travelling is really not just about going from place to place and ticking off the sights....often, as the cliche goes, it is the journey, not the destination, that makes the experience one which makes you fall in love with a country or, alternatively, fall in love with your own country all over again.
we took another overnight bus last night from Hoi An to Nha Trang...a seaside resort town, with a beautiful beach and a westernised night life i believe. I say 'I believe' cause it's bucketing down outside and, since there's not much point exploring a beach in the rain I must believe the lonely planet guide....always a slightly dangerous item to put one's trust in, i find.
It seems that the concept of suspension in vehicles is one that has not yet been fully embraced by the vietnamese. Neither has the concept of paved roads on highways. both of which together make for an overnight ride much resembling a night spent on the spin cycle of the washing machine. I'm quite sure i was airborne much of the time. However, it's the experience isn't it...? it's vietnam.
Whilst on the subject of experiences...a word about toilets if i may? and i warn that my observations may not be for the faint of heart. Squat toilets don't bother me. I mastered the technique whilst under the influence of alcohol at a party in Turkey last year and now consider myself quite the expert. It's the western toilets which have the ability to bother me here....and one that i used at a roadhouse last night is a good case in point. The toilets themselves are always soaking because the Vietnamese do not use paper - they wash themselves. At least I hope that's why the toilets are wet. The floors are caked in mud and dust and what i hope is just water, and, if you don't roll up your trousers, so are their hems. The toilet i used last night had the added bonus of being completely infested by bugs of all types...on the floor, on the seat.... The light did not work...only the thin strip of light from above and below the door lit the way. The smell in these places is indescribable. The sink was caked in years of dirt and grime...there was no drain which i didn't realise until the water that i ran to wash my hands also splashed all over my feet. There are no magical solutions other than to hold your breath and put it down to a 'traveling experience'...however I do have a few hints for the next time you are in the orient. antibacterial hand sanitiser is your friend. It goes everywhere with me and i use it generously and regularly. However, it is like gold dust and I have not seen anywhere to buy more so, much as i'm tempted to lather it all over my body after using a toilet like this, i can not. Toilet paper is an even better friend and is also my constant companion...there is very rarely paper in public toilets. I have also recently become a friend of wet wipes in the absence of a shower...one swipe and you go from smelling rancid to smelling of baby powder and soap...breath deep....
it is hard not to become disillusioned with vietnam i find. The people here are hard. and justifiably so....they have been through so much in both recent and not so recent times...much of it at the hands of westerners. They blame the west entirely for the recent tragedies inflicted by the war here only 40 years or so ago...they hurt still...but they must let us in....we have money. they do not. and so we walk down the street with store keepers constantly yelling out...'you! buy something.'...grubby fingers reach out to pull our sleeves and draw our attention to the pineapple they are selling...or the beer nuts. but yesterday, an event restored my faith in the friendliness and resilience of the vietnamese. Sitting in a little cafe with half an hour till our bus was to leave, we gulped down some fried rice. getting up to pay and leave a young girl approached me and pressed an origami paper swan into my hand. It was, her friend translated, made just for me because she thought i was very beautiful. Touched and flattered, with tears welling in my eyes, i thanked her profusely. She did not want money. She was just being sweet and generous...i will treasure that little paper swan.
So now we are in a party town and might just let our hair down a bit...which, to be honest, we did on our last night in Hoi An too - with some friendly Spaniards and a great deal of 25p beer. it will be nice to chill out a bit as we've been going pretty hard. a couple of days here and then we move on to Saigon.
stay tuned. xxx
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