Hanoi
Hanoi is to HCMC what the New Orleans French Quarter is to downtown L.A. I'm not sure if any of the streets were really cobblestone, but it has that feel to it, as you wind your way around, inevitably getting lost. Since I spent all my money in Hoi An, I could only window shop , and I can say for sure that I could return to Vietnam just to go shopping. While in Hanoi I made the obligatory visit to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, quite an odd experience really. To see Uncle Ho's waxy corpse you must check all your bags, go through a metal detector and, of course, remove your gun. You file through, single-file in a cool, dark chamber where his face is lit a bit creepily. At each corner of the glassed tomb there are impeccably dressed guards, their eyes darting, on the lookout for suspicious behavior. The most interesting part is watching the Vietnamese view him, bowing solemnly in front of him with the utmost respect. Tuyet assures me that these are not just North Vietnamese but southerners as well.
Despite the obvious communist thread, I mean rope, running through the country, you can't miss the bright and cheesy propaganda posters everywhere, there are serious capitalist desires and movements underway. In fact, while I was in Hanoi so was Bill Gates, speaking at the university where thousands of students waited hours to see him! One even said, "He is my idol." That sure says something. It is very evident that Vietnam has made quite a bit of progress recently, the result of the government loosening it's economic grip in a program called Doi Moi. "Economic progress, but not political progress," I was reminded by a Vietnamese who escaped the South to Australia in 1980, one of the 'boat people.' His father was a member of the South Vietnamese government who spent 10 years in a "re-education camp." He told me there are still political prisoners in Vietnam, which I didn't know. It's often hard to get below the surface while you are travelling.
I met this Australian on a two-day boat trip to Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. He was joined by about 14 other Sydney cops on a 'study tour' to Vietnam. They thought they had chartered their own boat, but the amazing disorganization of the tour providers, placed me and a Slovenian on board. No doubt these Australians lived up to their reputation of partying hard and settling for nothing short of a good time. They had all bought wigs in Saigon and by the end of the night at least one guy was wearing a bikini (see attached photos). The mood was infectious on the party boat and the Vietnamese who worked the boat, and probably didn't see this too often, joined in. There was nothing "cultural" about this tour, but it was one of the funnest nights of my trip. Oh yeah, and Halong Bay is sublimely beautiful.
For photos, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39463330@N00/sets/72057594113822959/
I've now left Southeast Asia and here are my general thoughts about Vietnam in particular, and Southeast Asia in general.
Vietnam
1.) When the majority of people speak the Vietnamese language, more than the other countries, they always sound angry. The decibel level is always really high. I noticed an interesting difference when I watched one of the Australians, who was very fluent in English, shift from English to Vietnamese. His eyebrows would furrow and his voice would go up several decibels.
2.) Because I really couldn't remember or understand exactly how the American government landed us in the Vietnam War in the first place, I read In Retrospect by Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense at the time for both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Very interested lessons learned book. Maybe I should send W a copy.
Southeast Asia
1.) First and foremost, there's one huge problem with Southeast Asia and it's really offensive. Yankees hats outnumber Red Sox hats at least 25 to 1. And it's not even Americans wearing the wrong hats; it's Europeans, Asians. Everyone. Somebody please contact the marketing department at Fenway Park so they can do something about this!
2.) Honking. In cities, honking is a constant. Just a part of the background noise, day and night, and you almost don't notice it. In the countryside when you're on a bus, honking is a substitute for brakes. Every bus comes barrelling into a village and doesn't slow down in the slightest, but blares on the horn until out of the village. It is every person's (and animal's) responsibility to get the hell out of the way. Oddly enough, while one bus I was on just missed a toddler by millimeters, I never saw anyone or anything get hit.
3.) Everyone complains about walking in the big cities. Too many motorbikes, people are crazy, they complain. I loved it. Pedestrians always seem to have the right-of-way. There may be a million motorbikes zooming at you, but all you have to do is step into the madness and walk slowly across. Nobody hits you!!! It's a Boston jay-walkers dream. Now that I'm in China you have to wait forever to cross the streets and you get the sense that they will definitely hit you - no good.
4.) You really miss a lot in Southeast Asia if you don't speak the local languages. You really just can't communicate with that many people. Don't get me wrong, you don't need a phrasebook to get around and everyone in the tourist industry speaks enough English to get by. But, you really just can't communicate with that many ordinary local people. So, I've learned as much about current politics in Germany, soccer teams in England, and immigration trouble in Switzerland as I have about any country I've visited. I've found the best addition to travelling has been books. In Vietnam and Cambodia in particular you are always hounded by touts who want to sell you books - they are all copies, but they are cheap. Sometimes this is a hassle and sometimes it's great.
5.) Southeast Asia is very easy for travelling and very safe. I heard some people say areas in Phnom Penh were unsafe, but I guess I didn't make it to those places. I never felt threatened or in any danger. The most dangerous aspect of travelling here is probably some of the buses. I did have one interesting experience in Kampot, Cambodia though. I got nailed with a water balloon at night while I was walking with two guys. I shouted out, "You Bastard!" not that he spoke English. But I wasn't sure how to interpret that.
