week 27 - Motorbike Madness, Dungeons & Dragons, Dinner Parties

Hello everybody,

Well thanks for the comments from last week's blog, and I'm pleased to say the weather did improve this week, at least here in Central Vietnam. Unfortunately the Ha Noi region (North Vietnam), they suffered the worst flooding in 25 years, leading to over 50 deaths, and that included in the city of Ha Noi, which was seriously affected. I continue to learn about the difficulties people face in this country, and also continue to be amazed at the resilience people show in these kind of situations... there seems to be very few pictures of people in emotional distress at the situation. this however, may be due the government control of the TV stations, or the societal and cultural behaviours, where expression of 'raw' emotion is rarely displayed! I can't say with any certainty what the answer may be???

This week's most memorable event here in Hoi An, had to be my second motorbike accident! The first accident I had was on my birthday as I have mentioned where I managed to ride my motorbike into my Vietnamese colleague's restaurant, dislodging one of the beams holding the outer roof up. Obviously that would take some beating, in the embarrassment stakes, I definitely eclipsed that feat on Thursday night. As I was collecting the bike from my next door-but-one neighbour, I had to push the bike over a little ramp in the neighbour's yard. unfortunately, instead of putting the bike into the neutral gear... I had unwittingly put it into first gear.. so when I pushed the bike up over the ramp (standing next to bike), I hit the throttle (gas) and the bike jumped forward onto the street! In my panic I tried to pull the bike back down, but by doing this I simply pushed the gas more! Having managed to narrowly avoid mowing down an unsuspecting tourist stood directly opposite, by the local hotel, I pulled the bike back down on to the road, and was now facing down the street. The roar of the bike engine had not only drawn the attention of all the neighbours, but the hotel staff as well (3 of whom I had only just had drinks with 24 hours earlier)! The bike now continued to drag me down the street for about 10 yards, where I was finally able to pull the bike to the floor, or should I say the bike pulled me to the floor. Luckily I had a rather large helmet on that night, the 3rd one I tried on that night - thank the lord!

The neighbours rushed to my aid, and I had several hands on me checking I was ok, where as I was just bothered that I had broken my neighbour's bike! The bike appeared fine, and I felt ok, so after composing myself and trying to restart the bike, and drive off with the little dignity I had left, I continued on my way to Da Nang - one hour away! On getting there I realised I was a little more damaged than I realised, but after a stop at the city centre pharmacy they had given me what I needed to clean myself up... (Mum & Dad I really am ok...) The security guard at the Big City supermarket helped me cut open the antiseptic bottle, and stopped locals from having a good nosey at what I was doing, sat by the fountain washing my cut feet... (everyone here is so nice!!) The return journey was less traumatic and I just simply drove home very slowly, partly out of shock and mostly because I knew that the later I got home, the less chance I would have of seeing my neighbours, because they'd be in bed, and I wouldn't have to face any further embarrassment that night! On returning the bike the next day, my neighbour seemed genuinely concerned for me, and not the bike, and she even refused to take the rental fee from me... I wasn't sure if this was her way of saying, I don't want your money or your custom again, you crazy Englishman" - but apparently not, as I have been back on the bike most of the weekend, and my neighbour now only gives me the large helmet when I hire a bike!

Just a little side not here, for those of you that read last week's blog, you will no doubt be happy to hear that when we went to check on the boy's (Sy) progress with his new tricycle that we adapted for him, he was able to drive it independently, and can now be seen driving around his house, instead of sitting in a wheelchair for hours. The roads aren't too bad, which had been my biggest fear! We are considering adding a basket to the tricycle, should he build up the strength to drive the tricycle to the nearest shop, or even just take things from his house to his Gran's house (100yards).

Despite the motorbike 'incident' I was really thinking about what I could write about for this week's blog, and then, as usual unexpected little events happen that often make me think! This week I just happened to be flicking through the channels on TV, and what did I happen to find... that's right - the cartoon 'Dungeon's & Dragons'. this was a cartoon where a group of young people get transported to a magical world, and basically spend every episode being thwarted by the Evil bad guy, from returning home... I used to get up religiously every Saturday morning to watch this cartoon when I was a kid... the point of mentioning this is to again highlight the Vietnamese dubbing system for TV. These cartoons, and some films will be dubbed with one single (usually female) voice, talking for each ALL the characters.. and this is done with a 3-4 second delay over the original language... the voice also displays no emotion at all, and sounds like the women is bored out of her mind! You almost feel hypnotised by the end the scene, because the voice is so monotone and flat!

Saturday night turned into an unexpected delight because I attended my first real dinner party at Robyn & Pete's house (volunteers with 'Lifestart' foundation), Carmel (nurse for the same organisation), and two of Carmel's Australian friends, who's names completely escape me! They were very funny though and were volunteering in Ha Noi for 6 months. The guy had actually been here during the Vietnam war as a very young medic, and told some very funny stories of how the Australian's tried to prevent their soldiers from getting nasty diseases 'the clap'! Putting little flags on the places where the Vietnamese women had been tested,and the women who had been tested were given cards to prove they were 'safe'.... funnily enough, no-one thought about using condoms for this purpose!

These were funny and interesting stories and were followed by discussions about multi-racial societies and the current Vietnamese dating system! (for those of you who are interested dinner was tuna pasta....)

Another twist to this day had been that just that very morning I had been to Da Nang to visit my colleague from my current job at CHIA. She was showing me her home, as the possibility of a move to Da Nang is on the cards for me... I'll explain shortly... my colleague (Giang) introduced to me to her neighbours, and local shop owners to ensure I don't get ripped off! One of the neighbours, and old lady, spoke good English and explained to me that she used to work in one of the 'American bars' during the war!

The possible move to the nearby city of Da Nang has come about as a local government hospital, has a very keen Rehabilitation Director, who wants to introduce the idea of my profession (Occupational Therapy), after she visited a rehabilitation hospital in Israel! So after a bit of networking I found myself meeting her, after just one phone call, to discuss a possible job! I will go to Da Nang hopefully for 3-4 weeks from the end of November, until just before i leave to come back home... if all goes well, there may be the possibility of a return to Da Nang for a few months! We'll see!

Regards from Vietnam

Dan