August cometh.
So August dawns... kinda hard to believe that I've been here a little over four months. I have finally relaxed after my adjustment fits, and I must say, I'm begining to like the place.
I just spent 3 weeks on Cat Ba island, which is absolutely gorgeous. Its a bit like living on the movie set of "Jurassic Park", except theres no dinosaurs and its the people with the outrageous diets. I ate seafood, breakfast lunch and dinner every day for the first 9 or 10 days, after that, we moved onto, dogs, tree rats, frogs, rabbits, goats blood with peanuts and giblets etc. I did not have the opportunity to try anything too weird, but ate so much that I was 5 kilo's heavier when I returned.
Also, aside from the lack of dinosaurs and great food, theres a few beaches, loaded with Vietnamese tourists, all doggy paddling in the shallows of the surf. The girls are gorgeous, but havent cottoned onto the idea of a "hot bikini" which kinda makes it look like a "mum and baby" parade. Its all kiddy stuff.. which works fine for any uncle pervy lurking about in his speedos.
And in addition theres the odd spite ridden local, who'll try and shaft any westerner a 4000% dmarkup, like charging 10$ US for 20 minutes on the internet. And of course, they'll throw in a free-of-charge "f@ck you Tay!", as a courtesy. Thats always funny.
As far as work goes, I didnt do too much. Spent most of the time relaxing and brushing up on my Vietnamese language. We were in the National Park, which is well inland. Food was REALLY good, and only 18,000 VND per meal. The park rangers were pretty nice guys, and taught me a lot of swear words. hehe.
So returning to hanoi was a bit of a shock. Cat Ba is very quiet and relaxed. Its pretty sweet, like most of rural Vietnam. Hanoi isnt. I got food poisoning only one day back!! I thought it was a virus. It was recommended that I get a blood screen for malaria, just in case.. then they put me in a hospital bed for the day! I have holes all through my arm, from the injections and drug therapy!
Officially, My assignment here finishes in just 4 months, but I can extend it by 4 months, and of course there are other options to stay a lot longer. I need to formulate my plan, will I make my own project and stay here another 2 years? or will I go home, get married, get fat, and mow the lawn? (I AM begining to miss a nice green lawn, actually...) I need to polish up my vietnamese language. Its good, but people think I'm quite rude, because unlike English, you cant use tones to sound polite with Vietnamese, so my Vietnamese is quite short and abrupt.
Also, I need to start French, and i need to stop spending so much money, and I need a girlfriend, and I need to lose a cupla kilo's, and get bigger muscles, and get my hair cut, and tuck my shirt in ocasionally, and remember to wash behind the ears, and stop picking my nose and showing it to people... and I need to make sure I wear clean underwear everyday, what if I'm in a car accident, and at the hospital, all the doctors and nurses see I dont have clean underwear?!
..I guess this means I'm run out of intelligent and meaningful things to say.. so siexure round folks!! There'll be a few pics in the next post.
I just spent 3 weeks on Cat Ba island, which is absolutely gorgeous. Its a bit like living on the movie set of "Jurassic Park", except theres no dinosaurs and its the people with the outrageous diets. I ate seafood, breakfast lunch and dinner every day for the first 9 or 10 days, after that, we moved onto, dogs, tree rats, frogs, rabbits, goats blood with peanuts and giblets etc. I did not have the opportunity to try anything too weird, but ate so much that I was 5 kilo's heavier when I returned.
Also, aside from the lack of dinosaurs and great food, theres a few beaches, loaded with Vietnamese tourists, all doggy paddling in the shallows of the surf. The girls are gorgeous, but havent cottoned onto the idea of a "hot bikini" which kinda makes it look like a "mum and baby" parade. Its all kiddy stuff.. which works fine for any uncle pervy lurking about in his speedos.
And in addition theres the odd spite ridden local, who'll try and shaft any westerner a 4000% dmarkup, like charging 10$ US for 20 minutes on the internet. And of course, they'll throw in a free-of-charge "f@ck you Tay!", as a courtesy. Thats always funny.
As far as work goes, I didnt do too much. Spent most of the time relaxing and brushing up on my Vietnamese language. We were in the National Park, which is well inland. Food was REALLY good, and only 18,000 VND per meal. The park rangers were pretty nice guys, and taught me a lot of swear words. hehe.
So returning to hanoi was a bit of a shock. Cat Ba is very quiet and relaxed. Its pretty sweet, like most of rural Vietnam. Hanoi isnt. I got food poisoning only one day back!! I thought it was a virus. It was recommended that I get a blood screen for malaria, just in case.. then they put me in a hospital bed for the day! I have holes all through my arm, from the injections and drug therapy!
Officially, My assignment here finishes in just 4 months, but I can extend it by 4 months, and of course there are other options to stay a lot longer. I need to formulate my plan, will I make my own project and stay here another 2 years? or will I go home, get married, get fat, and mow the lawn? (I AM begining to miss a nice green lawn, actually...) I need to polish up my vietnamese language. Its good, but people think I'm quite rude, because unlike English, you cant use tones to sound polite with Vietnamese, so my Vietnamese is quite short and abrupt.
Also, I need to start French, and i need to stop spending so much money, and I need a girlfriend, and I need to lose a cupla kilo's, and get bigger muscles, and get my hair cut, and tuck my shirt in ocasionally, and remember to wash behind the ears, and stop picking my nose and showing it to people... and I need to make sure I wear clean underwear everyday, what if I'm in a car accident, and at the hospital, all the doctors and nurses see I dont have clean underwear?!
..I guess this means I'm run out of intelligent and meaningful things to say.. so siexure round folks!! There'll be a few pics in the next post.
posted by Pseudomys at 5:23 AM
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