travellin light

Sunday 5^th October 2008

Just back from Movie Club, which was well attended and left everyone bewildered at the twists and turns of the plot; an everyday tale of time travel! ‘The Twelve Monkeys’ with English subtitles made more sense to me the second time around, but necessitated much discussion among the students and teachers who attended, which was very good practice for their English comprehension; the whole point of the exercise.

So now I’m back at the ranch, anticipating a storm that seems to be gathering in the dusk. Here in the entrance hall of my apartment I have the door wide open as well as the fan on to keep me relatively cool, but I close the windows and door of my room to keep out any mozzies. Since I moved here the word went out that fresh English flesh was on the menu and so far they’ve sampled most parts of my anatomy. In spite of the fact that I carefully tuck myself into my mosquito net every night, as Julie explained I should, every morning I have new bites. I suspect that some of these bites could actually be from the giant midges that I see lurking in the bathroom and maybe they ambush me as I go to the loo at night! As soon as I got paid; (we were all skint by the end of the month,) I got an electrical gadget that glows blue to attract the critters and zap them before they get to me. I hope the Buddha doesn’t mind, but Co Mai doesn’t seem to. In fact, she got me an electric bat to chase them with, although I haven’t had any luck with that as yet!

Finally the TV in my room is fixed and it’s starting to feel more like home. Mark and Judy are in there now having a quiet canoodle before she has to go home. They’ve not been seeing much of each other lately as her father clamped down on her excursions since she left her job at KTV and she has to work all hours in the family restaurant. She is a grown woman in her twenties but the whole culture here is very patriarchal as is their communist government. Mark is more smitten than I’ve ever seen him; he misses her attention and the fresh food she always used to bring him, but apart from that he’s been busy working at his grammar book day and night, into the early hours, even missing his sleep altogether one night, so he’s quite exhausted at the moment.

I now have a home taxi service in the shape of Mr Duan, a mature student who lives here and does odd jobs for his keep. He’ll take me to school on his bike every Saturday and Sunday when I start in the early morning and bring me home every evening except Sunday, when Mark will be around. This means I don’t have to rely on Michael for lifts all the time. A couple of times I was stranded when Mike had gone off somewhere and my cell phone died! I haven’t had the nerve to try riding buses as yet!

When I applied for my Travel Insurance I was asked if I’d be indulging in any dangerous sports like mountaineering, deep sea diving, bungee jumping etc. ‘Of course not,’ I laughed, ‘how ludicrous!’ However, there was no mention of riding motor bikes, which Insurance companies have yet to designate a dangerous sport. Any of my readers who've been to the near, middle or Far East will know what I’m talking about!

When I first rode pillion I clung onto my driver for dear life, wincing at all the apparent near misses, (especially with Michael who’d only just learned to ride a bike when I arrived), my knees gripping his ample buttocks as if riding a horse and arms wrapped around him, trusting that such close proximity wouldn’t excite or agitate him too much. (I jest.) After six weeks of daily riding on the busiest of busy roads, you should see me now; nonchalantly astride anyone’s pillion without even holding on, although not quite as elegantly as the young ladies I see in their best clothes perched side-saddle on their boyfriends’ bikes. Only the richest people travel by car and even babies and small children travel on Mom or Dad’s motorbike, sometimes carried on a hip or hanging on behind. I must get some pictures of whole families, Mom, Dad and two or three kids on one bike! Quite terrifying! No safety laws here; see a flashing light and except for major junctions, ignore it. 'The quick and the dead', a phrase from the Book of Common Prayer springs to mind.

Not only people, but most goods are transported this way. Sometimes you’d wonder how the driver can even see where they are going, the load is so great. Last week Michael and I went with our landlady Co Mai, to buy two small refrigerators, one each for our apartments and as soon as the money was paid, an assistant was busy loading them onto a bike. See pics of them on their way back home as we hurried to keep up!