Vietnam

Hello Peeps

Just in case your wondering we are now in Vietnam, Hanoi to be precise, the city of mopeds, everyone in this place has one. The traffic is crazy, the first couple of days of being here were quite hair raising and i don't have much hair to raise at the moment. Watching the locals we discovered the best way to get across the road without getting crushed, thrown or impaled was to just step out into the road and walk at a steady pace oblivious to the traffic around you. The idea being that the motorist would then just drive around you. I know what your thinking!! it took me quite sometime to convince myself and a lot of getting used to. There were some tight moments but it seems to work, so far!!. Driving on the other hand is not for the faint hearted. The rule of the road is there is no rules, it's every man for himself, survival of the fittest. The horn is used more often than the gear stick and yet most people just seem to ignore it and carry on there merry way...............Madness i tell ya, mmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a couple of days of Hanoi life we decided a break from the hustle and bustle was required, so we took off for the Northeast to a place called Halong Bay for a three day boat cruise. For those of you who can remember part of the Bay was in the James Bond Film "The Man with the Golden Gun". Flying car, beach, big rock sticking out of the water, the place is gorgeous. We spent the first day swimming and cruising around the small islands most of which are uninhabited and comprise of just rock, vegetation and beaches. Beaches that we spent most of the next day exploring by island hopping with the use of Kayaks, which was nice!! No it was very nice. The day was finished off with a trip to a near by island called Catba where we sampled the nightlife, man alive it was..................DEAD!! we were the only people in one of the 2 night clubs (the other one was shut) and we had about 12 bar staff to ourselves, which made for swift service and there was a dog on the dance floor and by that i mean the four legged variety. This however didn't stop Ollie doing his break dance routine, the dog was not impressed and decided to do a runner. Needless to say we didn't stay long and decided to call it a night and make our way back to the hotel as things clearly did not look like they were going to pick up. Not much grooving and jiving done that night, bring back Hong Kong.

After our three day excursion to the Northeast of Vietnam we headed back to Hanoi for a day to recover before hiring a jeep with a driver and heading to the Northwest to visit some of the hill tribes and a little more trekking. Our first destination was a place called Lai Chao, which is a very small town with one road and about three hotels. Once again being out in the sticks Ollie and myself seemed to attract quite a lot of attention, in fact its wasn't unusual for complete strangers coming up to me and stroking my arm and poking at my afro. Now the stroking i don't mind it was quite soothing, but nobody and i mean nobody touches the FRO. I had to discipline and educate some of the locals on Afro ethics as they clearly did not have a clue, it wasn't pleasant. After the towns population had recovered we managed to hire ourselves a guide and head of to the hills to visit a nearby hill tribe village. Well we were told it was nearby. 5 hours later and through scorching heat we finally arrived at the top of this alleged nearby hill tribe village.

The family had obviously never seen westerners before and were very curious and wary but welcoming and invited us in for lunch. After doing my Masai warrior bit and thoroughly scaring the wits out of children of the tribe (unintentionally of course) we sat down for what i thought would be a quick lunch and chat, the male folk of the family however had there own agenda. We hadn't even finished our boiled eggs when they decided to bring out the home brew happy juice (very strong rice wine). Now this stuff was fairly potent and i thought the guide would only let us have a couple of shots then drag us off. Yeah right!!!!!!!!!!!! after two hours of incoherent chat we were still there being handed shots of this stuff one after the other. All trace of a language barrier soon disappeared and we were communicating like we actually understood each other and toasting practically anything and everything. By the time the guide had decided he'd had enough and dragged us out of there we were in no state to be partaking in a 3 hour hillside descent....................but we did. Ollie fell on his butt a few times and blamed his boots but i'm thinking it had something to do the rice wine in his system, but hey!! i was in no state to be thinking. We did however manage to get back in one piece (don't ask how) and it wasn't long before we were all out for the count. We took it quite easy for the remaining duration of our time in the Northwest and experienced some more of the local culture before heading back to Hanoi.

Vietnam so far has been a lot different to China, it's slightly more backward and the mighty dollar rules supreme. From the moment we stepped on to "Nam" soil we have been herded like cattle and transformed into a walking dollar sign. It's probably why people are constantly staring at us in amazement, you would to if you saw a walking dollar sign with a Fro. Even so we are slowly getting used to it and my bartering skills have improved a great deal. I got 3 pounds off a book today, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it is trust me!!! It can only get better, i'll be fleecing them before long mark my words.

Once again our first couple of weeks here have been hectic and most of it has involved walking. Walking up hills, down hills, across paddy fields, through rivers, through jungles and across the road. So we have decided to head down to central Vietnam to chill out on some of there beaches for a few days before heading down to the Hustle and Bustle of Saigon, which is meant to be ten times worse than Hanoi....................that should be fun.

Might need to figure a way to grow wings or stop time or i could just hire a Tuc-tuc to take me across the road, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i'll figure it out when i get there.

So until then i wish you a bon appetite and a farewell, i need to go do some sit ups and slap on some fake tan i'm gonna be semi naked on a beach for the next 6 days. I'm pretty sure you didn't need to know that much information, but hey!! you do know so live with it.

Peace and i'm out!!!!

Phil