26 and 27/10/09

I sat in my hotel room most of the weekend, just watching the news over and over again. The shipping agent phoned me first thing Monday morning and asked me to go into his office again, a tuk tuk ride later, i was there.

He explained that i owed him 50 quid for his services, i don't know what he did but i paid it anyway. More people came into the office to make even more phone calls and lots of handshakes later i was whisked off to the container mans office. The container man explained to me that i owed him 91 quid, i don't know what for but i paid it. When i was paying the container man, he asked me who my 'agent' / 'fixer' was. Without an agent/fixer i wouldn't be able to get access to the port as they have some kind of 'special' licence. As there seemd to be about 1bn people all after my money, i decided that i would try and get the clearing done myself. The container man would have none of it and phoned a clearing agent up, as if by magic he was there in a flash. He quoted me 91 quid, what about that then?

So, i was once again whisked off to another office, this time it was the clearing agents office. His office was quite small and scruffy looking. There were 3 other guys there, all participated in sorting out my paperwork. One of them was giving orders and stapling stuff together, one was running backwards and forwards to the nearest photocopying fella out on the street, one was fetching teas and coffees while the other guy was doing his magic on the computer. I thought the worst when a machine made an appearance from one of the shelves. It turned out to be a 1970's typewriter, which they used to knock up some kind of dodgy looking letter.

So, once again once again i was whisked off to another building, this time it was the customs building. I was there for about 2 hours while the clearing agent and his mate went to various offices to wave their magic wand. I noticed quite a few people staring at me, i asked one guy why he was staring. "Is it because i am white?" i asked, he said "Yes", and explained that not many white people come to the customs house.

So here we are. Tomorrow, Wednesday, i have to be at the clearing agents office, where we will meet the customs man, who will then take us to whatever is left of my bike so it can be cleared for removal from the port. Looking at what the clearing agent did, i don't think i would have been able to do the same. So for 91 quid i think i have saved myself a massive headache.

I must admit i am a bit apprehensive about picking my bike up, i really do think that it will have suffered some kind of damage, but we'll see.

Chennai 23/10/09

I found another hotel a bit closer to the port, this hotel didn't have cockroaches running around the bathroom though. I called one of the shipping agents, to enquire about the bike, he wanted me to go to his office.

A tuk tuk ride later i was there. The office was quite small, especially when all his men were there trying to sort things out. I was there for about 1 and a half hours. During that time at least 10 different people turned up, made a number of phone calls, shook my hand and left. There must have been at least 20 phone calls made to and from the office regarding my bike. The bloke said that the ship gets into port on Sunday the 25th of October and there was nothing we could do until Monday.

From the first office i got taken to another office to try and sort 'local' motorcycle insurance out. The same thing happened, small office, many people coming in and out, and many phone calls, but still no insurance. One of the guys reckoned that i needed to take it for a roadworthy test before anyone would insure it, i left on the promise that he would look into it further and then he would let me know. The third office was the Automobile Association (AA). These guys were very professional and i felt i could trust them. The AA man said i would not have to have a roadworthy test, all i needed to do was to take it to the AA's office where it could be seen be an insurance man before it could be insured. However, i can only take it there between 14.30 and 15.30.

Saigon - Chennai 21/10/09

After spending 2 nights in Saigon, i headed for Chennai on the 21st of October. I took a flight to Singapore, then caught a connecting flight to Chennai. I arrived at about 10pm, as soon as you step out of the airport, everyone pounces, with the ultimate objective of extracting your money out of your pocket. I got a taxi to a hotel near the centre of town. It was a bit run down but where else do you go in a strange city at 10.30 at night?

In the morning i stepped out of the hotel and guess what? Once again once again, everyone is queueing up for my money. I dropped in at the nearest internet cafe to sort out some motorcycle insurance and shipping fees. As soon as i sat down in the cafe a crowd gathered just to look at me. I just smiled and asked them what they were looking at, at which point most of them left but 1 or 2 stayed for a few more minutes.

So, today (22/10/09) i must find a hotel near to the docks so that i can receive the bike with relative ease and get it back to the hotel so that i can prepare for the next stage of the trip. I must also buy some local insurance for the bike, i have a contact for this but as yet it is not sorted.

In psychological terms, i am now trying to get back into the 'zone', trying to prepare my mind for what lies ahead.

