A day with the Cambodian police

Wednesday 10th October

Much worse than the mugging itself, was the ordeal of the following day, most of which was spent in Cambodian police stations. By the end of the day, I would certainly have said it was not worth the trouble, except for the fact that unfortunately we relied on a police report in order to get our replacement, temporary passports and for any insurance claims.

The day began comically, as not one person could direct us to a police station. It was not marked in any guidebooks or maps either. We had read that the police were a bit of a joke in Cambodia and it was evidently true. Our guesthouse owner also informed us of the rife corruption - and told us if we paid a sum of money, we could perhaps have our passports 'retrieved', i.e. the criminals and the cops were one and the same. Although this did not exactly come as an almighty shock to the system, the fact that the corruption was so openly known and talked about, made us a little apprehensive.

Eventually, someone in a tourist office, which happened to be situated close to a police station, gave us some very vague, hesitant instruction, and we stumbled across it. Except 'it' wasn't really 'it'. I think it must have been some kind of administrative base. There were a couple of men inside, who didn't know what to suggest when we told them we'd been mugged. One of them said the police station was closed. Soon a crowd of men had gathered on the street - most of them not police. After much discussion and deliberation and a series of misunderstandings, the conclusion was that we had to go somewhere else - to another station. Hoping that we were not hopping on to the back of a moto with a complete randomer, we were off.

We arrived at the other station - a grubby room with a few men lazing around inside, playing cards and watching telly. No-one budged an inch to acknowledge our presence. No eye contact, no greeting and no change of activity or body language. Just hostility and sarcasm. All the officers laughed at us during the day, but looking back on it now, I think the laughter was more out of embarrassment of their own incompetence and lack of training. There was a feeling of improvisation throughout.

They got someone off the street to translate, as none of them spoke any English. What followed, was a painful half hour or so, of us trying to describe what happened and the contents of the snatched bag. Then Briony went off on a moto with one of them to show exactly where it happened. We'd got up really early to try and sort this out because we'd hoped to get a bus that afternoon, out of the city. But we were told to come back at 3pm. So next we went to the British Embassy to sort out our passports. We were told there also, that it would be useful to give a bit of money here and there to the police to speed things up. So when we arrived back at about 2.30pm, we gave $5 to the man who had taken down the initial report and driven us to the embassy, saying it was for petrol for his moto. Eventually we were taken upstairs and sat in a room for a while - again with no-one telling us what the hell was going on. Everyone just looked around and smiled awkwardly, and we wondered when the interview, or whatever, was going to begin. By this time, another translator had arrived, but at this point we didn't know that he was also an outsider. So when he told us about how hard and expensive it was to deal with crimes like this, we asked if a bit of money would help speed things along, as we were all just sitting there and we wondered if they were waiting for money before beginning! The translator said yes, but when we put $5 on the table for the policeman who it appeared was going to interview us, he wouldn't except the money, saying that we had just been robbed and it would be wrong to take money from us. All very embarrassing and confusing.

Then we were told to get up and go to another room, where apparently the boss was sat. The boss, like the others, was rude and did not acknowledge our presence. While we twiddled out thumbs, he just carried on doing his own thing, chewing gum really loudly, with his mouth wide open, on what I assume was a very large piece, by the exaggerated movements of his ugly jaw. Of course, there was no progress made with the case during the hours that had passed. We were asked exactly the same questions all over again and Briony went out once again - with the boss - to show where the incident had occurred. While away, Briony was also treated to a kiss, a cuddle and an arse grope from the boss, and I spoke to the translator about his regular job as a hotel driver, and the corruption of the police.

Shortly after Briony and the boss returned, the translator left and a woman came and sat in his place. To my dying day, I will never know what her and the boss spoke/argued about, but it felt so distinctly fake - like they were acting. He was probably asking her about another case, but it was just so surreal. Then she just upped and left and smiled at me on the way out, like nothing had just happened. We naively thought that the process had come to an end, but oh no. Now we had to see the English tourist police, for the ACTUAL report. So far we had just obtained the investigative report. While we waited for the tourist police, the boss treated us to a mini exhibition of horrendous photos that he was extremely proud of; photos of him and his officers having 'retrieved' passports etc. for other people who had been mugged; a group of disgruntled youth who he'd caught smoking; and a whole series of bloody, nasty photos of Cambodian people having been beaten up (it not being clear whether they were the victims of the criminals or the criminals themselves), including a bloody naked woman lying in a shower, who looked like she'd been raped. Briony did her best to jolly him along, saying 'very good' to everything presented to us. I, on the other hand, was at this stage finding it quite difficult to hide my bemusement and disgust.

We waved the sleazy, egotistical wanker boss goodbye as we got on to the tourist policeman's moto for the 15K drive out of town to the closed tourist police headquarters. By this point, they were really taking the piss. We had been waiting around for hours already during the day. We insisted on making a stop to call the British Embassy before going to the tourist police station out of town. And it's a good thing we did because the woman there who we'd dealt with earlier said that the tourist policeman who was accompanying us had just charged $50 each for police reports for two other girls who had been robbed the same day as us, and told us to pay no more than $10 - $15 each. Of course, we were not supposed to be paying anything at all. It's all just bullshit.

