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Published: April 11th 2007
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9th Entry....Yet again another propeller driven flight with the lovely Laos Airlines Mob saw us quickly (60mins) be transported from the quiet river-side town of Luang Prabang in Laos to the bustling North Vietnamese city of Hanoi. We just love the changes and the contrasts, each place is a little bit same-same (ie still S.E. Asia) but at the same time a little bit different (different ethnic mix, histories, invaded by different nations at different times, geography, governments, available funds for development etc.. etc.)
Hanoi (as is the case of other places that we have visited), displays some of the history of the country in it's architecture, some dietary habits, religious/belief systems, arts & crafts etc. The ornate French buildings with aging window shutters and inviting balconies stand side by side with the imposing, cold, sharp, grey concrete and minimalist (intentially so) Starlinist structures and both are found standing opposite the more geographically/climatically relevent Chinese, Viet and Thai designed buildings. To find a hotel we got the airport minibus to drop us off near the Hanoi backpackers hostel which is just one street away from a very large and very beautiful French built Christian cathedral (we wont mention the
fact that the church was built on a site upon where there once stood a Buddhist temple...until the French ordered it to be knocked down that is). I found a hotel with very clean, tidy and moderately priced rooms just a few doors up from the backpackers. We secured a room on the top floor of this hotel which included a balcony that fostered day-dreaming whilst looking over the Hanoi roof tops. This is a very pleasant experience after you have been out on the streets dodging the thousands of vehicles (per square metre) and being asked: - do you want coconut, taxi, newspaper, tour to Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island, moto-cycle ride, eat in my restaurant, buy baguette sir/madame, T-shirt, pineapple, cigarette, hotel room, bottle of water, shoulder bag, shoes, and anything else that a person could possibly: - need, like, consume, enjoy, read or even think about for the rest of their lives........this all happens in a distance of about 100 metres and guess what, the next 100 metres it happens all over again, and the next, and the next and the next. Best way to handle it, because it will get to you if you
Just to keep us going till dinner
I forget the name of these, they are peeled root vegetables, a bit like apple. let it, is to just press the "smile and no-thank-you" button when you leave the hotel (located on the back of the neck of most visiting foreigners) and then you are able to turn it off when returning to your room. Otherwise it can be a hassle if you let it... the button works for us but there would be other ways such as: - continuous mantra chanting, ear plugs, very loud and continous signing of happy songs, dwelling on thoughts of peace/love/and happiness, denial (an oldy but a goodie) accompanied by statements such as "this is not happening" and "it will stop soon, it's alright". Funny thing is, having lived in Asia for a long time previously I don't mind it and when you adjust to it, and then return to the quiet streets of say Brisbane, it all seems a bit low key and you actually miss the stimulation. The flip side of this invasion into your space is that if you want something, anything at all, it only takes a billionth of a second to get access to any or all of these commodities and services.
It didn't take long before we booked onto the Ha
Banh Goi for lunch
My favourite lunch stall - fried pastry filled with vermicelli, pork, mushrooms, with a thin sweet sauce. Yum. Long Bay cruise (as you do). We decided to first spend 3 days in Ha Noi and then head off on the harbour trip before continuing down the coast road (rail line) to Hoi An. It worked out that we spent an extra day in Hanoi due to the overnight trains ("soft-sleepers") being booked out on the day we wanted. No worries as we utilised the extra time doing such things as going to the Hanoi Opera house for a dance/musical performance, walks around the city lake, more observing of temples and architecture and generally trying to get a feel of the pulse of the city and its people. We quite enjoyed Hanoi whilst noting that it did not feel quite as "open" or in touch with the outside world as Saigon. Having said that I don't mean that I want everywhere (or anywhere for that matter) modernised if the inhabitants don't want their lives to be that way, I certainly wouldn't want their lives to be Westernised. I guess I am just talking about a frame of mind, an awareness of other possibilities, even for other people, in other countries. I suppose that the people of North Vietnam will
become more open minded in the fullness of time. Hold on, are we, the people of the West open-minded......mmmmm. Does having access to the BBC and CNN and other world news media (which eg. Cambodia does, and Vietnam doesn't) facilitate the opening of ones mind? (Ahhhh.....I am not sure what I am trying to say....just trying to express what a felt at the time). I did note that in Saigon lots of ex-pats and some locals read the Bangkok Post.
Anyhow, Aly will be adding some more words to this blog including stuff about Ha Long Bay, the Water Puppet show and her Vietnamese cooking class.....all of that pork, rice noodles, fish sauce ,lemon grass and our wok in Australia wont known what hit them when she gets home.
(Aly) Well I'm not sure about that but it was fun to be task-oriented and concentrating on the chopping board and the dipping sauces for a few hours.
But to other things. Cultural delights in Hanoi included going to the Ballet at the Hanoi Opera House - the Vietnam Ballet Company isn't world class exactly but they did a very good job. The second half of the program was
Old Hanoi cooking class
Fried spring roll with crab, grilled spiced fish, Rice with spicy veg, sweet potato and ginger dessert. Naturally. still western classical ballet (Stravinsky) but with an Asian influence, it was brave choreography that worked very well.
Water puppets - a traditional show thats really only put on for tourists these days. But so cute, these little wooden pupppets splashing around in the water telling their tales of naughty water buffalo and mischievous fish in the river. We loved it.
Next entry Hoi An
Laters Aly and Trev xxx
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