Monday 23 December
So the day has arrived. The day I leave Vietnam. I caught the bus to the
airport, getting there in very good time as the bus only took half an hour. This gave me the opportunity to sit in the morning sun and finish my notes on an enlightening book called Understanding Vietnam.
I
was reluctant to leave the lovely warmth outside the terminal building and go inside, knowing this
was the end of my time here. And then I was on the plane near to landing in Hong
Kong. That brings its own excitement but it is a very different experience to
Vietnam. I enjoyed it all apart from the over-supply of Boob-Boom merchants in
Hue, the chaos of Saigon district 1 and the rubbish that is everywhere. I was
heartened to read this isn’t just my fantasy. There is an article in today’s
Vietnam News about this very topic under the headline ‘odorous garbage clogs
local roads’. Another is entitled ‘Toxic waste flows through Bin Yen’.
But Vietnam is an addictive experience, marked out by the tsunami of scooters. They really are the constant backdrop, providing their own sound and experience. Back in Hong Kong, it really does feel quiet - and quite dangerous. I've grown quite used to casting myself across streets and expecting the traffic to weave its way around me. Anywhere else, you'd probably just be run over.
So now, I most certainly feel sad to be no longer in a country populated by people with a remarkable spirit and a country that gave me the most excellent and varied holiday. But that is not to say that I would want to live there for a great length of time. Although I miss the chaos, I don't think I could do other than dip in and out of it.
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