When he finally finished the reports and told us it would set us back $50 each, rather than be confrontational about it and not pay anything at all, seen as it was now dark and we were in the middle of the Cambodian countryside at the mercy of 2 or 3 crooks, we decided to play dumb and acted surprised - very shocked, in fact - when he told us the sum. "We don't have that kind of money" I explained. "We've just been robbed" etc. His reaction was actually quite pathetic and he looked like we'd hurt his feelings. When he was out of the room, we hid all our cash in one bag, and put just $30 and a few riel in my wallet. When he came back, I sadly put the money on the table and told him that was all we had, but that we also had to eat that evening and tell our families what had happened - to make it all sound more real. Although I think he completely believed us, he still took all the money. Unbelievable!

The we got into the car of another policeman who drove us most of the way back, with his rap music playing loudly. It was really eerie, because it was the holiday festival in Cambodia, so the station was closed and they were just open for business like ours, and it was very quiet all around.
For the last leg of the journey, we got back on to the moto of the tourist policeman leading the whole debacle. About half a mile from our guesthouse his moto broke down and we had to get a tuk-tuk. He was not best pleased. I laughed so hard as we saw him wheel his moto off into the distance.

Birthday treat: Killing Fields and mugging

Tuesday 9th October

AM - Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre - another dose of horrendous, Cambodian history - the killing fields of Choeung Ek. We got a moto there - our first while sitting on the same bike, so we had the added excitement of making sure Briony, who sat at the back of the bike, stayed on the bike.
Near the entrance of the site is a memorial which is very splendid on the outside. Inside, it is filled to the brim with human skulls. The site is quite small, with one mass grave close to the next. Beside the graves, there are signs with brief messages about who was buried there. There were also a couple of other signs next to trees, saying something like "Tree which children were held against while being battered to death". Another: "Magic tree - on which a loud speaker was hung, to drown the moans of victims".
But most disturbing of all, are the clothes and bones poking out of the ground, which I assume have been left there on purpose, but I'm not sure how they have survived. Really horrible.



It was my birthday, so we went out in the evening and had a really nice time, until we were mugged. When we were on the road, Briony, who was carrying all our possessions in one bag, felt a hand slide over her shoulder, slippping her bag off. Two guys on a moto drove by us very close and fast and snatched her bag. Briony was very confused and called out my name. I was disorientated and firstly thought that she had been hit by the bike. Then I thought they had grabbed her wrist and were dragging her away. But then I saw the green strap of her bag stretched out in front of her and watched in horror as she was dragged into the distance, still keeping hold of the bag. It was probably foolish to try and retrieve the bag but it was just instinctive to keep hold of it. And it really looked like Briony had a chance to snatch it back again, especially at the beginning of the struggle. But afterwards, she thought that perhaps they were even taunting her. They were going quite fast and it was hard for her to keep up with them as she had flip-flops on. She decided to let go when they turned a corner, even though she knew that she would fall over. And she did, rolling across the floor, bruising and scratching herself quite badly.
Briony cried out after a tuk-tuk driver going the same way, asking him to try and follow the moto which, thinking about it now, is quite comic - but he started driving after the moto! Of course, it was all in vain and the tuk-tuk turned around back towards us, and I decided to finish my rant of 'You stupid fucking bastards! You arseholes! You FUCKING BAAAASTAAAARDS!!!', etc.
Luckily, the tuk-tuk driver was nice and so were the two men inside it, who gave us a lift back to our guesthouse and gave us a few dollars to be getting on with. The driver informed us that the area we were in was very common for robberies - of local people as well as tourists. And it was a holiday in Cambodia too, so muggings were even more common. We are normally so much more careful than we were that night. We've learnt the hard way not to be complacent!
We arrived at our guesthouse, minus 2 passports, 2 mobile phones, lots of money, an expensive camera, bank cards and various other items of monetary and sentimental value :-( It was stupid to carry that amount of stuff around with us, but then items get nicked from guesthouses all the time too. The gate of the guesthouse was locked, even though the night was young, due to its rude interruption. So, we had to humiliate ourselves further by shouting from the street. The owner of the guesthouse was also very kind and took us in his car to a 24-hour internet cafe, so that Briony could cancel her bank cards. We eventually got to bed, tired, shaken and severely pised off.

Tuol Sleng Museum

Monday 8th October
The museum was quite difficult to find. It was badly marked on our map and we went round in circles, walking down dirty, dusty back streets, before stumbling upon a small, concentrated Western hub - with the usual cold drinks for sale, white faces, beggars and tuk-tuks.

