Finishing school early and on the road from Hai Phong to Chu Lai some 1,000km away by car was like doing the Top Gear (BBC tv) road trip in reverse. So Tom, Tam and myself set forth with the car all packed.

Leaving around 12.45pm, we left under cool grey clouds for Vinh, our target for an over night stop, about 300km away, a long drive.This took until 10pm at night with one pit stop for a sandwich. Clever Russell, handed duties to break the bread for a sandwich, went and nearly cut his thumb off with the sharp knife. Well tomato ketchup was as fresh as it ever would be for sandwiches.

Blood pouring out the locals administered first aid. First, tobacco was applied to the wound, still not sure why, but must have a chemical to stem the flow, sellotape to hold the tobacco in place until a plaster and liniment and iodine could be administered.

Hotel in Vinh for $7, sleep to the rumble of a disco somewhere in the night, up at 6.20 and off before 7am to Chu Lai. A long drive, a short pit top after 2 hours for a coffee and breakfast, a new dressing and a fuel stop.

Somewhere on this trip I have lost my glasses, I think it was at the mid morning fuel stop, my reading glasses have disappeared. I think it was at the petrol station where I took my hoodie off ready to drive.

I drove for about 5 hours non-stop, eating a ham sandwich as we went along. It is all steady, only supposed to do 80 kph, but squeezed some 100kph stretches into the drive as they slept.

A stop near a town to Doc Mieu, the first thing we noticed was the temperature, a comfortable 28 degrees, a place where I got a new pair of glasses. No opticians here, just a market stall, which after determining I was +2, lenses were ground down to fit a pair of D&G frames, all for 350,000 VND, $17 (£12), they fit and I can read, not as good as my prescription glasses, but hey I am able to read!

Oh and a pair of sunglasses for $6 or $7.

The AH1 is the main road from North to South, and at Hue it turned into Central Drive, Wingerworth, for about 20km. The road pitched and rolled the car from left to right on the road, it had more pockmarks than a kid with acne.

Finally, we were on the last stages of the journey, into Da Nang to pick up children, sister-in-law, and to Tam Ky for food and to leave Tom with Tam of Tam ky.

Da Nang had changed in the last 3 months since I ws there, a new shopping mall, market and looking like a city on the up.

Arriving in Tam Ky, was the first time Tom met the woman of his dreams (?). She grabbed him as if it was a trolley dash at the supermarket.

We ate and made the final 20km home to Chu Lai, around 10pm. An estimated journey time of around 20 hours on the road, door to door.

Days ticked by until new years eve on Sunday. In the meantime we visited relatives and the graves for worship in Tam Ky. At the graves we pray and burn clothes and money so their spirits too can have new clothes for new year. But it was unfortunate vagabonds roam the site, offering their services to clean the headstones of the dead. If you don’t offer a tip to the 15 or so kids who follow you, then the likelihood is the grave will be damaged. Even young men were here. Shame for this is something the Vietnamese revere, they respect their dead ancestors here, and new year is part of remembering the dead ancestors.

To cap all this off, couldn’t get to see City/Tottenham or United/Arsenal live on tv. Had th wrong channels, BBC Radio five live cut off as the game kicked off because of broadcasting rights, couldn’t get an internet feed..so was reduced to web text. Good result for the Reds, 2-1, bring on Liverpool on Saturday.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi (happy new year) the year of the Dragon

My house mate and work colleague was coming home by motorbike and had to see a very unfortunate event.

At the corner with the two lane highway (we all use), as always every evening 26 wheeler lorries are heading to the port for their next container pick-up, and on this occasion, the lorry picked up another passsenger it didn’t really want.  A motorbike driver was instantly crushed to death.  Now deaths here are not uncommon on the roads, over 10,000 die each year in Vietnam (UK around 3,000 deaths)

Deaths like this are avoidable, first of all motorbike riders and car drivers DO NOT LOOK when entering a main road or any road, therefore crashes are going to happen, hence this is probably what happened here.  I would also emphasize the truck was probably doing under 30 kph (20 mph) due to traffic and the road conditions.

Secondly, my friend had to drive past the corpse, he could see everything, the body was not even covered by the police. Awful.

This could all be avoided by stronger road safety and greater road discipline, for example a give way sign ot two.  Kids are the same the on their bicycles, riding 3 or 4 abreast on main roads, no-one looks over their shoulders before performing any manouevre.  Bring the British police, any European police force out here for a tv documentary, it would make interesting viewing.  They would not know where to start.

