Hello, Motorbike!?

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam
Monday, November 3, 2008

A typical 30 seond walk down a sreet in Hanoi goes something like this........
"Hello, motorbike?"....... "Hello, you want motorbike?"....... "Hey you, motorbike?" ..... "Where you going? You want motorbike?"....... "OI! MOTORBIKE!!?

Despite this most irritating living species on planet earth, I ended up staying in Hanoi for nine nights, instead of the two I had anticipated. Initially I planned on seeing the main sights & then hot-tailing it south in search of beaches & sunshine- especialy when I turned up in the middle of the worst floods for years!!

Rain

As it happens, I just enjoyed hanging out in Hanoi & each day I thought "yeah I'll leave tomorrow!" until I decided to go to the station & book a ticket before I used my entire 30 day visa here!

Vietnam was colonised by the French for over a hundred years until a popular uprising, led by the soon to be president Ho Chi Min, kicked them out in 1945.

Flag

Soon after, Ho Chi Min & his communist party were democratically elected to power, until the Yanks decided to use Vietnam as an example to the rest of Asia as to what they do to communist countries- sound familiar?!

Weird

Yes Mum- I did go to the history museum!!

Gun

And the Vietnamese uprising museum (It was raining that a lot that day!!)

Long Tiem Bridge

This bridge was a vital supply line for the VC during the war. The Yanks bombed it constantly & the VC kept repairing it only for it to be bombed again, so the VC made the US POW's do the repairs & they stopped the bombing.

So anyway, as a result of the French occuption, Hanoi is where 1960's Russia meets 1930's France.

The Old Quarter is what you would call rustic-lly charming, is vibrant & is a fun (if not slightly treacherous)

Mayhem

place to walk around, or just sit in a cafe or bar, or even better, a Bia Hoi & watch the world go by!

The Bia Hoi's are basically local shops which have small red plastic children's seats outside. They sell local beer for 12p a glass, which can't be sniffed at & it's petty much compulsory to chat to the people around you!

Bia Hoi

Who came up with this! Carrying on with the water theme, Hanoi is famous for its water puppet shows.

Started by farmers working in paddy fields 600 years ago, it's one of Hanoi's main tourist attractions with six daily shows sold out to an audience of three hundred. The puppets are controlled by eight guys behind the bamboo house & although the story line was in Vietnamese, the whole show was pretty impressive & would definitely be a crowd pleaser in some of the quirkier fields at Glastonbury!
Improvisation! The West Lake in Hanoi is by far the largest body of water I've seen completely surrounded by city, which made it quite surreal!

Shipwreck

Improvisation

I spent a blazing hot Saturday afternoon watching this guy fishing wth a home made rod, constructed out of some bamboo, with a metal loop taped to the end & some fishing wire tied to a bit cardboard tube like you'd get on the inside of a roll of cellotape. Using a hook the size of a small boat anchor, he could cast it about a hundred yards. Then he'd attempt to catch a fish by jerking the rod round & rolling his wrist to reel in the slack- by far the best bit of improvisation I've ever seen, except he wasn't using any bait & he caught absolutely nothing!

Finally, continuing my fascintion with breaking & entering sports stadiums.........