A 14 hour night bus brought us to Nha Trang, a quiet little beach spot, lovely to chill out in and have a dip in the sea! Had a couple of good nights out there, but it was probably my least favourite stop along the way - not too much going on.
Another night bus brought us as far as Hoi An, my favourite place in Nam I think. A UNESCO Heritage site, Hoi An is a really pretty ancient town built along a river. Famous for its tailors, I had three dresses made while I was there, all perfectly fitted, all at a fraction of the cost of what they would be in Ireland. Walking around the markets and attempting to bargain with the locals was great fun. Free buses to a beach party made two of my nights there pretty special, just loved the atmosphere of the place! Spent my third night there in writing postcards because the girls were too wrecked to go out. I was tempted to go on my own - it's so easy to meet people out there - but in the end it was probably best that I didn't... and it was nice to catch up on my reading/ writing!
A short flight later I was back in Hanoi, where it all started, a few hours ahead of the rest of the girls. Bored, alone, in my hotel room, I decided to go out on my own. Hanoi doesn't have much of a nightlife, but I knew I'd find somewhere to go if I googled Irish bars... and half an hour later I was in Finnegan's, where I stayed until the girls arrived, chatting to randomers from Arklow. Really friendly people, noticed I was on my own and invited me to pull up a stool - love that. A lot of them are teaching in Hanoi and they managed to peak my interest in teaching in SE Asia, but not in Hanoi, it's too big, busy and polluted- there are so many more beautiful places you could be above it.
The next day, having rejoined the others, we left Hanoi for Halong Bay, also a UNESCO site, and genuinely one of the most beautiful places in the world. We were to spend a night on a boat out there, visit some caves, go kayaking, have a swim in the beautiful water and visit a fish farm. Sadly, or hilariously, depending on your perspective, we missed out on the last few stops as my good friend Brendan and I managed to sink a kayak.
Don't ask us how. We capsized, as was somewhat planned "and there'll be none of your bitchin' when it happens" a few hundred metres out in the water, ages away from everyone else. Of course we just laughed, assuming we'd climb back in and make our way back to the others. It was not to be, simply put... the kayak sank. And we kept laughing. Some others on a kayak tried to help us but what could they do? They got help for us from the shore anyway, two Vietnamese girls in little shop-boat things rescued us. And we kept laughing. I swear, I have never seen Brendan Mulcahy look more relaxed as the girls rowed us in - sat back in the sun without a care in the world. I still couldn't keep a straight face as we arrived back to the boat where the others were waiting for us, and us dripping wet. I believe photos were taken! Who else would it happen to but me and Brendan, in all fairness!?
The last night of the holiday was spent in Singapore airport, us being too broke from replacing the kayak to get a hotel. It is the coolest airport i've ever seen, rooftop pool, gym and shower facilities, a cinema, free internet. Most of the cool stuff you needed money for, so we rounded off our epic two week holiday by sleeping of the floor of the airport cinema...
We had a laugh!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh, Cu Chi and the Mekong Delta
I have to write a bit about Vietnam before it's all forgotten. It's so long I split it into two posts!
We flew via Singapore to Hanoi and straight from there to Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) in the south. It was a nice city, full of motorbikes and madness, but what it really had going for it was it's proximity to stuff like the Cu Chi tunnels and the Mekong Delta. The tunnels, enlarged for Western tourists, are still no more than a metre or so high - you have to crouch or crawl to get through them. It was through this series of multi-level tunnels that the Viet Cong communicated, launched ambush attacks and in some cases lived during the American offence on the Cu Chi area. We were educated on some of the torture instruments and guerrila tactics used by the Viet Cong, they'd put the Ra to shame anyway! It was amazing to see how the war was fought and won from a Vietnamese point of view, and you go away with a hell of a lot more respect for the determination and strenght of spirit of the Vietnamese people than you came in with.
We also visited the War Remnants museum, formerly known as the Museum of American War Crimes in Ho Chi Minh, which was frankly harrowing. The first thing you see when you go in are colourful pictures painted by children depciting peace, love and harmony. Sadly, from there it's just shock after shock, much of what you learn there being genuinly difficult to read, believe and understand. Years later, you see a disproportionately large number of disabled people in the cities of Vietnam, and you can't help but associate them with Agent Orange and the American invasion, despite many of them being too young to have been directly effected by it.
