Hanoi, Vietnam. Holy cow batman...I did not expect this. I will certainly not be able to adequately describe Hanoi but will try. In a very broad sense, think intensity of Manhattan and multiply it by 10. Hanoi proper is tiny, but is overrun by (literally) a sea of motorbikes. Generally speaking, there are no crosswalks or stoplights. Pedestrians just have to walk out into traffic and hope that the motorbikes (and taxis, bicycles, and cyclos) are able to avoid them. Seeing a family of four on a motorbike (what we would call a "scooter" in the US) is not uncommon. People ride with their toddlers, infants, chickens, large packages strapped to the back (or front), and we have even seen a dog standing on the floor of the motorbike with its paws on the handles while its owner drove. No joke. There are so many motorbikes here and so little room that people park their motorbikes on the sidewalks, which means the pedestrians have to walk in the streets, right next to the traffic. It's pretty scary at times.
Capitalism is alive and well in Vietnam (although the people here have zero political freedom - it is a one-party government and apparently it's NOT okay to disagree with the Communist Party). Whenever we walk outside, we are mobbed by men trying to offer us motorbike rides, women with the traditional thatch "rice patty" hats on (for lack of a better descriptor) trying to forcefully sell us fruit, and cyclo drivers peddling -- and pedaling -- their rides. Cyclos are bicycle-driven, two person (equal to one westerner - we are a lot bigger than the people here!!!!) transporters with bicycle in back and seat in front, and are pretty fun to ride in if you are not in a hurry and want to slow things down a bit.
Our first full day here we SHOPPED. PERIOD. You can buy silk and other garments here for a tiny fraction of the price you pay in the US. Even with the dollar having shat the bed. We had a marathon shopping day, and even booked our flight to Hue in Central Vietnam.
Our second and third days in Vietnam we were on a trip to Halong Bay, three and a half hours Northeast of Hanoi. I'm going to have to let the pictures speak for this one as well, but some call this bay "The Eighth Wonder of the World". There are some 16,000 islands in the bay, all of which are limestone karst and covered in lush vegetation. We cruised for the first afternoon on a junk outfitted with a pretty nice dining level and awesome deck above. We then kayaked for an hour or so through some limestone caverns and into a secluded pool in the middle of one of the islands. It was great to get out onto the water.
We then stayed at a private island, which consisted of six thatch and bamboo huts and a great open-air bamboo dining/billiards/bar area. We felt like we were REALLY spoiling ourselves!! The group on the island was a ton of fun, which was nice, because we haven't yet bonded with a ton of fellow travelers along the way. One of the guys was hysterical - an aussie and one of the biggest queens I have ever met - he and his crew were SOOO much fun to be around.
We left the island this morning and landed on Cat Ba Island for a 20 km mountain bike expedition and a visit to a cave that was used by the Vietnamese as a military hospital during what they call "The American War", which makes complete sense but takes you aback the first time you hear it. The cave was pretty haunting, although very impressive, and the bike ride was a great workout (couple big hills), and an awesome way to see the interior of one of the Halong Bay islands.
Having not had hot water for several days now after a malfunction at our last Hanoi hotel, we're pretty excited for hot showers and a good night's sleep tonight. Tomorrow we head to the Temple of Literature (a Confucian temple and museum), more shopping, our second trip to the Hanoi International Post office to send boxes of silk and gifts home in the hopes that they actually arrive, and an evening flight to Hue, Vietnam. Hue should be more my pace (read: little bit more laid back), although I can appreciate the energy and vivaciousness of Hanoi for sure...just preferably in small doses I think.
We've also seen a lot of things here (and in Asia generally) that are sort of shocking (at least to us) and sometimes just a bit amusing. I'll just rattle them off in a mini montage and let people make their own judgments...mothers holding their babies over the curb so they can crap/pee into the gutter of the street in the middle of the city here in Hanoi (stuff just sort of runs down the gutters here and you don't want to step in it)...the most disgusting bathroom I ever hope to see (and I had to use it), consisting of basically a hole in the ground but with god-knows-what all over the floors and walls, to the point that when I started to squat down, my feet were slipping on the slime on the ground...people dumping trash out of car windows, off of boats into the ocean, on the street with complete disregard to their environment...huge amounts of trash on the sides of the highways...thatch baskets of raw beef and chicken sitting on the sidewalk in ninety degree broad daylight where anyone could kick dirt onto or even step on the meat...people abusing animals, especially dogs and cats (this we have seen a LOT - it seems to be the norm here and is pretty disturbing)...neglect of domesticated animals and tons of strays (this we see on a daily basis)...lots of UFOs in our food...lots of identified foreign objects in our food, including bugs, hair, you name it...men in their tighty whities (usually dark colored) paddling boats down rivers...the craziest drivers (and pedestrians) I have EVER seen...families of four on scooters...old creepy men who grope us -- usually just a squeeze of the arm or something, but still gross nonetheless...scooter accidents...a man lying face down in the street in front of a cab, with cab driver no where to be seen and no one doing anything about it (at least as far as we could tell)...
I try not to pass judgment on some of these things, figuring that cultural differences will inevitably exist and frankly, who am I to judge? I am sure people see a lot of shocking things (to them) when they come to the US, just as I have here. But others of the above things I have a harder time with. My philosophy has been to just take it all in and go on my merry way...again, who am I to judge, and it would be pretty naive of me to think I know the whole story behind every situation here. Next entry I'll do a montage of some of the really spectacular things we've seen (which are definitely great in number, so don't let the "shocking stuff" list get you down...
I'll post from Hue - it's Kathryn's birthday on April 22 so we should have a blast!!!
More thumbnails ...
Hanoi Hotels
