well, its official, i fracking love vietnam!
started in hanoi, which is so full of life and sounds! lonely planet said that to cross the street, you should just step into the road and walk slowly! i thought 'yeah right, i am just going to walk into oncoming traffic!' but you have to! there are millions of motorbikes and a few cars and buses, and honestly, you find a space in them and step out and keep on walking, and they go around you! its bonkers!
from hanoi i went to ninh binh, which was so loverly. met a fabulous swiss chap called walter who took me out on his motorbike to see tam coc, which is huge limestone mountains in the middle of paddy fields. as soon as i remember to bring my camera cable with me to the internet cafe, i will download them. just riding through the hills you see such amazing sights, big waterbuffelo walking down the street, brown cows munching the grass between the endless paddy fields, being chased by big white birds who want to sit on them! local people stopping you and offering you food and wine and little children dearing each other to come up to you and touch the 'white person'!
from ninh binh i got the sleeper bus to hue, and oh my gosh it was bouncy! i had to strap myself into the bed to stop from bouncing around! i was with four american guys from new york. the dad, his brother and his two sons. the dad and brother (max and bruce) had both fought in vietnam and were bringing max's two sons (wayne and carl) to see some of the places they were based in. they were telling me stories on the bus and i was crying my eyes out. they said it has given them enormous peace coming back and seeing the country at peace.
in hue i went on a tour of the dmz (the demilitarised zone) - it was along the ben hai river, which split north and south vietnam, and actually turned into the free fire zone, and so much naplam was dropped here that even now, 30 years later, nothing will grow. looking up to the mountains there are brown scars in the forrest where not even weeds will grow. and still, 4/5 generations on children are being born with deformaties due to agent orange. there was an american base canned khe sahn, which was the loacation and horrific battle. the base has been flattened and now there is a museum. there are really graffic pictures in the museum. kids with guns and soilders scared and fighting. i really though i had it all down in my head. america shouldnt have been here and were therefore the baddies in this scinario. but seeing the soilders in these pictures (and i know some of them commited atrocities that were evil and visious, but not all)....it was heartbreaking. young men, scared, frightened, didnt know what the hell was going on. F*****g politicitans. they should all me forced to go out and fight in these f*****g wars that they create for greed and status. W*****S. also went to the Vinh Moc tunnels, which is a area along the coast where the northern vietnamese army ran through. but because of the retaliation of the locals by the americans for ambushes, the local people had to hide in the tunnels and live in the tunnels. there are family rooms and a labour room, where 17 babies were born. the tunnels were never found and in frustration the american army bombed the frack out of the landscape from sea and air, and they never managed to hit any of the tunnels!!!! met two loverly people, alex from isreal and jody from melbourne. we went for tea and a few drinks afterwards to talk about what we had seen.
then the bus to hoi an, only 4 hours so not so bad! met four isreali guys (two girls and two boys) and an ozzie and stayed with them for that night in hoi an. got some amazing linen trousers styled on some from next catalogue (ali, you would love them!) and a small lemon summer dress made. (still losing weight due to fresh healthy food and the hiking around each day!) luxery!!! got up at 5am with ross (the aussie) and laura and kirtsie (more aussies!) to see the cham remains at my son. absolutely worth it. to say it was breathtaking is an understatement. although i almost walked right into a huge spiderweb! trauma!
on the 24 hour bus then with ross to ho chi minh city. we were glad we were so tired then! it was ok actually, slept a lot! caught up on about a months worth of sleep! and ho chi minh is fracking rocking my world! got drunk last night with ross and his girlfriend lily and spent about 8 pounds doing it! crazy crazy money!
off tomorrow to see the cu chi tunnels, where the viet cong scurried around ambushing american troops around saigon, and then for a few days to the mekong delta! am so looking forward to seeing the mekong delta, its looks amazingly beuatiful! then to phu coc island to lie on a beach for a few days and treck in the forest. i am going to extend my visa for a month so i can be here for tet (lunar new year) as it is supposed to ROCK! BIG TIME! and it seems crazy to be here and not stay for that, and am also going to teach english for a few weeks at the local english college. they need people to speak english and help with the english lessons and talking about social issues etc to the vietnamese. in return for 4 hours a day they supply you with accomodation! so should be able to pull back a little from my recent spending. saying that though, its is really hard to go over budget here as it is crazy crazy prices. i had a banana pancake, coffe and a bottle of water for breakfast and it cost me 80p! (and it was the best fracking banana pancake i have ever had in my life!!!!)
well, i shall stop waffeling on, as this is a pretty humongous entry! i shall upload my piccies onto photobucket over the next week, and then i can move them to here.
love you all loads,
xxxxxxxxx
