Cultural contrast

Well we were aware of the differences between NZ and Vietnam, but still it has been a real surprise (shock?) to arrive in Ho Chi Minh after spending a couple of days in sweet Christchurch. To realise that HCMC (Ho Chi Minch City) has got more than 3 times the population of all NZ give a slight idea of the contrast in terms of crowd but still it does not encompasses how busy and noisy and crowded this city is. The traffic is tremendous and I have to repeat to myself they know what they are doing when driving as it feels being in a video game without being in control of anything. Motorbikes (heaps of them with between one and 5 people and whatever luggage on it) cars, taxis trucks, buses, bikes any kind of vehicles all sharing the same, very narrow compare to the numbers, road. It takes me time to realise they are normally driving on the right hand side as vehicles are going both directions depending which side of the road they are starting their trip on. It is just unbelievable, I thought Paris was bad, well it just put things back into perspective. They are using their horn all the time which obviously means ‘ here I come’ or ‘move I am coming right in front of you’ or as Elena told us after 2 hours on the road it also means ‘ I am happy’ or maybe it is an automatic device to make music on the roads....anyway it is very noisy! Elena enjoyin the hotel's swimming pool Despite this slight amazement, we are delighted to be back in Asia. The colours, the kindness of the people, the sweet smell of jasmine rice and food cooking ever-present, the smiles on the faces and the overwhelming interest in our daughters is just wonderful and heart warming. It feels a bit like being back at the beginning of our trip when we were in Thailand, time to reflect on how much we have grown and bonded in 7 months! (And I agree our way of organising our trip is completely irrational...unfortunately in July there is no wind in Vietnam so we could not come here after Thailand...) our hotel... We have moved out of HMCH very quickly to go to Mui Ne, a beach resort on the east coast were we are planning to spend around 3 months to improve our level of windsurfing! The weather is beautiful, not too hot and not sticky. A nice 25-28 degrees perfect for my dad ;-) We have experienced the Vietnamese way of sharing bikes. Elena sit on the back carrier while Lorelie is in a sling. And Tahlia ride on my back in another sling. Elena asked me where her helmet was........hmmmmm