Thought I would say hi as we are taking time out after a late poolside lunch and hotel tour to check up on emails etc... hard life I know, but I would recommend to anybody coming to South East Asia that every so often you should budget for two or three nights in a nice hotel just to regain some sanity and rest up a bit... My companion is doing well but the pace of the last week has definitely got her a little ragged so this is just the tonic to get her back up and raring to go.
She did learn today that if you leave the sliding doors open even in a very nice hotel in Vietnam, unwanted locals are likely to turn up... even on the third floor overlooking the pool and river. She was quick to shut herself in the bathroom when she saw me chasing something around the floor with a jandal, afterwards she asked if I had got the bug out and I had to point out I wasn't sure if it was an insect or a mouse of some sort...
We have had some rain this afternoon which has broken the back of the oppressive heat, we almost melted walking around the Citadel today (I am guessing +35C in shade, and +40C in the sun) as I showed Lala around what is left of the old areas, complete with bullet holes all over the stone walls... Much of the old damage of two wars and a couple of natural disasters has been built-over since my last trip and new reproduction temples and palace buildings are slowly (very slowly) taking over the old site. Everything moves slow in Vietnam except for the traffic, and they are still working on some of the buildings they had half completed five years ago when I was here.
Tonight we may just chill I think, last night we sampled some of the awesome local food Hue is famous for (and both of us ate for about NZ$15 including beer, which makes a very welcome change!!) and Lala took several years off my life as I watched in terror while she tried to ride a bicycle on Vietnamese streets.
As much as we complain about traffic and the government, it must be said the people remain friendly and charming... foreigners are an interesting oddity still to many, probably an annoyance to some, but it is rare to find anyone unpleasant or hostile (apart from the mini-Hitlers you run into in civil servants and the occasional train steward... but you get those everywhere). Tourists could do a lot more to make themselves welcome that is for sure, but then with low-budget travel still the major drawcard, it's fair to say that not all the Aussies and Kiwis coming through are exactly high class.
Sadly due to some computer issue here I can't even update the obscure music list or recall what I have or haven't mentioned in the past, so at the risk of repeating myself I am going to throw one out there and say check out Scout Nibblet, only because just before I left I found a replacement copy of her album 'This Fool Can Die Now' which I lost somewhere long ago... try the title track on for size on Youtube and watch the video with Will Oldham (aka Bonnie Prince Billy), a long-time favourite of mine... the video always puts a smile on my face, she is super-quirky... then check out 'Let Thine Heart Be Warmed' and 'Your Last Chariot' to hear her making big noise with a friend or two a-la White Stripes... (speaking of which 'Blunderbuss' is super good)
Hope all is well where you are, cheers for the comments (some published, some not!!) glad someone out there in radioland is tuning in...
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