The museum was quite interesting. There was not much to read, but it was useful just to get a feel for what went on there. Before it became the S-21 Prison, and then the museum it is today, it was a school. In the grounds there is an uneasy incongruous mix of children's climbing frames and the remains of torture tools, including a big wooden frame on which political prisoners were hoisted upside down until losing consciousness. Then afterwards they would be plunged into a big pot of manure, or something similar, to be torn back into consciousness again.
The individual torture chambers were particularly eerie, each one similar to the next: a bare room, besides an old metal bed frame with various rusty iron torture tools resting on top; a photo above the bed - bad quality, blown-up, black and white photos of torture victims - post-torture, with blood, limbs and flesh all over the place; the imagination doing most of the work.
Then upstairs there were rows and rows of badly lit, tiny individual cells. There was a seemingly randomly placed cardboard cutout of a prisoner sitting inside one of them, which because of the light, I didn't see at first and it scared the shit out of me.
There were also rows and rows of photos of prisonsers, including very young children.

In the evening we couldn't be bothered to have dinner so we just ate peanuts and chocolate instead.

HCMC to Phnom Penh

We got up early to get a taxi to the airport for a short flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was an extremely smooth exit out of the swish Phnom Penh airport. The visas and baggage collection were very quick and we were immediately met by lots of taxi drivers outside the airport. This time around, we took our time and didn't let the energy of potential scammers influence us with their fluster. We ensured that we knew the going rate for a taxi, and set the price - before getting inside one.
The taxi driver had a bit of trouble finding our guesthouse, but did quite well considering the completely illogical and haphazard system of road and house numbers in Cambodia. There is no system. House numbers are not necessarily in order and can be repeated in one street. The guesthouse was run by a French woman and a Cambodian man and had a really nice atmosphere. Imagine hammocks, a slightly hippy commune feel, with Jack Johnson playing in the background and an absolutely delicious blend of Khmer and Western food.

Photos from Sapa

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War Remnants Museum, HCMC

We got up and had a farewell breakfast and then saw people off.
Then Briony and I headed to the War Remnants Museum, which was basically just a powerful exhibition of photographs taken during the Vietnam War.
It was utterly gut-wrenching. We were quite overwhelmed by the end of it. One really awful photo after another, of imperialist warfare: photos of petrified women and children just before being shot by U.S troops; pictures of torture by U.S. troops, of citizens and 'suspected Viet Cong'. I did not realize the extent of the devastation - at least 6 million Vietnamese killed or injured during the war. The photos were so graphic and it was hard to absorb the evil of the U.S. bombardment and the terror of its occupation.
There was also a section of photos of children born with very bad deformities, as a direct result of the chemicals their parents were exposed to, e.g. 'The Orange Agent', napalm, etc. from the chemical bombs which were dropped by the U.S. on a massive scale.
An exhibition like that just lets you see so clearly through the bullshit and lies, still told by many today. No scruples - just imperialist warfare - bloody, openly brutal, ruthless and devastating.

In the evening, Hoang and a couple of others who were still in Vietnam went out in the evening, but Briony and I had an early night because we're old women.

Around HCMC

Hoang gave us an orientation tour around HCMC and then we went it alone. We ended up walking aroung the city for about 6 hours and got back to the hotel completely knackered and filthy. It was such hard work trying to find anything. We had to sort out flight tickets to Phnom Penh, visas, and other organisey stuff. But we seemed to spend at least half the time trying to find something to eat. We ended up scuttling in to the completely overpriced Rex hotel, soaking wet and very hungry, after getting caught in the predictable afternoon downpour.
Part of the problem was trying to find some vegetarian food, which wasn't from a fast food place or from an expensive restaurant. One of the many places which we looked at was an ostrich restaurant, which sold NOTHING but ostrich meat, in its various (and numerous) forms.

We went for a farewell meal with the whole group in the evening. Then we went for a piss-up and played pool - again! It was really sad that everything was nearly over in Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City: Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta

