Hanoi
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2003
1
14
24
Trip End
Jun 10, 2003
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Friday, May 30, 2003
Up at 7am for the short bus ride to the next bay and the Pier. Ran into the Welshies, who had got back to their room and flaked.... The boat trip back was absolutely magic, sneaking through the islands and taking happy snaps. Most of the others were hungover - not this little black duck, who stopped early. We stopped off for a swim, jumping off the boat into waters cooler than the other day, and much more pleasant.
We arrived back in Halong City in time for a huge monsoonal storm, so the now traditional 11.30am tour lunch went longer than anticipated. Then it was back on the bus for the snoozy ride back to Hanoi. The English girls had their hotel lined up, and had stitched up the deal of the century - AUD$7.50 for a brilliant room with 'modern' antique Vietnamese furniture, air con and all the trimmings. They got us the same deal, though Adam and I didn't share a room (with each other I mean), as we felt a little embarrassed to be paying that low. How do they make a profit....
On the way to dinner we walked down Hanoi's Gravestone Street. As with most handcrafted merchandise shops they have samples out the front, with engravings, dates and a picture of the dead person. One shop's sample was a classic - a gravestone for a Vietnamese named person, with the photo being of Britney Spears. Britney's dead.
Also on the way to dinner, I spotted a begger crawling across the road. We'd just had a big storm, so he was crawling through mud and puddles, with deformed legs. For a socialist country, Vietnam does have a huge gap between the poor and the not so poor.
Off to an AUD$2.40 Vietnamese banquet restuarant and an early finish after meeting up with a couple of local male friends that the girls had made. I'm off to Hue tomorrow. Adam is off to Laos tomorrow. Two of the girls are off to Sapa on motorbikes with the two local friends as guides (god help them on motorbikes with locals!) and the other two are staying at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi as a family friend is the Australian Ambassador. Your taxes at work people - paying for Poms to stay in our buildings and eat our Vegemite sandwiches.
