War and (very little) Peace (and quiet)

With Pompey safely in the FA Cup final and temperatures soaring into the 'my face is about to melt off' range we took the next day very leisurely only really leaving the hostel to explore local markets and go back to the incredible Indian restaurant we had frequented the previous night. We did however decided it was about time, considering how stressful the last 7 1/2 months have been to get a proper massage the next day. To try and increase our positive Karma and live to our new Buddhist ideals, we went to the 'Seeing Hands' massage parlour where all the staff are blind. That however did not reduce their ability to massage and we were treated to an hour of both relaxing and invigorating enjoyment as we seem to have more knots than a Boy' Scouts camp. I was told I was so tense and knotted I must lead "a very stressful life"...little does she know! This 4 pound massage finished off a good few days in Phnom Penh and so we headed for Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon) via the most backwards border crossing to date, why take all the passports if you have to re-hand them all back out 5 minutes later and on roads where there simply were no rules....

With plenty on the agenda and not much time in HCMC, we headed straight out in the morning and started our city wander that took in the market, independence palace and also the Vietnam War Museum. Not being experts on the war, we went in ready to learn and understand this large part of recent history. This however did not stop us being shocked at the facts, figures and pictures on show, in particular relating to the 'Agent Orange' chemical the US used with little restraint. Again posing questions of why noone stopped America and why other nations like NZ and OZ joined in to help?! Needless to say, definitely not Americas' finest hour. We then headed to book an Open Tour bus ticket to get us all the way to Hanoi, in doing so we found an operator that would give us a $5 discount if we went and spoke English to some local kids for an hour or so. Delighted to be presented such an excellent opportunity (and save some money) we quickly agreed and went back to the agent at the required time ready for pick up.

When we arrived our Moto-Taxis were ready and waiting to take us to the school, and having not taken one yet we were more than happy to jump on. However it only took 3 nano seconds before pure fear set in as HCMC traffic is crazy with scooters and motorbikes in their thousands on the road weaving in and out as they please. Thankfully, we made it to the school in one piece and met Mr Lee, the wise old Asian man who ran the programme and told us how we were to help the teachers teach the kids. So by now its gone from 'talk to' to 'help teach'. It wasn't long however before we had 40 kids each and a microphone and no teachers in sight! The next 90 minutes was then spent attempting to keep wildly excited Vietnamese children entertained with no lesson or native tongue, which was a task that certainly took us out of our comfort zone, by some considerable margin. With the bell marking the end of the chaos, we jumped back on the Moto's for some after dark road mayhem, cue a long lie down once back in the tranquility of our hostel. The volunteering did prove to be an excellent experience and well worth the effort; see, and you though we had just come traveling for one big Jollly-boys outing!


Our last day in HCMC was spent on a one-day trip to the Mekong Delta to see where this mighty river met the ocean. Unfortunately, it meant another early start, but with our guide, who's English name was 'Stiffler', bantering over the Mic and the rest of Saga-aged group chuckling the journey there wasn't too arduous. Once there, we started a whirlwind trip that in the space of a few hours managed to cover a boat trip across the Mekong to one of the islands, fruit tasting and experiencing local music, small wooden rowing boat trip (with cool pointed hats included), bee-hive visiting, honey tasting and snake holding, coconut sweet-making and tasting, horse drawn carriage ride and finally a slightly more leisurely lunch. Although busy, the trip didn't seem too rushed and was a great way to see the Mekong with limited time, which is an hugely impressive river that will be seeing more of on route through Laos. We also sat with two older gentleman over lunch who explained how to get a Retirement Visa for Thailand and how many 18 year old girlfriends that had, certainly one way to retire.

We are now in Nra Trang, Vietnam's beach haven. To get here we took a type of bus even we haven't seen yet, with no seats just reclining beds which sounds amazing, but with the roads needing a fresh layer of tarmac, can be liable to a lot of bouncing around. Still two more of those trips to endure before Hanoi. Today, after a cheeky power-nap, we have strolled around this noticeably cooler part of Asia and seen a Pagoda and a massive Buddha, more crazy traffic and brought some souvenir chopsticks, with cases, as we are now Asian food-eating experts.

N.B. If Buddhist monks live by the teaching and philosophies of Buddha himself in not eating meat or drinking alcohol, then how was Buddha such a fat lad when monks' are painfully skinny? Perhaps Buddha didn't quite practice what he preached....