Back on the road again......

Well after 5 months of unexciting, non-travel related experiences, ive decided that it is well and truly time to get back on the open road and start blogging again. Of course im going to start by having a moan, well..... gripe I must and gripe I will!!!
I do hate long haul flights! So, in my wisdom I thought I would split my flight up into 3 sectors, to give me a rest between each flight. (The real reason is because im a cheap skate, but i’ll keep that one just between you and me!)
So, after a 7 hour flight to Bahrain and then another 7 hour flight to Bangkok im feeling slightly the worse for wear, my legs have lost all their feeling and it feels like ive crushed my lower lumber vertebrate, ive got the worst tension headache ive ever had and to top it all off I can feel a serious bout of jet lag coming on! Despite these ailments, I spent a few hours entertaining myself ‘people watching’ as I was waiting for my connecting flight to Saigon......oops sorry, I mean Ho Chi Minh City...... The most interesting aspect of my brief wait at Bangkok Airport simply had to be watching the old boys coming in off of their flights to meet their ‘escorts’ for the next few weeks/months/years (delete as applicable) Deep down inside there was this overwhelming hope festering within me ….. ohh I do so hope these ‘young ladies’ turn out to be lady boys hoo hoo hoo…..
Anyway, after falling asleep and almost missing my flight, I jumped aboard a Boeing 717 (which is simply a flash name for dilapidated old DC9s that have seen better days and have just had a couple of go faster engines strapped to them) piloted by what I can only describe as a Top Gun reject and he swiftly whisked us off to Vietnam. Ten minutes later, we are standing at Saigon immigration waiting for a visa and even my rucksack had made it all this way intact, amazing!
My first impressions of ‘Nam and my new home town of Bien Hoa (which, incidentaly, is located about 35km to the NE of Saigon) have been good ones. Its clean, lovely and warm, everybody seems to go about doing their own thing without a care in the world and most importantly, the food is great and the beer is dirt cheap. The food is actually amazing! Being a fussy git, I usually sit and pick at anything thrust forth under my chin, however, so far ive been blown away by the culinary delights that await you here. Scrummy beef and pork, cooked so that it melts in your mouth, big bowls of steaming noodles with generous amounts of tender chicken and amazing vegetables that ive never, ever seen in my life before. Some of the fruit looks like it has been shipped in from the moons round Uranus! The Dragon Fruit is the only one ive had the chance to try so far, this tasting somewhat like a Kiwi Fruit, although scrummier :) The people are lovely too, especially the laydeeeeeesss….. anyway, erherm…. im not here for all that, ive been bitten 3 times already and im not going there again, no way!!!
So, why am I here? Quite simply, I fancied having a go at teaching. Whether or not im going to make a success of it is another question however after taking 4 lessons im still here and the students haven’t chewed me up and spat me out ….. yet!!! Next week will be the true test though...... an entire week of teaching.... 12 lessons, will I be able to do it??? Watch this space!!!
The students are actually wonderful and are quite forgiving. Im now known as Mr Nick although im still debating as to whether or not I like that title, it does tend to make me sound rather old and decrepit. Its quite hard going actually, but I will put that down to inexperience more than anything else as im constantly being told that it all gets easier with time. The lessons themselves are not the problem, it’s the lesson plans that get to you and the preparation often takes longer than the lesson itself. Needless to say, im enjoying it and it’s a good way of supplementing your income while travelling! Thankfully, im shacked up with Mr Mark, who is the director of studies at the school and probably the best English teacher here in Vietnam. We have this lovely air conditioned 3 bedroom house with all the mod cons, a drain, a bucket and a box of matches to light the fire with…………
One of the most amusing aspects of being here though is that it is quite obvious that most Vietnamese have never or hardly ever seen westerners close up and respond accordingly. You are greeted with smiles, waves and the occasional greeting wherever you go, being over 6ft tall doesnt help either as you tend to stand out like a sore thumb. The older folks just stand there and stare, bless em……
Everybody and his dog has a moped or scooter and trying to join the rat race while trying to get from A to B is fraught with all kinds of wonderful dangers and intrigues. At least you don’t have to worry about hitting huge piles of rubbish or cows here as you do in India, however, it seems that Vietnamese road rules are very similar to India’s ie, virtually non-existent. Everybody pulls out in front of you, if you want to make a left turn then it’s simply a case of driving into the incoming traffic and weaving your way through until you find a way to get out on the other side, which is great fun……
While Vietnam is still one of the few Communist countries left in the world, it seems that the Government take a very moderate attitude towards most things. Religion is practiced freely here and you are quite free to come and go without virtually any restrictions whatsoever.
The smiling, omnipresent Uncle Ho looks down on you wherever you go and its no wonder he has such a big grin on his face! Vietnam is at present one of the worlds fastest growing economies and this is evident by the amount of new buildings that are being thrown up and the price of land and property in this area. Despite this, the rents are quite reasonable and its still very cheap to live here, so im probably going to be based in Bien Hoa for quite a while. The intention is to use this town as a base for seeing other parts of this country, taking the odd long weekend every now and then and then travelling further a field when I have the funds to do so.
Im going to try and get away over Christmas and there is also a big holiday coming up at the end of January, so Mark and I will more than probably take a week long trip over to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Right, well thats enough from me for now, guess what, ive got a lesson to plan....... later

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