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Published: July 31st 2006
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Hoi An Harbour
The quiet road running along the river in Hoi An. The trip through Vietnam had thus far taken us through Saigon, Dalat, and wound up between the Central Highlands with the Easy Riders. From the tranquility of the open road, we found ourselves once again on the tourist trail. After five days of seeing only my companions and the local people en route; the sheer amount of bodies, especially travelers, in Hoi An slapped me back into life. Those motorbikes, the Easy Riders, the open road, I could have continued like that for weeks, even months. Still, Hoi An was there to be explored, probed, and I felt guilty that my mind was not giving her the attention she deserved.
Hoi An is a beautiful little port town, with low, traditional housing, and leafy lanes. Renowned for being a tailor’s town, no not a sailor’s town, a tailor’s town; every other shop flaunts snazzy well cut suits, jackets, and dresses. In retrospect I bitterly regret not indulging in this fashion pervert’s paradise. The sales pitch can often become aggressive though. One particular representative from a tailor’s shop, collared us on our first afternoon, then in the evening, and the next morning; she would not stop hassling us. In the end
Lizard Trap
On bicycles we found a small village and these kids showed us their animals and how to catch lizards? we resorted to violence to stop her following us.
To indulge is a wonderful pleasure. To indulge after five days on the back of a motorbike, is a wicked necessity. Indulge, we did: pizza, red wine, cake, pasta, red wine, chocolate, cocktails, and more red wine. Is this what backpacking is all about? Where are all the hardships, hassles, and obstacles? This was not roughing it?
In order to burn off some of said food and drink, we hired bicycles on our second day. Took a ride through the market, then followed the water’s edge heading out of the town, ending up in a village where we hung out with some kids. The kids were catching lizards with a wire lasso and, quite frankly, teasing them beyond acceptability. Still, this was their yard and their game, not the place to lecture them on animal rights issues. They proceeded to show us the animals around the village: pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats. The greatest beast of them all returned home with the father after working in the paddy fields, a massive water buffalo. I kindly posed so it could have its photograph taken with me. In exchange for this,
Lizard
"No Lizards were hurt in the taking of this photograph." the buffalo gave me a nice blood stain on my jeans from a bleeding mosquito wound.
The following day we visited the ancient temples of My Son. The temple sites were truly magnificent but after Angkor I was a little ‘templed-out’, plus the heat was blistering.
On the third day in Hoi An, my traveling comrade and I went our separate ways. Chelsea was diverting her trip to include a visit to her boyfriend in Thailand, while I would continue the planned route through Hue, and up to Hanoi.
Hue itself was rather unappealing; however the citadel of Hue was awesome. Venturing inside the Old City walls feels like stepping back in time. The noise levels drop and the roads become lanes, the cars become bicycles. It actually felt like a quaint English village, without the Morris Dancers. A cylclo driver took me around the interior of the Old City, passing by beautiful lakes, quiet lanes, and bomb scars from the American war. During the war the North launched the Tet Offensive, a massive offensive operation of which Hue was hit the hardest. My very informative and knowledgeable driver dropped my off at the gates of the
Yes that is me on a cow?
The father returned from the fields and encouraged us to jump aboard, covering myself with cattle blood in the process. citadel, outside of which stands the highest flagpole in Vietnam. Housed within the citadel walls is an opera house, library, grand hall, and many other splendid buildings.
My stay in Hue was brief as I was anxious to get to Hanoi, the city I intended to live in for the next year. Arriving in Hanoi would however also signal the end of the trip. Once in Hanoi I would need to find work, housing, and basically stop moving for the first time in several months.
Hanoi is a wonderful, wonderful city and I would have loved to have made it my home. The work situation there however did not favour an inexperienced, young, British, male. Found myself getting increasingly desperate to find work; nothing. Chelsea returned and picked up a few part time gigs (being American, female, with some tutoring experience helped). Even she only scrapped together about 15 hours a week. I was faced with a difficult decision to make. How could I leave a city that sells beer at 12 pence sterling a glass, was I mad? Not mad just skint. After 5 weeks of CV dropping, a few interviews, and a bunch of rejections it
Japanese Bridge
A Japanese Bridge in Hoi An. was time to leave Hanoi.
Where would I go? What would I do? An opportunity landed on my lap just at the right time. Through the school I did my TEFL course with, I received an e-mail from a recruitment company, in Korea. Korea? Where did that come from? The incentives were extremely enticing: excellent pay, free housing, free return airfare, end-of-contact bonus, medical insurance, settlement money. Did I want to live in Korea though? Immediately I purchased a Korea travel book and begun to research. I liked what I discovered. The application process was the next thing to overcome. It took about six weeks for the application to go through, which involved sending: degree and TEFL certificates, police clearance checks, photographs, essays, questionnaires, signed and sealed university transcripts.
My Vietnam visa was set to expire but I was still only part way through this lengthy application process. I left Vietnam and returned to Bangkok.
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John Scrivener
non-member comment
Haha, good work Kev - not many people get to share bodily fluids with a farm yard animal, looks like you and that cow had a special love, a love that dare not say its name. I'll stop yabbering rubbish now.