'Nam

[BlueEpocha]

Oh wow sheherazade those are amazing photos and what gets me the most is how they seem antique with their yellow tinge truly beautiful...can you try some shots in B&W?...I'm eager to hear the story behind your trip...how long are you out there for? is it business? pleasure? or both?...and for a FREE hosting site check out www.flickr.com...wow it really sounds like an amazing time please continue to share

[sheherazade]

^thanks u two above. Flickr sounds rude but I'll move the pics, maybe at work, I'm moving to another desk tomorrow- my boss called it a PRIME location and did I know people were going mad for my new seat? No, I didn't but I'll take it gladly.

 

To clarify, I am in London at the mo. Vietnam was a while ago but no so long ago as to render the photos yellow with age. Blue, I assumed I'd find black and white film there but I didn't, never when I looked which was usually on a small island or small town- where the inspiration to take black and white took hold.

 

My God, I should go to bed. Have a long week and weekend ahead...

[BlueEpocha]

I know the reason now...for the antique look...FILM...lool no pun intended really...but do tell us stories

[RedSea]

SOOMALIDII baa iigu daran. Vietname iyo dhul aan loo joogin ayaaba la gaaray. Or maybe I could be wrong and you were there for business purposes, could it be that before I jump to the conclusion?

[STOIC]

I was so taken aback. Beautiful she said, beautiful.

I am blooming like a red rose. I cause a ripple on a still water .Great Pictures Amiga!!

 

The closest I ever got to a Vietnam is about two weeks ago when on a conference trip our traveling department booked a hotel for me with a Vietnamese dude. Habenki iyoiithiil baan gaad iskahaye amuubusaad imotha cawao ayan isiirri..I am kidding.

[Valenteenah.]

Sheh, that would be much appreciated.

 

 

Originally posted by Mr. Red Sea:

SOOMALIDII baa iigu daran. Vietname iyo dhul aan loo joogin ayaaba la gaaray. Or maybe I could be wrong and you were there for business purposes, could it be that before I jump to the conclusion?

Are you jealous?

[NGONGE]

^^^ I was. But not anymore. She's in London, at work. Sweating like us. On a dirty tube like us. Clock watching like us. Heh.

[Qandalawi]

Nice pics, It's always good to go for a surprise but whats so intriguing about the place and why the Viet and the Nam people look so stunned with the foreigners? It is a very famous country but strange how I never seen it on the map ooh I don't know where is situated on the Asian sub continent, perhaps is not there..could..

[sheherazade]

^ I wasn't white and I had big eyes. I was exotic, u gotta try it out sometime. The being different in a positive way, it rocks.

 

 

I got cancelled on. Hence some time tonight. I suppose I could be doing worse things.

 

Ngonge, the heat underground was nothing in comparison to the humidity in Vietnam. I would wear 3 sets of fresh clothes every day.

 

Frankly there's so much to share that I'm a bit lost so I'll start with the list I started last night and keep that promise.

 

The obsession with looking good

 

Something I wasn't expecting was the Vietnamese women’s never ending talk about physical appearance. If you carry around a little bit of extra weight(or a lot), expect the Vietnamese to let u know about it- whether u care or not is immaterial. If they like the look of you, they will tell u precisely what it is that they like: your eyes, your waist, your legs, your clothes, everything and anything is subject to scrutiny and touch. Oh, yes u will get touched, caressed, hugged, kissed and held if u're liked. I can see the boys starting to get excited, ready to jump on the first flight to Vietnam. Sorry boys, this was strictly girl-on-girl action.

 

So some of u are more desperate to go now.

 

One girl, a healthy size 10-12(UK) with a nice firm body (sorry boys I will stop the torture soon enough), complained that she was too big. To be fair she was in comparison to the others and it was obviously a source of major discomfort in her life. She poked me in my ribs and said she wanted to be like me. By this time in Vietnam, I had red eyes, wore the least flattering of clothes- 3 sizes too big to deal with the heat, ate everything halal that didn’t move and yet she wanted to look like me. I spent some time trying to get her to see what a great body she had but she looked pained by the conversation itself and I dropped it.

 

My tailor, tiny even for a Vietnamese, from whom I learned a lot about Vietnamese culture, whilst getting measured and poked (again) told me she straightened her hair. The sleek, black straight ubiquitous Vietnamese hair more often than not came from a bottle or two. Shocked I peered into her hair while she parted her slick locks to reveal roots(sorry boys, this is turning into a chick post now, bear with, pls) that betrayed her natural less straight her- or so she claimed. I saw straight and black all over. Of course the conversation also turned to whitening creams and their prevalence amongst the community. I found it hard to find cream or deodrant(to whiten your underarms baby) that didn't contain whitening agents. When I walk by stalls in SE Asia, the women push whitening creams into my hands in earnest. Girl, where have u been? Have u seen yr black self, this stuff does wonders for the curse that is black. Get with it, already. All this of course communicated in the language of body.

