Yet again I forgot to turn around three times and say, "White Rabbits", so no extra special good luck this month. I don't even bother why I think about it because I always remember it after I've been talking for a few hours - I have to do it before I speak to anyone.
I put on my Bluetooth headset this morning and pressed the 'on' button. The lady kept stuttering in Chinese and then suddenly she decided to switch to English. I suppose she's seen the errors of her ways, knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere if she didn't speak the language. Now I know when she says "Power Off", but I was just learning how to say it in Chinese.
I was writing an email to a friend and saying I'd most likely get a call to have lunch over the road and the phone rang with an invitation. I have to go but it's always a challenge as it's around 11am and I've only just finished my breakfast at 9.30am. The family's on the move around 6am so 11am isn't such a bad time for lunch. I don't think I'll get anything on the plane, which is a blessing, as I'm absolutely stuffed. Today there was a lot of fish - fish soup, a fried fish which I had to eat with a special condiment, then a baby cucumber which had to be eaten with pieces of raw cabbage and another condiment. Cambodians spend hours creating these pickle type things that go with specific meals. In Canada it's usually, "Where's the Ketchup!"
Just 1 1/4 hours to go and then I'll be trundling my suitcase down the road to get the rickshaw. Nowadays, we've got so much choice - a rickshaw if there's just a couple of people, tuk tuk for more people and AC taxi if you feel like spending a bit more. I'll use "Passapp" on my phone and within a minute or two the rickshaw will arrive. There's no bargaining which is a great relief.
I was so fed up for a while. The batteries in my keyboard had died and here I am in the wilds of Vietnam. Friends managed to find a shop selling them and I was just going to throw away the old batteries when I suddenly thought, "I wonder if Bluetooth is connected?" It wasn't so now I'm off and trotting again and I have two extra batteries for later when the current ones really die.
The rickshaw drive to the airport was comfortable but the traffic was terrible. Two lane roads become five lanes as cars, trucks, tuk tuks and rickshaws jostle for a fron position. Those on motorbikes are fine - they simply mount the pavement and go by everyone.
I was flying with Qatar Airways and they have some strict rules. They close the check in counter one hour before the flight departs and they close the boarding gate 20 minutes before the flight leaves. They say it's all to make sure they leave on time. I thought of buying a cup of tea from Starbucks, while I waited, but decided against it when they asked for nearly $4. I sat in the lounge waiting for the flight and a man came up to me and invited me to board the plane. I was a bit befuddled as there were people with children, business class passengers etc who hadn't been called. I even had my own escort onto the flight. I sat there, on my own, for about 10 minutes before the other passengers arrived. I've no idea why it happened but I enjoyed it.
The flight was only 35 minutes. The passport man was far more friendly than the one I met when we visited Hanoi last year. I'm told the people from Hanoi and HCM City are very different. I paced around for half an hour, wondering if I'd been forgotten but eventually Ngan came and whisked me off to a restaurant for dinner. We went to a place where there was a large pile of raw green veg in the middle of the table, along with sauces, cucumber, onion, meat and rice paper. The idea was to make our own spring rolls. Ngan likes it because it's the only place she knows where they provide these particular vegetables - instead of the usual lettuce, cabbage etc., we had traditional Vietnamese vegetables.
From there we went to where we were supposed to get the night bus. We sat until 10pm and were then told to board the bus. At the door we put our shoes into plastic bags. I chose the bottom bunk behind the driver, which was a big mistake. The bus had two rows single beds along the side of the bus and another row in the middle; each row had an up and a down bed. The choice was climbing a ladder or sliding into a bed at ground level. I'm glad I'm short because the end of the bed was about 5cms too short for me. Taller folk would have had a painful time. We had a blanket and I'd taken a fleecy in case it got too cold. This time I was clever and took a night shade for my eyes because the driver often leaves the bus lights on. Even after all the beds were filled, people kept getting on the bus; they would sleep in the aisle on mats. When the mats were filled, people sat on the steps. The big mistake I made was the fact that people at the front kept talking for a long time.
I don't normally sleep on moving things so I didn't expect miracles on this trip. I did the usual tossing and turning and wondering why the other Vietnamese were all lying on their backs fast asleep. I shall never again complain about the space on a flight; the bus beds were a bit like being an astronaut on the Soyuz space craft. We stopped at a large highway shopping area. It was 1am so I wasn't interested in food. A large plastic bin with plastic shoes was placed at the bottom of the bus steps for us to use. It was nice to stretch my legs. At 2am we stopped again and I was told to get off. Getting off is more complicated than getting onto the bus because I had to find my shoes, backpack, get rid of the blanket etc. I wandered around outside until I was told we shouldn't have got off.
Finally, we arrived at Tien's family homestay place. It was after 4.30am so we were shown to our beds. We are all in a huge room with mattresses on the floor and mosquito nets; the toilets and showers are outside. I just cleaned my teeth and flopped into bed. We had a huge fluffy duvet and I was so tired I couldn't be bothered changing my clothes. The roosters are crowing but I'm going to bed.
