My ever-so-slightly-less-palatial 'Palace'

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Well I've moved hotels. In the beginning I was all like "Oh, I'm uncomfortable staying in a place this nice, there's so many poor people in Vietnam, blah blah blah" - but it's amazing how QUICKLY one adjusts to luxury...

My budget could only support luxury for two weeks, however. So I've moved to a hotel 2 doors down. I was staying in "The Classic: 2" (or as I liked to think, in a low-intellect, Arnie-inspired-voice-inside-my-head, "Classic: THE SEQUEL"...) Next door to that is The Prince Hotel, which is where I thought I was moving to when a guy I know said he had a friend working at The Prince and he could get me a good price there. He was talking half the price of "THE SEQUEL" and I thought 'ooh, that's good, cause The Prince is really nice'. So he took me to show me, and we went right past The Prince, to the ever-so-slightly-less-glamourous "Prince Cafe Hotel" next door (which does not have a cafe, mind you). What is up with these guys and coming up with original names???

Hotels here are extremely skinny, because they pay tax according to the width of the frontage, not the total area. So the result is building upwards. There is one room per floor, seriously. Unlike most places, where you pay more for a higher room because of the view, in a world without elevators you pay less and less the higher you have to climb. Which brings me to my cheap room, a glorious EIGHTY FLOOR steps up from the lobby. And I'm not talking about gentle wee little cute steps here, oh no, these are monster high, thigh-breaking steps. I have to stop for 2 rests on the way up. (I have, however, gone down a hole on my belt already...)

Also, the air conditioner doesn't work. I had to perform magic with some bandaids (I couldn't find my sticky tape) on the 'aerial' so the TV would work. The bath room is teeeeny tiny and when you have a shower the whole room floods. And I may or may not have bedbugs (it's surprisingly hard to tell). I do, however, have a very ELEVATED view of the surrounding rooftops, where I can watch cats (and dogs!!) walking on the roofs of people's houses.

Last night I was relaxing in my room (actually I was swearing and sweating while trying to fix my TV antenna, but that sounds rather less well-mannered...), when I heard water falling, lots of water, outside my door. However, it wasn't raining outside, and the area outside my hotel door is actually indoors, so I thought the sudden influx of water to be rather strange. I opened my door, and the *inside* of my hotel was raining on me. A lot. Oh to be able to afford a hotel room that comes with a phone in it. I had to rush through the downpour and miniature flood, then down 84 BIG STEPS to get help. I ran into the lobby, puffing and dripping wet, and found the hotel guys eating their dinner. 'Water, Water', I'm saying and pointing, and 'Help'. Unfortunately, in 2 weeks of Vietnamese classes I didn't learn "There's a giant leak on the top floor, outside my room, and the hotel is flooding. Kindly leave your dinner for later, and run to the top floor to help me, or we'll all be drowned!!"

Oh no, my Vietnamese teacher's priorities were all like 'How to say what country you're from', and 'How to buy things at the market' - she didn't even think to equip me for emergencies!!! They didn't understand me, and said 'Yes, yes, later, later' (a common response to everything I say...) They did say 'Ooh wet', and laugh at me, however. I mean, really, if someone is out of breath and dripping wet and has just come from INSIDE the hotel, aren't there very few things that they could be trying to tell you???!!!

Anyway, I made the young guy run up the steps with me (*UP* EIGHTY FOUR STEPS), and he said 'Ah, electric', and then went and fixed it. No idea what that means...

Then, the next morning, when running late for work, all sweaty and crumpled from 'sleeping' through a night with a *minimum* of 26 degrees (humidity 95%)... I went to have a shower, AND I HAD NO WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too much, too little. Both are clearly a problem.

Or maybe I'm just too fussy.

