nothing but trouble

I went back to the hotel in Nanning from the internet cafe realising how late it was but fully expecting Isobel to be there. She was not. This posed a slight problem as she had the only key. I wandered around to find myself somewhere to eat and rang Izzie to find out where she was. She was also out to eat so I told her I thought it was a bit unfair that she had left the hotel without letting me know that I was essentially locked out. This was however my fault for spending so long at the internet cafe that she got hungry. I don't think she saw my point that if she had text me to say she was going to eat then I could have joined her instead of wandering the streets in the dark by myself because I couldn't get into my hotel room.

We got up super early to book our bus tickets to Hanoi and went back to bed. We were under the impression that the bus station was around the corner but it's never that simple! By the time we got in a taxi and arrived we had missed the bus. Thankfully, upon showing our tickets to the woman at the desk she printed off new ones for a later bus no questions asked no extra fee. I was so glad that I could have hugged her - just when I thought the world was conspiring against me to tell me to go home, it seemed as though travelling was going to be possible. The bus journey was very long and hot and not the most comfortable or quickest but eventually we arrived.

Driving through the countryside of North Vietnam makes the poverty so transparent. They live in the he tiniest little shacks. Sometimes they have proper buildings which amused me greatly for the front of which will be very colourful and ornate but the sides and back could be bare concrete or even just corrugated iron in a few cases. It made me realise that though my bank balance may seem pathetic to me (and I still think I barely have enough) it really is nothing comparatively because at least I do have enough to entertain myself by sauntering around the globe and I'm not struggling to feed myself in any way shape or form. It really threw some perspective on things and made me realise how fortunate I am all over again as I seem to have forgotten recently.

We booked ourselves into a hotel where the dorm room more resembles a corridor than a bedroom but is acceptable and cheap (this was after my conversation with the taxi driver about English football teams. sadly he was more knowledgeable than I) there was little time for anything other than dinner as it was already early evening. We plonked ourselves at an outdoor roadside restaurant. We were just getting comfy by the edge of the canopy when the heavens open. Somebody may have well as s been throwing buckets of water at us it was that heavy! Eventually we moved further under the canopy and away from the rain. The workers had to dash in between buildings and had invented a few unique ways of keeping the food dry whilst transporting it. The rain had lessened but hadn't ceased when we set off back to our hotel getting slightly wetter than we already were.

I got a little worried as I hadn't heard from Craig who was due to fly into hanoi that day and we had no way of contacting him as our chinese phones don't work and I have once again reached my international credit limit on my home phone (sorry daddy yet again but that phone call to katie really can be classed as a necessity!) I managed to send a free text from o2.co.uk giving him the name and address of the hotel. He showed up around 12.30am until which point I had been lying awake waiting for some acknowledgement that he hadn't been killed or something horrible. Silly boy.

We started the day with a little disappointment for Izzie who had really wanted to go to the museum of ethnology. I wasn't interested and as it both expensive to get there and expensive to get in, said that I should like to opt out. craig followed suit and izzie refused to go by herself. We went to the temple of literature. Temples here are very different to chinese ones so it was intriguing. Craig yet again got a student discount which is most infuriating.

We moved on to find somewhere for lunch. we wandered around aimlessly for a while. Both Izzie and Craig seemed unwilling to try anywhere without an english menu (pointing works well enough for me) and we only settled on the first place we found because we got caught in another downpour.

We went from there to the Ho Chi Minh mauseleum complex. As it was lunchtime almost everything was shut.

Izzie managed to say something which offended me. She realised this but instead of apologising chose to avoid me. I ended up sat on a bench by myself waiting for the museum to open. I went to see if it had done and had no idea where the other 2 were. They spotted me after a while, came over , said nothing and promptly left again. They came back, again saying nothing and sitting a good few metres away.

The museum opened and neither said a word and once inside the museum walked off in the opposite direction. I left this and walked round by myself. The first part was not the most enthralling but the second part I really like. It incorporated lots of modern art into the message and story of Ho Chi Minh, who from what I have learnt today, seems like a very wise man. I also read all the information in french rather than english a)to practise my french and b) it was less complex language and thus contained less mistakes.

I took my time around the exhibition as I genuinely found it interesting. As I came out izzie and craig were sat waiting and asked what I wanted to do next. Perhaps not the most rational response but I was pretty annoyed by this as it just made me feel that they can't make a decision to do anything by themselves and they need me to organise them. as much as I like to have myself organised, I hate making decisions for other people. I began to flick through the lonely planet and they both went outside.

Craig was by himself swatting away a wasp (or so he says) I had assumed he was avoiding me because he thought I was being moody which is a reasonable thing to do but he said he realised I was upset and didn't want to upset me more by talking to me which is a very insensitive thing to do. After trying to talk to him just got annoyed with him as well as Izzie and walked off. I knew they were following me so eventually but they were quite far behind as they are not quite as good at crossing roads here as myself and as I really didn't want to be around either of them I jumped on a motorbike taxi. I went back to the hostel and from there enquired at a few agencies as to the cheapest way to get to Nha Trang (we have decided to skip Hoi An) It would not have occurred to the other two that needs doing as it's always left to me to organise, a role I am beginning to resent.

Izzie still hasn't said anything other than 'here's your book' and as skipped off somewhere. I could wait forever for an apology from her but that's a stupid thing to do and now that I have had time to cool off, I'm perfectly happy.

 

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