Public Enemy Number 1
It’s been a whirlwind week for me here in Vietnam. When I went to work on Monday the surgeon hunted me down - Dr Phu wanted to organise a conference trip with the general surgeons. At this stage I had only met the guy once and had bugger all knowledge about what was going on.
In a flurry over Monday and Tuesday, vague explanations were made. I tried to dodge and let someone else go but it was explained that I had to go. No reasons given. Tickets were bought and on Wednesday morning I was on a plane heading to Ho Chi Minh City.
The conference was the 4th annual Can Tho Cancer Conference, in Can Tho - the major city of the Mekong delta. It took about 5 hours by bus to get there from HCMC. I don’t think it’s that far, but the roads here are challenging and speed isn’t an option most of the time.
Anyway a long drive through some braided river country with little falling down houses lining the roads most of the way. And everyone is selling something. It’s amazing - the whole way you can look out the window and see the sign for yet another pho stall or com stall (soup or rice). Or people carrying god knows what to sell it.
We stopped for lunch and my purpose in coming to the conference became clear - I was to eat and drink excessively for the rest of my trip. Communication with other conference goers was to be a limited affair - some of the docs had pretty good English but many did not. We arrived at Can Tho and I was given my hotel room. Phu and Y - the 2 docs from my hospital were in another room- they told me that at 7pm there would be a party.
Sure enough - another round of drug company sponsored eating and drinking. The Vietnamese do both with remarkable efficiency and speed. The food is there and you eat it - scooping, shovelling, drinking, inhaling -as long as the food goes into or near the mouth. Then its over, by around 9pm everything is done and people stagger off. Its kind of like a storm passing over.
The next day we went to the conference - maybe 200-300 doctors and surgeons from over Vietnam. I got my drug company bag and my conference schedule in Vietnamese (which made reading it difficult).
The first morning opened with dancing and singing and the most hilarious stage production of medics healing the happy children who had been struck down by the winged creature with the spike on its head. After a while I decided the message wasn’t that all doctors should join forces to fight the black unicorn/pegasus army. I decided that perhaps Mrs Mosquito was public enemy number 1.
The conference was a series of presentations of recent Vietnamese studies in oncology and oncology surgery. The programme had the abstracts in English and then the presentations and slide shows were in Vietnamese. My mind drifted a lot and after the drinking at lunchtime I had to fight hard not to sleep. One of the nights we got taken out on a big river boat on the Mekong for more eating and drinking.
I have flown back from HCMC this morning. It has been gorgeously sunny and hot down south. I have returned to Qui Nhon and the rain has started again. I now remember what a wet t-shirt stuck to my back feels like. I had almost forgotten over the last few days.
I have more stories of culinary adventures…
- lizards, eels, frogs, more “wine”, but I will save them up for another time.
So, I have just under one week left in Qui Nhon, then I will be finished up with this medical racket and will travel north to a place called Hoi An before I fly home. I am likely to go to Hoi An next Saturday and then train down to HCMC by about Tuesday or Wednesday, then fly home leaving HCMC on Thursday afternoon.
Anyways, its 6 o’clock here and my body has been programmed that it is time to get ready to sit down and eat everything in its path for 2 hours or so.
Alex
