Sheer Intelligence

Its moments like this I feel like I am on holiday and not travelling. Sometimes I welcome it other times I feel the need, not that I dislike it I mean who doesn’t like being on holiday, but sometimes I am just dying to see something new, something spectacular, smells and sounds and most of all something new in the air in the atmosphere, the feeling that causes inspiration, thoughts and feelings, emotions you wouldn’t recognize if you were back home.

Let me describe my holiday feeling before I lose the moment, then I will back track to my last day in Saigon. I am sitting at a table for two nearest the beach. I have no locals in the way of my view of the beach. My eyes are looking at the contrast of the whiteness of the sand and the blackness of the sea which merges into the pitch black sky, the only thing separating them is the dots of lights forming a circle around me, almost as if it were all land and a lake instead of the China Sea in front of me. In fact it’s the dotting of the boats all lined up waiting for that early morning catch to feed us ample tourists. It’s quite peaceful here; the waves are the more prominent sound with a mix of two different types of music from the different restaurants with the mumble of chatter in the background. It’s nice to get away from the city but I quite liked that so I am off again tomorrow only staying in the beach town of Mui Ne for one night before I move on.

I am just dying to see something new, something spectacular, smells and sounds and most of all something new in the air in the atmosphere, the feeling that causes inspiration, thoughts and feelings, emotions you wouldn’t recognize if you were back home.

But in describing where I am now I have missed a whole day, my last day in the capital city, and my last day in Ho Chi Minh City so let me reverse a little.

After experiencing the city on my first day I decided to see what the South of the city had to offer. The agricultural south is full of rice paddies and is the place which feeds the country of 80 million surrounding the river. It is also home to the town of Chi Chu where the famous tunnels which helped defend the town from the Americans during the war. I took a half day tour and have never learnt so much about the intelligence of these people in my life. Like all tours they work on commission so our first stop was where they make their stupendous paintings using duck egg shells that make the beautiful pictures depicting life in Vietnam. The workers are all lined up partaking in different processes of the painting process, scrubby down, painting, glossing, with amazing patience. The line of workers led into a hop full of the wonderful handy work of these people. On forgetting my cash I didn’t buy anything, luckily for me the market in town sold them for half the price (there’s a Del boy in there somewhere).

The main destination was not so far along where we were and we were taken around the village and the tunnels which were open (most of them were over grown, entrances blocked by roots and trees). We had a lovely knowledgeable guide who told us of all the army’s tactics against the yanks, the booby traps and everything. It’s amazing what these people did, using mainly US products they made bombs out of American used bombs, shelter from their parachutes and formed traps from the debris. Amazing, but even more amazing that that was the tunnels which they built underground. There were three levels consisting of the tunnels which lasted many km long and all led to special escape routes the most important being the Saigon river. On the top level was the kitchen, medical centre and the bedrooms, the next two levels were ones which led to different exits and fighting points. Now everyone knows that Vietnamese people are tiny, well just imagine the size of the hole that they had to get into these hidden tunnels, absolutely miniscule. You have to go in feet first with your hands in the air otherwise you can’t fit through. The tunnels were even smaller, having to go down at some points on your belly. We were allowed to go through a 90 meter tunnel, terribly Claustrophobic, being quite small (not for long however, as my stomach is expanding the rate of a pregnant lady) I was able to go on all fours instead of on my stomach; many people gave up after 30. Thirty meters doesn’t seem that long but it was so enclosed and very hot, I managed the whole lot but it took me quite a while to stop sweating. One of the most amazing tricks was how they built the chimney, to go sideways so as the smoke did not give away their position another was the positioning of the air vent, not only was this important for them to breathe but it had to be in the right place so not to give themselves away or to be flooded when it rained. Not to diminish the amount of air they received they built the air vent underneath the termites nest, how fantastic is that. Also so the Americans sniffer dogs didn’t detect their smell they put American food and products around the bottom of the nest so that the dogs would get confused. This trip was really good, something I definitely needed after being in the Western world of Australia, I needed some information and to be brought back to reality.

We were back by 2.30 enough time for me to try out my boot sale bargaining tactics and get some surprise surprises. It really is quite ruthless sometimes, you get lovely people, and some just get annoyed with you haggling, which I don’t blame them but it is expected here. Money is a subject which I am not shy on discussing but in this instance, after I got back from my shopping run it made me feel guilty. Not that you should be ashamed it’s just one of those things. There was a couple of things that made me feel like this, the first was when I was coming out of the market and I literally had spent all the money I had on my, a girl asked if I would like to buy a fan, I responded by informing her I had no money, I’m sorry in which she shouted back in an angry tone ‘you have money!’. I made my way home a little dishevelled in mood and then the second thing happened, although this was in a light hearted situation it still made me think far too much.; The guy working at the hotel sparked up conversation with me, and it all of a sudden got onto the subject of how much he was on. I didn’t know what to say, the only thing which calmed me a little bit was the fact that he was laughing about it, laughing that in ten years he would just be able to earn enough to fly to England. What a fantastic character to have, they never dwell on things. One thing is for sure you can’t feel guilty about it; it is no use to anyone, not feeling guilty doesn’t mean you don’t care. It’s what comes of your thoughts that matter, (am I trying to make myself feel better?) The next day I decided to move on to my next destination, the one I started to describe to you, where I am now, Mui Ne.