Vietnam
Trip Start
Nov 03, 2008
1
14
65
Trip End
May 2009
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Thursday, November 27, 2008
The traffic is totally mental here...anything goes and the sound is deafening as cars, mopeds and buses compete for the loudest hooter. No such thing as traffic lights, round- abouts or give way signs, they exist but no one pays them any attention. Its like a dance where everything weaves around each other and pedestrians just walk in between. Its scary at first but once you get into it, it sort of makes perfect sense. I have seen amazing things being transported on bikes ...2 crates of chickens, a family of 4, 2 propane gas bottles with a big box on top and a man carrying a bundle of 6' planks of wood....not all on the same bike of course!
Had a beer at our new "local", the bars are on the pavements, imagine cafe society....then think again! Bars consist of child sized plastic chairs with little tables scattered on the pavement amongst the litter. The beer is on tap from a huge stainless steel container and appears in large tumblers with huge frothy heads. The bar we went to was posh as it had valet parking for the mopeds. I was cool about all of this until I saw how they wash up the glasses....a quick dunk in a bucket of water by the side of the tank of beer , my food hygiene gene kicked in, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I woke up ok this morning. This is just as well, as beer is cheaper than a cup of coffee ( just like China) there is something fundamentally wrong about this.There was a group of three chaps having some food and a drink or 6, then got on their mopeds....quite happy : ~ )
The people are very smiley and very welcoming ( its all the beer and the crazy driving) and they are happy to talk to you and best of all most of them don't try to sell you stuff - unlike the Chinese.
We did some of the "culture" bits today, the National History Museum and The Museum of Vietnamese Revolution....not as boring at they might sound...honest.
Other things to check out are the prison musem ( Hanoi Hilton) Temple of Literature and the produce market on Hang Bai Trung...it sells frogs and dogs....yummy.
Mac is in love
Mable Mac is very happy and so is his big friend Bri, he hasn't stopped smiling since arriving. This place is mad, but man so great. Last night one of the locals stopped Carol to shake her hand! The beer costs about 30p, Mac thinks they save the money by not washing the glasses. The history museum was full of history however the Revolution museum was a bit of a disappointment as he thought it would be all about wheels.... It was funny to see, and no insult to any Americans reading this, but a group of them just scuttled past the bits about the Vietnam war as if it didn't happen. It did, you messed up, deal with it. Us Brits do it all the time and you don't see us winging, remember we owned your country once :o)
We have met the group and we are a mixed bunch...Rich "Brokeback" and Olwen from USA, "Chocolate" from Belgium, Nick and Chantel from Oz, Jenny from the hood, Grant and Linda from NZ / Scotland.