Speaking of water... (seems to be somewhat of an obsession - interesting. Perhaps it has something to do with the HEAT. Or the fact that I keep nearly drowning in the stuff... Fortunately my shower has very little water pressure, so no danger there...), the other day I was going to go out and try to find a house, but I thought I'd just have a little nap, the kind that the Vietnamese have in the middle of the day - they sleep for 30 minutes, then wake themselves up. So I thought I could do that too, but then woke up 3 hours later... ANYWAY, I was just about to go out househunting, when I saw some scary clouds coming, and I thought it might rain, so I decided to wait until after the rain to go out. There was lots of lightning and stuff, then RAIN (I mean R.A.I.N. - serious stuff). After a while I looked outside, and the whole street was flooding. And the water kept coming up and up. I live on a bustling street lined with hotels and restaurants, all 3 or 4 steps up from the footpath. Luckily, because the water got to thigh-deep!!! I know, because I was watching people walk in it, and ride motorbikes through it, even bicycles! (great exercise! who needs a gym??!) All the rubbish was swirling around in the water (the next day I walked on a dead mouse - nice). Then I heard lots of honking, and a car was coming! It came along the narrow street, creating a giant wash, and the waves went up and into the shops and restaurants. So then the shopkeepers were all yelling at the cars to go away or slow down, but more and more kept coming (VERY entertaining to watch, I tell you!) and they were trying to sweep out the water with little thatched brooms. Then one car came along particularly quickly, making a nice big 'bow wave' (bonnet wave?), and I could see another car coming from around the corner, also going quite fast, but they couldn't see each other. When they got close to meeting, their waves crashed into each other and made a giant wave that went up over the bonnet and over the top of the windscreen of the second car!! Not built for underwater travel, the car promptly stopped. In the middle of the road. In the middle of the flood. So for the next hour or so I got to watch people, motorbikes and bicycles manouvering around the marooned car. Tres entertaining!!

Tonight things have been comparatively calm. My TV goes, I have water so far (fingers crossed), BUT my clothes that I gave to the 'Hotel Laundry Service' have not been returned. Due to the fact that I can only fit one Tshirt in my teeny tiny bathroom sink when I'm washing, and my 'traveller's clothesline' is strung up going around a corner, I eventually gave in and gave all my clothes to the hotel to get washed. And I do mean ALL my clothes. I have one sweaty shirt and pair of pants that I'm wearing, and now they're saying 'tomorrow, tomorrow' in a deja-vu-Indian sort of way. Oh dear god I hope I get my clothes back tomorrow. Vietnamese clothes do not sell my size. Help.

Oh the upside, I am now a working-woman-of-the-world (no, not like a 'working woman'!). I started on Monday, and have just finished my first week. I consider myself extremely clever because I have worked out how to take the bus there (actually, a French woman showed me how to do it, but I *did* ask her...) Traffic is amazing to watch. Usually I have to stand up, and get thrown around while the bus driver violently accelerates and brakes, and the people on the bus laugh at me. Foreigners don't take buses, it's quite a novelty. (For me too, I've never liked a bus.)

I wake up at SIX THIRTY (yecchhh!!) and walk to the bus stop, get thrown around on the bus for half an hour, walk to walk, then arrive, sweating (my skin will be so clear!) at my desk at 8.30, ready to start work. I then die of heat exhaustion for the rest of the day, while the other staff complain that the fan is on too high, and they're cold...

They've given me some interesting work, actually, and I'm really happy with my job. I don't think I'll be going out to 'the field' and doing hands-on community development work while I'm here, but I can support them in the office with my computer, writing and English skills. I can see how they really need that, and how I can't work with people in the community without Vietnamese. They've put me in charge of 'Fund Raising', which sounds gruesome, but actually involves searching the internet for organisations that fund projects and finding out their application criteria and deadlines. Then I'll be helping to write the proposals to get grants. They've also factored me in to do some office-based project work, with one of the project teams. The staff are amazing!! They're all under 30, have been doing community development work for years, and are incredibly skilled, professional, motivated and inspiring!!! They're doing it because they REALLY want to!!!

On my second day someone important had a meeting with me to discuss my 3 month work plan, and it involves lots of work! Amongst other things, I will be designing a project to distribute birthing kits to villages, that someone donated from Australia. No, I don't know what a 'birthing kit' involves either. But I do know we have 17,000 of them!!! The project will involve health education about hygiene and safe practices for giving birth. Very interesting!

And then yesterday, I had to do a 1 month work plan, saying what I will be doing for each day in June! It was great because I really had to plan and prioritise and work out the order for what I have to do. I tell you, these people have got it going on!!!

(Please send your money).

And on that note, the thesis comes to an end!!

It's raining again, but not at flood level (I don't think).

Off to study some Vietnamese! (stupid difficult language!!)

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Comments

[Larry]

Too Funny
Even though it's the third world thingy..., it's still hilarious reading your blog about day to day life in Saigon. I guess that we're in the west taking something as basic like running water for granted. It seems you're still having a good time doing a noble work helping people (besides all the chores, of course). --Larry