colliding with a westerner. The child had been unaccompanied on the road, which was dangerous enough, yet fortunately after a hospital check-up the child was just shaken and had no lasting damage. The issue here is all about the justice system, as you often see many collisions where people just get up, and get away, as no one can afford to have their bikes impounded by police, if the police get there quick enough. As families of up to 5 regularly travel on bikes here, and many tourist simply don't understand how to cross the road here (don't ever hesitate and let traffic go around you), accidents are a daily occurrence.
One more thought for the week, an acquaintance of mine, (who shall remain nam
eless for this story) told me about his recent experience when trying to buy condoms here at a pharmacy. Sex is not something that is openly discussed here in the conservative town of Hoi An, and where public affection is never expressed by locals. So to buy condoms was always going to be interesting experience, especially as they do not have them on display! After the girl behind the counter had apparently tried to understand his rather basic explanation, he was given a yellow piece of paper, which had the question 'what is your illness/problem' on the top, and on the left hand side of the paper was the Vietnamese word, on the right was the English word. He searched in vain for the closest word, which was 'contraceptive pill' and tried to say "for men, for men", whilst the girl continued to look blankly at him... eventually her colleague joined her, who spoke a touch more English, looked at the paper, and pointed to the word contraceptive again with a confused look... he repeated "for men" and again tried in vain to demonstrate what he wanted, without being too provocative! When the second girl eventually responded with a "oh a pill... Viagra"... he was close to giving up, before a shake of the head, was greeted with a final gasp of understanding, and one of the girls ran off to the back room, and returned with a fair amount of condom packets! He bought them, with some giggling from the staff, and was quick to share his story with a few of us over a beer...a true travellers tale!
eless for this story) told me about his recent experience when trying to buy condoms here at a pharmacy. Sex is not something that is openly discussed here in the conservative town of Hoi An, and where public affection is never expressed by locals. So to buy condoms was always going to be interesting experience, especially as they do not have them on display! After the girl behind the counter had apparently tried to understand his rather basic explanation, he was given a yellow piece of paper, which had the question 'what is your illness/problem' on the top, and on the left hand side of the paper was the Vietnamese word, on the right was the English word. He searched in vain for the closest word, which was 'contraceptive pill' and tried to say "for men, for men", whilst the girl continued to look blankly at him... eventually her colleague joined her, who spoke a touch more English, looked at the paper, and pointed to the word contraceptive again with a confused look... he repeated "for men" and again tried in vain to demonstrate what he wanted, without being too provocative! When the second girl eventually responded with a "oh a pill... Viagra"... he was close to giving up, before a shake of the head, was greeted with a final gasp of understanding, and one of the girls ran off to the back room, and returned with a fair amount of condom packets! He bought them, with some giggling from the staff, and was quick to share his story with a few of us over a beer...a true travellers tale! One final piece of information, it's been around 37-40 degrees here this week, and by 4pm each day I am ready to sleep, because working in this heat is unbearable, and I truly understand why the people here don't ever seem to rush around!
Regards from Vietnam
Dan
1 comment:
There are much newer antidepressant medications available since Prozac has been on the market for some time, yet Prozac is so reliable that it is still commonly preferred by doctors and patients alike. [url=http://www.creerpagefacebook.com/]prozac price[/url] You can order cheap Prozac (Fluoxetine) without prescription. Prozac no prescription The medication can be prescribed from as little to 5mg per day to 80mg per day depending on the issues that the patient is suffering from as well as how responsive the patient is after two to eight weeks.
Post a Comment