Da Nang To Hue

Hue, Vietnam, March 25 2006

My faithful driver, Bonsoon drops me off at the Tour Bus station in Da Nang. I get on this bus and head to Hue (H00-eh), the ancient capital of Vietnam. I'm feeling a bit disoriented. Things are happening very fast here.

The only place available for me to sit on the bus is the bench seat at the very back. I throw my pack behind me and pull in. A few minutes later the bus stops and one more passenger gets on board. He bounces down the aisle to me and asks me: 'Mind if I sit here too.' 'Sure, no problem.' And so begins a magical conversation.
"My name is Foo",he tells me with a grin. I introduce myself. The next thing I know we are having a deep discussion about women and the synchronicity of life. Foo tells me that he owns a Bar in Hue called 'Brown Eyes'. He also says that he just said good-bye to a woman he was dating who is just heading back to Europe where she lives. As we get talking he tells me how much it helps him to have someone to talk to because he thought he was going to have a very sad trip home, thinking about this woman he has left behind. I tell him it's great to have him to talk to as well since I'm just heading into new territory myself. Foo has a very positive outlook on life and lots of energy. He's a free spirit. We agree that we meet each other at just the right time and although it might hurt to leave his new girlfriend it's still important to let ourselves experience the pain , not try to forget it. "We don't learn by forgetting" I tell him. He starts telling me how wise I am but I point out that I got that line from the Movie: 'Poltergeist II'. Then we talk about a Universal definition for 'Evil' that I got in a dream once. "Evil is to make less of what is good."
As we fly along the highway in our bus, we see the diverse countryside. Here we have ancient fishtail boats and modern billboards all in the same setting.

And there are apartment buildings right in the center of lush green pastures. The whole trip is surreal as we compare notes on romance and philosophy. Foo makes life so easy for me as we arrive in Hue. He takes me to a cheap Guesthouse and invites me to visit his bar later. I don't take any photos of him now but I will later.

This is my trip here in Vietnam. Everything happens so fast and I seem to meet the right people at just the right time to take the next step in my Journey.

Saigon And Sexy Bar Girls

This is Paul from America. He toured the Vietnam War Museum with me.

After looking at the horrifying images and reading the heart-wrenching accounts from the people who of that era, we decided there was only one thing left to do. We went drinking.

Paul is an English teacher working in Japan. As we were sitting in an outdoor restaurant drinking our Tiger beers, we met up with another guy from our tour, who is from Japan. So Paul had a great time conversing with him in Japanese as we all talked about our day and decided what kind of trouble to get into tonight.

I said that as a joke but in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) you just have to sit in one place and trouble with always find you. I happened to glance at this woman and the next thing I knew she was asking me if I wanted to go for a motor bike ride. I thanked her for the invitation but declined. So then she sat down beside me and ordered a beer. I asked her why she wasn't drinking it and she told me she didn't like beer but she said she DID like me and would like to invite me back to her hotel room across the street for the very reasonable sum of three hundred thousand Dong (about twenty dollars Canadian). She sat with us for about twenty minutes and I gave her a small amount of money and she left.

Meanwhile we had many vendors come up to us selling books and cigarettes. This woman wasn't shy. She just figured that if we weren't buying what she was selling, we didn't deserve to get a free photo of her. By the way, the cigarettes here are three dollars a pack, Canadian.

So as the evening is progressing, we are solicited every few minutes by taxi drivers, prostitutes, street vendors, and women and their babies, begging. They're not destitute. They just do it because it's an easy way to get money from tourists. And all the while, right behind us, at Ten at night, these two little guys, are happily playing with the wheel of this motorbike, like it's a big sandbox toy.

The three of us decided to play pool. We were met by some lovely women who work for tips and drinks. They were great company. We left the first bar after about half an hour because we either had to take the women to bed or move along. This is the second bar we went to.

And this is Nguyen Dung. She's twenty-five years old; and a pretty good pool player. We spent a couple of hours with Nguyen and her friends. This is the thing about Vietnam that I'm finding. It is a captivating country. Everything is so intense and vibrant here. The people are so engaging. I find at the end of the day I have experienced a huge range of emotions. It's like being on a roller coaster. In this country the one thing you come to realize is that there are no spectators. We are all participants, one way or the other.

Bangkok: April Fools Day

April Fools Day is a very special day to me. I asked a beautiful woman to marry me that day. But she later said no.

So I decided to book a trip to one place in Thailand that would help me to forget the disaster from this date last year...Phuket.

So now I'm booked to leave Bangkok Sunday night on the train to Phuket. (Please remember that day. It will be very important later) 'At' suggests I take the water ferry back to Kao San Road, and so for 10 baht I take a great ride back to my hotel. The ferry is a very fast boat and when it stops at the pier, run, don't walk to get on because it stops for only a few seconds before taking off again at a very good clip.

And it just so happens that there is a special Buddhist festival that night, right outside my hotel, so I attend.

