back in the USSR

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Late November

Not only has fintan managed to extricate us from a rather nasty looking karaoke situation, but tonite he saved us from a stabbing at a local bia hoi joint….me…I never let go of the bottle just in case….

basically we got into an altercation with some decidely dodgy looking VN guys at four in the morning at the Bia Hoi place up the road...they were pretty serious looking guys and judging from the way the waiters and local customners made themselves scarce at their arrival i'm just glad that we got out of there in one piece...I can't remember a great deal of the incident but i do remember Fintan (who has a reasonable grasp of Vietnamese) awakening me and Jake from our glorious drinken ignorance with the words 'We should go, this guy (the guy with the knife, that is) says he going to stab us....ahh the peaaceful demeanour of the drunk Vietnamese n'er-do-well...


December

For the whole of December I was back in the UK, having a long needed catch up with family and friends…Was great to see everyone…and I don’t say that lightly, it was truly wonderful to see all of you…I miss you all…even Neil, you drunken bastard…

Anyway, it was just what I needed…a dose of home. And now I’m back on the foreign thing for another stint…

January

After a rather turbulent flight from Doha to Ho Chi Minh City (made worse by the increased security at Doha airport…and no, my orange tags denoting I was rapid transfer did fuck all) I arrived in balmy Saigon…it was good to be back…I thought this at the beginning of December as I connected to fly home…I miss this city…it’s nuts enough to be truly exotic yet friendly enough to call home…at least for a while…

I checked into one of the places I stayed when I first got here 18 months ago…not that cheap, but comfy as hell and right in the middle of everything. I had three days in the Hoach before heading back to Hanoi on Jan 1st. I met up with my mate Fintan who also works in Hanoi now, had a few beers, checked out the food festival on the park and basically loitered, sometimes with intent, around Saigon for a few days. Caught up with some mates, got smashed on NYE, went to the jazz club (nice), went to this ridiculous VN place called Nam Bo (five meats) where they the prizes on New Years Eve included a couple of brand new Hondas, an all you can eat for a year pass to said restaurant, and a truckload of lunar new year calendars…guess which I won…(hint: I tick off the days waiting again for my chance to win a shiny new bike and stuff my fat face for free…I lie, I actually left the calendar at Amir’s place, he’s probably ticking off those days on my hard won calendar right now)

I was back in Hanoi on the 1st, worked a few days and then was promptly struck down by something rotten that caused me to be pretty much bedridden for a few days…by the time I arose from my pit I had a bad back because even a fakir would refuse to sleep on the crappy mattress I’ve got…three days later i fell off my bike after an old lady transporting her mobile kitchen decided to break sharply in front of me…I narrowly avoided being coated in day old noodles but my right side took a bit of a beating as I crashed to the floor on Hai Ba Trung St…still, I’m right as rain now, albeit missing a wing mirror (the one I like to hum the theme from The Great Escape and wink at myself into as I ride along as it happens )

The past couple of weeks I’ve pretty much been working everyday, been teaching this exam class which is something new for me…it’s pretty tedious but I kind of like it…and it’s pretty good experience (yawn). I’m hoping to catch up with Alan in Taiwan sometime this year so may check out Taipei for jobs whilst I’m there, but I think it’s likely that I’ll stay in VN for a while yet and do another teaching qualification, so that I can realistically come a work somewhere like Spain or Portugal and actually earn enough to live…we’ll see…I’m also hoping to be able to take a holiday in India sometime this year, as well as taking my folks round SE Asia…

Only two more weeks left in Hanoi, then I fly back to HCMC…Iris and Marcus have kindly agreed to put me up for a couple of weeks, give me time to find my own apartment. In the meantime, I hope everyone’s 2010 is shaping up well…take care…

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