Don't Hassel the Hoff, as one person put it..

What a couple of days this has been. I couldn't remember the day before yesterday initially because yesterday dominated so much, so I'll do yesterday first. As you read, you may start to wonder, so I'll preface it with this - because I'm not giving you the man's name, patient confidentiality is not being breached, and writing about it actually helps me order my thoughts and gives me clarity on the whole situation. Don't worry though :)

We took our motorbikes down to this stunning beach about 30min drive South of Nha Trang. A pleasant morning was spent alternating between deckchairs and swimming in the gorgeous gorgeous sea that was there. A nice lunch of prawns and fish that we barbecued at our table with some garlic rice, and then more swimming in the afternoon. Very sadly, my St Christopher came off in the water. It was my late grandma's and very special to me, so a lot of time was spent scouring the water to see if I could spot anything glistening in the sun, but no such luck. God does, however, work in the most mysterious ways. It was my looking for St Christopher that kept us at the beach later than planned, and kept me near that patch of water when suddenly someone spotted a man drowning. When a group of Vietnamese men were pulling him in, I immedietely saw that he was unresponsive and unconscious. I helped get him up onto the beach and started administering aid, telling my brother to get my kit from my bag and Vy came over to work as a translator. I checked his breathing, unsurprisingly absent, so I began with 5 rescue breaths and then started chest compressions. It was after 13 that he began to cough and roll his head a bit, so I rolled him into the recovery position so he could cough up the water. I made sure his airway was open, and there he was, breathing again. I kept an eye on his pulse and resp rate, and checked his pupils. All these Vietnamese people that had crowded round kept wanting to do their own thing, even when I was in the middle of doing CPR. I saw one man trying to do something that is now FIFTY years out of date. I only know about it because we had a session on the history of St John! So I kept barking at them to stay back, and asked Vy to translate "I work on ambulances, let me do it" and they let up for a bit. It was when he was in the recovery position that they started getting agitated again and Vy said "They want to pick him up upside-down and shake him to get the water out; apparently that's how they do things here" and I said absolutely not!! But still they kept going on, and despite Vy's best efforts of diplomacy, they wouldn't let up. I then told Vy to say to them "The man who actually knows about this sort of thing strongly advises you do NOT do this. If anyone picks up this man and shakes him then they can take absolute responsibility for what ensues." and all of a sudden everyone took two paces back!! Jonny and I gave each other a slightly knowing look, saying "Is this a good sign, or are they just making space?"
Several of them actually left, and so it looked like they'd actually been sorted out once and for all. And all one had to do was to question their self-confidence :P
Ambulances are scarce in Vietnam and so the decision was made to take him to hospital in a taxi. The taxi driver was already there, and so I organised it that he bring the car as close as possible, and then chose some chaps to carry the man up off the beach, up the steps over the dune and into the carpark. I entrusted Jonny to support the head, thought it would be best to have a known quantity there!
So into the back of the taxi he went, and being too long for the backseat, I had to improvise him into a sort of recovery position to take the pressure off his chest whilst keeping his feet inside the door. I crouched down between the front and back seats so I could be with him the whole way in case he deteriorated, and his wife got in the front. It seemed like ages before we got to the hospital, but eventually there we were at this tiny rural hospital, maybe two stories. I gestured to the wife to get help from inside the hospital but she was pretty useless and somewhat apathetic (she must have just been completely thrown by the situation) and the pharmacist standing nearby was much more efficient. We couldn't get the trolley bed up to where the taxi was, so again bystanders were roped in to help carry him out of the taxi, down this gravelly slope and onto the trolley. Onto the bed he went and I helped the nurses wheel him into the casualty department. No-one spoke English so I had to gesture with my hands what had happened, what I'd done and so on. They were extremely grateful, the wife was distracted and the man's friend who followed on motorbike gave me a handshake and a hug. It was really good to see this man finally on oxygen and I later heard he was being transferred to a better hospital where they could get the fluid out of his lungs. Later on, the ambulance actually passed us on the way home (I recognised the nurse inside) so I was thinking he'll probably be ok and they should hopefully be able to prevent secondary drowning (caused by the irritated lungs creating too much mucus). Anyway, this friend of his gave me a lift back to the beach where Jonny and Vy still were, and it was only then I realised I was still just in swimming shorts, no flip flops, no t-shirt or anything! Just absolutely covered in sand, and so I carefully accepted his offer of a lift on the back of his bike :) But he drove sensibly, and I was soon back with Jons and Vy. It was quite sweet, the locals on the beach came up and shook my hand, said thank you, and that sort of thing. It was a much nicer welcome than the farewell I had, certainly!
A quick dip in the sea to get the sand off and I was off home for a much needed shower and beer.

At supper that night, we got a phonecall to say that they had gotten the water out of his lungs and were keeping him under observation for a couple of days, so he's made it!! Really am so so pleased, and I just think it's extraordinary how it was almost like I'd just been placed there, on that beach and kept until that time so that this man could live. It's a bizarre feeling, but of course it's a positive one. We've been invited for a thank you coffee, so it'll be nice to check up on how he's doing and suchlike :)

So there you are, all's well that ends well. I was rather unsure whether or not it would be appropriate to write about it, particularly yesterday when I didn't know what the outcome was, but now I know he's okay I feel it's alright.



So, the day before yesterday!! Well, I spent the morning doing odds and ends, getting shaved, getting a book on Laos, that kind of thing. In the afternoon, however, we biked up to an ancient Hindu temple, populated by the Cham tribe - a group of people that have been there long before the unification of Vietnam, the Americans, the Japanese, the French... The Cham tribe used to stretch from India all the way to here in South Vietnam and it was when the Vietnamese civilisation (at that time populating the area from Hue up to the Chinese border) started spreading South that the Cham tribe got seperated, but there are still some left. This temple was stunning, and I went inside the main section where the walls were blackened from years upon years of incence burning, and there was a wonderfully scented smog contained in this place. I felt it wouldn't be appropriate to photograph the inside (not entirely sure it was allowed anyway, find it doubtful) but I've got some of the outdoors!

After that we were received by Vy's grandfather and her uncle on the outskirts of Nha Trang for supper. There weren't enough seats so we all sat on the floor, ate some great food which included fish that they had just caught that day. Vy's uncle then practically ordered me to sing them a song and I felt their eyes fall on me and it was actually a little intimidating. So with a bellyful of fish and beer, I stood up, explained what I was going to sing and then did the first verse of Mozart's In Diesen Heil'gen Hallen for them whilst all the time feeling myself pierced with their judging looks as I sang. But I think I acquitted myself reasonably well and we all parted friends as we rode off into the night.

Well, that's it really.. Today was just filled with chilling out after a heavy night for some, though unfortunately not for me. Lovely lunch at Vy and Jonny's and we're about to head out for some streetfood. I tell you, the streetfood is superior to a lot of the restaurants here. It's just a shame you get plastic furniture in minature sizes, but it rather adds to the charm if you're in the right mood :)

Tomorrow night I get on a bus for 36hrs and travel up to Hanoi. I'm going to be couchsurfing with a nice New Zealand couple who teach English there. So, depart Wednesday night and arrive Friday morning. Lovelyyyyyyyy. I do get four hours in Hue, though, so I might go around the citadel there. I have been, but I might see it in a different light now, and there's a phenomenal restaurant there I seem to remember!

Love to all xxxxx