 

Age and marriage are two other favourite national obsessions of the Vietnamese. This too you will be asked about with frequency. Another surprise was that they absolutely couldn’t approximate an age. The oldest they made me was 19. When I confessed my real age, the men(I kid u not) if single would ask me to marry them, the women would offer me their brother, son, grandson(I still kid u not) and ask that I come live them. This mostly happened in the middle of the middle of the depths of nowhere where they had no idea where I was from- Africa? Eh? And where the people’s skin was almost as dark as mine and their societies matriachal. Women ruled. I was Queen.

 

 

 

U better believed I loved it.

 

I can’t tell you the exquisite pleasure I had being amongst their land, their people and their food(greedy one, I).

 

 

^ Laxoox Na style.

 

I spent three days going where few other tourists went- accompanied by a Vietnamese- and from village to village even he couldn’t understand the languages spoken; there are so many ethnic groups in Vietnam it’s mind-boggling. Still I never came across a more welcoming, hospitable environment. My face ached from the smiling and my jaw from the dropping. For those 3 days alone, I will die satisfied with my earthly experience(I kid u not).

 

 

Oh, dear rambled like nobody’s business.

 

Vietnamese Coffee

 

I became an addict. So strong though was this delightful concoction that I would ask for hot water to dilute it or I would attempt death-defying feats if I drank it neat. I drank it hot in the heat, iced in the heat, black, white, gurgled it, slurped it, washed it around my mouth in pleasure and gulped it with gusto. So much did I talk about it that the lovely Vietnamese man showing me around decided to stop at the factory where my brand of coffee was being processed. Oh, what a moment. The air filled with the sweet scent of fresh coffee beans. I died. But managed to buy a kilo before doing so.

 

I’m always prepared.

 

And the Lord indeed has blessed me. Alhamdullilah.

 

[Mutakalim]

^ Educative experience. Nice pics.

[ElPunto]

^Interesting and educative. I am very surprised that you were not prodded and poked more because of your skin colour and hijab.

[sheherazade]

^I wasn't complaining.

 

..I keep getting cancelled on..

 

I remembered that the older woman in the photos at the hotel on my last night with them waitied outside with me for the bus.

 

The first time I sat with her on the bench I pulled one aching, swollen foot up and massaged it absent-mindedly. Before I knew it the lady had reached out and taken my foot in her hands. I pulled away instinctively but she held on, nodding, smiling and reassuring in Vietnamese. Try as I might to escape, hands waving, foot withdrawing, she kept a firm hold of my foot massaging despite my struggle. I stopped when I saw the futility of it and sat embarrassed, uncomfortable and pleased.

 

This night when the bus wouldn't arrive at its scheduled time, they rang an office and informed me that the bus was running late and I hadn't missed it. Outside on the bench the lady held me in her arms and I just let her, giving in and letting go. Now and then I stood up and paced up and down. Finally she beckoned to me and gestured for me to get on her moped with her. I asked out loud where she was taking me, I had a bus to catch and one of the others who spoke English said the older lady wanted us to go find the bus! She wanted to show me that the bus hadn't left town but was still doing the rounds. I protested that I'd miss the bus if I left the hotel but got talked into getting on the moped with the lady in the end.

 

I had seen the town already, having walked and walked around it but from the back of the moped, slightly exhilarated by the possibility of missing the bus(I was on a tight schedule), zooming past the lanterns, lit-up dragons and the shimmering waters I was seeing things I hadn't before. Now and then she pointed to a building and I nodded in acknowledgement not knowing what it was she wanted me to appreciate about it but appreciating it nonetheless.

 

Finally she stopped by the side of the road and we got off. She walked to a woman selling something by the pavement and waved to the woman to reveal her goods. The seller took the lid off a vessel and in the dark street I peered down and into a sloshing pool of milk. She wanted me to have some milk. Something primeval took hold of me and whisked my breath away.

 

wish I was there

[ElPunto]

Originally posted by sheherazade:

 

..I keep getting cancelled on..

 

Sure

[sheherazade]

^LOL wish I were being dishonest.

[Valenteenah.]

^ You need new friends, dear.

 

 

Ah Sheh...it all sounds so enriching and enchanting. I am admiring and envying you at the same time. No make that admiring. I don't do envy that well.

 

Thank you.