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Published: August 10th 2010
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Good Morning Vietnam! What a great country. We crossed in from China and Vietnam became country number 17 on the world tour. And also a huge welcome to Fiona - Dee’s little sister (clearly she doesn’t like being referred to as such) - who joined us for the start of the Vietnamese leg in Hanoi and will be with us for the rest of our journey through South East Asia. Dee was ever so slightly excited about the prospect of her arrival. Well, it was well time that we both had a little new conversation to entertain us… not that we get tired of talking to each other all of the time!
Hectic Hanoi
Vietnam is buzzing, and Hanoi is the start of it. Mopeds, it’s all about the mopeds. Every narrow little street in Hanoi is overrun with hundreds of mopeds, mainly carrying one or two people, but often carrying whole families or several dozen chickens, a few pigs or a dozen crates of beer. Whatever you can fit on it really and then a little more!?!? It gives the city a great vibe and lively atmosphere.
Extracting a Little Wisdom
So
Teething Problems
Yes, that is Dee Under the Knife we were just beginning to settle into Hanoi, Fiona was just finishing her unpacking when Dee thought she felt a slight twinge in her tooth. You’ll be fine Dee. Don’t worry. Let’s go watch Germany spank England. Cool.
Dee is your face starting to swell up? Have another beer, Lampard thinks he just scored. Ha.
Dee get us another round would you? Sure if it’s still sore ask the bar lady if she has any whiskey, that’ll sort you out (Fiona’s words not mine!)
Cut to the next morning after an alcohol fueled sleep following partying the night away with every German in Hanoi, and in the cold light of day poor Dee had a bit of a swollen face. Why didn’t we notice this last night? Taxi please, 9am Monday morning, Vietnamese dentist. Take a seat; we’ll be here for a while. Will we what? 90 seconds later Dee is sat in the dentist chair. Impressive. And the diagnosis?
“Mam, you will be fine and able to finish your travels, but I am afraid your wisdom tooth will have to stay here with us.”
No. Disaster. This is a proper operation, and here In
Vietnam?
But the staff were excellent, really exceptionally good. There was only one little dental nurse who spoke English, but she was so good to us. Dee had a week on antibiotics to cure the infection and bring the swelling down before the op. Then we rocked up on the following Saturday morning and the team set to work. There were some minor complications and at one stage there were 4 dentists and a nurse looking into poor Dee’s mouth. They even joked (in Vietnamese which our little nurse translated so we wouldn’t feel excluded) that it was unlikely that Dee would be rushing back to a dentist any time soon.
Halong Bay
Whilst awaiting “The Op” there was a brief trip to Halong Bay east of Hanoi and home to some of the most stunning landscape anywhere in the world. We went on a beautiful boat cruise around the bay and met Helen and her son Wolfie, and the lovely Thuy (pronounced Twee, which meant that Niall spent a few days with Dee, Fi and Thuy!!). Thuy is originally from Vietnam but now lives in Hackney 10 minutes from our house in London. We
A New Friend
Dee, Niall, Fiona and Mike after a wonderful dinner in Hanoi shop in the same Asda. Small world.
They also had a Karaoke machine on board for when the sun went down but unfortunately nothing in English. Ah well, sure the words are on the screen and while they might be all Vietnamese, after a few beers how hard can it be? Apparently, our accents were very good… although I’m not sure that says a lot for our singing.
A New Friend
Back to Hanoi and the night before “The Op” we met up with Mike McCabe, a friend of a friend who we met for dinner twice while we were in Hanoi. The excellent introduction to Vietnamese food, arguably the best food we have had on the trip, was only bettered by the delightful conversation. Mike gave us a lovely insight into Vietnam, its history and culture. A lovely last meal for Dee before she headed into a week of frozen yoghurt.
A Little Hoi Anese Retail Therapy
So then there was “The Op”, and to be fair we gave her a day to recover before putting poor Dee on an overnight bus trip south out of Hanoi. But it was
Niall Says Farewell to the Shopping
Hopefully, it will make it all the way home now from Hoi An.... not just poor Dee that was suffering. Poor Fiona admitted as the bus pulled out that the longest bus journey she had been on was to Mayo and “That was one long bus journey!” This might be a little bit longer….
And so the Three Musketeers arrived into Hoi An where at least two of them were in a for a huge treat. You see, Hoi An is home to over 200 tailors. And they make everything, like everything. So we tested them. Can you make suits? Dresses? Shirts? Coats? Skirts? Cool, we’ll take them all. Sure Dee is in need of a little cheering up so managed to get most of that via some serious retail therapy. 36 pieces in total or 18 kilos of clothes. No doubt the finery will be on display once we get back to London.
So at what age do you officially become old?
Now you see there are one or two younger travelers in this part of the world. Like little gap year travelers (aka little GYTs). So one night we get talking to a few of them in a bar, and these guys hired bikes and are
riding them south through Vietnam, Top Gear style. Usual conversation, how long have you been travelling? Where have you been? Etc. and then…
Little GYT: Is that your girlfriend?
Niall: Nope, she’s actually my wife.
Little GYT: And how old are you?
Niall: I just turned 29 actually, while we were in India.
Little GYT: Wow, cool. That’s really great. To be travelling at your age, I mean that is so great. Good for you!
Niall: Ahh………
Finally, Some Beach Time and Another New Friend
Next stop the beach, we stopped for a few days on Na’Trang where we bumped into some old friends from Cork and then onto Mui Ne where we met our new travelling companion Sile “The Legend” Murray and there was much fun had by all. We even got a little sand boarding in; well more like throwing ourselves down some sand dunes on pieces of plastic but clearly we were very glamorous in doing so.
Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon
And then onto Hoooooooooooooo Chi Minh City as we have taken to calling it. Another lively place similar but yet
There Go the Girls!
Sile, Dee and Fiona take on those sand dunes in Mui Ne not quite like Hanoi. Same same but different. A few more beers, a look around the Vietnam war museum, some more shopping, a few plates of noodles. You could easily get used to Vietnam.
Unfortunately, it was soon time to leave though and after nearly 3 weeks in Vietnam it was time for us to head north to catch the ever so slow boat up the Mekong and over the border into Cambodia. Will be in touch again soon with all of our tales from there.
See you all soon,
Niall and Dee
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Heidi Small
non-member comment
Namtastic!
Three more amazing weeks (bar the emergency dental surgery, wondered when that would feature in the blog). Me thinks Vietnam will certainly feature in your top 10 list of amazing experiences in the MATWT (McCarthy Around the World Tour). Really great pictures as well, especiallly the one of you two taking a break from boarding. Not many installments left to read, however really looking forward to seeing you when you get back and seeing all the new finery. Miss you!