Bejewled Pigs and Tigers

double hats, originally uploaded by Christiane B.

This is the second day in a row that I am sitting in my hotel room using wireless internet. Vietnam rocks. Also, I have a SIT DOWN toilet complete with a seat and a lid in the bathroom, I have a shower that is contained in it's own boundaries and does not spill into the whole abode, I have clean sheets, yes, they are white, they are starched, I have pillows and I cannot see the moldy, nasty matress and there are no cigarette butts nor gum, nor insects, nor grime stains in my room. In fact the floor is not made out of bumpy half concrete, half dirt, instead we are looking at white tiles, we have electricity at all times, we even have AC! AND hot water which really we only need because we have AC. It is a perk of the sweaty hole in the ground hotel room that does not have AC that also makes it redundant to have a hot shower because that is the last thing you want.

It's amazing. And already the second time in a row.

Cruising north from Saigon we made blissful contact with an ocean and a beach hut in Mui Ne, where beach strolls and big waves are the major attractions. I would once again have ended the trip right there, confirming what I already know: we are beach bums and no glorified temple tours or museum trip will hide that truth.

Further north, Hoi An was quaint, peaceful and beautiful, there our main preoccupation shifted from strolling and bathing to strolling and eating: A gorgeous small town full of old architecture and restaurants by a river walk, complete with Chinese lanterns and humble fishing rigs.

Today we continued on to Hue where it seems everything is named something something DMZ although the DMZ is rather empty these days. Everyone is playing old Vietnam era tunes such as sweet home alabama and a lot of creedence clearwater revival. Our lives are pretty much filled with the Forest Gump sound track.

And to make things too good to be true: Vietnam is getting prettier as we go north. Furthermore, upon our recent evaluations, the backpacker scene has changed too. No more cheese cloth pants and nasty attitudes, more smiles, more Danes, less pretentiousness, more tans: generally speaking SE Asia attracts the happy crowd.

Surely everyone takes a vacation to get away from it all but around here people seem to have a place to go back to; they don't seem such unhappy souls marching along as if on their way to jail, viewing their vacation as punishment and just maybe that is why they don't seem like such a stingy, nasty bunch and we make friends at last. Maybe people in Vietnam are better at disguising their dislike at the stomping herds of tourists which just maybe makes the stomping herds kinder and easier to like.

And on a final note, don't think I am trashing India. India in my humble opinion is complex; India is amazing. Amazing in every way: the good, the bad, the ugly. SE Asia is wonderful, it's kind, it's gently, it's polite, it has a dark past, it could maybe be dangerous but it's contained and it's not prissy. One is a holy bejewled pig, the other a graceful tiger. You know just because you like tigers does not mean you don't love bacon too.