A stage is set up on my street with Thai dancers and a young girl singing. When I looked closer I found that the costumes are actually very modest. The women wear what seem like white bathing suits under their costumes.

Kao san seems like a smaller version of Las Vegas. It was a festive night. I went to a bar and had a couple of drinks and some great Thai food and headed home.

The next day I went to the Weekend Market. It's called 'JJ Market' and you get there by taking the Sky Train. It is one of the biggest markets in the entire world.

They sell mostly clothing, Buddhist art and lots and lots of food. This little girl was looking at the Thai version of a pet shop (petting, not eating!!) Bangkok was sweltering hot this weekend. It was 40 degrees Celsius and I spent a lot of time running from to any place that had even a hint of air conditioning. What was I thinking! By the way, you notice I am still looking for those flip flops for you Sarah. Hey Rachael, let me know your size too! I hope you're size 6. These Thais really have small feet!

Khon Kaen Karaoke 2: Women

Kohn Kaen, Thailand, March 23, 2005
9:30pm Karaoke Bar: Sit motions me to suddenly get up and before I know it we are heading to another bar down the dirt road. Two minutes later, he stops the Pickup truck and the five of us go into a bar that has a brightly lit stage in Day glow colors and a table of several women in their 20s and 30s all dressed in tight disco outfits that look like something from the 80s. A woman who introduces herself as Nuan comes up to me and asks me: "Do you like breasts?" I shrug and say: "Chai". Nuan gives the nod to the other people with me and we all take our seats. 'Sit' orders our 4th bottle of whiskey for the night and the show begins. The first dancer comes on stage wearing a very tight, K-Mart Blue dress and starts lip sinking to a song as she dances. I keep thinking she is about to begin taking her clothes off but she never does.

Sit (pictured here) motions for me to follow him and we head to the dance floor in front of the stage and begin Thai dancing. Then the Dancer on stage starts doing different moves which I imitate. At the end of the song she yells out 'Canada' and everyone smiles and nods their heads. The flash on my camera isn't working tonight but I have a photo of a woman very similar to the dancers here. I think it's a shame when lovely Thai woman try to imitate the way Farangs dress. It's like being trapped in a time warp from the Seventies.

While five other dancers take turns on the stage, Nuan plants herself on the chair next to me and talks to me in reasonable English. She says she is a hair dresser and says she can give me a ride to Khon Kaen in the morning if I wish. I say: "Chai krup, Cup-khun-cup" because Uncle can only take me in the afternoon. I suggest she just pick me up at Sit's home in the morning but she glances over to them and says to me: "You should come to my salon in the morning if you are still interested." I think she is also trying to say that she is interested in coming to Ubon Ratchithani the next day as well, but it's so loud in the bar I just can't be sure. I'm confused by that offer and I say I will call her the next day from Sit's.

At midnight, the five of us (Nuan stays there) head back home to Sit and Nu's place where we have a late meal of leftovers from the picnic earlier that day and we polish off the 4th bottle of Whiskey. We finally head to bed at 1:30am.

Maybe it's just as well my camera flash wasn't working that night. It was so surreal; but so fun.

Khon Kaen Karaoke

Sunday Night:
Monkey left me with 'Uncle', 'Sit' and 'Nu' to take me back to Khon Kaen while she, Dennis and Jook went back home to Bangkok. Dennis will be resuming his Cycling trip on Wednesday the 23rd, into Laos. As we parted for the final time he shook my hand and said "See you Ugly." and left in Monkey's car with Jook, Monkey, and my new best friend 'Kow' who I now refer to as 'Kato' after the Green Hornet's side kick, Bruce Lee.

Now keep in mind that I speak 12 words of Thai and Monkey's parents speak as many in English so all we knew was whatever Monkey told them when we parted. An hour into the trip Nu turns to me and says something that I take to mean that we are going to their place tonight and Khon Kaen tommorrow afternoon. All I know, is when a Police Commissioner and a Tank Commander say to stay, I stay.

So now it's two hours later and we're sitting outside Sit's place polishing off the second bottle of Seagram's whiskey when I said the one word that transformed our sleepy drinking party into a frenzy of activity. I said 'Karaoke' and suddenly Sit is animated and everyone is shouting and nodding and before I know it I'm having a shower and getting ready to go out. Another woman arrives and seems to be a friend of Uncle's and we all pile into Uncle's Police Truck and head out. I can't help wondering why it was not possible to drive me to Khon Kaen and yet here we are driving to a Karaoke Bar. But then we arrive there only five minutes later.

The place is a throwback from the Seventies with Neon lights and a 32 inch TV on mounted on each opposing wall. I'm not able to take pictures because my flash doesn't work. I tell them I'm buying, and I'm just getting ready to say: "please feel free to order something to eat as well..." when a stack of plates and cutlery suddenly arrive at the table. Then a bottle of Whiskey is brought out along with ice, mixer and some wine coolers.

