I got a bout of Amoebic dysentery last week so that didn't help - but the killer antibiotics have done their job....
Otherwise I am well and keeping fit at the gym. I am enjoying life in this mad and vibrant city.
Next weekend I am off to the beaches 2 hours south. Where the US army used to take R&R!!
I have visited a disabled children's centre and spent time in one of the local villages on the outskirts of the city. The rate of development here is incredible, but the differences between expat and local life can feel a little obscene. Unlike most expats I live away from the white ghetto's. I live on the 7th floor of an apartment block overlooking the Saigon Zoo, I wake each morning to the sounds of elephant (of which I can see 4 from our balcony), hippos and tropical birds - its a wonderful alarm call - pity its at 5.30am!!
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| This is Nelly - even though its a big boy - and that's my apartment behind him! |
The block is in the heart of typical modern Saigon, with an eclectic mix of old, new and new but looks old! everything from a fresh market to local beer stalls crowd the streets. The mopeds whizz by in seeming chaos, but rarely does anyone come to harm at these low speeds. The children play in the streets as they would have done in the villages of 20 years ago - often bare foot and very very loudly! The streets are only just tarmac covered as the floods come and go daily destroying any smooth surfaces. Riding a motorbike through these flash floods really is an art form that I am getting used to. I have already worked out that I need to leave my smart shoes at work so they don't get destroyed and I travel each day wearing rubber sandals. When it rains here it really honestly does. I have been about a bit and seen some downpours in my time, but these quite honestly take the biscuit. Not only are they extreme in their volume, but the winds pick up under the storm clouds and the rain then goes horizontal! It was so bad one day the rain was coming into the bedroom via a 2 metre deep balcony! I had left the windows open for fresh air but what I got was fresh water.
Another rather odd coincidence is that I am also overlooking one of the many canals in the city. Having just left the UK canal system this does bring home reminiscences. However, this canal is black - dark black, and sometimes smells dark black too - if you can imagine that. But its alive - people fish from it and live on boats which ply up and down carrying sand and provisions from the country. The canal is directly connected to the tidal Saigon River about 1km away, so when the tide drops, the black silt left behind spawns an array of unpleasant mangrove life. Thank goodness I am on the 7th floor, just above tree height and therefore just above the height of most of the insect life!
Its all very very interesting and perhaps the picture I paint is too bleak. Yesterday I went to the Park Hyatt for a smoothie, one of the very many 5 star hotels in the city. It was wonderful and the atmosphere a haven of peace and luxury. On the way home I stopped at a shoemaker to have hand made shoes made, he is an 80 year old man who still cobbles (is that a word) for specialist feet. And yes size 10's are big here and specialist - so I have to have some specially made...not overly cheap either, but a rarity and a pleasure to do business with such a traditional character of a Saigon now nearly past.
Today, after waking up late I made a fresh fruit juice from mango and pomello (a large sweet grapefruit style fruit) and decided to write to a blog to keep everyone informed of how its all going. Later I am going to my gym by the river which is set in palm groves and around a pool. Its where my gym is. I am going to do some iron pumping then read a book on how hops made the empire!!!
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| The Village Gym and pool! Life's tough here! But the beer is rubbish..... |
Oh and then I shall pick up my shoes whilst trying to avoid the downpours!
SO all in all very exciting and well worth doing. I don't miss the boat very much at the moment, but I still don't regret taking that year out.