The Mekong Delta, a two hour motorcycle journey from Ho Chi Minh, was just beautiful. A two hour boat journey stops off at three islands where you can buy souveneirs, have your photo taken with a python (pics up soon), eat fish that you pick out of the water and see killed in front of you and be rowed along a really exotic canal out to the Delta. Staying the night there gave us a feel for the real Vietnam, particularly when we could find no English speaking person in the town to get directions to a hotel or restaurant from! Nonetheless, we made our way to the Friendship Bar, where more than "friendship" was for sale, hence a hasty departure! Spent the night drinking fantastically cheap beer on plastic furniture at a local place, great craic altogether.
We flew via Singapore to Hanoi and straight from there to Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) in the south. It was a nice city, full of motorbikes and madness, but what it really had going for it was it's proximity to stuff like the Cu Chi tunnels and the Mekong Delta. The tunnels, enlarged for Western tourists, are still no more than a metre or so high - you have to crouch or crawl to get through them. It was through this series of multi-level tunnels that the Viet Cong communicated, launched ambush attacks and in some cases lived during the American offence on the Cu Chi area. We were educated on some of the torture instruments and guerrila tactics used by the Viet Cong, they'd put the Ra to shame anyway! It was amazing to see how the war was fought and won from a Vietnamese point of view, and you go away with a hell of a lot more respect for the determination and strenght of spirit of the Vietnamese people than you came in with.
We also visited the War Remnants museum, formerly known as the Museum of American War Crimes in Ho Chi Minh, which was frankly harrowing. The first thing you see when you go in are colourful pictures painted by children depciting peace, love and harmony. Sadly, from there it's just shock after shock, much of what you learn there being genuinly difficult to read, believe and understand. Years later, you see a disproportionately large number of disabled people in the cities of Vietnam, and you can't help but associate them with Agent Orange and the American invasion, despite many of them being too young to have been directly effected by it.
The Mekong Delta, a two hour motorcycle journey from Ho Chi Minh, was just beautiful. A two hour boat journey stops off at three islands where you can buy souveneirs, have your photo taken with a python (pics up soon), eat fish that you pick out of the water and see killed in front of you and be rowed along a really exotic canal out to the Delta. Staying the night there gave us a feel for the real Vietnam, particularly when we could find no English speaking person in the town to get directions to a hotel or restaurant from! Nonetheless, we made our way to the Friendship Bar, where more than "friendship" was for sale, hence a hasty departure! Spent the night drinking fantastically cheap beer on plastic furniture at a local place, great craic altogether.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Last one, promise!
"Miss, I go Ireland with you?"
I love my little Mohammad.
Mohammad eile and Shahir in the background...
Blatant self-indulgence
My little favourite (yeah, I know teachers shouldn't have favourites, but we do) Ghaith drew a picture of my house and his house for 'my news' so I can come and visit him!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
France to ban the burka?
http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15270861&source=most_commented
This is interesting. France and Islam have never really gone together that well, but to ban the burka is a bit extreme. I didn't agree with banning headscarves in schools, but I saw the point of it in a secular society - I wouldn't have raised huge objections.
But to ban a certain type of clothing of a large religious minority in a given country surely flies in the face of what secularism is all about. Maybe I have it wrong, but my interpretation of a secular society is not one where no religion is tolerated but one where all religions are tolerated to an equal level. Bearing this in mind, the burka should no more be banned in public then the crucifix.
My other problem is the moral and cultural superiority complex France is displaying, in assuming that the wearing of the burka is a symbol of debasement. Consider the following from the economist's article
"as Dounia Bouzar, a French Muslim anthropologist, pointed out to the commission, most of the women she sees wearing the niqab are young. Intelligence sources suggest that 90% of them are under 40. Two-thirds are French nationals, half of them second- or third-generation immigrants, and nearly a quarter are converts. In other words, this is not an influx of women from the Gulf, but a statement by young French Muslim women, whose own mothers did not cover their faces."
No one should be forced to wear a burka, but that is clearly not what is happening here. Surely no one should be forced not to either? The West has this whole thing about civil liberties, but when put to the test they seem to come with an "as long as it suits our agenda" tag.
This is interesting. France and Islam have never really gone together that well, but to ban the burka is a bit extreme. I didn't agree with banning headscarves in schools, but I saw the point of it in a secular society - I wouldn't have raised huge objections.
But to ban a certain type of clothing of a large religious minority in a given country surely flies in the face of what secularism is all about. Maybe I have it wrong, but my interpretation of a secular society is not one where no religion is tolerated but one where all religions are tolerated to an equal level. Bearing this in mind, the burka should no more be banned in public then the crucifix.