You need wits, concentration and an attitude to not let anyone use your road space.  Particularly the kids on bicycles and some motorbike riders just ignore red lights…just go and ride on without thinking for safety or traffic flow… or that their might be someone coming round a corner.  It is only a matter of time before the grim reaper strikes and its too late.

My work collegue saw a girl some years ago wobble off her bike whilst waiting at traffic lights with 2 other girls…yup as she fell she was decapitated by a lorry

source:http://images.wikia.com/villains/images/f/f0/Reaper.jpg

Christmas came and went very quickly, luckily Christmas fell over the weekend, otherwise it would have work everyday at the schools here.

Fortunately, we three wise comrades (Tom, Tam, and me) set off for Ninh Binh very early Christmas eve, we set of for the 7.30am bus. Arriving at 7.23am, only to discover the erstwhile bus driver had decided to head off before 7.30am…I shouted, I hissed and booed at the woman behind the counter, she looked back with a shrug as if to say its our fault, no apology for the driver leaving early, well we are in pantomime season. We even took my huge Christmas cake with us on the journey in a box, presented to me by my students at Tran Phu, it was beautifully decorated.

Undeterred, Tam enquired where another bus could be caught, and so we had a 10 minute trek to another street, only this time it was to be 2 buses for out 100km journey.

At least we were heading out of Hai Phong for a short break. 3 hours later we were off the bus, being tapped up by a moto driver for a hotel from $3 a night. Off we followed the salesman on his moto for a quarter of a mile walking at a brisk pace. No snow, no icicles, no Widow Twanky, just another lookalike city in Vietnam.

Our hotel down a side street was full of Europeans, how did they find this place, the new Queen Hotel? After a quick break, we decided to head off with a hired driver to sea the wonders of Ninh Binh.

First stop a historic King Le(surname) Emperors Palace site, full of school children on day trips and tourists in the cool but clear blue skies, it had a chill in the air, which made me think of Christmasses past. I of course was the centre of attention with my floppy Father Christmas hat and had to pose for photographs with the locals.

Lunch was not befitting Scrooge, very expensive, so much so Scrooge would have choked on the soup alone, costing $12 and the goat meat costing a similar amount, boy did Christmas arrive all in one day for the restaurant owner.

Following a hearty lunch we took to the peace and quiet of the waters, a boat rowed by a woman (they do all the manual work here) she rowed away with her feet like a proper Santa’s helper. The tour took in 9 caves, on the clearest water amongst limestone outcrops (like Ha Long Bay). Very tranquil and felt the peace and quiet of Christmas and the Christian spirit of Jesus on the 2 hour trip. Peaceful in December, perhaps rather more busy in Summer, but you have to make the effort to get to Ninh Binh, it is not many people’s itineries who visit Vietnam, but it soon will be.

After this trip, rather cream crackered, but more waters to float on and hills to climb, ancient temples to see, but the clock was ticking. We took another baot trip, before we retired back to the hotel for a short nap and sharing a Christmas drink with the hotel’s proprierters…what was missing was mince pies, sherry, Slade, Band Aid, but there was soccer on tv…you can’t escape the Premiership reruns out here.

Christmas eve was further enjoyed with a short walk to the Catholic church nearby. It was very busy with a huge screen showing some Catholic dignatory on the screen, beautiful lights, a tree and everyone semed to want to see, the whole town of Ninh Binh on moto’s had turned up..but did they know it was more than Father Christmas? It was a religious festival? who is Jesus? We had an little BBQ at our table for warmth and cooked pork and beef for dinner.

Christmas Day and we were off to Cuc Phuong National Park, some 60km away. An early Breakfast, and a driver for another $25.

Upon arrival we took a hike to the 1,000 year old tree, Tam in flip flops, me and Tom in regular footwear and we were accompanied by German George on our visit.

In the afternoon after a visit to the Monkey sanctuary, funded by many leading Zoo’s we headed back to Ninh Binh and our 3 hour journey.

Boxing day – normal working day, teaching, but, the week ahd a little surprise in store. I had been giving private lessons to Viinh (22yrs Old) who was leaving for the UK to do a Masters course at Birmingham University. His parents treated Tam and I to a slap up meal (well that’s what you used read in the Sparky comic, cica 1970’s)

we had 4 Lobster (expensive), Hai Sam (soup – translated to sea cucumber) ($400 a kilogram), wine a bottle of 12 year old Chivas regal whisky…in other words the works, all very delicious…so I did get a Christmas dinner of sorts.

