Wednesday 17 August 2005

Faith In Vietnam

Well, i've been mostly overcharged today, given the wrong directions and have had attempts at theft of my belongings but I think i've gained some faith in the Vietnamese people. I think it was ust the ones in Hanoi that pissed me off so much - there's not nearly as much glaring and scowling down here in Hue as there was up north. Ha Long Bay was probably the worst - when we went to dinner there was a pretty big group of us so we pushed the three assigned tables together only to have them pulled apart again; we tried to explain by gestures and talking (and I KNOW they spoke some English) but they just shook their heads angrily and pulled them apart. And they made sure that there was an even number of people on each table to the point of forcefully seperating a lesbian Italian couple (one could tell by the overt PDAs displayed CONSTANTLY between them) - I'm sitting with her; NO! There!; No, I am sitting with HER!; and him violently pointing at another seat ...
Everyone seems very nice down here - the tour operator who may actually speak pretty good English but so LOUDLY and with such a strange accent that I just had to shake my head and tell her - I don't understand a word you're saying; repeat it S-L-O-W-L-Y ... I think i'm going on a boat trip tomorrow - I really can't be sure; the people in the shops; the guy in the Internet café was brilliant - when I couldn't connect my PDA to their old PC I googled a wi-fi spot in Hue (and let me tell you, they have been in every city i've been in) and he gave me directions to it (a new hotel in the city) - I was wandering in the vague direction and the guy came up to me on his motorbike and demanded that he take me there - unfortunattly it turned out to be still under construction but it was the thought that counts; I later found one outside one of the 5 star hotels and I didn't want to hang around too long in case one of the snooty car moving guys thought I was staking the place out.
Also, stopped at a little shop for a pepsi and was cornered by four of the cutest children i've seen on this trip ... one little girl, Dang, was obviously the ring leader and she had a little brother and two older sisters ... their mother and grandmother worked the shop and they annoyed tourists - they snatched my PDA off me and I managed to get it back by swapping it for my camera, which Dang drained the batteries thereof very promptly (photos will follow of these ones because they were certainly the highlight of the day). Despite most people over here being much nicer than up north (thus far) nearly all of the children ar super friendly - I think they must learn to despite westerners when they hit high school or something.
Also had a very strange Skype conversation with Robespiere this afternoon - he still hasn't got a microphone so it was like talking to a mute person - I would talk and he would message back - it seemed to work pretty well although I did get some pretty strange stares in the street by talking into my PDA like a star trek com unit.
And disaster struck when I dropped my vegemite jar and smashed the bottom of t - it's still there but it's not going to make any more journeys - I think i'm going to have to have a bit of a binge before I leave Hue.

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