Xin Chao!

While sitting on my balcony in my bikini and vietnamese short I am writing down for you what I all have done.

Mui Ne; that is where I am chillin now. A small town with a beach which is excellent for kitesurfers and furthermore relaxing. This is my second day here and today I will go to the yellow dunes and fairy springs by jeep. I expect it will be impressive but first I have to see. Last evening I went out for dinner to a very upscale restaurant where the food tasted excellent, but it was almost empty. After that I went home and it was around 11pm and I saw the gate of the guesthouse was already closed. This village is a sleeping village haha, anyway there was no other solution than climbing over the gate and jump in the garden. I was fortunate I made it and finally I arrived in my room.

I have a cold and don’t feel to well at the moment but it doesn’t spoil my days besides that a sleep a lot. After hectic Saigon I need some rest and here and in the next place where I am heeding too I will get plenty of it. Tomorrow I will go to Dalat: a city in the central of Vietnam, this region where it is situated in, which is known for its berries and flowers. It is also the number one honeymoon destination of Vietnam. The main reason I will go here is because Dalat is the place to be for the sportive people and I am planning on mountainbiking for 2 days and rockclimbing for one day. What I have heared its very scenic and there are real Mountains, so on forehand I am already excited since I love the nature so much.

After this I am planning on visiting Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, and than I will make a decision for Halong bay or Sapa.

I love it to be not so much in the crowd now and that I am finally able to just cross the roads without all motorbikes on every side of me. Last week I was on a motorbike and in front of me several ones collapsed and almost the motorbike where I was on too, but it turned ou positive for me.

I am glad my research is finished but I had a great time in Saigon. Once if you fall in love with a city you are lost they say. I felt like home there and met lots of people, had a lot of fun and got to know more about the vietnamese. Anne from the states and I had a great time and it is really a pity that we had to say goodbye last week. People come and go, but from some of them you know it is a special encounter. Anne, we will catch up soon hopefully!! I start to read your book after arriving in the Netherlands. Still didn’t finish my first book.

Vietnamese people like to ask you: Are you ok? And after your respond they say: take it easy. Ofcourse it is ment friendly but sometimes it drives me crazy because if I asked a question I got often the answer: take it easy and that didn’t give me any answer..no yes and also no negative respond. Now I know how to deal with it and I make sure to get my answer in a friendly and patient way. Same same is also a expression what they use a lot and they always understand you if you mention it, the same as ‘can I get the check please and where do I have to pay? Vietnamese people have also a difficult time to pronounciate teh letter S and V. Walking on the street I get approached often and i hear: ‘excu me’ what you can read as ‘eksjuuuu mi’. They pronounciate ’hello’also pretty funny and this all sounds so cute that I have to smile but ofcourse I don’t want a ride on the motor, I don’t want to buy sunglasses, nail polish or get a massage.

This reminds me on my visits to the slums in saigon too. So much contraditions which I saw there. An example is that I was sitting in a squatter drinking some coconut milk with a woman who lives there with her family along the riverside in a very poor situation. We where talking and all the sudden I saw in front of me an ohter slum and almost every squatter has and antenne of the roof and I asked the lady wherefor that is. She answered me those people who live in that slums has TV! I couldn’t believe this, how is this possible? Furthermore the situation in the slums was pretty safe and I felt like I was again in the village of ‘Agroyesum’ in Ghana where I lived for some months; it felt a bit like home. This made I spend some hours in the slums and interacted with a lot of slum dwellers. At one hand I can say the sitation is bad therebut most of the people are happy and don’t want an other job. Most of the problem is healthcare and flooding of the rivers which make their houses will be under water and damaged with a lot of solid waste. In Saigon itself and also in the slums it was relative clean and I didnt see much garbage. The slum dwellers didn’t smell bad and dressed up in really clean clothes, well most of them. In Vietnam the poverty line is not to measure in the sence as who has to live of less than 1 USD a day but here it is about how many rice a person is able to buy in a month. I discovered most of the people live of more than 500 Vietnamese Dong a month what is the poverty line according to the regulations UN and it turns out the average of the real poor people earn between 500 and 1200 VND a month.

I can write a lot about it, but I will tell more after returning back from my trip. Vietnam is a beautiful country with a mix of different cultures such as the leftovers of the French regime and China. This makes it pretty interesting all. Also the invasaion of the USA has is an important topic in the country. I went to the Cu Chi tunnels to crawl through it to see in which situation the vietnamese were fighting against teh USA. I don’t want to talk about who is right and who is wrong because it is not up to me to decide that and it is the past. Thereby Vietnam was also divided in two groups where of one group cooperated with USA, but read about it yourself because it is a lot of information. Nowadays the USA and Vietnam cooperate together and everything is fine and it is about that. Walk slowly but don’t look back.

I also went to a tailorshop and that lady made three dresses for me and they are gorgeous! It fits perfect and it is actually cheap.

I am for sure I will enjoy this whole two weeks off and every day I smile and enjoy what to day brings for me. Being here keep me realise again what i have in life and I am greatful to have such a wonderful family and friends who are there for me. It sound serious, but not ment like that. We forget sometimes the beauty of all what we have and my advice for everybody is to live your life like it is the last day, enjoy as much as possible and take care of the ones who you love and go after your dream.

Kisses for you all!