The new year….passed off with Tom, his woman of the hour, her friend and Vinh and his wife (our landlord), we scoffed some crab and soup -Karaoke, and a roof top cafe for midnight….no Big Ben, no balloons, streamers, or party music, just techno pop, and when the moment arrived, the DJ played ‘Happy New Year’ a tchno version of Abba’s song…a few quick steps on the dance floor and off to bed.

New Years Day? Well you go to a wedding of course….off we three trotted to a wedding, drank some beer, karaoke and ate some more food.

And so what does 2011 leave behind?

Some recent sad losses?, Harry Morgan (aka Sherman Potter in M*A*S*H), Gary Speed (why?), Colonel Gadaffi, Osama Bin Laden, Kim jung Il, Jane Russell, Joe Frazier, Neil Young (MCFC scorer of FA cup winning goal 1969), Michael Jackson, Clarence Clemons (E street Band), Russian Ice Hockey team in September plane crash…and finally John, the husband of my great work colleague Freda Richardson also passed away..so many.

What will 2012 bring?

Hopefully the greatest sporting event - the Olympics - will be a triumph for London and Great Britain, pity I will not be a part of it, I really wanted to say I went to the stadium to watch at least one event, but its all too much, good luck to the ticket holders for an event to treasure.

A Man City league triumph? A Real Madrid Champions League win? Usain Bolt centre stage? An economic recovery or collapse of the Euro?

China government to buy into Apple? Terry Wogan to host Strictly come Dancing? Who knows and that is the beauty of the future..

A final Happy new year to Emily, Gregory, Phillip, Kirsten, ex-work colleagues Rob Fletcher, Geoff Nicholson, John Malamatenios, Anne Waring, not forgetting Basil and Pete and David Opperman…and Enid Skelhorn, inseperable part of my life many years ago..

I just can’t find that Christmas spirit we get at home, I feel something is missing, the shops are all decked out to sell gifts, with trees and everything, costumes for kids, but its not like home with Big outdoor lights, shops all looking pretty, pantomines, Pubs and special gifts for christmas.  It just is lacking that christmas feel.  There aren’t the malls to stroll and look, its ‘park yer moto and buy’.  Big C is doing its best with christmas songs being piped out of the PA - jingle bells in Vietnamee is not the same. But the country is embracing change and the children we teach know of Christmas, but the religious aspect is lost, who is Jesus? It is a commercial exercise here. No pictures of Jesus anywhere, there are christmas cards but not religious.

The Shelton staff had a trip around HA Long BAy, if you don’t know this place it is now one of the top 7 modern wonders of the world.  Great on a sunny day, but not on a cool winter’s day.  Well 17-18 degrees, to us Brits it’s still Summer.

It was a grand day out as Wallace would say.  It is a place everyone should strive to visit for its calming atmosphere, over 1969 limestone hulks of rock everywhere in the bay, 7 floating villages, and calm waters, very tranquil.  i guess you have to be of maturing years to fully appreciate.

What else? well the schools have been having their end of year exams, and so we had some down time, and we paid a visit to Ha Noi, principally to help Tom get a box through the postal system. He was experiencing the same difficulties as I with Saigon - DHL - and my tv in Ha Noi.  He had to play the same games as i did…hand over bribes, declare his goods were new, despite being years old….the system wreaks here of over officialdom.  Whilst in the post compound, I can easily vouch every item is opened and re-sealed when it enters the VN postal system.  Everything, I saw a ‘JD Sports’ parcel opened, inspected, catalogue was read by the staff and never returned to the package.  Tom’s package contained an old leather biker jacket, helmet, gloves, of no real value, put he was going to be initially charged 1m VND ($50) for him to get the parcel. 

Also our 16 and 17 yr olds participated in an English speaking contest, to be concluded this week.  Some of them are excellent, especially at Tran Phu School for gifted children.  They would give British students a run for their money.  However, others were disappointing, reading their notes verbatim, but you can have two points, its understandable, after all English is not their first language, or another view is that they were not prepared sufficiently after 3 weeks of work.  Some students were really excellent, global warming explained fully to me in English, to Shakesperian acting to telling me about Wayne Rooney’s life story.

The children are generally great with me and lessons fly by as have all the weeks since my arrival here in September.  I have been back to Tam’s hometown a couple of times for admin purposes, but all in all I have been in Hai phong.

Here we are outside one of our favourite restaurants in Ha Noi

Iwantoneofthose.com??? Free to take

Decorations galore, Ha Noi

Am going on little trip by bus early Saturday to Ninh Binh about 100 km away from Ha phong.  One night, back to teach on Boxing Day.  It is supposed to be very nice here with an old church and some caves and rice fields, and cool weather…but they really don’t get excited here about Christmas.  Its Tet for these people - but this is their lunar new year - like China.