Sit pours everyone a drink and after a few quick gulps, motions me up to the dance floor. The TV screen is showing two transvestites dancing and singing in a front of beautiful Thai show girls dressed in red feathers.

As the two men in drag are singing, Sit is showing me how to dance as a Thai. The hand gestures are very much like harem dancing except the men keep their fingers straight. I feel embarrassed at first but people start clapping and giving me the thumb's up so I just relax and have fun.

Then a group of teenagers arrive and two of the guys stand up and start doing a dance where they stand side by side and do a lot of hand motions as if they are pushing and pulling the air. The rest of my table are ignoring them but I finally get up and join them. Now there are three of us dancing and the people at their booth are all laughing and clapping. When I'm done, all 10 of them excitedly shake my hand and talk a mile a minute in Thai. All I can say is "Cup-khun-Cup" and they get really excited. For some reason I am starting to understand intuitively what Thais are saying so I tell them I'm from Canada and they all welcome me to Thailand.

I rejoin my own party and Sit goes up and talks to the DJ about finding a song in English for me to sing. Suddenly they hand me a mike and Sit and Nu drag me up to the dance floor to sing the song that is being put up on the TV screens. At first I keep saying "Mai, mai" (no, no) and shaking my head. They think I'm just being modest and insist I start singing. So I finally give in and begin to sing the words projected on the screen: "When I go out with the girls, I get a little bit bitchy. When I go and buy my dresses, they're all a little too sexy..." I do the Thai dance with the song and the crowd goes wild. I just keep praying there are no people in the place who understand English.

3 Picture Day: Bars, Brothels and Busses

My 3 Picture Day starts twelve hours before yours does Melissa because I'm in Bangkok this morning. Picture 1: The Screaming Lady

If you've read the Post: Calgary to Thailand In 4 Minutes, you know that the catalyst for this journey was a woman I was engaged to who had a change of heart. I am very happy this morning because L has written me a very sweet letter to open the door to a new friendship. I am sitting in an open air internet cafe at my Guest House when suddenly I hear a screaming woman. She is ranting and raving and pointing at the bar tender of the bar just behind. She seems to be tripping on drugs and the people around me are laughing at her. She goes on ranting and shaking her fist at the bartender here for at least 4 minutes before she finally walks down the road. As I'm writing L, I mention her because the scene is so intense. I write 'L': "Today is 3 picture day on the Blog, and this is one of those pictures but I just don't have the heart to take it. I don't know what that means but I have learned to live in the moment here and this is definately a moment." I didn't take the picture. But then I went to get my laundry and there she was again sitting at a table near me. I walk up the road and back again and there she is being approached by the Police for disturbing the peace. Finally, as I'm leaving Koh Sahn Road, there she is in front of me again and I just know I should be including her, so I snap this picture. I don't know how to explain her except to say that when L and I split up it was an intensely emotional experience for both of us. It was as if this woman was the release of this emotion in a physical way as I replied to L with love and support for her new life.

Picture 2: Tuk Tuk: This is my illusive Tuk-Tuk driver, Joe. He was supposed to meet me yesterday to do some errands but he never showed up, so now he's here to take me anywhere I want to go. So I say I want to go for a Thai massage. The next thing I know I am standing before a glass panel, and behind the panel are 9 scantily clad girls (they don't look very old to me so I call them girls) and they are all blowing kisses to me and waving. "I'm here for a THAI massage," I say to their- Manager-. I won't tell you exactly what the proprieter said next but I can tell you I waved goodbye to the ladies and got back into the Tuk-Tuk. A block later, Joe dropped me at another establishment. Much different from the first. Now there were TWELVE women waiting for me. I had to explain again that, although I was honored at the offer, and although I had to agreee that 2000 baht is a very reasonable price for this kind of (what did Tom Cruise call it in the Movie 'Risky Business'?)...for this kind of 'human fulfilment', I just didn't think this was what I wanted, but thank you so much. It took some delicate negotiating but I finally did get a very nice massage from one of the older women. When I came back outside, Joe was gone. They told me he couldn't wait so I had to take another cab to the Bus Depot. Fortunately Joe had left my knapsack behind for me. The new Cabbie was a real Joker. He wanted to know the intimate details of my experience and when I told him I didn't get "the works" he laughed at me and called me "small heart" which I suspect is not a nice thing to call me. I insisted that I had a big heart and that it wasn't a matter of money but of respect. After 20 minutes of his ridicule, I arrived here at this Bus Depot.
Picture 3 (Mliss Picture 1): Bus To Paradise

This is where I was Melissa, when you were starting your day. Dennis met three Thai women when he was cycling in Ayutaya; one of the ancient cities of Thailand, and a place I still very much want to visit. These two lovely woman are Jook and Toi; but Dennis nick named her 'Monkey' so that's what we all call her now. We took a bus from Ekamai station in Eastern Bangkok, to the port city of Rayong, where began one of the most fulfilling adventures I have experienced since arriving in Thailand.

Was this kinda what you had in mind for 3 Picture day Mel?