6.) While I was sitting in a restaurant on the waterfront in Hoi An a man wobbled in on mangled legs. He was hawking newspapers and I've become so programmed to rebuff sales offers that I practically walk down the street shaking my head. However, the man left without hounding me and after a second I realized that this man's mangled legs could only be from Napalm or some other chemical weapons my country dropped on him. You can't help miss these people in Vietnam. By the time I ran out to find him to buy a newspaper he was gone, disappearing quickly.
Despite the obvious communist thread, I mean rope, running through the country, you can't miss the bright and cheesy propaganda posters everywhere, there are serious capitalist desires and movements underway. In fact, while I was in Hanoi so was Bill Gates, speaking at the university where thousands of students waited hours to see him! One even said, "He is my idol." That sure says something. It is very evident that Vietnam has made quite a bit of progress recently, the result of the government loosening it's economic grip in a program called Doi Moi. "Economic progress, but not political progress," I was reminded by a Vietnamese who escaped the South to Australia in 1980, one of the 'boat people.' His father was a member of the South Vietnamese government who spent 10 years in a "re-education camp." He told me there are still political prisoners in Vietnam, which I didn't know. It's often hard to get below the surface while you are travelling.
I met this Australian on a two-day boat trip to Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. He was joined by about 14 other Sydney cops on a 'study tour' to Vietnam. They thought they had chartered their own boat, but the amazing disorganization of the tour providers, placed me and a Slovenian on board. No doubt these Australians lived up to their reputation of partying hard and settling for nothing short of a good time. They had all bought wigs in Saigon and by the end of the night at least one guy was wearing a bikini (see attached photos). The mood was infectious on the party boat and the Vietnamese who worked the boat, and probably didn't see this too often, joined in. There was nothing "cultural" about this tour, but it was one of the funnest nights of my trip. Oh yeah, and Halong Bay is sublimely beautiful.
For photos, click here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39463330@N00/sets/72057594113822959/
I've now left Southeast Asia and here are my general thoughts about Vietnam in particular, and Southeast Asia in general.
Vietnam
1.) When the majority of people speak the Vietnamese language, more than the other countries, they always sound angry. The decibel level is always really high. I noticed an interesting difference when I watched one of the Australians, who was very fluent in English, shift from English to Vietnamese. His eyebrows would furrow and his voice would go up several decibels.
2.) Because I really couldn't remember or understand exactly how the American government landed us in the Vietnam War in the first place, I read In Retrospect by Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense at the time for both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Very interested lessons learned book. Maybe I should send W a copy.
Southeast Asia
1.) First and foremost, there's one huge problem with Southeast Asia and it's really offensive. Yankees hats outnumber Red Sox hats at least 25 to 1. And it's not even Americans wearing the wrong hats; it's Europeans, Asians. Everyone. Somebody please contact the marketing department at Fenway Park so they can do something about this!
2.) Honking. In cities, honking is a constant. Just a part of the background noise, day and night, and you almost don't notice it. In the countryside when you're on a bus, honking is a substitute for brakes. Every bus comes barrelling into a village and doesn't slow down in the slightest, but blares on the horn until out of the village. It is every person's (and animal's) responsibility to get the hell out of the way. Oddly enough, while one bus I was on just missed a toddler by millimeters, I never saw anyone or anything get hit.
3.) Everyone complains about walking in the big cities. Too many motorbikes, people are crazy, they complain. I loved it. Pedestrians always seem to have the right-of-way. There may be a million motorbikes zooming at you, but all you have to do is step into the madness and walk slowly across. Nobody hits you!!! It's a Boston jay-walkers dream. Now that I'm in China you have to wait forever to cross the streets and you get the sense that they will definitely hit you - no good.
4.) You really miss a lot in Southeast Asia if you don't speak the local languages. You really just can't communicate with that many people. Don't get me wrong, you don't need a phrasebook to get around and everyone in the tourist industry speaks enough English to get by. But, you really just can't communicate with that many ordinary local people. So, I've learned as much about current politics in Germany, soccer teams in England, and immigration trouble in Switzerland as I have about any country I've visited. I've found the best addition to travelling has been books. In Vietnam and Cambodia in particular you are always hounded by touts who want to sell you books - they are all copies, but they are cheap. Sometimes this is a hassle and sometimes it's great.
5.) Southeast Asia is very easy for travelling and very safe. I heard some people say areas in Phnom Penh were unsafe, but I guess I didn't make it to those places. I never felt threatened or in any danger. The most dangerous aspect of travelling here is probably some of the buses. I did have one interesting experience in Kampot, Cambodia though. I got nailed with a water balloon at night while I was walking with two guys. I shouted out, "You Bastard!" not that he spoke English. But I wasn't sure how to interpret that.
6.) While I was sitting in a restaurant on the waterfront in Hoi An a man wobbled in on mangled legs. He was hawking newspapers and I've become so programmed to rebuff sales offers that I practically walk down the street shaking my head. However, the man left without hounding me and after a second I realized that this man's mangled legs could only be from Napalm or some other chemical weapons my country dropped on him. You can't help miss these people in Vietnam. By the time I ran out to find him to buy a newspaper he was gone, disappearing quickly.
posted by Deb Shea | 2:01 PM
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