travel update from Nha Trang

Greetings Earthlings,
I am here among you. I send greetings and wish you no harm. Surrender your weapons of mass destruction and come out with your carbon emissions above your head...
Well, its another beautiful warm sunny December dayhere in South Vietnam. Nha Trang is a beach town about 500km north of Sai Gon (Ho Chi Minh). I have been here for about a week and will be gone to Hoi An tonight on an overnight bus. it is about a 500km journey. Vietnam is quite an experience. it is officially socialist the hammer and sickle logo is everywhere. it is a one party political system. It is of course super corrupt. The people in this workers paradise earn a couple of doolars a day at work. unless of course they wear a uniforn and then they make beau coupe bucks. Bartenders earn 20,000dong per day and sleep on the floor of the bar at night. 20,000VND equals one dollar 25 cents USD. Slavery is alive and well in the workers peoples paradise, the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Because things are so tough for workers here, many of them are street vendors. thy are always trying to sell stuff to you. Whle you drink your coffee at a cafe you will be approached maybe 15times per hour. if you respond at all (even if you say no-thank you) they will not leave you alone. You must ignore them or look away for them to leave. the vietnamese word for (buy something from me) is (Hello)... no one says hello unless they want you to buy they only want your money. The sellers on almost every level are dishonest and disengenuous. not as bad as Egypt but not very pleasant place to be.of course on the other hand any relationshiop with any of the locals that does not involve money and they are warm sweet and friendly and even quite funny. they have a good sense of humor and see the absurdity of their situation.
Marijuana is for sale everywhere. the moto drivers all offer it to you. like constantly day in and day out. if you say no they offer you massage. You like massage mister? good boom boom lady cheap? if you say no they ask you if you need a ride!! you know it is weird as they are like taxi guys but a ride is usually the 3rd or 4th thing they offer!! I think they would pimp their sister for 30 dollars. The cops all run the girls of course. Prostitutiohn is officially against the law. but it is everywhere. there are signs lall over the place for Massage, Karaoke, steambath, sauna all these are brothels. about 25% of the barber shops are brothels too. all these cute girls call out to me as I walk past the barber shop wsith my shaved head and face!! You like massage mister? The cops are pretty strict on drugs. a moto guy can get a 20,000,000 fine for selling a little bag of ganja. The cops are tough on drugs because if they let the drug guys go, soon the drug gangs will be running the police. with the girls, it is always the cops running the girls. so the highter ups in the police wont go soft on drugs. dopers beware. of course if you are discreet or just smoking in your hotel it wont be a problem.
I have not noticed any sort of political repression. People speak openly and even complain about the government without any aparent fear of reprisal. or i may add hope of change. they let you speak out but they dont change anything. here you cant broadcast your dissent but talking is okay. it is Just like in the western countries. only the goverment has access to the press. At home only the goverment and the aristocracy has access and the goverment is the aristocracy. how many non millionaires are running for president in your country???We call this freedom they just grin at our naivity. They know we arent any more free than they are, we just have more money. having money isnt the same as being free. Same same but different!
I wenrt to a silk factory or mill near DA Lat. really cool. I had no idea. the little caterpoillars make like 2km of thrread in each of their little cocoons. at the mill they kind of unwind the thread and this is what is weaved into silk. fascinating stuff to watch. none of the workers makes a fraction of the money necessary to buy their product. like working at rolls royce, i guess...
The beaches and the mountains here are beautiful. it is a beautiful country, rich in heritage and tradition. I went ofr an all day snorkelling cruise two days ago. really nice visited 4 islands and saw lots of coral and colorful fishies. met loots of nice foreigners on the boat. good time.
Ahh the vietnamese... one must be very relaxed to not let them make you uptight. if you bring your own uptightness to the table it is a feast for the tense mind. I have been planning to stay here until after christmas but now I have learned i can get a one month visa for laos instead of 14 days so i might leave earlier. I think i would rather be in laos than in vietnam. maybe its just me, but just me is all i have!!
My old buddies RB and Dave travelled the world together for about a year once and they declared that the first rule for a world traveller is...
if you arent haveing fun...LEAVE!!
I am having fun but...well...It may be time to invoke the rule of one. I will decide when I get to HUE. in 4 or 5 days. Hue is a good place to catch the overland bus to Laos. it is possible from ha Noi, but so many reports of scams make me uptight. i think I will leave from Hue and give ha Noi the big skip...Have Christmas on the plain of jars maybe. But of course this is only tentative. I never know...
here now are a couple of quotes from great men of the undeveloped world!!
Peace and love to all who read these words
Robert

"Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph." Haile Selassie
"Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with the truth." -Thich Nhat Hanh.