Thursday 4th October 2007
Arrived in HCMC at 4am. We waited around for a while in a hotel lobby, before shifting out on to the street at the first signs of life, to find breakfast. We sat on the tiny stools of a street vendor's restaurant - the kind we sat at before in the other cities, with their improvised, haphazard feel. This is how most people eat in Vietnam. Even a lot of the enclosed cafes and restaurants receive their food from street vendors. Often, cafes and other eateries will have dirty crockery piled up outside on the street, presumably waiting for the vendor to collect it again. This also explains why I've seen women skillfully rushing around the streets with bowls of piping hot food.
We ate everything from beef noodles to eggs, tea, bread and Laughing Cow cheese (OK - the last item was just me - it's big here!)
One of the advantages of having a tour leader is being able to eat at places where local people go and do things local people do. Without the authority that speaking the language and local knowledge have - i.e. being Vietnamese - it would have been quite awkward or difficult to do some of the things we have done as a group. But I think we were very lucky too as our tour leader was very talented and skilled at introducing us to new environments. Early in the morning, I asked Hoang whether he wanted Vietnam to be more like Singapore and whether he thought the reintroduction of capitalism in Vietnam, including foreign capitalists being able to buy up land, would be a good thing for the country. It was very interesting to hear his response: he wanted Vietnam to be more like China and capitalism would mean the massive widening of the gap between the rich and the poor. At the moment, there are no very rich people and the state still provides for ordinary workers, to a certain extent. Although there is still poverty, this would be greatly worsened by capitalism.
After once again stuffing our faces with grub, we headed to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, about a 2 hour bus ride outside of the city. They were presented well, with a good mixture of original and artificial features. I didn't realize how clever the tunnels and the guerilla warfare were. The tunnels were tiny - MINISCULE! Too big for me - or American soldiers - to fit into. I found it difficult even crouching through a short distance of artificial tunnel, three times bigger than the original system. It was extremely claustrophobic with very little lighting, and quite scary as it kept branching off in different directions. I was blindly following the person in front of me who was just as clueless as me about how to get out again. I was so relieved when I spotted a stern member of staff crouching by a ray of sunlight. My thigh muscles were killing and I had accumulated several mud patches. That was enough guerilla warfare for one day.
We saw the mechanisms of various ingenious traps that the guerillas set for the Americans and the South Vietnamese army. Really nasty! A lot of life happened in the tunnels. People ate, slept, had meetings, nursed the sick and even delivered babies. These activites took place in the chambers, spotted in between the tiny tunnels.
Then we drove to the the Mekong Delta and got a boat down the river. We had a fresh coconut and then stopped for lunch. It pelted down with rain, which limited our activity, but we just played cards! We listened to some more live traditional music. Again, the last song was Auld Lang Syne, which the musicians moved straight on to without a flinch or hint of a change of expression.
Then we boarded some much smaller boats and floated down a narrow river with amazing, jungle-like surroundings. It was wild and perfect at the same time, like something out of a movie set.
We had dinner in a market and I discovered the first beer I've ever enjoyed drinking - Red Saigon beer!

Nha Trang

Monday 1st October 2007
A long day: 10 hours on a train from Hoi An to Nha Trang, with cockroaches and 2 free meals that literally smelt like poo, thrown in for free. It wasn''t just me - the tour leader, Hoang brought his own food too. But it could have been worse - I got some reading done and had fun arsing around with Briony.

Tuesday 2nd October 2007
Lazy day. I had a lie-in and then had lunch, which consisted of some Gorgonzola pasta and a salad entitled "Green salad, Garlic'' - and it was just that: green lettuce leaves with lumps of garlic! But it had some oil on the side and was really nice. Although Briony was not so keen on it - at least, not on the odour I exuded for the rest of the day, and probably the next. But I''m a big fan of garlic and it's a massive part of the diet in Vietnam.
Then on to a mud bath! I was expecting the mud to be lumpy but it was like watered down clay. Then we walked through various showers and sat in a hot tub. At the end of the process we swam in two VERY hot swimming pools of mineral water. I couldn't stay in the second one (38 degrees!) for too long as it was so overwhelming.
All very pleasant, except for a rich Japanese woman who was very rude to me and ruined my reverie for a while. But then I remeberbred where I was and got over it!
I always wondered what a mud bath would feel like. It''s quite weird. I can''t say I noticed much difference to my skin, but it was worth the experience.
In the evening we went for a BBQ in a place which was very popular with the local people as well. Mini BBQs were placed on the table and we were given plates of food to cook. As usual, being special (a veggie) I got my own personal BBQ!
Afterwards we went for a piss up in a touristy joint with two for one on cocktails, which reduced my already fairly poor pool game to an almost non-existent game.

Wednesday 3rd October 2007
Another lazy day. We went on a boat trip and did some snorkelling - or not, in my case. I sort of dipped my head in the water for a few seconds with some very uncomfortable goggles plastered to my face, swam about for a bit, and got back on the boat again. The water was cold and muddy and the current was strong. No-one seemed really in the mood either, which I think was partly due to sea sickness. We had another feast served up for us, but again, because of the choppy conditions, we couldn't really eat.
Nevertheless, the journey was very enjoyable and I prefer slightly cooler, stormy conditions to the scorching sun of the dry season. We stopped off on a very cute beach and I had my first ever manicure and pedicure! Although the woman trying to do something with my chewed up fingernails had a bit of a job on her hands. And I had a Vietnamese massage! Luxury. Elin, one of the Swedes, and I had our manicure, pedicure and massage at the same time. We kept exchanging looks as one of the women pampering us would not stop talking. She literally talked non-stop for about 45 minutes and her friend barely got a word in. It was quite curious. Of course, we had no idea what she was talking about but by the end we wondered if she wasn't one fruit short of a basket.
Speaking of baskets, we stopped off on a small fishing island where most of the fishing is done from small basket boats. It takes 2 weeks to make one boat but they looked pretty sturdy and last for about 5 years. Apparently they are used in Wales as well!
On the island, there were a few cockerals in cages. The inhabitants of the island were having a day of rest and were gearing up to an immenent, illegal cock fight!
In the evening we caught a our last night train - to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). It was the most uncomfortable yet, with the beds so hard that most people hardly got a wink of sleep. But we played cards again before going to bed ,which was really fun. The group has really bonded over the last few weeks - partly during our raucous card games.