Well, my students have really taken to me here and all photo opportunity’s are never lost.  Just see my facebook page for the tagged photo’s.  All lessons follow a structure, of learning English by text book, some good points and some bad points.  The games are by far the most popular, but the difficulty is raising everybody’s English to a more fluent level.  It is a challenge, to you or me it is water off a ducks back. Simple.  but here there is the pronounciation, especially the word ‘because’ pronounced as ‘becau_e’ , the letter ‘ess’ is often absent, you try living in a ‘hou_e’.

Halloween at the local Parkson was a hoot many of my students from both schools turned up and am decorated with Halloween snaps on f/b and even lessons we have photo opportunities.  Madness, but totally pleasurable.  The reins are off and I can deliver good lessons amid the humour. Many of the children are growing in self confidence, theyare being stimulated to improve, and I see this as good.  There are some obstinate ones who see it as a lesson of PE,  i.e. sit on the sidelines and do nothing.

Hooray..Hooray..it looks like my trunk (in the care of Saigon customs and DHL) is finally going to be delivered net week.  This is in part thanks to Tam who has made two long and arduous 860km coach journeys to Saigon to secure. Let’s see….

Do they really love me??? of course they do!

Number 1 teacher….

Due to the lack of inaction by our landlord and our employer, or so it seems, we have a Police raid, looking for illegal immigrants working in Hai Phong, living in a house which is not safe.

That is about the nub of it all.

Truth? We will never know, but it seems immigration are waiting for some papers from our employer, so are sticking to a national crackdown on all foreign workers in Vietnam, ie, hounding them to see that they have the correct status to work. We have but somehow, a 4 week operation to get immigration papers cleared, is now turning into a 3 day job? Hmmmmm bribesville.

As for the landlord, he has to register us as foreign tenants and pay tax, and therefore has been slow in doing this, so much so we have had the owner of the property who lives in China flying in this weekend to sign some papers so the property can be declared safe for us to live in. So for the past 5 nights we have all had to retire to a hotel, specified to us by the police. If we were to be found here when they raided the house, we would have $1,000 on the spot fine.

In the end its all about money, everyone seems to want a slice of someone else’s money for doing very little, other than ticking a box.

To add insult to injury, we are told some neighbours have written to the police telling them that they do not like us living here, a form of racism? I think that is more harmful than some petty issue for my previous employers (West Herts College) to investigate. Racism against another individual because of where they are from is far more concern than whether a cup of coffee is white or black.

So we continue in our world of school by day, hotel by night and my possessions still being in Saigon.

Tam is off to Saigon this week to go to DHL and vouch for my possessions and hopefully get them finally delivered.

Tam will have a week in Chu Lai, and I will go by bus Friday night, arrive Saturday morning, sign some papers on Monday and fly back, a round trip of 2,000km for a one night stay. Ooomph!

Also, whilst on my soap box, the police say that a 35 yr old woman and a 52 year man cannot stay under the same roof without a marriage licence. Alan and Carme, have had to prove they are married, the Stasi does exist.

The three stooges who came round with the landlord and the local community chief dropped all this bombshell over a glass of water around our table. Photocopies of passports and papers were exchanged like it was an international football match where pennants are exchanged.

Ah well, at least I know my teaching is good here, number 1 of course, just as always.

We have noticed the Vietnamese go to Big C en masse around 8pm, to just go and walk round a big store, it is like a tourist attraction, with its KFC and coffee bar.  As for Parkson, that is full of western goods, way too expensive, so is like a museum, to all but the very affluent, and it seems us westerners are in that category.  No-one buys the tv’s fashion goods or furniture, only cosmetics or the food in the food court before going to see a movie.

Then there is a 20km trip to Do Sun and the beach, which by comparison to other beaches in Vietnam is poor.   No wonder the Americans didn’t get this far, they must have heard how poor the beaches were up north.  Far better at Vung Tau, Mui Ne, China Beach et al..all in South Vietnam.

We had a little R and R with Tam’s parents and extended family in Chu Lai last weekend.  Alan and carme joined us for a very wet and thundery weekend, but we still managed a trip to the beach and sank many beers in shop tv, karaoke, food and cards.  So a very full weekend, the only thoughts on Monday was would we be able to get back to Da N ang.  The rain was flooding all the fields and some streets.  Boy oh boy was it heavy rain.

We arrived back, only to find most of our afternoon classes were cancelled, we keep missing lessons because of monsoons, strikes (once) and the afternoon school has inter school competitions cancelling days in the week.  All disruptive and so we are not really getting the hours of teaching we want to earn that little bit extra money to keep us going.

