Vietnam! Land of historical conflict and chaos, which today is reflected in its citizens approach to traffic management. It is also the home of, it turns out, about a billion different tribal ethnic groups and a whole bunch of places that start with H.
For us though, it will probably mainly be remembered as the place where we were joined on holiday by our lovely friends Lizzy and Dan, who foolishly decided to throw away their hard-earned annual leave on spending two weeks with us. But we appreciated the sacrifice, as it was really nice to see someone we know from Britain again! It has been a fair old time now, much of it filled with meeting various other interesting people which, while excellent and fun and interesting, is pretty draining in the long run. Anyway, we had a great time hanging out with Dizzy, as they have now been christened, and we're very grateful to them for coming to meet us! Top class friending there.
So. Vietnam is a country drenched in history. It has three thousand years of continuous cultural development behind it (which is unusual for the region, most countries having been invaded and displaced by someone new at some point), all of which makes for a vibrant and interesting society to be twisted almost out of recognition by the horrors of thirty years of near constant warfare. The legacy of the war, first against France and then against America and itself, is evident everywhere in Vietnam. There are the obvious things; museums, extant minefields in the jungle, Vietcong tunnels outfitted for tourists, the Communist party... And the less obvious things; the unusually high number of people born with deformities and mental illness thanks to the after-effects of chemical warfare, the tools and clothing made from cleverly recycled bits of American military hardware, the every-day-could-be-your-last attitude to life. Everything about this country was thrown into upheaval and what remains today is a different land and people to what came before. Even in the Hanoi Women's Museum, the message of feminism was mostly espoused by way of womens' (substantial) contribution to fighting in the war. For a pair of historians, all this makes for a very interesting holiday!
The main reason why Vietnam is a fun place today is that seize-the-day approach that the country seems to have adopted as its national character. Every day is a new adventure, and I personally believe that this atmosphere makes a significant contribution to the frankly insane way that everyone drives. The title of this post is a quote from our tour guide when describing the experience of actually driving in Vietnam. The gist was that there is one rule, which is flexibility. As in, if you see an opportunity, such as a tiny gap between a car and a wall, just go through it! Don't worry about red lights or any of that nonsense. This is the way that life is lived. It does have its charms. Certainly by the end of our time we had become very proficient at crossing these crazy roads.
So, we've had a fun time in Vietnam. A lot of highlights of the trip; a drunken snorkelling trip out of Na Trang (Vietnam's only city starting with a letter other than H), a bike tour around Hoi An (a preserved historical city where everything is quaint), a motorbike tour of the old Imperial capital of Hue and surrounding (extremely beautiful) countryside, firing a machine gun at the Cu Chi tunnel complex (oh yeah, forgot to mention, I fired a gun! An M-16 for those who are interested. It was fun), a ride on a water buffalo, learning to play Hanoi's local variant of hacky-sack with a giant shuttlecock (and being joined, and totally outclassed, by a bunch of locals)... and of course many a nice drink, dinner and general chat with Dan and Lizzy.
And that about does it! I feel like I have forgotten some of the cool things that we did, as the two weeks were so fast-paced, but it was a great time!
Until next time,
Happy travels friends! :)
For us though, it will probably mainly be remembered as the place where we were joined on holiday by our lovely friends Lizzy and Dan, who foolishly decided to throw away their hard-earned annual leave on spending two weeks with us. But we appreciated the sacrifice, as it was really nice to see someone we know from Britain again! It has been a fair old time now, much of it filled with meeting various other interesting people which, while excellent and fun and interesting, is pretty draining in the long run. Anyway, we had a great time hanging out with Dizzy, as they have now been christened, and we're very grateful to them for coming to meet us! Top class friending there.
So. Vietnam is a country drenched in history. It has three thousand years of continuous cultural development behind it (which is unusual for the region, most countries having been invaded and displaced by someone new at some point), all of which makes for a vibrant and interesting society to be twisted almost out of recognition by the horrors of thirty years of near constant warfare. The legacy of the war, first against France and then against America and itself, is evident everywhere in Vietnam. There are the obvious things; museums, extant minefields in the jungle, Vietcong tunnels outfitted for tourists, the Communist party... And the less obvious things; the unusually high number of people born with deformities and mental illness thanks to the after-effects of chemical warfare, the tools and clothing made from cleverly recycled bits of American military hardware, the every-day-could-be-your-last attitude to life. Everything about this country was thrown into upheaval and what remains today is a different land and people to what came before. Even in the Hanoi Women's Museum, the message of feminism was mostly espoused by way of womens' (substantial) contribution to fighting in the war. For a pair of historians, all this makes for a very interesting holiday!
The main reason why Vietnam is a fun place today is that seize-the-day approach that the country seems to have adopted as its national character. Every day is a new adventure, and I personally believe that this atmosphere makes a significant contribution to the frankly insane way that everyone drives. The title of this post is a quote from our tour guide when describing the experience of actually driving in Vietnam. The gist was that there is one rule, which is flexibility. As in, if you see an opportunity, such as a tiny gap between a car and a wall, just go through it! Don't worry about red lights or any of that nonsense. This is the way that life is lived. It does have its charms. Certainly by the end of our time we had become very proficient at crossing these crazy roads.
So, we've had a fun time in Vietnam. A lot of highlights of the trip; a drunken snorkelling trip out of Na Trang (Vietnam's only city starting with a letter other than H), a bike tour around Hoi An (a preserved historical city where everything is quaint), a motorbike tour of the old Imperial capital of Hue and surrounding (extremely beautiful) countryside, firing a machine gun at the Cu Chi tunnel complex (oh yeah, forgot to mention, I fired a gun! An M-16 for those who are interested. It was fun), a ride on a water buffalo, learning to play Hanoi's local variant of hacky-sack with a giant shuttlecock (and being joined, and totally outclassed, by a bunch of locals)... and of course many a nice drink, dinner and general chat with Dan and Lizzy.
And that about does it! I feel like I have forgotten some of the cool things that we did, as the two weeks were so fast-paced, but it was a great time!
Until next time,
Happy travels friends! :)
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