Leaving Vietnam tomorrow has made me think back on some of the more bizarre things I have seen, experienced and discovered here so I thought I would share them.

1. Dead people live forever

Ho Chi Minh’s dead body is strange to say the least. Queuing up to see a mummified body is an experience and a half. No talking in the queue, no hands in pockets, very waxy looking figure in a glass box and all I could think of was who ironed his tunic because it was perfect.

2. Vietnam Traffic Mania

Millions of motorcycles everywhere and surprisingly few accidents, although in saying that I did see 2 in Hanoi in the space of an hour but only 1 in Saigon.

3. Most motorcycle taxi’s seem to double as drug dealers

Before anyone says anything, I dont take drugs and am not interested in them, however it seems that if you stand still on a street for long enough in Saigon, a motorcycle taxi will stop and offer you weed. I had 3 offers. Lucky me!

4. A Vietnamese Foot Massage is so much more!

My leg has been sore for a couple of weeks now so I thought I would get a foot massage. HE (yes, it was a bloke) started mid thigh, worked his way down to my feet…. and then did my arms… and my head… and then made me lie down whilst he straddled me to massage my back. I checked, it WAS supposed to be a foot massage but it’s the only foot massage I have ever had that has ended up with me being straddled by a small Vietnamese man!?!

5. If the motorcycle drug dealers dont have your drug of choice, see a doctor

The leg was worrying me so I went and saw a quack. He ended up giving me 4 lots of pills. One is a diuretic which has side effects on the stomach. The next one basically lines the stomach. The 3rd lot are strong painkillers with codine that were withdrawn from the french market a year ago because people were overdosing on them and the 4th lot are muscle relaxants. If I take this cocktail of drugs, I will be peeing madly. My stomach will be okay though. I could kill myself but it will be okay because at least I will be relaxed…. 🙂  Crazy!!! At least it only cost me £6 for that pearl of medical wisdom! I think I will stick with rest, ice, compression, elevation!!

 

Anyway… with that thought, I had best go pack…

 

cheers

 

 

KC