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Back to Travelogue Home4/8/97 Banghok, Thailand
Yo Mate,
Just to let you know that under your strict instructions I (we) went straight out and had a beer! Got the letter tonight & came back to the hotel, read it, told Moshe (Israeli dude I'm travelling with) that we had to go & drink beer - Parp says so; grabbed a Thai coconut pork curry (lovely but not what the doctor in Jaipor ordered) & then for beer. We toasted you good and proper!
Well bloody well done on the MPG - I knew you would! BLOODY GOOD ON YA! Will you give me a job when I get back? (Go on, I'll buy you a beer!)
Oh yeah, no I didn't get your letter in Varanasi but they are notorious thieving B*****S there (& all over India)!!
Nha Trang, Vietnam. 12/8/97
Well, now on a "tour of duty in NAM". A pretty cool place I must say. Women arn't too pretty (unlike Thailand)!
Yesterday was an awesome day, went on one of the famous travellers expeditions - Mama Hans boat trip. The day consists of a two storey old fishing boat with about 30 people plus PACKED onto it. Off you go to a small island, moor up and go swimming and snorkeling for an hour or so - in all honesty most of the hour consists of everyone bobbing around in the sea on rings talking and drinking beer ($1 not included in the $7 for the day). Anyway, with beer flowing, off we go to island number two for dinner - unbelievable amounts of noodles, salad, shrimps, squid, BBQ fish etc (about twice as much as we needed)!
Then it's into the sea again where a floating bar or FREE mulberry wine is tied to a rope behind the boat. So 30+ people start getting more pissed bobbing around on rings. Old Mama Han floats around between everyone filling up the glasses, with more wine, then more wine, then more beer etc - 'kin amazing - both the situation and the fact that she's never lost or drowned anyone in eight years!! She actually looks quite (how do you spell sureal??!) well that anyway. She has a float on under her skirt so you can't see it & this makes her sit on the water, she has a green bowler hat on & flippers which means that she bombs around (WHAT IS HE ON?, THERE MUST BE SOMETHING IN THAT BEER AND WINE! - PARP), all of this with beer in one hand and wine in the other. Anyway, back to the day. Back we get on the boat & off for another island, beer flowing. At the next stop we all swim and snorkel (i.e. drink more beer in the sea). Back on the boat they cover the floor with plates of fruit - 76 plates for the 23 of us louging on the top deck (I counted). Loads of fruit that I never even seen let alone heard of - oh yeah, this is included too! Then we get coffee and buns (all still included in the $7). Eventually we dock back at Nha Trang happy & a touch sunburnt - one of the best "days out" I've ever had!!!
By the way, the Walkman is still holding up - it's taking a beating though!
Looking forward to seeing Heather in Sept when we meet up in Singapore (couple of days there & then to Indonesia - Bali, Lambak - for a couple of weeks). It'll be sad saying goodbye again afterwards but good to see her - especially sad for me as it'll be the end of "Murtons RTW trip Part 1" coz Oz (Part 2) means work (boo). One good thing about Oz COULD (IF he's still there) be meeting old blokey & having a beer!
You know, Vietnam is like a little China (even though I've never been there). Everywhere there are red flags, hammer and sickles & big red communist slogans and banners.
WOW! You should be sitting where I am (I wish - Parp). It's 08:00 & I'm sitting by the river on the edge of the market - this is Vietnam (I think). Everyone wears those hats (picture of a shallow conical hat type thing) and is carrying a watcha-ma-call-it (I think the word is a yoke but Murtons done another drawing). It's really peaceful and there are dozens of people paddling up and down the river [oh, she was an ugly old beggar] with their market stuff - funny, all the boats have big eyes painted on the front (more drawings). I now have three kids (approx 3yr, 5yr & 6yr) sitting with me - like almost on me. Bloody hell, the oldest one just recognised the actual boats that I've drawn on the river!!
Goin' to hire a moped thing today and head out to some old ruins (& then the beach). Bound to get stopped by the law which'll cost about $20 coz apparently they never put the paperwork in order for tourists when you hire (i.e. it's not legal).
Forgot to say, on the other side [another two kids arrive - one feeling my ruck sack as they are quite light fingered] of the river are a load of bamboo and wood huds on stilts like the ones in the films, you know, the ones that get torched [one kid now has my sunglasses on].
Well I'm gonna sign off now & say goodbye (probably 'til Oz) old mate. It's funny, I'm so busy doing new stuff I don't have a lot of time to think about home & it's as if nothing has changed (I know it has) but yeah, I miss my friends too! I'd like to sit & chat with you too!! I'll leave it there,
Murton.
P.S. I'm now being thumped on the back as a sort of under fives massage.
P.P.S. Now 21:00. Just had today an awesome bike ride. I'll have to tell you when I see you but: shit bike (automatic clutch i.e. none with three gears, 3 gears down, no front brake, bent); NO road rules, no road!! Monsoon storm. Adds up to worst but best ride!
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