Hoi An

Friday 28th September 2007
We travelled from Hue to Hoi An by bus. We stayed in a hotel with a swimming pool and pool tables! So in the evening we had fun with the girls in the pool and played a few games of pool. This was the chilled out part of our trip, after the trekking and night trains.
And we went.......shopping! I bought quite a lot of stuff: presents and other things (for me!) - didn't exactly keep within budget that day, but I'm looking at my buys as investments....! Hoi An is famous for its tailoring. You can walk into almost any shop and get measured up for a pair of shoes or a suit for such a scandalously cheap price.
While we were playing pool in the evening, a very playful, but slightly psychotic puppy would not stop biting our feet, or anything else it could get its nashers into. He followed me to my room afterwards and I had to fend him off with an umbrella.

Saturday 29th September 2007
We went for a bike and boat ride. I had not been on a bicycle since I was 16 when I fell off and broke my arm, so I was not sure if I could do it. But it turned out to be totally amazing. I feel like I can do anything now, if I can ride a bike on a Vietnamese road - not only had I not been on a bike for years, but I was thrown in at the deep end, riding alongside the motos on busy roads!
After we got off the roads, we had the equally challenging task of riding through rural villages, with very rough roads and trying to avoid small children and chickens popping out from the bushes. We stopped off at a house to meet a family. There were three teenage girls studying. They were all very giggly and very sweet. The family was quite poor because it had to rely on a small, sandy patch of land where maize was growing. The girls also go to town to work in restaurants etc., to earn extra cash. Hoang uses spare money from the fees for the trip to buy bags of rice for the families he visits.
We met two other families. At the third house, we didn't enter, as the father of the family had just died. A quiet, sad teenage boy was there, who I assumed was his son. It was just him and an older man, who I would guess was the grandfather. This family was particularly poor because it suffered with mental illness. Also, the grandfather was missing half a leg, which he lost after the war, when he had no job and came across an unexploded bomb when searching for scrap metal to sell. So, the family can only sustain itself by the work that the children can do and from donations from other villagers.
After the bike ride we boarded a boat and had a gorgeous BBQ lunch. I had some divine tofu - covered with a lemon flavoured sauce...soooo good! I never normally like tofu because the texture is too meaty, but this tofu was in curled up strips and must have had some magic ingredient.
In the evening we played pool and psycho puppy came out to play again.

Sunday 30th September 2007
Stupid, fucking psycho puppy woke me up really, really early in the morning and wouldn't shut the fuck up.
In the morning, we did a bit of sightseeing: saw a Cantonese Assembly Hall, crossed over a coverved Japanese bridge and visited an ancient house.
In the afternoon we road quite fast on bikes to the beach. It was a bit stormy so we didn't stay long. I couldn't really swim in the sea as the stormy waves and current forced me to spend most of my energy trying to keep my bikini on.
In the evening, Briony and I had dinner with another member of the group, from New Zealand. The three of us have had quite a few discussions over the past few weeks about many subjects, and although we did not agree on immigration, the United Nations, American presidents, the death penalty and other things, it seemed we were in complete agreement on strikes, picket lines and trade unions, which was refreshing. A couple from Stoke, England, were sat on the table next to us, ploughing into their twelth bottle of beer (although this was their figure and I'm not sure how clear they were on the matter at this point). The guy joined us for a game of pool afterwards and although completely pissed, managed to play some amazing shots and beat us all anyway!

Motorbike tour around Hue

I was really scared to get on to a motorbike at first - after my observations as a pedestrian! But it was also because I couldn't imagine how I would stay on the vehicule as I had never ridden a motorbike before. So when we approached the drivers, I chose the most placid looking one. It seemed my instincts were correct as he was very sweet - when it started raining, he stopped the bike and got me out a mac. It made me very sweaty and was not really needed as by the time we got it on and caught up with the group again, it had more or less stopped raining, but it was sweet all the same.
I gripped tightly to the back of the bike but as soon as we got off the curb, it felt ok, and then I got cocky and didn't hold on at all. As a pedestrian it feels daunting weaving in and out of the bikes, but when on the motorbike, it was actually quite exciting and relaxing.
The leader of the tour was quite an entertaining character. He had a wicked laugh and would make big gestures to accompany every single thing he said. Consequently, his explanations tended to take some time. Our first stop was an animal fighting arena. Tigers and elephants used to fight in the arena. Apparently, the emperor who built the arena would order the tiger's claws and most of its teeth to be taken out so that the elephant would win the fight. The tiger would be starved before the fight so that it would find it too tempting not to attack the elephant.

