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Normen en waarden

Lieve wereld…

Zelfs als de stroom uitvalt in Amsterdam…

Jan Peter Balkenende zei het al…

Normen en waarden!

Zoals eerst mensen het voertuig (OV) uitlaten en dan pas instappen.

En aan die 4 dames op een rijtje van 16 tot 25 jaar die lekker aan het Whatsapp’en waren zou ik willen zeggen:

Sta ook een op voor de  oudere medemens! Met je 16 tot 30 jaar gaat dat makkelijker dan als je 50 tot 999 bent.
Regels zijn er om te handhaven en te overtreden.

Soms moet je regels naleven, soms kan je ze breken…

Zoals nog een voorbeeld van vandaag uit het OV. Het hele OV had er last van, stroomuitval in Amsterdam en dan nog een bommelding op Utrecht Centraal…

Dus toen de NS netjes volgens dienstregeling wat treinen liet uitvallen. Was de trein naar Amsterdam vanuit Utrecht overvol. Gevolg geen zitplaatsen in de tweede klasse.

Dus ik en mijn collega besloten om in de eerste klasse plaats te nemen. Of dat nou mocht of niet (dat was niet duidelijk)

De vrouw die eerst verbolgen was over het feit dat we zonder geldig vervoersbewijs in een upgrade hadden genomen. Draaide langzaam bij. Ze begon met de zin “kom maar op met die conducteur, ik heb wel zin in een maatschappelijke discussie” alhoewel het mij duidelijk was dat ze hoogstwaarschijnlijk wel een geldig vervoersbewijs voor die klasse had (aanname)

Maar zo rond Amsterdam Amstel, bijna bij het eindpunt waren we lekker op dreef met z’n drieën.

Ik eindigde op Amsterdam centraal met een zeer bescheiden applaus. Toen vroeg de vrouw: “is dat omdat je het gehaald hebt zonder boete of voor de NS?” Waarop ik antwoordde: “voor de NS. Dat ze me maar weer op tijd hebben thuisgebracht.

Zo zit ik vandaag (2017-01-18) weer in de trein richting Utrecht. NS bedankt!

Wordt dat vaak genoeg gezegd? Niet naar mijn mening!

Spelfouten en stijlfouten voorbehouden… Het is nog vroeg!

 

Update 27 Feb 2017: Zo ben ik niet alleen blijkbaar…

Mekong Delta with singing Minh

​Woke up at 7:00 had a brekkie. Then got to the bus at 8:30. Our tour guide and some other vietnamse passengers did some acapella songs though the bus mic.
Now it’s of to the first stop: a 200 year old pagoda. The Vinh Trang Pagoda.
Then went on the bus, gone to the Coconuts candy factory. Had lunch after a quick horse ride. Then saw a competitive battle of catfish catching. Then into another boat to go to honey tea and we held a boa constrictor. 

The pose wasn’t my idea…

Then into the traditional canoes. 

Look at these Vietnamese hats!

Then we had some fruit with traditional music (our tour guide joined as well) the last song was if you’re happy and you know it… clap your hands.
Back in the boat… got a monsoon on our head. And back in the bus. Then it was time for the biggest surprise of the day.. the hotel: excellent. Fast WiFi, shower and a bed!
After some beers and a delicious Beef (Bó) BBQ with a lovely pepper sauce it was time for bed.
Day 2: started off with the biggest confusing breakfast ever. I didn’t quite catch what the options were… so I went like: noodles?!? And our waiter was like: Noodles! And I was like: Noodles?!? And so we got noodles instead the rest of the restaurant which all got fried eggs…
Then I was dying for some coffee. So in my best Vietnamese I ordered two black coffees, only forgot to add the word for Hot. So we got ice coffee instead…
Let’s see how the rest of the day will shape up. Our singing tour guide Minh will come pick us up any minute (7:00)
So after a short bus-trip, we got into the boat and got squashed like canned sardines… there isn’t much legroom and mandatory swim vests aren’t helping for the comfort level.

Swim vests on! All cramped in the boat

But after a short trip we arrived at the biggest floating market in Vietnam. All boats had their anchor buoy replaced by the items they sell (sweet potato, durian, pineapple ect.)
After that we went to a rice noodle factory to see how they are made. They cook 80% rice powder with 20% starch, then they make a flimsy pancake which dries in the sun for 5hours then gets cut up to Noodles.
Went back on the boat to go to a local restaurant/ weird farm. Where they sold frogs, rat, pigeon, snake and other local delights. But… pretty common on this trip, we weren’t really sure what we where doing from 9:30 – 10:30 early lunch?!? 

Ever tried frogs from a Vietnamese BBQ?!?

Now we are Oscar Mike (On the move) again in our little snug fit boat.
Basically to go and have real lunch and keep faffing around until the bus shows up… 
Now (13:00) we are on the way back to HCM city.
Ready to pickup laundry and on to the next adventure… Mũi Ne!

Vietnam immigration… don’t forget your dollars!

Well well… we’ve arrived in Vietnam. But… the flight was faster than the process at immigration.

Arrived from Singapore on 30 June  2016 @ 16:40 ICT (local time, GMT+6)

Already prepared our forms and VOA ( Visa-on-arrival ) I didn’t bring a photo for on the Visa (but that wasn’t any problem in Hanoi)

Queue was really quick and so everything went smoothly up to that point. Only the stamping fee is $25 and… we forgot to bring dollars… (no problem I thought, there must be a handy ATM close by)
Well… NO! No ATM… and the customs officers didn’t understand. Plus I got charged $5 for a digital photo… 😭

No money… no honey!

Well Vietnam is one of the country’s in the world where you can exit the airport while the customs officer keeps your passport, ignore all the scanners, walk right though security to find out that neither of your bank cards work… then you walk back, though a one-way opening door (just wait for another passenger to go out) bypassing security again (no questions asked) skip up the steps and go back to customs… where they don’t understand you.

Lucky for me I have Anna. So Anna went and tried, same journey. But had no clue about the exchange rate. So had to rely on the girl at the currency exchange counter. Which said $50 was 1.000.000 VND and after going back to security found out that it wasn’t enough.

Then because of totally not understanding us (English m*therf*cker, do you speak it?!?) I was grounded at the visa desk, not allowed to pass. And Anna was forced to pass immigration because she already acquired a visa. 

Luckily nobody was paying attention (Vietnamese style?) and she was able to sneak past security again to go to the ATM again, get me the rest of the money. Finally was able to enter  Vietnam with my passport.

Because it took two hours our bags were at lost and found… but finally we managed to get our free two beers at the Vietnam Saigon inn 

 

So everyone going to Nam… bring your dollars in cash for the stamping fee and save yourself some trouble!!!