I am flying solo on the moto - only because Tam is with her family in Chu Lai, so she cannot criticize me…ha ha ha! freedom at last.  I am scooting here and there, just as if i have been on a motorbike for years.  I never realised how thrilling driving a bike could be albeit only a 125cc, but it is more powerful than many bikes here…what’s that advert?…. Zoom Zoom!! so true. Alan and I were bth cauht speeding today…clocked at 49kph (30mph) on a triple highway, a big dual carriageway, I should have been doing 40kph. (24mph)

Tam is back on Friday, so I guess I have to boring again…..no freedom, except I do now have a bicycle, I can exercise at last.  The bike was bought in Da Nang for half (yes) the price of an exact same Giant Bike for 5,400,00VND.  As a comparison, Alan’s moto cost the same, no comparison is there?  I am so out of condition, hamstrings and stuff are feeling the strain after my firstride out to the airport here in Hai Phong, a guess of 6km away, I did two laps, somaybe 10-12km.  There are no hills here to getthe challenge of using the bikes gears - all 24.  The gearing is very weak, I am able to cycle comfortable in 20th gear.

Here are a few pics of what’s been going on..

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With Tam, Tom (American), Alan (Eire) and Moi and cake!

Been here in Hai Phong teaching English a month now. Have managed to escape the surroundings of a hotel and move to a 4 bedroom house, recently completed, for $250 a month.

Tam and I share with Alan and Carme his Catalan wife and Tom an American applying for Canadian citizenship, so not quite sure whether he is going to be part of the Commonwealth brotherhood next year or what. I guess a bit like Greg Ruzseski in reverse?

I teach English to 16/17 year olds in two schools. There is a marked difference, the Tran Phu School for gifted are like Grammar school kids, my other school – Le Quy Don, is like a normal comprehensive.

I teach groups ranging from 30 to 55. At Le Quy Don (LQD) I teach a group twice a week, for 45 minutes each session. At the Grammar, Tran Phu, it is for an hour and fifteen minutes. Children here are pushed – education is number 1 for children, they go to school for 6 days a week, they have little free time to be children.

Teaching 50 odd kids is hectic and challenging and I wonder how much can sink in, especially in 45 minutes. They are all taught English grammar by Vietnamese English teachers.

I have become a bit of a cult status, thanks to Adrian Cronaur (aka Robin Williams). There is always someone to inspire us, and my Vietnamese teaching model follows Robin Williams. I am now being video’d and photographed each lesson now and am loaded up on facebook. The kids delight in this, its like a secret society, and membership of the club to be one of my friends appears to carry great kudos. I have been taken to heart by so many kids, I feel as though I am changing their lives, they seem to be inspired.

However, the bright kids can keep pace, but there are many shirkers among the classes. They are weak and can speak little english, but to concentrate on these also doesn’t help the stronger kids. It is hard to strike a balance. Often homework is copied, and herein lies the core problem for individual development, and is perhaps a cultural thing to copy. This does not unfortunately prepare them for the University courses they seek in the future. Alas kids are the same the world over – easy options. Vietnamese kids can be lazy, they are though over schooled with the 6 days a week. It must be exhausting for them….

Home life? We all get along fine, except Tom has developed kidney stones (ouch), so I was up at 3 am this week tending to him with Tam. He is waiting for the pain barrier when he passes the stones…

We commute on moto’s to the schools, I am yet to go solo, Tam is very protective(?) and yet Alan and Tom are flying solo very well, and I know the roads much better and the habits of Vietnamee drivers. They have no give way signs or stop signs, so junctions are a free for all, no looking just drive out and that includes school children as young as 7 yrs old.

Eating the food is a delight, Tam comes up with the most delicious food, every meal time, I am not only old, but getting to be a fat old man.

We have been to Ha Noi for the past 3 weeks to get my tv, which is hooked up, but we have no sound because of interference. Watching England at 2am is a joy! Ha ha ha ! I sit in silence and watch footy because the volume is such a loud hiss. We have gone back to factory settings…we now seek digital tv.

So I am going to get a bicycle for much needed exercise…also looking for a game of football….

Rats are plentiful here and are found squashed in the road, just as hedgehogs, and am glad to see every dead squished rat, whereas, I feel sad for hedgehogs because they are good creatures to have around.

PS, we have snails here as big as a 5 pound note!

THIS HAS ALL GOT OUT OF SEQUENCE  MY BLOG HAS BEEN DOWN FOR 2 WEEKS WITH THE SERVER, SO THIS IS OLD NEWS