The first 4 weeks were spent sweating it out in the heat, humidity and traffic of Saigon, with a few weekend escapes, Christmas and NYE thrown in for good measure. Oh, and a month of work in the delivery ward of a major maternity hospital!!
Then we spent a week travelling north to Hanoi, where we had a rude shock weatherwise. We went from 30 degree days in Hoi An to the 10 degree winter chill of Hanoi in an hour. Hanoi is currently experiencing its coldest winter in 20 years, with daily temps 10 degrees below average. Schools have shut down, animals have been dying and we have been freezing our toes off!! We had our last day at the surgical hospital here a few days ago, where we've seen a lot of neurosurgery - the majority resulting from motorbike accidents, a sobering thought when you look at the traffic on the roads here.
I've been diligently taking hundreds of photos, but am sadly falling behind on uploading them to flickr - I'm still up to Christmas eve!!!
But here's a few from the first few weeks here...
Crazy Saigon traffic. Note the lack of helmets. A new law making them compulsory came into force the first Saturday we were here. Every traffic photo taken after this one is a sea of helmet wearers.
Some of the amazing food we've eaten. Friends in Saigon treated us to an amazing steamboat feast one night!!!
Some beautiful countryside to be seen once you escape the city edges!
Crazy enough to hold a snake. The brave before pic, and the scared after one as soon as it was wriggling around too much. Eeeek!!!
Proof that we did actually make it to hospital!!
Lazing on the beach on Christmas eve. That seems like a lifetime ago, especially in this cold!!!
A bit of patriotism, appropriate for the upcoming lunar new year. Chuc mung nam moi!!!!
