Monday, October 09, 2006

Hello Everyone,

Today I went on another tour. This time to the Mekong Delta. Although the tour itself was quite "touristy", as they stopped us at various places to buy things, it was interesting seeing the rice fields, coconut trees, jungle-like islands, etc. We went on several different types of boats. The Mekong River is very wide and dirty but there's a lot of life going on. It rained today--unlike yesterday, which was lovely. And driving in and out of Saigon on a min bus was a real experience! There are no traffic lights and the people in town don't wear helmets as they drive their motorbikes. I've never seen such a mass of people during rush hour! But I guess it'll be the same in China. Vietnam is really very poor, and you feel you're helping them by doing tourism. They're not "pushy" as in some countries. American culture is everywhere here: jeans, coke, US-made B-series on TV. Our guide today said he left school at 16, is one of 7 children fro; the Delta, and is learning English online and with CD's. He's very ambitious and has a great vocabulary. However, his pronunciation is very difficult to understand. I tell people I'm French but they recognize my American accent. Haven't felt much animosity. But the war museum yesterday was certainly "progandish" versus the French and American occupations. I'm just getting to learn about the country. The people today on the tour came from all horizons, and everyone seemed to be expatriates! Hong Kong Chinese living in the U.S., Indonesians in Australia, Swedes in Hong Kong, etc. Everyone was very open and interested. On the whole, it was a youngist, backpacker type of crowd. You pick up information from everyone as you talk. As the Swedish girl from Hong Kong, the best thing about the tour today was the people you got to talk to (including our guide).

I'm taking a plane tomorrow afternoon to Danang. It's very easy to get around here.

Will write again soon.

Cheers,

Hilary

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