My other problem is the moral and cultural superiority complex France is displaying, in assuming that the wearing of the burka is a symbol of debasement. Consider the following from the economist's article
"as Dounia Bouzar, a French Muslim anthropologist, pointed out to the commission, most of the women she sees wearing the niqab are young. Intelligence sources suggest that 90% of them are under 40. Two-thirds are French nationals, half of them second- or third-generation immigrants, and nearly a quarter are converts. In other words, this is not an influx of women from the Gulf, but a statement by young French Muslim women, whose own mothers did not cover their faces."
No one should be forced to wear a burka, but that is clearly not what is happening here. Surely no one should be forced not to either? The West has this whole thing about civil liberties, but when put to the test they seem to come with an "as long as it suits our agenda" tag.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Caroline has dubbed my most recent posts....
'my little suicide blog'....
I guess they haven't been the happiest. Suffice to say I'm feeling a lot better this week and not missing home as much! The weather is getting really nice, the kids are being good and hey - it's nearly the weekend again already!
Off to Abu Dhabi again presumably. Last weekend was really nice, we went out and got hammered in the British Club and PJs on Thursday night. Friday was spent loafing around Gerry's watching dvds, then instead of going out that night we cycled along the Corniche and went for coffee - twas just lovely!
More to follow this evening, best get back to school for now!
I guess they haven't been the happiest. Suffice to say I'm feeling a lot better this week and not missing home as much! The weather is getting really nice, the kids are being good and hey - it's nearly the weekend again already!
Off to Abu Dhabi again presumably. Last weekend was really nice, we went out and got hammered in the British Club and PJs on Thursday night. Friday was spent loafing around Gerry's watching dvds, then instead of going out that night we cycled along the Corniche and went for coffee - twas just lovely!
More to follow this evening, best get back to school for now!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
"I have no respect or tolerance for Sharia law"
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/ian-odoherty/i-have-no-respect-or-tolerance-for-sharia-1235057.html
A friend of mine posted this link on facebook today. I felt compelled to respond, and had a bit of a rant about it which I've copied here:
Anyone seen the magdalene sisters, or song for a raggy boy? Anyone read the mccarthy report? We like to think we're so far removed from all of this, but in reality 50 years ago we may not have been as messed up as the examples O'Doherty states, but we weren't far behind them either. The Catholic Church, despite never officially having ruling power, has as much if not more to answer for in many parts of the world (condoms in Africa, being an obvious example).
And while I've only been here a few months, I'd tentatively disagree with O'Doherty's assertion that there are no countries where Sharia law works, UAE and the other GCC states as well as Jordan, which I visited in September seem to have it down. The problem is we see everything as outsiders looking in; to us wearing a headscarf (most women here don't wear the burka) as a symbol of oppression where as far as I can see here, the girls see it as a coming of age ritual that they look forward to. They do it because they believe that a woman's hair is the most beautiful part of her, and as such should only be seen by her husband or other males in her family. Perhaps I've been indoctrinated out here but that doesn't seem that messed up to me. ...
We see Ramadan as 'those crazy Muslims starving themselves for a month' and when we got here many of us Irish were asking our newfound Muslim peers how and why they do it. We assume they look at it as something like Lent, a burden that we are duty bound to carry out by our religion, but that isn't how they see it. Most Muslims I know really enjoy it, they see it as a time for family and prayer, and in particular for thinking of those who have less than them, forced to fast every day of their lives...
I'm not trying to justify any of the stuff O'Doherty mentioned, it's horrendous. It has no place in civilised society and I agree that in order to speed the process of enlightenment up, Western countries could and should remove aid. What I'm trying to say is, you will never see the headline 'today, two Muslim families fell out and resolved their differences peacefully'. We only hear about the bad stuff, the really, really horrific bad stuff. Living here, I find Muslim people to be incredibly gentle and kind. Many of them aren't particularly open to new ideas, but neither are 90% of rural Ireland, so it's going to take time.
A friend of mine posted this link on facebook today. I felt compelled to respond, and had a bit of a rant about it which I've copied here:
Anyone seen the magdalene sisters, or song for a raggy boy? Anyone read the mccarthy report? We like to think we're so far removed from all of this, but in reality 50 years ago we may not have been as messed up as the examples O'Doherty states, but we weren't far behind them either. The Catholic Church, despite never officially having ruling power, has as much if not more to answer for in many parts of the world (condoms in Africa, being an obvious example).
