Back from Nam

I'm back from Nam and i've got the thousand yard stare, still having flashbacks too... they're everywhere.... coming out of the trees.... agghhhhhh!

Not really. You see because there isn't a war in Vietnam anymore, I'm just trivialising a major conflict of the 20th Century that took millions of lives.Anyway, it's nicer than the 70's now, and I had a great time there.

I flew into Hanoi and stayed there for two nights, took a day trip to Halong bay, travelled by bus down to Hue, a day trip to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), then down to Hoi An before flying back to Tokyo via Hanoi airport again. Went on a motorbike a few times on the day trips (sorry mum!) which was fun, I hired a driver too as I didn't fancy negotiating Vietnamese traffic.

People are much more outgoing than in Japan so kids in the street would stare a little bit then ask where you were from or what your name was. Normally the conversation stopped at that though, maybe they need more English teachers! In shops the saleswomen had similar questions before pointing out some wares and instructing me 'you buy, you buy'. In fact, half the people I met were really nice and genuinely interested in someone from another country and the other half saw a walking ATM and tried to get as much money out of me as possible.

Officially the currency is the Dong (hehe, that sounds funny), but they also take American dollars. If I changed about £30 I instantly became a millionaire as £1 = about 35000 Dong. But it got a little confusing changing all the prices in my mind between pounds, yen, dollars and dong. Not that it mattered that much, everything was ridiculously cheap and I sometimes felt bad haggling over the equivalent of 50p, but it was more the principle that I was being charged more as a foreigner. In fact I'd only spent about half my money by the end of the week so I got 5 shirts and a suit tailor made in Hoi An (they have about 500 different tailor shops so lots to choose from!).

Obviously I also got a bit sick from street food, fruit, and forgetting that I shouldn't have ice in drinks. Nothing too bad and it didn't stop me from enjoying myself. Got it checked when I came home to make sure it wasn't Malaria, the Hepatitis alphabet, Dengue fever or some parasite living in my stomach (didn't get any vaccinations before I went). The Japanese doctor I saw chatted to me for 5 minutes, took my temperature, told me it was a cold then charged me about £17....hmmm....easy money....nice job.

See more photos by clicking on the title of this post.