Day 2 Vietnam

Chin Ciao – (Hello)

As you know, I have a flare for languages…..I’m picking this one up quite quickly!!
Some general information…..we are billionaires!! The exchange rate is approximately 32,432.00 dong = £1.00 A cup of coffee cost 50,000 bits……most expensive coffee I’ve ever had!! (and it was cold!)

Maths isn’t my strong point so working out what something costs here is impossible……the additional naughts are quite important!! (so I’m reliably informed!)

This is now our first real day. We had an early morning wake up call at 6.30 as we were being collected from the lobby at 8.00 to go to a place called Halong Bay.
Halong Bay is about a 4 hour drive from Hanoi and once there you get on a sailing junk for an overnight stay.

The big attraction is a very big cave with stalagmites and stalagtights…..as the mights go up, the tights come down (that’s how you can tell the difference….very scientific!)
Sadly for us, the weather here is rubbish. Visibility is about 20 yards and it’s very overcast so no chance of the sun burning it off! Fortunately the rain has stopped!!

Our tour guide, complete with vivid imagination liked to point out various animals shapes that she felt had evolved out of the rocks…..personally I think she was on drugs!! Tour one complete!!

The boat has 6 cabins all with baths and balconies so if the weather did permit, it would be lovely. We are having drinks at 5.00 to watch the sun go down!!! hahahahaha….haven’t seen it come up yet! My hair has shrunk, due to the humidity, which is a little unfortunate as I only just had it cut!! I’m having a very bad hair day!

The Vietnamese people are all very slight and not very tall – they do however have very nice hands!! Thought I’d share that with you just incase you run into a person from Vietnam….check out their hands!

Being one with the Vietnamese folk, I thought I’d give you the abridged version of the history surrounding the place……..as i know it……
In the early 1900’s the French came to colonize the place which is why there is quite a strong French influence here however for the younger generation that begins and ends with Bonjour and Bon Soir.

If you are over 70 here, then your second language would be French. The French were reasonably successful in their job and the country was divided up into North, South and the Middle!! The French then left and Vietnam became Communist.

However, the North Vietnamese were the Commies and the South Vietnamese were into Capitalization – enter the Americans in 1959. They got busy and were financing the South as the North had Russia and China in their corner .(more commies) The CIA then discovered that the money they were giving the South was going towards drug trafficking, prostitution etc etc rather than financing weapons and the military so they sent in two war ships to cruise around the coastline. – high visibility!!

The North Vietnamese then stupidly fired rockets at the US ships and the US then retaliated and bombed North Vietnam…..WAR!!!!!

Now with all this bombing going on, the Commies, being small little buggers decided to build a system of underground tunnels that they could use as hiding places during the combat as well as serving as a communication route and supply route for hospitals, food and weapons. They built 75 miles of tunnels and booby trapped many of the entrances so that when the Americans found a way in, they would blow them up!!

Being an election year in 1975 the American people were really pissed off that they were loosing so many of their own troops in a war that really had little to do with them, so Lyndon Johnson who was Pres got replaced by Nixon and the troops were pulled out.

After the Americans left, the Chinese had a go at re communising Vietnam and millions of people died…..I think Cambodia got involved somewhere along the way and that explains the killing fields!!
End of history lesson!!!

Just finished happy hour watching the sun set!! FIrstly there is no sun and secondly visibility is down to about 5ft!!

There are three other couples on the boat…..two lawyers, one is a prosecution attorney for the state (specialises in Murder!!) and her husband who does some international stuff. She is 7 months pregnant – based in San Francisco Couple.number two……he was in the air force and she was a teacher….both now retired. They got mugged last year in the Caribbean (I’m sharing with you!!) – from Sheffield…..and another couple who keep themselves to themselves. She keeps asking me for advice on how to use her camera…which if you know me is as stupid as asking me to perform open heart surgery!!

We have dinner soon and then it will be bed time….got to get up early as we have a cooking lesson at 8.00am!!

Until then, I bid you good night. Until tomorrow……

Tan Biet ( Bye!!)

Lots of love,

Anna