Listen to me when I bespeak to you!

So now I'm in Hoian, the town of Tailors, over 300 of the blighters all over the city fighting to be able to bespoke (hope I'm using this word in the right context) you a lovley little suit for around $120... they are bespoking all over the shop... I've not been bespoken to yet but after seeing David wear the preliminary cut of his suit and get correction I understand what everyone is bespeaking about... for someone with an unusual frame (no offense David), they provide a lovley cut to suit even the most lanky of individuals... so now I'm tempted to bespeak (getting annoying yet?) to them about getting a lovley lumberjack shirt to fit my unique (or, as the ladies call it, 'stunning' (in a positive sense;)) figure...

Hoian is an incredibly quite but nice place... it has been nice to chill out and not do too much... but yesterday I went a little too far... the food is lovley and the beer is only 3000 dong a glass (about 20p... I know, pretty dangerous)... I didn't get really drunk, that wasn't the problem... I was concious to eat alot to ensure I didn't get too drunk... so in the space of 4 hours I had 3 meals (crispy noodles with chicken, Chicken with cashunuts and rice, chicken burger and chips, a pack of peanut m and ms, a cream doughnut, and a couple of chicken spring rolls)... When I went to bed I didn't feel too good... for the first time in the whole trip I was sick... and all my own bloody fault... I scoffed the food down quickly like a ferrel cat who doesn't know where his next meal is coming from... like a dog who's broken into the big bag of biscuits and falls into the trap of gluttony... I couldn't believe it... I lined my stomach so much that there wasn't actually any space left for anything else... by crickey I felt foolish... I guess that's why I'm writing it down here for all you to read! ... Oh how I degrade myself for you people ... ;)

... Hue was a pretty cool place (that's the place I just came from)... it's close to the DMZ (demilitarised zone which I think previously served as the main front of the Vietnam war... we did a tour around the sites there which was pretty cool... we explored the tunnels which the local people built to hide in... they were very small tunnels with almost caveman-ish little enclaves for whole families to live in... there were even 17 babies born in the tunnels... ... the whole tour would have been fantastically interesting... we had a guide talking to us in the long coach journeys between sites of interest... it would have been fascinating if I could have made out what the dickens she was saying... Instead I had to settle with steady progress through 'Silvertorn' my book... I plan to buy a book about the war to read up... it seems really fascinating, especially when you reflect on the things that may have happened on the side such as in Laos... the only problem is I'm a bit of a walking library, I only just got rid of the 1,200 page 'Infinite Jest' I don't need to start picking up history books right away... but I need to learn about this war and the history, the basis of communism here and the US interferancethis struck me especially when I visited the old prison in Hanoi... it basically had too parts, a bit where it was used by French colonists to keep the communist activists and then when it was used to keep Americans during the Vietnam war... I've heard it mentioned that the winners of a war write the history about it... indeed, it's unavoidable to tell a story without a slight infliction of your own opinions... so looking at the exhibits of how communists were treated by the French and then reading how they profess to have looked after American prisons, it's fascinating... to have any opinions of my own I really need to read about these things... that is a key thing I've learnt from travelling, I really want to understand the history of the world and it's different regions beyound WW2 and British history (and a smattering of American history passed through that picture box)... the world seems fascinating, if only someone could bring out a 500 page book called, 'A history of the world' which is concise yet detailed (I know, that's really like asking for hot water which contained little blocks of ice)... but who would have thought it, my mind is broadening... hence why I can never find a hat which fits this unusual shaped head of mine!

OK, I'll go now... gonna read for a bit and then meet David to see his final suit presentation (although there will probably not be a ceremony) and possibly order my own lovley little lumberjack shirt:) ... all I need now is a bespoke hat for my beloody big head!

Keep well all, hugs and kisses,

Matt

P.S. Please send me your christmas love, I'm not feeling very christmassy here at the moment... I downloaded 83 christmas songs for my ipod but it aint doing the trick... xmas wishes please folks:)