Nha Trang - Saigon

I met quite a few people in Nha Trang and went to a few places where i had met people to say goodbye. The most unusual person i met was a kid called Bob. He was an American, just drifting around the globe, unable to fit in with normal society. This may have had something to do with the fact that at the age of 17 (he is now 42) he took a special test for gifted people and ended up being the 17th highest score in American history, so he reckoned. I believed him, he got 4 degrees in 5 years, one of which was a degree in quantum physics, he says that MENSA is rubbish and not worth talking about, say no more.

One of my favourite memories of Nha Trang is the staff at the hotel where i stayed. Huoyng, Huc and Ho, however their names were pronounced, invited me to have lunch with them on a couple of occasions. This entailed removing your shoes and sitting cross legged on the kitchen floor around a pot eating fish soup and another fish dish. It was a pleasure to have been accepted into their culture. On other occasions i would sit on the corner of streets having a laugh with the old women whilst i ate the local dishes, no doubt they were taking the **** out of me, but it didn't matter.

I left Nha Trang on the 18th and headed for Saigon on the overnight bus. Getting back to Saigon was a bit of a shock, everywhere you go people want to get your money out of your wallet in any way possible. I must have been offered marujuana 150 times, sunglasses 350 times, zippo's 124 times, books 385 times, my nails manicured 23 times and everything else you can imagine.

I went to sit in a local park to watch the traffic, within minutes people come and sit by the side of you, some want to extract money, some genuinely want to talk English.

Nha Trang 17/10/09

Since taking the PADI diving course i have been teaching English in a local school in Nha Trang. I teach twice a day, voluntarily, to a wide audience ranging from 12 years of age to about 30 years of age. The difference between the Vietnamese kids and the kids in English schools is that these kids actually want to learn, kids in English schools just want to mess about and cause the biggest disruption in order to fit in with their peers, in my opinion. I often wondered if i would end up teaching English on my way home, and here we are. The teaching experience has encouraged me to take a TESOL or TEFL course on my return to the UK, and who knows what will happen after that?

The picture (when i find a decent computer that will let me upload it) shows yet another motorbike defying the laws of physics with its load of beer. I think the best one i have seen up to now is a motorbike with 2 guys on, the guy on the back just holding a big sheet of glass between himself and the driver, or was it the one with the fridge on it? Or was it the one with the washing machine on? Or was it the one with the massive TV on the back?

On the 18th of October, i get the bus down to Saigon and i will stay there for 2 nights. I have booked my flight to India in order to pick the bike up and continue on my journey, i should get to Chennai on the 21st of October, the bike should get there on the 23rd, that's if the ship hasn't been delayed, again.

PADI course

I also decided to do the PADI diving course as it seemed to be a velly good price. The tourist season in Nha Trang had just about finished so there were a lot of dive places offering deals, i paid $325US. The course took about 4 days in total and was very well organised. I went with a company called "Rainbow Divers', they have a number of offices around Vietnam and have many English instructors, this is their web address; http://www.divevietnam.com/main.shtml. One of my instructors was a guy called Dimtry, he was a paratrooper in the Russian army for 13 years and made it up to the rank of captain, he now lives in Vietnam and is fluent in Vietnamese and very good at English, his pic is at the bottom along with a couple of other random pics.

The next day

The day after the PADI diving course i rented a scooter, it cost 2 quid to rent for the day, i think it was a Daelim. I went for a spin round the outskirts of Nha Trang, not being brave enough to venture too far as the bike needed quite a bit of maintenance doing to it to make it half decent. I stopped at a roadside 'cafe' to have a drink and to get amongst the locals.

I took some random pics, one of them is of an average street in Nha Trang while another one shows some back street i ventured down in order to see where the locals live. Many people i have come across on my journey have commented on how overloaded my bike looks, i would tend to disagree considering the bike in the picture with 7 (i think!) bales of whatever loaded on to it and the rider having a big smile on his face.

Nha Trang boat trip

While i was in Nha Trang i decided to go on a boat trip, however, just that morning 29 people had cancelled so it just left 7 customers. The trip was quite corny but the live music was an experience, which was undoubtedly made worse by there only being 7 customers, in fact there were more crew than customers. The guy offered me the mike to do a bit of karaoke but i told him 'I don't sing and i don't dance kid'. Here's the video i took of the live entertainment, sorry about the orientation, can't get it the right way round, its still pretty corny whichever way round you look at it.