A New Adventure With Bob - On The Road

I'm back.....

VIETNAM OR BUST!!!
NO HUE...DaNanG
(no way...dang)
------
Just a little detail info first.
Ok...didn't want to have to do this...but it looks like I have no other choice. It turns out I can't use facebook in Vietnam see link and excerpt below-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
Facebook has met with some controversy. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Syria,[7] China[8], Vietnam[9], and Iran.[10] It has also been banned at many places of work to discourage employees from wasting time using the service.[11] Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. Facebook settled a lawsuit regarding claims over source code and intellectual property.[12]
--------
So it's back writing in my blog now rather than my daily postings on facebook. I've been meaning to write more on my blog site, but it's been much more awkward in SE Asia. One  locating fast enough internet connections, and it's seems on this trip, I spend more time exploring and getting in trouble than I do writing.

I would feel remiss in my duties as an advance scouting party, not giving a detailed account of the past 36 hours. My trip has been going extremely well, on time flights, smooth busrides, not feeling like I'm in a different world...that was until 8am yesterday morning. After having a nice, but brief goodbye with Silvie, my
new acquaintance from Switzerland, whom I'd met on a bus from Vientiane to Vang Vien, Laos. I met my ride, he driving, me sitting in a sidecar like seat, traveling through the morning rush hour streets of Pakse. About halfway into the 1/2 hour ride to the bus station, a father and young son, pulled out in front of us. Thanks to the evasive actions of my driver, we narrowly missed him. I wasn't too rattled, but he sure was. I'm sure if he hit him, I'd been thrown out of my seat into the streets. I'll say this now...my fairy godmother got a VERY good workout over the last day and a half. If I was a cat...I burnt up a couple of lifes.

Well we finally make it to the bus station with about a 1/2 hour to spare. The bus finally arrives, I get on, and
find a seat, turns out it was taken, and so were the next 2 I chose. Most busese in SE Asia are made for people 5 feet tall...or shorter. I became very acquainted with my knee caps. Oh...and there was a fifty pound bag of rice at my feet. When I bought the ticket from a streetside travel agent, I thought I was getting on a VIP bus which in the past meant, legroom, not stopping at every small town...and a bus in good condition. This was none of those. I'm starting to see a pattern here as I write this...I'm whining...promise not to do much more of this. To me when traveling, it's the unexpected things that make it an adventure. Anyone can
take a plane and travel with a tour group, but it takes a special breed of crazy to do the things I've done, many of them rather spontaneously.

Ok..back to our story...Along the way, it seems as if the bus is having some kind of mechanical difficulty, as the assistant periodically would lift a cover from the back of the bus and tinker with something. About the third time...the tinkering didn't do anything...a bus without a working clutch in the middle of the road...in
the middle of nowhere Laos. I've traveled on first class busses...second classes and a few third class...this
one was NO class. In addition, I was the only farang, short for foreigner out of about 38 passengers. About
an hour later, we had a tranmission torn apart and the driver/mechanic with a look of dispair. Fortunately
a truck taxi, a truck with a canopy and seats attached to the truck bed. He loads half of the bus into his
taxi and motions me to come sit up front, to sit behind him...shoehorned between the driver seat and
the back window...what I would give to be sandwiched back in the bus. It was a 70 mile ride from where
the bus broke down to the Lao/Vietnam border...and 4 pm. I was supposed to be safely in Hue Vietnam at 6 pm...looking very unlikely. A half hour into the ride, the front right tire blows out. I swear not a person in the group had ever changed a flat. I couldn't watch any more, as it looked like they were ready to round off the lugnuts, and jumped in and loosened them. I wasn't looking at my watch, but I swear it took over an hour. Don't expect to see any Lao Nationals anytime soon as wheel changers at any of the Nascar races.
I have to mention this, though I have no idea what it meant, but an elderly lady, after the tire was finally put back on,  took off her hat, grabbed my hand and then rubbed her head with my hand...either she was showing her appreciation, or she had something so contagious she wouldn't use her own hand.