Next stop: incense making. I had a go at rolling some incense sticks but resisted buying any as I have no room to carry such luxuries! My driver had picked up some meat along the way which looked almost unfit for human consumption.
Then on to a Buddhist pagoda. It was very tranquil. We watched 4 monks praying. They pray at 4am, 10am and 4pm, and meditate twice a day, as well as surf the internet, play football and occasionally go out to pray for people.
The praying we observed lasted about 15 minutes. One of the monks looked thoroughly unimpressed and another kept yawning. They didn't seem to want to be there, but then I don't know the first thing about Buddhist prayer rituals. There was quite a lot of melodic chanting/singing, banging of bells and getting up and down from the floor. Quite fascinating to watch.
The tour guide told us that unlike in Thailand and Laos, monks in Vietnam do not go out asking for money, but live purely on donations they receive, that people bring to the pagoda.
It turned out that my sweet driver had bought the meat to feed to a dog who was starving, staggering around just inside the gates of the pagoda. Either that or he had bought it for himself and had decided the dog needed it more.
Then we went to an orphanage, run by nuns. The conditions seemed very good and the children seemed very happy. There were about 200 children there, with a percentage of disabled children, including a blind toddler waving his little hand in front of his eyes. I'd never been to an orphanage before. Although the children seemed to be well looked after, the place still had a desolate, lonely feeling to it.
We visited a royal tomb next, which was more like a village - it went on forever! Building after building. It was a place to amuse the emperor who was buried there during his life, as well as his resting place. It included a theatre and beautiful grounds.
Then we drove out to the countryside to see a lovely covered bridge. Sitting underneath it were mainly very elderly men, dressed in white and taking it easy. On the other side of the bridge we saw 3 beautiful water buffalo frolicking in the water, in what I'm guessing is their favourite time of the day. They seemed very relaxed and playful.

Hue

Wednesday 26th September 2007
I woke up in a sweaty heap on the night train, at 8am and we struggled with our bags to the hotel (it's going to be interesting to see how Briony and I cope with luggage - and everything else - when we don't have the comfort of travelling with a tour leader and group!)
We realized only when we arrived at the hotel in Hue, that we didn't get all of our laundry given back to us when we picked it up yesterday, which was a real nuisance. Oh well, one way of lightening our load.

Then on to the large citadel in Hue. It's 200o years old and vast. Now, relatives of the old royal family who used to inhabit it, live normally in 2 villages nearby.
In the evening we went as a group to a special restaurant where you have a banquet - quite literally. We received costumes to wear - Briony was the queen! I asked if the costumes were unisex before picking one out and was told categorically that they were. But that wasn't strictly true, as I managed to pick out the only one designed for a eunuch (which for those of you who don't know, as I didn't, is a man who has had his balls chopped off) and was advised to pick out another...
Another in the group was the king, and he and Briony sat at the head of the table, which was in our own private room, which we walked to in procession! We also had live, traditional music played throughout our ten course meal. I really liked the music. It was not as good as that at the water puppetry, but was still entertaining. The singers jump up and down the scale unexpectedly and the sounds can be quite tonal, at times. The sound does not always seem to correspond with the movement of the mouth - appearing a bit like a bad ventriloquist. At the end there was a surreal moment when the musicians started playing The Godfather tune and auld lang syne!
It was a very fun evening.

Another day in Hanoi

Tuesday 25th September 2007
Ahhhh, I had a lie-in - glorious! And much needed.
In the morning, a few of us went to the museum of fine arts in Hanoi. I liked a lot of the art but there was hardly any factual information for the average ignorant Westerner to absorb. Apparently, this is because it is thought of as patronising to accompany displays of artwork with lots of writing about its significance and context.
In the afternoon we went to see the famous water puppetry show. It was fantastic, I thought. Most of the group were not that inspired and didn't like the music very much. But I absolutely loved it. The extroardinary, wavering tones of the two female singers, who were acting as some kind of chorus to the action, as far as I could tell (everything was Vietnamese).

I had never heard anything like it before - it was very traditional music and sounds a little screechy at first. But after a while, I really began to enjoy the melodies and the tone became more beautiful. It was very rhythmic too, at times. It reminded me of some Irish and English folk music.
I nearly got run over 3 times today by motorbikes. Everyone beeps their horns continuously but no-one pays any attention - neither the pedestrians or the other drivers. So, I tried to do the same, but that's quite difficult when a motorcyclist is ruthlessly heading towards you.
As I already mentioned, the pavements are so busy with parked motorbikes and improvised stalls that you are constantly forced on to the road, to dance with the motorbikes, hoping that you will arrive at your destination in one piece - no doubt more by luck than judgement. Although it sounds awful to admit it, as a tourist, there is a certain amount of relief to step into the decadence of an air-conditioned hotel lobby. It would be easier to spend longer on the streets if it were possible to blend into the background, to observe the life going on there. But with my pasty white face and clunky traveller's clothes, that's never going to happen.

We caught a night train to Hue, which was pretty skanky but it did the job.

Snake farm

We went to a snake farm for dinner - it was really exotic! We watched them being killed first....suffocated, then the blood is drained, then the gall bladder taken out, then the heart which sits on the side still beating away. A 7 course meal followed - all dishes made from the snake we watched being killed: snake spring rolls, snake skin, grilled snake, snake tail with fried vegetables, snake soup, ground snake bones, and something else I can't remember! And that's not including the snake blood and the liquid from the gall bladder. The latter is very bitter apparently, but both are mixed with the extremely strong rice wine we also tried in Sapa. Hoang also drank down the heart with one of the cups of blood.
Being a dirty vegetarian, I was very boring and stuck to fried rice and green beans. They also had porcupine at the restaurant farm. This restaurant is very famous and a big deal in Hanoi. It cost about $100 which is A LOT of money in Vietnam. Westerners do not usually go there - only better off Vietnamese, although it is situated in the poorer back streets.
It was fascinating watching the city at night in the rain on the way to the restaurant. Everyone wears big hooded macs - especially on motorbikes.