And while I've only been here a few months, I'd tentatively disagree with O'Doherty's assertion that there are no countries where Sharia law works, UAE and the other GCC states as well as Jordan, which I visited in September seem to have it down. The problem is we see everything as outsiders looking in; to us wearing a headscarf (most women here don't wear the burka) as a symbol of oppression where as far as I can see here, the girls see it as a coming of age ritual that they look forward to. They do it because they believe that a woman's hair is the most beautiful part of her, and as such should only be seen by her husband or other males in her family. Perhaps I've been indoctrinated out here but that doesn't seem that messed up to me. ...
We see Ramadan as 'those crazy Muslims starving themselves for a month' and when we got here many of us Irish were asking our newfound Muslim peers how and why they do it. We assume they look at it as something like Lent, a burden that we are duty bound to carry out by our religion, but that isn't how they see it. Most Muslims I know really enjoy it, they see it as a time for family and prayer, and in particular for thinking of those who have less than them, forced to fast every day of their lives...
I'm not trying to justify any of the stuff O'Doherty mentioned, it's horrendous. It has no place in civilised society and I agree that in order to speed the process of enlightenment up, Western countries could and should remove aid. What I'm trying to say is, you will never see the headline 'today, two Muslim families fell out and resolved their differences peacefully'. We only hear about the bad stuff, the really, really horrific bad stuff. Living here, I find Muslim people to be incredibly gentle and kind. Many of them aren't particularly open to new ideas, but neither are 90% of rural Ireland, so it's going to take time.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Home sweet home!
So I got home for nine days over Christmas. It had it's ups and downs but I am glad I was there. Christmas was spent with the family while the rest of the time was taken up visiting numerous friends in Galway and Limerick.
There was a definite paradoxical element to being at home. Nothing is quite the same as it was, but nothing has changed either. My family still fight about turkey on Christmas Day, it's very cold and most people my age have either gone back to college or are on the dole. There are, as far as I can see, no opportunities for recent graduates. Ireland was nice to visit, but it is a depressing place to be at the minute. We seem to have lost our optimism, our sense that even though everything is a bit crap now it will all get better soon... or at least some day. My motivated, pro-active friends are mostly considering immigration. My less motivated, less pro-active friends are mostly smoking weed.
Given that situation, I guess I should be glad to be here in the UAE. But I'm not enjoying being back in Ruwais; almost five months behind me and six months ahead I'm fighting to stay positive. I have a good lifestyle here; I like my job; the weather is nice and I can afford to buy nice things for myself and go on fairly regular holidays. None of these things are to be underestimated, but I do feel quite cut off from 'real life' here. Things are moving on without me (-how dare they?!) but I feel like even though Australia and New Zealand are much further from home, I'd feel more connected there. More alive!
My evenings here are spent with a selection of less than ten people, and lovely though they truly are, I can't help but want a wider social circle. College is really the only place where you meet a massive amount of people from varied backgrounds in one environment, and I miss that, but Ruwais is the other extreme.
Most people came out here with someone, a friend or a boyfriend, and I can't help but feel that I should have too. One of the beautiful things about being at home was being around people I can truly be myself with. You know who you are.
I don't want to go home, but I don't want to be here either.
There was a definite paradoxical element to being at home. Nothing is quite the same as it was, but nothing has changed either. My family still fight about turkey on Christmas Day, it's very cold and most people my age have either gone back to college or are on the dole. There are, as far as I can see, no opportunities for recent graduates. Ireland was nice to visit, but it is a depressing place to be at the minute. We seem to have lost our optimism, our sense that even though everything is a bit crap now it will all get better soon... or at least some day. My motivated, pro-active friends are mostly considering immigration. My less motivated, less pro-active friends are mostly smoking weed.
Given that situation, I guess I should be glad to be here in the UAE. But I'm not enjoying being back in Ruwais; almost five months behind me and six months ahead I'm fighting to stay positive. I have a good lifestyle here; I like my job; the weather is nice and I can afford to buy nice things for myself and go on fairly regular holidays. None of these things are to be underestimated, but I do feel quite cut off from 'real life' here. Things are moving on without me (-how dare they?!) but I feel like even though Australia and New Zealand are much further from home, I'd feel more connected there. More alive!
My evenings here are spent with a selection of less than ten people, and lovely though they truly are, I can't help but want a wider social circle. College is really the only place where you meet a massive amount of people from varied backgrounds in one environment, and I miss that, but Ruwais is the other extreme.
Most people came out here with someone, a friend or a boyfriend, and I can't help but feel that I should have too. One of the beautiful things about being at home was being around people I can truly be myself with. You know who you are.
I don't want to go home, but I don't want to be here either.
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