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Published: September 28th 2008
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I woke up at 6am on my first (real) day in Hanoi, a slightly earlier start to the day than I would have liked. When I finally made it out I decided to just walk around and take in the whole environment. As I strolled down the streets I was offered everything they had, fruit to books to hat to moped rides. I noticed that many of the streets had themes. One would sell bamboo, one sunglasses, shoes, fish and so on. I later found out that the street names actually translate to the product. So obviously there is tough competition and I can imagine how annoying it could be when you want to buy a towel and then a hat... especially when you've just dropped off your moped to be fixed down mechanic lane.
I have never quite seen roads like these... 99% mopeds!! And on most of the roads there are no traffic lights but instead this is replaced with continuous flow of traffic... so the only way to cross is aggressively!! Despite this, there is good road etiquette... and the horn is used frequently and efficiently, and unlike the western world it is used to alert people
of your presence... not to say f**k you when someone can’t drive!
I met two girls from my hotel... one was a professional traveler, budget crazy and she gave me a few tips on things and recommended some places to eat. Laundry is $1.50 a kg in my hotel, cheap and convient... but this girl would go somewhere else and save a dollar... fair play... I wonder if I'll end up like that anytime soon??
I walked around Hoan Kiem Lake in the middle of town which was a little more touristy. There was a sort of small temple just of the side connected by bridge to the land (name will follow) and even though you can hear the sounds of the city it still had an essence of peace. There were decretive alters inside which where beautiful and incense was burning at around. I also accidentally strolled to the neo-gothic cathedral which want that impressive to be honest considering I still have the memory of Gaudi's cathedral in Barcelona.
Went to dinner with a couple of other girls I met in my hotel, they were just on a break in between tours... I had squid in
garlic and it was delicious, so good infact that we went there the next night to eat. The fried catfish in dill and chilli was also pretty damn good. The girls decided to go back but this was my first night out and it wasn't going to end so abruptly. Just at the end of the street there is a place called beer corner... this sounded good to me! It was in the style of the food stalls on the side of the road, small seats and cheap! Now choices, there were four corners to choose from... one didn't have a westerner there, so not that one. I ended up sitting with some America guys who have actually been living out there for a year teaching English... and doing pretty well. Not only did they have very low living costs but they were getting paid over $1000 a month for 16 hours a week. And they spoke pretty good Vietnamese.
Was just preparing for my trip to Sapa, packing bags and checking out etc. So I went to go and get some food and ended up chatting to this Vietnamese guy after I completed a survey for his university
course. This was my first real conversation with a local and he taught me lots of Vietnamese
After my trip to Sapa I went to Halong Bay, then I finally got back to Hanoi and I felt a lot more comfortable with my surroundings and the culture. I would only spend one more night here as the next day I would be departing on the sleeper bus. So it was my last night, and I needed to go to the water puppet show before I left as this was "one of the things you do" in Hanoi. I bumped into a few Aussies in my hotel and we all went together. It felt very liberating to be the only one in the group familiar with the area, knowing a few good places to eat and of course drink (beer corner). The water puppet show was good. Short and sweet but very entertaining, definitely worth a look.
So before I went off the next day I thought I needed to see a few more of the sights that I had missed in Hanoi due to my jetlag and my laziness in the humidity, and without losing any of the
humidity it rained... fitting for my last day!! But I went to the Temple of Literature, the One Pillar Pagoda, the Ho Chi Minh museum and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (although I didn't go into the museum and the Mausoleum was closed). But I felt that I had done my time here now and went back to my hotel to wait for the bus.
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Grannie
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Wonderful holiday
Sam it all sounds so exciting and so different. What a great opportunity-it must make all those months in Prezzo worthwhile. I loved all your comments and the marvellous photos. Carry on enjoying yourself