The road to Hue

So last Friday afternoon Tim (my boss' nephew from Aus) and I took the 13:05 train from Da Nang to Hue. Hue is a 300,000+ city about 1.5 hours by car, or 3 hours by train up the north coast. It is the old capital of Vietnam and as such has some wonderful sights. It sits along the banks of the Perfume River, named as such because it infuses all pictures taken with a pinky, purpley kind of glow. This we found out, may only be true in the sunlight, as we had mostly rain for the 4 days and 3 nights we stayed there.












The train journey was just spectacular. The train winds around the mountainous coast of Vietnam and there were so many little private beaches that I would love to explore. Many look quite inaccessible however. I tried to take some good photos, but unfortunately the train windows were really dirty, so the best are below.












Once we arrived in Hue, we took a cab to our hotel and after some trouble finding our booking we got sorted in our room. Rather than chill, and despite the torrential rain, we decided to go and find a bar and some food. We found a cute little cafe and then, after a few beers, some hot chips and spring rolls, we headed across the road to what would become our favourite bar in Vietnam so far. It was called 'Apocalypse Now' and is the only club we have found with an excellent pooltable (where Tim taught me to be a semi-decent pool player) and played excellent RnB (E.g. Rhianna, Usher etc). We would come back here twice more. The owner lived in Melbourne for a while so spoke excellent English and by the the last night, I could hold my own in a game of pool against the staff and Tim was behind the bar making caprioskas!! It was awesome.


























The first full day we had in Hue, we went down by the River and walked to the Citadel. However we had to do the obligatory tourists pics first.






















Once we got to the Citadel we went to the Imperial Palace. It is a very impressive place and about 10km squared in area. Despite the crowds and the pouring rain Tim and I think we saw pretty much all of it.






















Stay tuned for Part 2 of my trip to Hue. Highlights include: Hue by night, hideously expensive cocktails with a nice view, the one day of sunshine which we spent on our private boat, My new segment "How many motorcycles can you fit in a picture?" and getting ripped off Hue style.

Making up for lost time

So I would like to apologise to my readers (I hope I still have some) for the lack of posts recently. In the last week or so I have found a house and moved in, started work, gone on an extended weekend trip to Hue and today (Saturday) I am planning for my housewarming party which will take place tonight.

So the next post will be dedicated to the trip Tim (my boss' nephew) and I took to Hue and I will post some pics and maybe a video of my new house in the coming days.

But since I last posted I have experienced some of the night life of Da Nang. The hopping little night spots I have visited are as follows:

• The Camel Club - this is where I started my foray into Da Nang night life. It's a brightly lit (from the outside) club which a live band and a rotating crew of singers, which then gave way to heavy beats and the usual scantily clad pole dancing women (and one boy) so there was something for everyone. It's cheaper to get shots of vodka ($3) than beers ($5) and even cheaper still to buy your vodka by the bottle.


• Las Vegas - this is the big nightclub in Da Nang. There was a killer female DJ, who even got me on the floor for a dance when she played a dance remix of "A Girl Like You" by Edwin Collins. It rocked. Drinks are very expensive and we got to witness some pole dancing girls and saw their pimp (some rich, old white guy... v. creepy). All in all it's an ok place to go but watching drunk or high white guys on holidays sleazing all over the local girls gets a bit tired after a while.


• Bamboo Bar - this is my local for now, not really close to my house but a relaxed kind of bar, with a dodgy pool table and excellent tunes (think Damien Rice, Neil Young etc). I'm thinking about donating a Crowded House cd to their collection (but only if they take the James Bunt cd and crush it into a thousand pieces and then set those pieces on fire). Anyone who comes to visit I am likely to take you here. You have been warned!!

I also spent a couple of weeks looking for a house, and had settled on a beautiful 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 5 level house fully furnished which the owners said they would give me for $300USD a month, when we called to confirm, they decided they wanted at least $500USD a month, which is out of my budget and I would prefer to spend the extra money on travel etc.

So I am now living in a 2 bedroom, one bathroom, one level house, with minimal furnishings (a bed, air con, table and chairs, but no fridge or washing machine) for $250USD a month which is lovely and quite secure, in the heart of surburban Da Nang. Pics coming in the next few posts. I will also post some pics of the house warming party that will take place tonight.

Next up is a post on my trip to Hue. Stay tuned.

XOXO

Amy

the last few days - some observations

So I finally have a minute to myself so I thought I would make another blog post. Life has been crazy with a lot of social stuff, 2 hours of language lessons, 7 days this week and a little bit of pre-work work as well. I officially start work tomorrow so thought I would get this one in before life gets even busier.

So this week I have been told I am beautiful which is nice. I have also been asked in the street if I am pregnant (!!!) due to being a little rounder than your typical Vietnamese person. I have been told I look like I'm Indian as well!!