The motorbike has right of way in Vietnam! You take your life into your hands every time you step out on to the street. Often, there is effectively no pavement because they are covered with parked bikes, women selling fruit and flowers, and all kinds of food, and people sitting on small stools doing varous things, from eating, to playing cards, to grooming one another. I can't remember if I already mentioned the habit of women looking through men's hair to spot for white hairs. And women do it for women, but I haven't seen men doing it for women.
After the meal I went to a jazz club. It was so cool. A famous Vietnamese saxophonist was there (but I can't remember his name). It was a nice atmosphere and there was no fee to get in. They played lots of famous pieces and it didn't really sound different to other jazz I have heard.

Back to Hanoi

We arrived in Hanoi at 4.30am. At first, I was dreading this, but actually the city is very interesting and lively at this time. We had tea on the street while we waited for the city to warm up. It got light very suddenly and it was an amazimg site to watch women by a lake doing Tai Chi at 5am. I joined in with the Tai Chi a little, with the tour leader, which was quite relaxing, but I probably looked quite strange.
Men and women were charging around everywhere - power walking, jogging and playing badminton on the pavement! I never knew the Vietnamese were so health conscious. I guess doing exercise this early, everyone can get it out of the way before the long working day begins, and before the heat sets in.
Then we had some free time so Briony and I went to get our laundry done and managed to get lost. It turned out to be a good adventure and we saw more of Hanoi that way.

Bac Ha Market

We left Sapa by bus for Bac Ha and its famous market. It is mostly frequented by ethnic minorities and local people but is gradually becoming more geared up for tourists.
There were some manificent buffalo rolling around in the mud at the back of the market, just taking it easy. Although one of them became a bit leary when I tried to get too close to photo him. There was a great atmosphere there with people all gathered at the back of the market eating lunch together.
Then on to Lao Cai where we had dinner. On the way we passed the Chinese border and saw a Chinese toy market. It's fairly easy for tourists to cross the border apparently.
Finally, we borded a night train back to Hanoi.

Sapa - Part 3

We left Ta Van village in two groups - one for the buff people to trek the hard, but more beautiful route, and one for the tired and weak! I would normally have put myself in the second category, but always up for a challenge, I tried to pretend I was buff and went with the former. But I was so glad I did - we passed a spectacular waterfall and sat at the top for a while. And we walked right beside the rice terraces, seein people in the early mornin, going about their daily lives.
The buff people set a buff pace - so by the end I was sweating like a pig and huffing and puffing like the wolf who tried to get him and his two friends.
My condition wasn't helped particularly by the guide who joined us for the trek, who thought it would be amusing to vigourously rock the Indiana Jones, dodgy, thrown-together, style bridge which crossed very high over a river.
In the afternoon, we did absolutely nothing, except stare and watch a crap American film - but I was so knackered I couldn't do anything else.
Later that day we (that's Briony and I) witnessed our first, and hopefully last, motorbike accident. It wasn't too bad - the only victim was a goat. I think one motorbike collided with a stationary one and the goat fell off but he was still tied to the bike so it fell with him. He didn't look mightily comfortable anyway as his neck was unnaturally tied down sideways to the rest of his body. Probably off to be slaughtered and he was bleeting so painfully.

