Vietnam

For me Vietnam, came and went very quickly. Two reasons, I did not stick around there for a long time were the floods approached and it meant that there was a lot I could not do and then it seemed extremely touristic compared to all the other places i had been to so far. Two places, made Vietnam special to me....the two cities of Hanoi and Saigon. I guess I am a city girl at heart. But entering Hanoi to find all the thousands of motorbikes and a city so vibrant in Culture and also it was our first look into Vietnam, that was pretty special and arriving in the evening Rush hour meant that we saw a Hanoi in Rush hour traffic with hundreds of motorbikes racing through the streets, carrying anything between 2 to 4 passengers. And then it was the evening prayer time and people burning fake $100 bills in luck that the next days earning would bring them the real $100. It was dinner time too and time to catch up with friends at the end of the day and so on the pavements groups of young and old sat on tiny, low stools enjoying all sorts of local 'delicacies' and strong and delicious cups of cold Vietnamese coffee. In Hanoi we saw the water puppet show but it wasn't as impressive...it was more laid on for the tourists whereas I would have preffered to see the original thng in some little village, I guess. But I can't always have it all.
After Hanoi, my first Vietnamese train took me to teh coastal town of Hoi An. The train journey, hard sleeper again, showed me the warmth and friendly character of the Vietnamese. They are just lovely people. And because I was on the Hard sleeper, it meant i was sharing the cabin with the locals. It's really crap,excuse the language, that I cannot speak the language, but they old woman sharing the cabin with me was able to show her warmth and hospitality anyway. Big smiles and sharing food...just came so easily to her. But the trains themselves are the worst so far. They are comfortable and clean, especially with no spitting (unlike the chinese), but they are very old and the dining cart..well it was just a tiny space where I really would not want to spend any time or eat anything.
Anyway, Hoi An was flodded the day after I got there so I could not really do much. The 'My Son' temple complex, similar to Angkor, was flooded, and so I just sat near the riverside and watched as all sorts of vehicles and people wlaked through the floods. It was great to just sit there and take photos....a beautiful town.
Another train journey and with some more Vietnamese looking after me, I arrived in Saigon. I shared a cabin with a Caodai believer..which in itself was fascinating, two engineers, one who spoke very good english, a guy who was going to his fiance's town to get married and the saddest looking Vietnamese lady i think I will ever see. A funny mix, but so nice. Vietnamese trains have meals included and so as we sat all together, eating our sice and eggs, I found out more about Vietnam than I have staying in any of the cities. I knew about Caodai being a religion only found and having originated in Vietnam but actually coming in contact with a veliever was just enlightening. Both her, and the woman who was mourning because she had lost her son in a motorbike accident a month ago (more that 30 people die everyday from motorbike accidents in saigon) were on a vegetarian diet. Most caodaist were vegetarian but these women were just giving up meat and fish for a month. One to wash away her sins, the other because she was mourning her son, and I guess asking god to look after him. Arriving into Saigon, it was crazier that Hanoi. triple or even quadruple the number of motorbikes in Hanoi. I loved it, the constant roar of the motorbikes but also there was the constant hooting and once again crossing the road was an adventure everytime. You just walk slowly across, praying that you don't die any second soon but as you walk slowly across the traffic just goes around you..it is just a skill, an artform the way they ride their motorbikes in the city.
The lady on the train had given me an address of a Caodai temple I could visit. It was pretty far away from the backpacker area where I was staying and so I decided to take a long motorbike ride to it. But I guess the motorbike driver just thought I wanted to see any odd temple and since he didn't exactly know where the temple was he took me to what he thought was a temple in the nearby are. What he took me to, and I guess I will be forever grateful to him for this mistake, was a buddhist university at a time when classes were about to begin. I didn't want to just walk around so I grabbed a passing nun and asked her if I could walk around, thinking it was a temple and not knowing it was a university at all. She spoke very little English but she took my hand and walked me up the stairs. We passed monks and nuns in their grey and marroon robes sitting in the balconies, reading, talking to each other and smiling as we passed them by. She took me outside her classroom and we sat on the balcony exchanging names and other basic information. She shared her plastic bag coke with me and as we sat there soon other nuns came to greet us and before I knew it I was surrounded by nuns holding satchels waiting to go to class and begin their afternoon studies. One of the nuns, Nimh, who spoke quite good english invited me to spend the next day with her. I was more than willing and with the address in hand agreed to meet her at 8 in the morning the next day. I wished them a good class and as I walked back down to my waiting motortaxi, I beheld a sight, an image that i will hold in my head forever. The gate was filled with nuns in their gray habits and monks in their orange and marroon robes coming to afternoon classes in motorbikes and mopeds. They were all ridng in, filing the parking space, hanging out with fellow classmates and freinds for a few minutes before class began....it was just great standing there watching school begin, but for a different sort of student, I guess for the students of the highest order.
So next morning, I was up early and left for another long motorbike ride to District 12 of Saigon, a half an hour motorbike ride away from Disctrict 1, which is where my hotel was. The staff and the motorbike driver wondered why I wanted to go so far away, nothing there for you to see they told me, only how wrong they were. This time I was at a temple. Nimh had invited me to where she lived, a temple and a nunnery. She was waiting for me even though the rushhour traffic meant that I was a little late. That was the best motorbike ride I have had and everyone going to Saigon should at least one just ride around in the Saigion rush hour because it is an experience in itself. Hundred of motorbikes, going in all different directions and when they all get stuck at a roundabout, they move an inch at a time, slowly bumping into each other and inching their way into the direction they want to go to, out of the traffic.
Anyway, Nimh was waiting for me and I started the morning by helping her to clean one of the rooms in preparation for an unexpected visit from the monks. They she found me two young children who were learning to show me around. They were absolutely amazing. So intelligent and so outgong, I was amazed at their openness, their ability to welcome me so easily and put me completely at ease. I did a little maths and english with them while I waited for Nimh to finish preparing the room and they were quicker in their mental calculations that I was, my maths isn't that amazing but it is quick enough and these kids were only 8 and 9 years old. I halped prepare lunch, ate with the nuns and just hung around with them for the day. It amazed me and it was an experience that was just unrivaling. The strength of character, the strong sense of self identity, the complete lack of insecurities and the absolute focus on and thirst for knowledge. They knew, even the youngest of them all, with absolute certainty and no doubts at all, who they were as individuals, what they wanted out of life and a sureness that they were heading in the right direction. I was amazed and don't think I have ever come across before such a strong sense of self identity. They knew exactly who they were and were a hundred per cent content and happy with it. Another day with the nuns, and then a day visiting a couple of the sights around the city and I was ready to move on.
I was going to take a boat on the Mekong, for 3 days to enter Cambodia and finally fulfill my long standing dream of getting to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat.