Hanoi, where's the love?

I try to keep an open mind before visiting a place for the first time and not bring preconceptions with me, but my experience in Vietnam has been so amazing up to this point that when reading and hearing people talk about Hanoi being the jewel in Vietnam's crown, I couldn't help but get a bit excited about arriving here. In addition, Hanoi has been celebrating being one thousand years old during October this year. A thousand years. Wow.

I was so impressed by the subtle (and not-so-subtle) elements of Saigon's culture, imagine what Hanoi had to offer!

Sadly though, the image I had built in my head was very different to the Hanoi I experienced over the next 2 nights. I felt very little of that genuine warmth and generosity that was so abundant in Saigon. Instead it seemed I was seen as nothing more than a source of income to be tapped by hawkers on every street corner and market stall.

It wasn't all bad though, and I did only get a very small taste of this city, so I don't want to judge the whole city by these 2 nights alone.  I had a good walk around the old quarter and there were some great photo ops along the way.

Dodgy accommodation, loud noise, bad smells, no space, seedy staff and a plague of ants through my luggage on my first night prompted me to change hotels the next day, and the next hotel (Hanoi Imperial Hotel) was excellent, although it was also far more expensive (still cheap by Aus standards).

Both my hotels were in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, a place that must be experienced to be appreciated. Although scams and rip-offs await tourists on every street corner here, it is still an amazing place to behold. The throng of humanity crammed into these tiny chaotic streets is really something, and the range of things being sold in market stalls beggars belief. Everything is available from a huge range of exotic live seafood squirming around squirting water at unsuspecting passers by in small food stalls through to marble tombstone plaques. Although tourists are everywhere, they are still vastly outnumbered by locals, with the oldies dressed traditionally and the cool kids all showing off their western bling. This is the place to be seen, and a great place for people-watching. Just don't expect many of the locals in the old quarter to show any interest in you beyond your wallet.

Location:Hanoi, Vietnam

Finally I get to ride in Vietnam

After spending the last few days in bed sick, I'm finally feeling better today.  I had to extend my stay in Hoi An by 2 nights because of my cold, and I was already a day behind schedule, so it means I won't get a chance to visit Ha Long bay when I go to Hanoi shortly.  A real shame, but gives me another good reason to come back to Vietnam sometime soon!  Like I need any more reasons to come back here?

So I hired a motorbike ($5/day) and just took off with the Google Maps cache on my phone as my only guide.  I didn't really care where I went, I just wanted to go exploring the local countryside and get some time on a bike.  Despite having *the* most uncomfortable helmet possible (it was so uncomfortable I actually took it off to check if I had it on backwards, surely it wasn't supposed to be like this?), I had a blast going through local villages, following rivers, and then following the South China Sea coast up to and past Danang and exploring a couple of cool deserted beach resorts and an old US air base that was now a driver training course.

I saw traditional fishermen setting nets beside huge riverboats converted into restaurants in the middle of *nowhere*, and a man was herding cattle down the middle of the major 4-lane highway connecting Hoi An with Danang.

I also saw a heap of western beach resorts in the process of being built, including "Norman Estates" which is a golf resort with Greg Norman's face plastered over every piece of advertising.  It's great to see the local economy booming like this, but it's sad to see that the development is the same generic boring western-style housing that is so at odds with the local character and shows no imagination.  Soon the whole world will be the same.  Boring.

Riding on the "wrong" side of the road isn't really a problem in Vietnam; it's not like people stick to any particular side of the road anyway, or give way when turning in either direction, or stop for lights, or follow any rules it seems.  Forget giving way, indicators, lights, brakes, head-checks.  The only control I needed to master was the horn.  The one thing I still do occassionally is try to get into the driver's seat of taxis! haha..

On the way back to my hotel I found a gorgeous little restaurant just outside Hoi An that was built over the river.  I originally stopped to grab a photo and a cold drink, but ended up staying for a sensational 7-course dinner of local dishes which broke the bank at $7.50.

The Doctors and Tailors of Hoi An

So I wake up the next day (Sunday) feeling terrible with a full-blown cold. Rats.

Oh well, if I'm going to be stuck somewhere unable to get out and do much, Hoi An is one of the better places to be.  The ancient town is a small, quiet, beautiful place.  Sitting at a coffee shop having a drink, watching the world go by and blowing my nose is still more fun than being healthy in Australia.

There was a shop across the road that had a little "pharmacy" sign on it, and I tried my best to ask for something to dry up my nose and soothe my throat, but the language barrier prevented me from being so specific.  What the lady did end up giving me was "Siang Pure Oil", some kind of miracle oil that supposedly cures 5 different ailments - including farting!

It's an oil with a menthol and peppermint base and a bunch of herbs.. and it basically seems to work along similar lines to Deep Heat or Vicks Vaporub in Australia.  Either way, it did actually help!  The smell cleared my nose and head, and the oil really soothed my nose too.  Seems to be great stuff, and the packaging is fantastic.

The only thing I did have to do on Sunday was go back to Tailor Tam's and a nearby shoe shop for a fitting of my new clothes and shoes.  I managed to drag myself out of bed and got down there at about 5pm.

Tam was there, cheerful as ever, and she handed me a bunch of shirts and a suit to try on.  They fit amazingly well.  Great job.

But as I was trying them on, Tam looked at me and said I looked sick.. she then sees that I have a cold sweat and before I could protest she had picked up the phone and called a doctor.  Right she says, doctor will see you in 10 minutes.  Follow me.

So I walk out the front and she's nowhere to be seen.  20 seconds later she pulls up beside me on her motorbike.  And whether I like it or not, I'm going to the doctor!  So I jump on the back of the bike for another little impromtu ride through Hoi An.

Sure enough, 10 minutes later I was in the doctor's office being seen to by no less than the head of medicine at the local hospital.  And sure enough the diagnosis was a common cold.  The doctor gave me a bunch of drugs to treat the symptoms, thoroughly checked out a bunch of other things, then sent me on my way.  Total cost $25 (which included 3 lots of drugs), and took no longer than 10 minutes from picking up the phone to speaking with the doctor.  It might be a slightly ad-hoc health system, but it was certainly effective and efficient, and the doctor totally competent.

And through all this Tam was still waiting for me!  She's a legend!  But by now it was getting too late to finish trying on the clothes, so she went back to close up her shop and I went in search of some dinner.

So I went down to the waterfront with my camera to take some nice photos and find a restaurant to eat in.  And who should I stumble across, but my Polish friends Marta and Ulrick!

We chat a bit more and then decide to go and grab a meal together, and so spend a couple of hours at a restauruant overlooking the river discussing all kinds of things before I head back to my hotel to sleep.

Arrived in Hoi An

The overnight train from Saigon pulled into Danang around lunchtime on 30th Oct and as we disembarked I noticed there were two other westerners in the same rail carriage as me who I hadn't seen during the trip from Saigon.

A few minutes later I was out the front of the train station negotiating with a taxi driver to take me the 30km to Hoi An, and the same western couple approached me and mentioned to me that they were also going to Hoi An and we could all share a taxi.  Good idea.  So we all jumped in and away we went.

We had a good chat during the 45-60 minutes it took to travel to Hoi An.  Their names were Marta and Ulrick and they were a young married Polish couple travelling on holiday through Cambodia and Vietnam for a few weeks before returning to Poland.

Then, randomly the taxi driver pulled over and a local lady waiting at the side of the road asked if she could also get in the taxi.  We were all a bit puzzled about this, and it turned out the lady was the Taxi driver's sister who also needed a lift into Hoi An.  Eventually she jumped in and away we all went again.  Her name was Tam and she worked at one of the many tailor shops in Hoi An.  She was very friendly and outgoing. Quite a character.  She made sure we had the address of her shop, and I wanted some clothes made for me in Hoi An so I thought I might as well check her shop out among others.

The taxi dropped off my new aquaintences and then finally dropped me at my hotel.  I settled in, had some food and a bit of rest and a few hours later decided to go for a walk through the old part of town.

After wandering around this beautiful town for a while, a motorbike whizzed past me and then came to a screaming stop.  The passenger on the back of the bike jumped off and came running towards me waving.  When she got close enough I could hear her ask "Hello! You remember me??" and my first instinct was to assume she had either made a mistake or this was some elaborate scam.

But when she took her helmet off I *did* recognise her!  It was Tam the taxi driver's sister!  She said she was on her way to her shop now and asked if I wanted to take a look at her clothes.  I was heading in the direction of the markets anyway, so I said ok.  She promptly walked out into the road and stopped the first motorbike that came by (it didn't seem to matter much to her who it was), told me to jump on the back of that bike, told the rider to follow her, and then sped off!  So off we went too.  It seems not many people say no to Tam, she's just that kind of lady.

Overnight train - Saigon to Danang

I caught the overnight train from Saigon to Danang in order to spend some time in Hoi An, a town located on the Vietnam coast about mid-way between Saigon in the south and Hanoi in the north. Danang was where the first US forces landed in Vietnam during the war, and the 30-odd Km coastline between Danang and Hoi An is famously known as China Beach.

This is to be the first of many overnight train rides on my travels, so I was keen to Suss things out a bit to prepare for some of the other legs.

I took a berth in a soft sleeper cabin, which features 4 beds to a cabin. In theory this means sharing with 3 other people, but in reality there were 6 of us who slept in that cabin, and it was very stuffy in the heat with non-functional air conditioning.

I was sharing with a man, three ladies and a baby, and none of them could speak a word of English (and I speak no Vietnamese). Apart for the occasional miming game to try to communicate thing such as the location of the food trolly, and plenty of polite smiles and nods and the odd photo shared along the way, I had most of time to myself. And to be honest I really enjoyed it. Two of the ladies chatted constantly throughout the entire trip which didn't bother me, and the mother doted over her baby (who seemed amazingly placid and happy). The man pretty much kept to himself.

