Week 16 - 'a little help from your friends' & the kindness of strangers.

Hello everybody,

As this weekend marks the start of the English football season, I could not go without mentioning how relieved I was with Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Sunderland yesterday, and 'come on' Newcastle let's hope you give Man Utd a good beating! Ok, now that's out of my system I'll get back to more Vietnamese matters, not that English football is not a part of life here... almost every game is on, I may never leave here!!!

This week has been a really nice relaxing week and mainly because of the visit of my friend Sarah, (who I have known ever since November 2001, when we were both students at a Hospital near Manchester). Sarah now lives in London, after having some time in North Vietnam, she came to join me for a week of relaxation here in Hoi An. Having another good friend here this week has encouraged me to do more tourist things. So, after a return to My Son (world heritage site of ruins) this time a one-hour motorcycle ride away, we headed out to 'Cham Island' which is an island with a total population 891 people. I think that's what the guide said! The weather was fantastic which made the snorkeling and sunbathing on the beach an even better expereince, and despite a settled sea crossing, one of our passengers ( a Vietnamese girl) was just constantly sick throughout the journey. The other major event of the week would have to have been on Wednesday night / Thursday morning 00:00-04:00, when a meteor shower was reportedly happening. A few of us hit the beach at midnight, and with a cold beer sat for 2 hours watching an array of shooting stars, some quick flashes of light, and some stars left trails of light behind them! Being sat on a quiet beach with only a handful of local people around, and the sea lapping on the shore only feet away, it was yet another memorable experience that will keep my memories of Hoi An fresh in my mind for a long time!

The International Triathlon is just 6 days away, and after a practice 40k ride today on the course I am starting to wonder just what I have let myself in for! The smallest amount of wind on a pretty flat course had me peddling at the speed of a snail during the last 5k. Anyway, with my Australian swimming teacher friend (liz) doing the 1.5 swim, and my Vietnamese colleague (Loc) is doing the 10k run, I get to do the in between 40k bike ride. On today's adventure ride, one of the many locals who like to shout out 'hello' actually drove his motorcycle along with me for about 5 kilometres, and wanted me to stop for coffee with him, mid way through my ride, I tried my best to explain (through the sun-cream sweat that was pouring off me) that I was trying to train for a race! I had to settle for visiting his cafe some time in the next 7 days! hmm...

Another example of random niceness, which I find is sadly lacking from everyday life at home, was again after another Saturday matinee movie trip to Da Nang! After dropping Sarah at the airport I decided to walk randomly to the supermarket, which took me through a park by a lake. Many people were sitting in the shade, under trees, and a few kids were sitting around laughing. One group of kids saw me, and like most locals, they were quick to shout over hello. When I responded with a hello of my own, they asked me over to sit and talk with them. They were a group of University students studying tourism, and despite ranging from 19-24, they looked between 14-18. Still we sat down on the grass and talked for a good half hour about whatever questions they could form in English! It was just another example of how friendly and nice some people are here! Unfortunately any trip to Da Nang is now not complete without the guaranteed full blown 'hostage style' negotiation about the price of a bus ticket. So after another good 20 minutes of shouting, being ignored, being stared at, and finally winning out to pay just 12.000 dong, I was able to finally sit in peace for the last journey home.

To more social matters, I came across a really unfortunate case of a family from the North of Vietnam, who have three children, all of whom are disabled, one boy with cerebral palsy, who cannot walk, and do very little for himself, one boy, who is physically able, but has some developmental issues, and the youngest and perhaps most poorly child is the 2 year old son, who has hydrocephalus. Unfortunately the child has such a large mis-shaped head, that despite a recent operation, the damage caused already suggests that the child will not survive very long. This case was published in an Australian magazine I think... and really highlights the problems people face here because of poverty, and poor access to health care... I did not think it was right to put a picture on here , but those of you who would like to read further I suggest going to the Blue Dragon website at http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com/ for more information about such cases.

Regards from Vietnam, (oh and please leave a comment if you are actually reading this blog!)

Thanks,

Dan