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Published: October 16th 2009
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Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam with approx 5 million inhabitants, the same population as the whole of Ireland, was where we spent 3 days. 5 million is a lot of people, and to me is feels like they all have motorbikes! As that is my lasting impression of Hanoi, motorbikes. From the moment you wake up in the morning all you can hear is the constant beeeeeeping, all day long. I think the city is made for bikes and not people, really. There are two story motorbike parks, all the streets have ramps so you can push your bike on the footpath, some buildings even have ramps so you can bring your motorbike inside. I don’t even know why they have footpaths at all, cos there not for feet, they are for wheels. Walking along in Hanoi you spend more time on the road than the path, because after a while of walking on the path you realise there are too many obstacles in your way, usually parked motorbikes or an open air eatry. They even have motorbike attendants on the footpaths to mind your bike while you go into a shop or business. Now when it comes to rules of
the road for motorbikes, well as far as I’m concerned there is only one, they have to wear a helmet. Apart from a helmet they have free reign of the roads, streets, paths, traffic lights. It’s like the place is a massive lake and they can go in any direction or way they so choose, they literally will go ‘as the crow flies’ route to their destination. Be it through pedestrian alley ways, through red traffic lights, against the traffic, on footpaths, you name it they will ride through it or on it or over it. So here’s a question, it’s raining, you’re on your motorbike, your poncho is under your seat. Do you a) pull over safely to the side of the road and take it out or b) stop in the middle of the road with all the billions of other traffic and get your poncho out. Well you’d think the safe answer you be a, but remember this is crazy Hanoi here, so of course the answer here is gonna be b. This Q& A is actually based on something I witnessed.
Now, to crossing the road. At home when I was a young one, my
parents thought me the safe cross code, you know the one that has a song to go with it ...
remember one, look for a safe place
two dont hurry, stop and wait,
three look all around and listen
before you cross the road
four let all the traffic pass you
five keep walking straight across now
six thats the safe cross code!!!!!
Well here in Vietnam I have to erase all I ever learnt as a child, cos otherwise I would never be able to cross the road in Hanoi, because it NEVER stops moving. I quickly had to learn, under the instruction of Matt, our wise guide, when it comes to crossing the road just walk. It’s almost best not to look in either direction, you just have to go. However do not run and do not stop, walking at a normal pace will get you across safely and you can just let all the other traffic skilfully move around you. Sounds scary ? it actually gets easier. Although I don’t know how confidant I’ll be when it comes to Saigon, there’s twice as much traffic there !!
Well believe it or not I did
actually do more than cross roads and see motorbikes, I went sightseeing. We had a guided tour of the Temple of Literature, Vietnams first University that was founded in 1076 ! Although due to the French bombings in 1947, none of the original buildings remained. We also visited the house where the former famous President Ho Chi Minh use to live. This was a beautiful simple wooden summer house overlooking small lake, it was beside a big grand masion that the French had build. I also had a chance to visit the prison Maison Centrale. Unfortunately most of the prison was knocked down to make way for a massive shopping/apartment complex. The site that reminds is now home to a museum. Walking through, I couldn’t help but notice the difference in treatment between the American pilots that served time there and the Vietnamese that served time. There were photos of the Americans having a lavious full spread Christmas dinner, playing basketball and enjoying a game of pool. While in the other room were description and photos of the Vietnamese who were given barely any water to drink, had a communal bath to wash and were chained up for most of
the time. Injustice ??? In the evening we were treated to another form of history telling on a much lighter note, this time through the art of puppetry, water puppetry. It was a very amusing seeing the foot tall puppets move and splash their way about in the water. There was pleasant traditional music that accompanied the show.
When it comes to me writing up my daily blog, it would be wrong not to talk about food in it. At the end of the day I do eat three times a day, so its natural i have to talk about it. As a group, we went to one restaurant that I know will stick in my mind for a long time, it’s name is KOTO (know one, teach one). KOTO was set up 10 years ago by a former Intrepid guide with the view of educating the street kids. It now has an extensive 24month training programme for street kids aged 16-22 years , accommodating them and teaching them English, life skills and most importantly all aspects of the hospitality industry. They all work in the restaurant as part of their training, be it in the kitchen or on
the floor. Chefs from around the world come to volunteer their services to teach the students. Students are all guaranteed a job after their comprehensive training, as it is well recognised in the country. Two former students have even got jobs as Chefs in the Savoy Hotel in London! We went to KOTOs for dinner, it was the most expensive dinner I have had in this Continent, but it has also been the best. I paid half a million dong for dinner, which works out at only €9, and that’s really expensive in this country for a meal! I got spring rolls, special marinated chicken with banana flower, cashew nuts, lemongrass and steamed rice, a glass of wine, passion fruit juice, a bottle of water and an ice-cream dessert all for only €9 !! The presentation of the food was top class and the taste was even better. I wish i could eat as well and as cheap back home.
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