Open Eyes and new experiences in 'Nam'

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Hour: unknown, sun has set. Location: unkown..somewhere on the Mekong


so much for filling this blog with coherent tales of what i've been seeing and doing! turns out we're seeing and doing so much that sweaty and poorly lit internet cafes are not where i'm spending much of my time..best way to have it guess!



anyway...my Austenesque scribing has escaped me so i'm gonna give it to you blunt...this is what i've been experiencing...


...getting caught in the rain for the first time took me by surprise...bucket of water over the head is nothing compared to the monsoon...leaves your skin tingling more than any massage..



...learning to cross the road Vietnamese style...dont wait for the tide of motocylcles and mopeds to stop...they dont. ever. so you walk out....straight into them...and they part around you...horns sounding...nothing to worry about. just breathe. and try not to run in fear

alive so far..i'll let you know when my luck runs out...



...My My Arthouse in Saigon (our guesthouse), home to the little goblin man who reckoned he had 'special eyes' that could tell what good girls we were (as opposed to the Westernised local girls who traipse around in strappy tops and play cards in the streets...gosh...how 'bad'!!...if only he knew us...we are being so good and conservative here!)



...$2/hr massages from blind women who's hands are like feathers and whose voices would put Ariel or Jasmin to shame! pure heaven..and hopefully a more ethical way to spend our money on co-operatives like that which employ people who would find it v.hard to get work otherwise.



...brought to tears at the War Remnants Museum in HCMC...broken families and deformed children from agent orange/napalm and heartbreaking stories of US brutality were horrible to see, but the section on photojournalism during the war (it was the first time journalists were covering a world event in such on-the-ground detail) was also shocking...people died hideously so that they could show what was going on in the country. and for you boys....loads of great BIG bombing machines...Grrr!


...cant be bothered to walk?? get on the back of a moto-taxi...moped driving was the best with Kips...down right scary with Lorenzo and contrary to my initial gutrenching feeling, perfectly functional with random vietnamese drivers, who through some act of holy intervention never make you fall off...despite swerving like no tomorrow and whizzing in and out of gaps that leave your knees with 5cm space! pure genius...A and B have never been so exhiliating to go between! especially when you have a backpack on, and two bits of luggage hanging of your arms like today in Chau Doc

...$3 manicure and pedicure never goes a miss...who said travelling couldnt be glamourous??

...visited Cu Chi tunnels (with a busload of Pennsylvanian Amish jocks) that the Viet Cong dug (some 250km!) throughout the countryside around HCMC...crazy tiny tunnels to hide from the US and counter attack, even a little girl like me had trouble fitting through!! we could have also fired off a round of ammo for a buck or so, somehow our clumsy tendancies encouraged us to stay away from the firepower and check out instead how rice pancakes were made...fascinating! ...no, actually, it is


...had drinks at mexican bar with vietnamese 'mexican; singers...amazing!! got a little homesick for good old Mexico..nothing a few tequilas and corona couldnt sort out..

so...that was all in 3days in HCMC and there is so much more that i cant possibly remember, its scary at how fast moments and sights slip out of your memory...we've been in Mekong Delta for 2days now..sordid details are all yours soon...

love x


p.s. photos to come...

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