I have ridden three people to a motorbike, I have carried a bunch of flowers and a birthday cake on the back of the bike, I have ridden up to the buddhist monument on the coast of Da Nang and took some great photos off the back at about 50kms an hour. I have carried a porcelain sink (no really!!) on the back of the bike.

I also had my first minor scrape tonight (literally). The bike I was on the back of, with a work friend driving scraped mirrors with another bike and my arm got a bit grazed on the other bike in the process. No biggie, but it is a reminder that little (and big) accidents can occur very easily.

Today (Sunday) was spent on 2 hours of language lesson (9am to 11am) this morning. Then I checked out another house to rent (cheap but a share house with an older Vietnamese woman and I think I want to be closer to the Beach) and then spent 2 or 3 hours swimming and having a couple of beers on China Beach. It was a beautiful day and with the minor flooding and torrential rain we've been having lately, you take any chance you can to hit the beach. I'm going to have to test my Vietnamese language skills and translate what the sign says. I am told it is referring to a rip (called a whirlpool here) and identifying this section of beach as not a safe place to swim.

Tomorrow I am off in search of a bag for my laptop and then heading into the office for some planning and admin (setting up work email account, mapping project plans and background reading etc).

Looking forward to hearing from you all (subtext - comment more!!!).

Amy xoxo

Da Nang

Hello everyone... first things first, as you can probably see I have resolved the camera issue. With the help of my ICM (In-Country Manager for the Ayad Program) Mr Thong I managed to located a replacement cord for about $9 AUD so I was pretty stoked to get my pics off my camera and onto the blog.

I have arrived in Da Nang, flew in on Saturday morning. Saturday was spent looking around Da Nang a little, though this was rushed because a storm was coming in. We went to the top of the Green Plaza hotel along the river and I managed to take some photos. I look forward to taking more when the weather is clearer and you can see the mountains better.



Saturday night we had a dinner at Ian's (my new boss) house and I met a couple of girls from the Project Office. I also had my first ride on a motorbike, as we went for a drink with the ex-pat network that has been established here in Da Nang. A lot of that group are American ex army men who have come back and married.

Sunday was spent house hunting and more motorbike riding. I am now in the possession of a brand-new spanking helmet of my own, complete with full face visor. Its very cute. We also did quite a bit of house hounting today. If I choose, I can get a three or four story place to myself with 3 to 4 bedrooms and bathrooms for about $300 USD a month but I think I will hold out for something a bit smaller.

Also late this afternoon I got to step foot on China Beach here in Da Nang. The city is split into two sections, one of the ocean side of the river and the other on the mountain side of the river. If I can I'm going to live on the beach side and use my pushbike to get around, with the view to learning how to ride a motorbike in the near future.

That's all for now. Tomorrow will be spent setting up a bank account, finding a local dr and visiting the project office.

Keep the comments rolling in and love to you all.

Amy xoxo

greetings from HCMC

And so it begins. I have arrived in HCMC via Hanoi for the 2nd Asia Pacific Injury Prevention conference. Hanoi was full of learning and 5 star luxury. After having arrived in my far more basic accomodation in HCMC I am left wondering where my bathrobe and complementary slippers are.

First impression of Vietnam though... its crazy but the people are very friendly. The traffic is mental. Constant horn-honking which I have decided is more about saying hello or letting someone know you are there rather than as something that should be reacted to. Also not many seatbelts (sorry Dad) and I have only seen one sign regarding speed limits in the time I have been here.

Crossing the road is an art form, there are pedestrian crossings however its really optional for motorbikes if they want to stop for people, cars never will. At first my instinct was to run across the road to get out of people's way, however, as counter-intuitive as it may appear, you need to walk slowly across as motorbikes will usually swerve to avoid you. But there is traffic everywhere and arriving in HCMC in peak hour, it took over an hour to travel about 20km from the airport to my hotel.

Today was spent performing orientation, walking around the streets, sorting out roles and responsibilities and plane tickets. Tonight there will be a dinner with some of the current AYADS, including two of the girls from my intake that I met in Canberra.

I also managed to meet up with all of the Hanoi based AYADS whilst there for the conference. We went for some French food and I enjoyed my first beer, delicious!!! Also the coffee with condensed milk is amazing and I can see that this year is going to do nothing to stem my coffee addiction.

Well that is really all for now, just initial observations really. After the conference and learning more about drowning prevention I am incredibly motivated to achieve some amazing things whilst I am away. Hanoi this month alone, has experienced 500+ mm of rain, 5 times the average rainfall for the month and around 40 people have drowned. But this is something I will be working towards minimising.

Please comment and let me know you are reading. Hair Watch 2008/09 (or should that be Puff Watch???) is coming soon as will the rant and rave list that I will steal from Mike's blog.

Keep in touch

Amy