Fisherman, girls on motorcycles and 'he who works alone'!

Last night I met up with a Spanish guy and a Vietnamese girl I contacted through HospitalityClub, I also shared a beer with a French Film crew I met on the plane over here. I found out things about filming in Vietnam that I maybe didn't need to know. My task here, to get eight stories around Vietnam, will prove extremely difficult, for a number of reasons I prefer not to discuss here. I have already nearly spent a week in Ho Chi Minh City without finding a story, but I do have a couple of leads, a tour guide, a filmmaker and a video artist, later today I should have more of an idea where things will go.

While in Ireland, I met a fisherman in Dingle, one of the Flannery Clan, I asked him what he liked about being a fisherman. He said , "You got to hate it to love it" I asked him what he meant and he said, " When I've been out to sea for a week longer than expected, experienced rough seas, but still managed to find a catch of fish...I hate every moment of it till I see the lights of the home fire burning and enter the safety of the harbour"

I have the same love/hate relationship with filmmaking. Trying to find a story, trying to put that story together, can be an excruciatingly painful and stressful experience. I have no one to lay the blame on if things go wrong. Every decision, right or wrong, is mine alone. And filming in strange and foreign lands, throwing cultural differences into the mix, adds another spice to the recipe, which needs to be tasted and experienced, in order not to ruin the flavour.

Last night I also had my best travel experience in Vietnam so far. I was sitting in a park, across the road from a well known club on Pham Ngu Lao Road, in the heart of the backpackers district, having a bit of a giggle watching the tourists interact with the local prostitutes, when I met a local girl who worked in a shoe shop. She offered to take me for a ride on her motorcycle. So under full moon, on the usually busy streets of H.C.M City, we cruised, breathing in the fresh night air. She took me into parts of H.C.M. City I have never seen before, we crossed the Saigon River, and then we returned, hardly a word was spoken (she spoke limited english) and no money exchanged hands, just an act of friendship, a local person showing me their city. This is what I love about travel, not the guide book 'must see' locations, but meeting local people and getting an insight into their life.

Ok, Ok, I offered to take her out to dinner tonight, and she accepted. But to find out what happens next...you will have to wait for my next blog entry...he he.