Sunday 25 May 2008

When 'Chance' gets involved in VIetnam - My Top 5

5: Arriving on the scene of an accident involving 2 mopeds. One had 2 passengers and the other 3! 2 people were killed and the mourning started before the bodies were removed. The air was heavy with burning incense. It was a sobering reminder that Vietnam's roads can be quite dangerous.

4: Meeting a cop who had just filmed what a bunch of local tribes people did to an elephant. The elephant was used to carry tourists around as a money earner. The elephant killed his 'master'. Knowing that actively killing the elephant would be illegal, the villagers decided the best thing to do was starve the creature to death instead. Once the animal had died, villagers took to it with chain saws and hacked it to pieces for food. The film footage (on his mobile) of the act was horrendous.

3: Drinking with locals and a man goes off and gets his pet monkey. A monkey who loved crackers in fact.

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2: Ever wonder what it is like to 'pay off' a cop? I don't have to because we had to do it not once but twice! To the underpaid provincial cop, the roadblock opens up a world of opportunity for extorting unsuspecting motorists. After the bribe was paid, the policemen apologised to me for the delay. Are you serious?

1: Sitting at a roadside village bar and the area gets hit by a swarm of flying termites. Not to miss an opportunity, the a woman working there hurriedly collected these litter critters, which would soon end up as a deep fried snack food. I was more than happy to help her collect the little beasties. Mmm, delicious.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tell me you DID NOT eat termites!!!