Ok...on the road again...for 15 minutes. The was a rather load noise coming from the outside of the truck. Turns out the rear wheel was about ready to disintegrate, one of the wheel weld breaking. Same routine, but
this time substantianlly faster. I should also mention, it's amazing that any car can drive the road we didn't without getting at least one flat. The roads were so potholed making Spokane's roads look as smoth as a runway. It's my understanding that Laos was one of the most bombed countries during the Vietnam war, even though we never declared war on them. As bombers would fly to Vietnam from Thailand over Laos, and if for whatever reason they were unable to deliver they're payload, they would turn back and drop their full loads on unexpecting Laotians. The reason i bring this up is....some of the potholes looked as big as bomb craters.

Of...back to our adventure. Just 10 miles this side of the border we come to a customs check point, a uniformed officer looks inside the back of the truck to see about 20 passengers and then to the front, see's me and says farang...not a good sign. We sit there for about an hour, not sure waiting for what, and as quickly we stopped...we were on our way again. Damn...what I would give to be able to speak Lao. In the past month I've been in four countries...with four different languages and alphabets, if you can call them alphabets...Cambodia being the absolute worse..its a mix between sanskrit...no kidding...and something else. I'm not sure what a dictionary would look like...or noone has been brave enough to compile one. Sorry about all the wandering...maybe I should have blogged more and spared those details.

So we arrive in this small town of probably 1,000 people...not a farang in sight...or any signage in English, except one...Guest House...saved. Should mention to, that it turns out the border closes at 6pm. I'll keep this simple...I got a room...and had a nice sleep...

The next morning, this morning I guess. What a long day! I catch the bus out in front of the guest house at 7pm and it's off to the border. Fortunately there were two 20's something travelers. A beauty from northern Italy and a fansinating girl from Germany. I was giddy...english speaking people...and cute :). I should also mention, that I had no KIP (Lao $'s) as they are absolutely worthless in any other country, and had two us 20.00...and I burned those up between a room and a few other incidentals. At the border....not a dime in my pocket...and I essentially was a stoway on this bus, as it was a different bus company that I bought the orginal ticket.

I'm going to cut to the chase here as I can see this is getting drawn out, and even have my suspicions that most of you have already hit the return button by now. Turns out I've been carrying a book for the past month with the equivalent of about 60 dollars in Vietnam Dong...about 1,000,000 dong, stuck between the pages...and for whatever reason remembered once I got into vietnam...thank you again fairy godmother, one for the foresight of sticking the money in there..and the important part...remembering.

I'm now in DaNang, on the coast of central Vietnam, looking for anyone that is not asian. In four hours, I've only seen one....me in the mirror!!! and the chance of anymore...nill...nothing but vietnam citizenry on motorcycles...millions of them.

Tuesday night in Da Nang. Update: Actually saw one other farang from a distance. They do exist. As
I've been walking around today, I'm thinking if an 8 foot martian was to drop down in the center of Colville, he may acutally get less attention than I have over the last half day. I'll find people staring at me and I'll just look at them and smile. This evening, I sat at a local sidewalk bar and watched the first soccer game of the 25th annual SE Asian Games... Vietnam against Thailand. The game was literally being watched at every store, bar, hotel...anything that was open. When Vietnam made any great offensive move you could hear the cheers up and down the street, even above all the motorcycles. I think even those that were driving cars were listening to the game on the radio, as all sudden they'd start honking their horns...even more than they normally do. Thailand was the first to score at about 10 minutes into the second half...and with about 5 minutes left, Vietnam scored on a penalty...The game finishing in a 1-1 tie.

Tomorrow...it's off to a new place- Hoi An...just down the coast...I hear it's wonderful...with many farang.

Thanks for reading...I'll be sure to post more regularly.


Bob (with slightly more grey hair ...what's left of it)