A trip to HOI AN

Had a great day!

We (Jennifer, Thien, Vincent, Victor & I) went to Hoi An this morning, 25-30 minutes drive away from Da Nang city (Hoi An was resurrected with great aplomb as a tourist town in the mid-1990s and received UNSECO world heritage status in 1999). It’s a touristic place, so you get plenty of things to buy there, souvenirs to take back home (much better if u can haggle). The place is awesome, pretty much like Thamel & Lake side in Pokhara (got me nostalgic), but comparatively much better, clean & wider. I loved wandering around as a tourist, no staring at me as they thought ‘m one of them (I don’t like extra attention). 

What I’m liking most in Vietnam is the people who sell stuff by the road, they don’t annoy you, when you say you don’t want them- ‘thank you’, they just go their way, unlike in India & somewhat in Nepal. 

We saw a number of big hotels, resorts and a Casino on our way to Hoi An. I’m pretty sure, China Beach being here, there are plenty of lavishing hotels to attract tourists.

Oh! I had an exhilarating ride ever. Actually, traffic rules out here is pathetic, in fact there are no traffic rules. There’s no speed limit, no Zebra crossing rules…forget about U-turn or anything. If you’re a pedestrian, you just have to be extra cautious while crossing roads. Unlike in Nepal, the vehicles don’t stop or wait for you to go across. They don’t pull over even though you signal them to stop. Bang Bang!! I wonder if they’ve rules just in case a vehicle hits you. Thank God! I got medical insurance & travel insurance too (Every time we crossed the road we said YAY!) 

Today’s Valentine’s Day (flower sellers could be seen all along the roads).We thought to go to a Café house next to our GVN house. (It’s nothing like celebrating gala or anything like that. It’s just a way we chose to cheer for LOVE and all the loving people you’ve in our lives). However, we went to a neighborhood pub to dink some beers with Kent and Jordan as Kent is leaving for China tomorrow. It was a kind of farewell to him. 
I enjoyed the company though I had so little to contribute to the conversation as they were all talking about America, Australia & Canada.

Tomorrow, 15th Feb 2011, our orientation day and we’re gonna start our work from 16^th Feb. We got extra excited as Mr. Viet (Executive Director, GVN Vietnam ) told us that we’ve to go to a  new orphanage in mountain every Wednesday (doesn’t it sound promising? )

I can’t wait for tomorrow. 
End of Day three in Vietnam!! (Listening to Eminem “Recovery”, awesome) 

http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/

XOXO

Jo_tee