vietnam, and 10 kilos heavier

Okay maybe not quite ten.

Last night, after a week spent in five star accommodation, eating 5 star food and hanging out with 5 star people, I arrived in Singapore and was met by a smiling Kate (thanks for collecting me Kate!!) Today I am sitting in her extremely classy living room, overlooking Singpore, finally getting some diary entries done. There's a gym and a pool - and I thought my 5 star living was over!

Vietnam was wonderful. In a group of about 70 people, we travelled first to Saigon and then to Danang. The people on the trip were all a lot of fun and I was sorry to see them go by the end of the trip (better get used to it, I know!)

We spent a couple of days in Saigon, where we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, many shopping centres and markets, and somehow avoided being run over by one of the millions of bikes on the road.

As with any country, there are small differences that are unique to the place. In Vietnam, there are art galleries everywhere; although these are really art shops. They have some great homewares, a particular style of lacquer that is very bright and colourful, and everywhere there are the little conical hats that I had long assumed were merely a relic of the past, but are in fact still used widely. The parts of the country that I saw were surprisingly clean.

The people in Vietnam were friendly but very direct; they had a sense of humour that didn't always shine through in their speech but was evident in their giggles and their cheeky grins. Vietnam is still finding its way around the English language so it still feels like you're a "real" traveller. One nightmare taxi ride at 20kph with the driver yelling at random people on street corners for directions (in spite of being handed a map) was testament to this.

Remnants of the war are everywhere in the stories they tell. I couldn't tell if they still feel it close to their lives or if they are just humouring the interested tourists. After visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels we realised what industrious, clever people they are. They lived underground, building an ant's nest of tiny tunnels, converted animal traps to American traps, disassembled unexploded American bombs and rebuilt them into bombs of their own. Seeing it all, you gasp with the realisation that the Americans never stood a chance against these people.

One thing that sets the Vietnamese apart from other warriors is that it's hard to imagine them enjoying the torture. There is an air of "it just had to be done" about the way they talk. A sense of pride for their ingenuity but not a sense of pride for their kills. Although, it has to be said that the communist documentary we were shown did make mention of many a "cute little schoolgirl" being awarded "NUMBER ONE AMELLICAN KILLER HERRO AWARD". The Vietnamese are a very matter-of-fact people, very kind, bright, interested, and funny.

Trivia: "Viet" means elite and "nam" means man. The elite man.

To break it up a bit, I'll post about Saigon separately.