I wandered up and down the train a bit and met a few friendly people but sadly the communication barrier was too great to go much beyond sign language. Nevermind, it was still a fascinating ride and reassuring that I won't be driven crazy during the longer stretches of my trans-siberian trip later on.

Last day in Saigon

Well today was my last day in Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon. What an amazing place it turned out to be. I couldn't imagine I would have gotten so much from it. Thanks Uncle Ho!
I'm not sure how much of my experience was due to the city itself and more importantly its people, and how much was due to my own state of mind when I arrived.

Because of all the preparation and goings-on of things in my own life back in Australia prior to me leaving, I definitely arrived here ready to immerse myself in something new, and that attitude combined with the flexibility of traveling alone with no set itinerary enabled me to be totally spontaneous. Vietnam has exceeded every expectation so far, and I'm also learning a lot about how to travel in a way that suits me better as well.

As far as today went, I went for another final exploration around the city on foot and this time stumbled on the main tourist drag. Wow... I had wondered why I'd seen so few tourists so far and now I know where they all were. It was chaos, and much of the authenticity and charm of Saigon was stripped back to pure commercialism and competition for the tourist dollar. Sadly this is the way of the world, and I better get used to it because I'll be banging up against it time and time again on my travels. But it did make the rest of my stay in Saigon where I managed to avoid places like that all the more special.

Location:Vietnam

The Future of Saigon

After all the excitement of the last few days, not to mention the frantic packing and preparation before I left Perth, I was ready for a rest day today.

So I just hung around the hotel catching up on some things like processing some photos and sorting out some of the logistics for other parts of my trip.  It was today that I actually created this blog (and then created back-entries for the last few days).

I didn't leave my hotel until after dark and decided to have a wander around the city and explore a bit before eating.

During my wandering I stumbled across a park that was full of young people and families playing games and dancing.  It looked interesting so I went over and grabbed a few photos and video of the games they were playing and some of the dance routines (think "Australia's Got Talent" dancing, not traditional dancing).

I was soon approached by a couple of people who were curious to say hello to the foreigner, and then a young guy came up to me and asked most politely if I would mind coming over and sitting down to have a short discussion with him.  I had nowhere to be, so I said ok.  A few minutes later a small crowd of about 8-10 people had gathered and it had turned into some kind of impromtu Q&A about Australia.

It seems most of the people there were students in their late teens or early twenties, and were not only curious about Australia but very keen to practice their English.  There were about 5 that stayed around and we ended up chatting for about 2 hours before I really had to go eat before all the restaurants closed.

These students were intelligent, articulate, polite, friendly, funny, and very astute.  They were asking me difficult questions about complex issues in Australia, such as the exploring the subtleties of aboriginal issues, and immigration laws and how they relate to international relations.  Although I did most of the talking it seems, I really feel that through observation I learned far more about them than they did about me.

Before meeting these students I had already sensed a real air of optimism in Saigon, but here I was meeting the up-and-coming future of Vietnam, and I have to say their future is looking extremely bright!  You couldn't hope for a better group of ambassadors.

All I could think about afterwards was that back in Australia, a similar group of people of that age would be spending the same Thursday evening skanking around Carousel or getting chased by security guards for graffitiing somewhere, or doing something equally anti-social.  You would *never* think to approach a mob of 20-somethings in Australia that are hanging around a park at night if you were alone.

PS: Yen, if you read this then please send me an email so I can send you the photos of you and your friends.

 

The Mekong Delta

I got picked up at 8am this morning by Tan (my motorbike rider from last night).  I jumped on the back of his 100cc Honda Dream and we took off for the Mekong Delta... about 2.5 hours ride away from Saigon.

Apart from getting a very numb bum along the way, it was a great ride.  Lovely to get out of the city, although we were never really out of industrialised areas for the entire 150km or so.  But it was still very interesting.  We stopped for a drink at a little cafe along the way, and it seems pretty standard to offer a heap of hammocks rather than seats to rest in. Great idea for taking a nap in.

We eventually arrived at My Tho where Tan and a river tour operator arranged a private tour of that part of the Mekong Delta.

Over the next 5 hours or so we cruised up and down and visited four islands in the Mekong delta and I learned about some of the local industry and lifestyle.  We rowed down some beautiful canals on two of the islands and had a lovely lunch at a restaurant on one, including the biggest prawns I've ever seen.  I handled a python and was offered a live cobra for lunch (they cut the head off in front of you, then you drink some cobra blood with vodka and they cook the snake for you for lunch).  I went for the massive prawns and an elephant ear fish which was cooked and then made into spring rolls for me.  Delicious!

After the river tour, Tan and I jumped on the bike to head back to Saigon.  Unfortunately with about an hour to go, the heavens opened up into a torrential storm for the rest of the journey.  I think Tan must have thought I was crazy because the rain didn't really bother me much, although it was heavy enough for the raindrops to be painful when they hit you in the face.

By the time we got back to my hotel I was a pro bike passenger, super nochalont, no-hands like the locals and not squealing like a little girl when trucks sped past few inches from my head with horns blaring.