Finding Paradise in Lagi, Vietnam

Our trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Lagi, 200 km away took about four hours in a "bus" which was really a large taxi. Five of our extended-family-to-be met us at the airport, so they and we three had to cram into the bus with all our baggage. I had my feet up on the engine cowling and Christina was twisted a bit like a pretzel, however, after a slightly uncomfortable journey we made it to the Mai Long Hotel at Lagi where I sit now as I write.

As hotels go, it's very nice and it's also very cheap at about $12 AUD per night. Everything is inexpensive here by Australian standards which makes one realise how taxed and profit conscious we are. One thing that really impresses me is that wifi in the hotel is free and lightning speed, not like the service provided in our so-called "first world country" by Telstra/Bigpond.

The local currency, with the unfortunate title of "Dong" is in the thousands and you feel like you are being over-charged for everything until you work out the comparative cost. Twenty thousand Dong for two cups of Vietnamese style iced coffee is about $1 AUD. Take off the last four zeros and divide by two for an approximation.

A can of 330 ml beer is worth around $0.50 cents ... very easy to become a drunkard here.

Our new inlaws, Nup (mother of Ean, who is marrying son Dale) and Vian (father) run a fish wholesaling business and seem like a very lovely family. They are surrounded by what seems like a cornucopia of brothers, uncles,  grandparents, fathers and so on. The great point of note here is that everyone looks after everyone else in the family. The older family members are supported financially by their offspring ... no Centrelink Office here.

The people are friendly and manage to keep themselves reasonably well groomed and clothed with the odd exception. Everyone and everything here seems to busy with motor cycles coming and going day and night.

Our hosts have had us running from place to place meeting Uncle Ing, grandmother something or other, attending dinner here and breakfast there. We even found Paradise as you can see in the two photos above. And I thought paradise was only an imaginary place where the good, dead finished up. Not true!

There are no credit card facilities here which has been a pain, but we have managed to use ATMs to keep ourselves loaded up with Dong.

At present we are in the middle of the Chinese New Year so celebrations are ongoing, but shops are still open selling coffee and food, hardware and other things. The next week promises to be an interesting and demanding one for all of us. I'll keep you posted.

Robin

PS: Our new daughter in law is a lovely, intelligent lady who will be a welcome addition to our family and despite the cultural and language challenges, a great partner for our son

It's Different but Similar in Vietnam

After an uninteresting and ordinary flight from Singapore, we arrived safely (always a bonus) at Tan Son Nhut Airport around 6:30 pm. While the standard of the airport surprised us, the two and a half hour wait to get our pre-booked visas process didn't. Been there, done that in several other countries.

After standing in queue for so long, it reminded me why one has to be at least reasonably fit to travel. It's not just carrying the bags that is the issue. For some, standing without anything to drink for a couple of hours can be daunting. Fortunately, I'm reasonably healthy and a placid person and not usually prone to impatience, having learnt early in life that being impatient doesn't help to make things happen any sooner. I do admit though, that I was pleased to get my visa and get out of the airport.

Friends including our daughter-in-law to be were waiting patiently for us and as we were incommunicado, must have wondered whether we had in fact arrived. All's well that ends well however.

We spent our first night at Saigon where, in the course of finding a place to have a beer, son Dale and I had an interesting interlude with a couple of "bar" girls. One sat close on my left, threw her leg over mine and rubbed my thigh. Even after only one beer, I thought she was stunning ... we drank our beer quickly and scurried off with tails between our legs. Maybe we should have stayed to see where the journey led, but we had a fair premonition and decided cowardice was the best form of survival, my son being about to marry and me with a wife of almost 40 years with whom I'd like to spend the rest of my days. I still have a vague recollection of having said, "until death do us part", with no mention of sudden death!

The city was as expected, similar to other Asian countries we have visited and also had some similarity to the Arabic countries with the sole exception of course that most of the people are Asian (what a surprise). There is a flower festival under way at present and we spent about an hour wandering among the many beautiful varieties of flowers. Unfortunately, I had left my camera in the hotel so missed many golden photo opportunities which I regret.

After doing some necessary business with the Australian Consulate-General's Office at Saigon, which was almost as painful as the visa issuing process at the airport, we walked about the streets and markets and managed to find a restaurant for dinner. We had an early night for in the morning we were off to Lagi which is where we are now.

Everywhere in Vietnam is a reminder of how resilient and motivated the Asian people are, having a penchant to turn anything into a way to make a Dong or survive for another few days. The motor scooters and motorcycles are ubiquitous; the thought passed my mind that there must be a huge trade in sins of the flesh, motor bike sales and repairs. Everything else must surely be subordinate.

Thanks to our Vietnamese friend Phuong, adapting to the local routine is much easier.

Robin

Heading for Vietnam

It's taken a while, but in early March I'm heading to Vietnam (see previous post). I tried several times to get there during the Vietnam War period, but the Air Force obviously considered I was needed more in Australia, so I never got posted and consequently missed out on a Defence Housing Loan and some other benefits only available for "veterans".

I spent my war supervising the loading and unloading of C130E Hercules aircraft flying to and from Vung Tau, Vietnam, a long way from the front line.

Oh well, it's probably safer to visit now 40 years later.

My wife Christina and I are heading to Vietnam to hopefully marry our son Dale to Yen (pronounced Ian). So, not only will we get to visit the country for a month, but we will see our only son get married ... at long last. Having a daughter-in-law will be nice too, especially one who brings a different cultural viewpoint into our family.

After we return from Vietnam we are heading off on a 40 day (yes, you read it correctly) cruise from Sydney across to Japan via Airlie Beach and Darwin in Australia, Brunei, Hong Kong, China and then return via Guam. It promises to be a wonderful experience too, but I'll write more about it as it happens during the long days watching the ocean pass by.

Robin