Sapa - part 2

There are 5 ethnic minorities in Sapa, but three main ones. I think the people partly wear the tribal gear for the benefits of the tourists. It looks very hot.
I slapped on the suntan cream and the sun hat and we began our first trek through the unimaginably beautiful countryside of Sapa. Children and women tried to sell us things virtually during the whole trek - that's a long working day. Quite a few women and children had red circle marks on their foreheads. Apparently this is as a result of a treatment for headaches where the head is sucked with air trapped in a glass. I don't know how scientific this is, of whether it is complete superstition.
We stopped along the way and met some families who live in the hills and among the many, many stunning rice terraces. We listened to a man playing some kind of pipe, which appeared to me to be like an old fashioned bag pipe - not on its actual appearance but in the way it was played and the way it sounded. In the same house, the women made bags etc. to sell, and had dye stains all over their faces and hands.
You are not supposed to take any photos of children without first asking the permission of the parents as the people there believe that the soul is at the top of the head and that it will be stolen. I asked permission when the children or parents were looking but I have to admit to some soul stealing as well.
It was sometimes a little hard to suppress the Greedy Westerner feeling, particularly when you hear some of the ignorant and patronising comments from other westerners. My lifestyle is so far removed from the people I met in Sapa, I had to constantly question my own sensitivity as well.
The next day we trekked to a village called Ta Van to stay overnight with a family. The scenery was even more amazing today! We stopped about half way before we arrived at the village and had lunch. Lots of children were hanging around us and we took loads of photos. The boys were all carefree and having the time of their life goofing around with one another and posing for our photos. The girls, on the other hand, all appeared very sad and sombre. They did not play but just tried to sell us things or watched on from a distance, which was really sad. Eventually, our tour leader spoke to them and they smiled a bit but the did not stop trying to sell. The boys said they went to school in the morning.
A little girl called Chi befriended me when we arrived in the village. Although I knew that her aim was to get me to buy something eventually - a whistle, a keyring, a bracelet, a cushion cover, a blanket, etc. - I went along with it because she was so charming and spoke such good English (learns it in school as well), I enjoyed speaking to her. She made me a crown and a bunch of flowers made up out of woven grass and other materials, in remarkably quick time. They were incredibly intricate and I was taken aback by this girl's talent! I caved in this time and bought a bracelet - it was very nice anyway and only cost 10 000D (about 30p) - it wasn't exactly going to break me. It's just such a shame that she has to spend her energies and talents selling to tourists. It's a 2 hour trip to get to school in the morning, and then selling all afternoon and evening before going home. She was only about ten years of age. Another girl who had walked up to the home stay with us would not go home until she had sold something. She was crying and guilt tripping, and all sorts. It was horrible to watch. It seemed that she probably wasn't allowed to go home perhaps, until she had sold something.
Even though the town was so remote, there was phone signal and internet in the house!
In the evening we played cards. One of the local people living in the house came to play with us and taught us some of his language while he played, although he was very pissed on the 'Rice Wine', which is a very strong alcohol that you should take in shots. Deadly stuff. He had this 'happy water' in a water bottle and was getting through it at a worrying pace.

Sapa - part one

It is a very different atmosphere in Sapa, from other parts of Vietnam that we have visited so far. It is colder because it is higher up and can actaully get chilly in the evenings even though it is stiflingly hot during the day. I was a little disorientated when we arrived in this remote tribal town, to be greeted immediately by young children, dressed in traditional clothing (I think the name of their ethnic minority is 'Mong' people) speaking good English with crisp American accents - much better English than any other Vietnamese I had spoken to before. I wondered why this was and asked Hoang. He said that it was because a lot of the children (who's charm and friendliness is primarily in order to sell you things) don't go to school, and learn their English from meeting tourists. The people in his town don't seem to stop working - trying to sell things from early in the morning until late at night.
During the trek we were informed that all Vietnamese people are happy that things are 'changing' in Vietnam. The five point star on the national flag (with each point representing the peasant, the worker, the intellectual etc.) will apparently soon be changed to include a sixth point - for the tour guide.

Boat Cruise and National Park

On 18th September, we went on a boat cruise to Cat Ba Island. It was absolutely stunning! Soon, I will have to try and upload some pictures becuase my descriptions will not do justice to some of the sights I've seen - neither will the photos, but they will help.
We had lunch lunch on the boat, which was more like a feast. How can Vietnamese people eat so much and still be so small? Being an awkward vegetarian, I get lots of my of dishes, and end up with even more food than anyone else!
We saw floating fish farms and houses on the water, which were fascinating. It seems to be a fairly laid back way of earning a living, compared to some other jobs here. We went kayaking which was great becauase it meant we could be even closer to the life on the water. We stopped off on a mini island to have a rest. The exercise showed how unfit I still am!
The next day we went to a national park which was an amazing experience. We trekked through jungle territory and were advised to put on insect repellant, and a bloody good thing too as the place was swarming. We still got bitten but not too badly. I brought a zapper contraction with me which relieves the itching from bites by puncturing the skin with static electricity. It's very effective but I overdid it that day and couldn't move my ankle properly as I slightly paralysed it with too many zaps...
We trekked up and up and up, sometimes negotiating very chalenging terrain which felt almost vertical - but rock climbers would probably tell me what we did was nothing. But I'm no rock climber.
There were rare birds and monkies there but unfortunately we didn't see any.
We stopped off afterwards to see a hospital used by soldiers during the war - it was a concrete block hidden high up.
Then we jumped on a ferry for a couple of hours and I managed to sleep, which was really refreshing as I have hardly had a decent night's sleep since I arrived in Vietnam thanks to one of the side effects of my malaria tablets. They can give you bad dreams - and they certainly do - I've had everything from bizarre and surreal to quite harrowing! The heat and noise don't help either.
When we arrived on land there were lots of men offering lifts on motorbikes - the primary way of getting around in Vietnam. Soon, helmets will be compulsory everywhere, but I wonder whether this will apply to babies and youg children who sometimes squeeze on the vehicles three, four at time wiht their parents. And it's common to see a very young child/toddler supporting itself with just its hands or feet on the front, resting in the legs of the driver. But the only accident I've seen so far has involved a goat - more on that later.
Then we got a night train to Sapa. We played cards with some of the group before trying to sleep It was really fun - we learnt a version of 'Shithead' from our tour leader, Hoang.