Around Tam Ky

March 20th, 2009 by Lorraine Woodley

We have reached the third week of our time in Tam Ky and are beginning to feel like the locals, even if we look very different. Most of the shopkeepers know us by now and they like to practice their English with us and we of course try out our Vietnamese. (They are doing better than me!!!) Lorraine has been writing about our daily program and the children so I’ll tell you about Tam Ky, the town. It is the capital of Quang Nam Province and therefore has many government buildings and officials. There ia also an army base here and some mornings we see the soldiers (men and woman) marching as we cycle out the 7 klms. to the orphanage. No tourists visit here, which we personally see as a positive, but of course tourists do bring dollars to the towns they visit. Life starts early for the locals (5.30 or 6) and the streets are busy with bicycles and m/bikes, the small markets are open for business and people are out drinking tea and enjoying their Pho (noodle soup.) Some children start school at 7am (until 11am) so they are on the streets well before then, mostly dressed in their clean uniforms. We leave our house at 8am and hit the road on our bicycles. We weave through carts, bicycles, street sweepers, we dodge pedestrians and cows etc. and the m/bikes fly past. (and that’s the first 100 metres!). The first few days were daunting as I was trying to avoid everyone. But since I’ve discovered the secret- let everyone avoid me, I’m a lot more confident and daring.

We even ride to some of our placements at night, no helmets or lights and most of the back streets are gravel but everyone does it so we soon get used to it. When we have a spare afternoon we try to do some sightseeing. This week we took a taxi out of town (5 kilometres) past rice paddies, small villages to the Cham Towers. These are 3 towers built in the 11th century for the worship of the god Shiva. They are brickm about 20 metres high and 10 metres square with carvings of dancing woman, Garudas, elephants etc on the outside. Inside they are dark, empty and damp. There is also a small museum next door. The towers have survived for 10 centuries but were damaged during the Vietnam war (by bullets and small explasions etc.) Tam Ky town has a large Buddhist Temple and monastery with a huge white female Buddha statue out front. There is also also a Cao Daoist Temple with ornate statues decorating its exterior.

Last Thursday night the 7 of us, plus our cook Mrs Hanh and Mr T. (our Vietnamese Tam Ky GVN Manager) rode through the back streets to the Cascades Ice Cream Parlour. Bailey’s Ice Cream Sundaes- for about $1AUD. (I had 3.) All around us on the street people rode, walked, laughed and shopped. It was after 9pm and the place was still alive. On the way home we rode down a street that was lined with hundreds of young people, m/bikes parked on the footpath, eating BBQ chicken, cooked on mobile BBQs and drinking coca cola or beer. They certainly know how to enjoy themselves.

One week to go, three lessons to prepare and present, one adult business discussion session, 3 visits to the orphanage (plus a party there on Friday to be put on by us), 2 mornings at the disabled childrens clinic, 2 games nights at the Street Children’s shelter, 15 delicious meals cooked by Mrs Hanh and then we will have to say goodbye to Tam Ky and the children. We are looking forward to getting home but not the goodbyes we will have to say at the end of this week.