My Friend Nam

Last night I met my friend Nam, and a bunch of his friends, at a cafe. We were meeting to discuss a trip to Phu Quoc island, a tropical paradise about 50 kilometres from the Vietnamese mainland in the Gulf of Thailand. I have always wanted to go there and have heard many great things so Celine and I jumped at the idea when Nam invited us.

Nam, in my opinion, has a different perspective to a lot of Vietnamese. He travels whenever he has spare time and really appreciates seeing new things. That's not to say other Vietnamese don't like to travel but a big majority of my students are more than happy to stay in Hanoi and have no desire to spend their time and money going on holidays.

The trip to Phu Quoc island is planned for the start of September where we will spend five days both on the island and checking out Can Tho in the Mekong Delta. The catch up at the cafe was a chance for everyone to meet each other and to discuss the trip. Nam, and his friends, all have pretty good English but the three page itinerary, written in English, was purely for our benefit. It was such a nice gesture and it would have taken a while for him to write up. All his friends were so welcoming and friendly.

I really like the last page which had a list of "The Members In The Trip". There are 11 of us going and Nam went out of his way to describe each person. I am happy to report that I am a handsome man from Australia. Some of the other descriptions made me laugh.

We are both really looking forward to the trip and hanging out with a great bunch of Vietnamese who can give us a good insight into the area from a locals point of view.

Cám ơn Anh Nam