Han and Vern's jaunt round the globe together! - Aug 14, 2007

Too much relaxing by the sea leaves you extremely run down. Thats the only reason i can think of why i got a cold. We booked a scuba diving trip in nha trang, with an extremly well run and well organised company called 'rainbow divers'. We went out on the boat and i got half way through my dive when i asked to come to the top, cos when trying to get a bit of water out my mask i let the whole ocean in. after getting the water out i tried to go back down but it was so painful as i couldn't pop my right ear to equalise the pressure. so we had to go back to the boat. i was gutted. i couldn't do my second dive as i still could not sort my ear out. Vern did two successful dives though, and is now talking about doing a padi course. anyway, the next day i woke up with blocked nose, headache and feeling rough, which probably explained the ear thing when diving. so we had one more day by the pool and then the next day we got on the 'five star express' train to saigon. We ended up on thisluxury train due to the sheer incompetence of a vietnamese person who had no sense whatsoever. but then none of them do in vietnam. We asked him to buy us tickets for the regular train, we went through all the train options with him and the seat types. he then queued for two hours found out they had seats availale on the train we wanted but he didn't buy them. why? god only knows. i got pissed of with him, told him i was exasperated then booked us luxury on line (it worked out the same price anyway).

so we went to the train station expecting great things, and yes the train was good and comfortable, and yet we were left completely perplexed by it. the carriages were standard, deluxe and 5 star club. we had deluxe which had less seats in so more leg room........or so you would think. whoever designed this train, and if it was a westener then they need to be shot, did not think it through at all. they positioned the chairs so they were all back to back, in fours around a table. there was a bout a mile of space between the seats back to back, meaning you could recline your chair very far, but you were still fighting with the person sat opposite you for the 3 inches of leg room they gave you!!!!!! surely everyone knows that more leg room = more comfort? so all the way down the carriage there was all this vacant space under the reclined seats, while everybodies legs were over other people, on the tables, squished under the tables. madness. if they put all the chairs facing forward or one way, then everybody wold be able to recline AND have loads of leg room. i dont get it.

i was pleased though that we didn't go standard as vern said in that carriage they all faced the same way but he couldn't even get his legs in. i would have been really pissed off if we'd got this special train only to find i couldn;t get my legs in the seat.

the travel company also promised staff trained to western 5 star hospitality standards. i'm not sure if the attendant standing at the front flossing in front of everyone, and her helper behind her picking his nose, classifies as 5 star standard.

nose picking is very big in vietnam and i have to say i find it to be the most repulsive thing ever. maybe more so than the men weeing in india. kids, women, men, teenagers, government officials, lawyers.....whatever your status or age, they are all there with their little fingers up their noses having a good old rummage in front of everyone, any time, any place. a lot of men have a long little finger nail and it is even more gross when they use this a some sort of scooping tool. it has to be seen to be believed.

anyway, we are in saigon now, and i spent the first dayin bed recovering. yesterday we had culture and history and now i have given vern an early birthday present (my cold) and he is in bed today recovering, while i do a tour of the expensive shopping malls and blow our budget on expensive coffee's. (he'll only know if he reads this!) the traffic is what everyone says it is like, though not as bad as i thought, though the taxi driver from the train station to our hotel when we arrived was something else. but thats another story. saigon is more cosmopolitan than hanoi and i am enjoying the luxuries that brings. you can get everything here, as vern found out. no sooner had his foot hit the pavement did a little man rush up saying "massage, sex, blow job 10 dollar!" his voice getting more urgent and high pitched as he spoke. as vern walked off he screemed after him "marijuana".

ah, vietnam.