To Vietnam

Now in Vietnam having stayed at Nat's house for 2 nights in Bangkok. It was fascinating and made so much better (and cheaper) by the friends that I've got there through living at International House. Firstly, to be able to stay with a Thai family and eat some homecooked Thai meals was something that most tourists don't get and definitely worthwhile. Secondly, the day out with Tee Wee was one of the best days so far. Since he left Melbourne at the start of the year he's been living here and working for UNESCO. Being taken round a city by someone who lives their is the best way to see more than just what is in the tourist guides. So apart from the mandatory markets and stuff we went to an amazing food court better than anything in Australia, the interesting shopping centres and the cinema, which was worth it just for the paying respects to the king bit at the start. However, we are now in Vietnam and have just left Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon for a beautiful little town on the coast called Mui Ne. Ho Chi Minh City was interesting because of how busy it was, the remnants of the War and the attitude that the people themselves showed about the war. But I guess its always interesting to be in a place where any person who killed an american (in the war) is a hero. Our welcome to Vietnam was great as our taxi from the airport got stuck in a traffic jam caused by people on bikes having just stopped all across the road to watch Vietnam play soccer against Singapore on a big screen. I still don't know the score of the game as the taxi driver said it was 'one, one, zero'. Also went on a day trip to a Cao Dai temple and the Cu Chi tunnels. About 90% of southern Vietnamese people follow the Cao Dai religion which is a unique mixture of Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and a couple of others. Every day at 6am, midday, 6pm and midnight they hold a ceremony in their colourful church. About 100 of the locals in either all white, red, blue or yellow robes slowly parade in and sit in perfect order and prey for a while with the backing of traditional vietnamese music being played at the back of the church. However there are about 300 tourist who all stand on a balcony that goes round the inside of the church and take photos and talk about how nice it looks then get bored and leave within 5 minutes, taking more photos while walking out. More important to take a trophy-photo as proof that they were there than to actually take any interest in what is there in the first place. The music was the most interesting part and I stood by the group playing for quite a while. However it was hard to justify my close position to those who had cameras and pushed me out of the way to get the perfect shot as the walked past. It was strange. The Cu Chi tunnels were good. Anyway, now I am sitting about three metres away from the beach just outside our little bungalow. You've probably seen the perfect beach image before on postcards or travel shows so I don't really need to tell you about the one I'm in now. I'll elaborate on the tunnels and Mui Ne later, right now I'm gonna kick back and listen to the Beautiful Girls, read 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', drink a 50 cent bottle of beer and watch the lights of the fishing boats as they return to shore. I seem to be doing a lot of this. Oh well...