Rats!

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They don't eat, don't sleep
They don't feed, they don't seethe
Bare their gums when they moan and squeak
Lick the dirt off a larger one's feet

- Pearl Jam, “Rats”

When you travel long enough, you eventually run into problems. It’s inevitable. Bad things happen. But usually one at a time. I checked off three in one day.

I arrived in Ha Noi this morning precisely on time, even with the bus breakdown last night. Despite the facts that Ha Noi is slightly north of the 21st northern parallel - placing it latitudinally in line with places like Cuba, Cancun, Mexico and Qatar; and well south of all of the United States and Europe - and that it is in the tropics, it is a bit chilly here. It’s not due to altitude; Ha Noi is only 53 feet above sea level. I’m not sure why it’s only in the 60s (Fahrenheit) but it is. And there’s a slight mist; rain is something I haven’t seen since the downpour in Darwin. I’m certainly not used to this type of weather.

I flagged down a cab and told him the address of the hostel. He was clueless, even after giving him a few nearby landmarks. I flagged a second one and he said he knew the address. I still gave him the landmarks (that it’s in the Old Quarter, north of Hoan Kiem Lake and the puppet theatre) to be sure. Where I went wrong was not knowing exactly how far away from the bus station the Old Quarter is.

We made our way through heavy traffic and he finally dropped me off at a building marked with the same address as the one I gave him. He drove off and I was left to try and figure out why the hostel wasn’t marked. I rang the bell. No answer. I then made my way to a bank a few doors down and asked if they heard of the hostel. They realized I was at a matching address but that there are two of the same addresses in Ha Noi. In spite of my giving him the reference points, he took me to the wrong one. I was only out about $4 but now I had to figure out how to get to the correct one.

The people in the bank were very helpful, eventually assisting me in flagging down another cab. They told him exactly where I needed to go. With even heavier traffic, 45 minutes and another $4 later, I made it to a hotel with the same name as the hostel at the correct address.

Inside, the place was dark with only candles lit. A girl working reception informed me that they lost power. I informed her that it is not a problem so long as she could promptly direct me to a toilet. Without having electricity, I had to navigate the bathroom with the flashlight I carry in my bag. Phil would be so proud - “plan ahead or plan for failure”.

I came back out and, after going over my itinerary and their raising the question of whether I booked two beds instead of one, they told me that in a minute or two my ride would be here to take me to the hostel. Pause. Isn’t that where I am now? Well, I was apparently at the hotel and the hostel - or a hostel that I would go to - was a few minutes away. I ended up riding on the back of a motorbike to what would be my final stop in a long journey from the bus.

Inside, the place was nice. I got settled in and headed to the front desk to pay and look into some tours in the region. The manager took care of all this so now I have my itinerary set for the next week while I’m in Ha Noi. We also got the two beds issue straightened out after I showed him my confirmation note clearly showing my booking just one. I then grabbed a hot shower - my first hot one in days - and grabbed a complimentary breakfast. This place is working out well.

On my way out to do some touring, the manager stopped me and said there was an issue with my reservation. Here we go again. He informed me that since I was in a different place from where I booked I would receive the rate for the one at which I am staying - a 50%!d(MISSING)iscount. Sweet.

I then headed out to do a little exploring of the town. It was still cool outside and a heavy fog and very light mist were present so I brought my umbrella along. My first stop was to head down to the lake where I could see Ngoc Son Temple and the Tortoise Tower. Both were hardly visible through the thick fog. I made my way down to tour the temple and after a few minutes of walking around I reaffirmed the opinion that I have seen enough temples to last me a lifetime. The two interesting things about this one, however, are that it sits on an island and it has a lovely red bridge that is used to get to it.

I continued heading south along the lake, passing the Tortoise Tower - a statue island in the lake - and a display of flowers that formed the number “1,000”, as this year is the 1,000th anniversary of Ha Noi‘s founding. At the south end of the lake, a large group of people - mostly appearing to be locals - were gathered round the water’s edge looking at something. As I made my way to an open space it looked like a tortoise was floating in the muck. I later read that seeing a tortoise in the lake is supposed to bring good luck.

I found a small Vietnamese café for a late lunch where I tried a recommended Vietnamese dish called cha ca. This version consisted of rolls with minced fish and I added some small hot peppers to give it some kick.

After lunch, I headed back to the hostel where I was finally able to confirm the last details of mine and Dave’s Everest Base Camp trip in April. Now all we need to do is get them the payment and we’re all set. I also took care of my flight home. I fly from Taiwan into Philadelphia the evening of March 31 by way of Tokyo and Chicago.

Basking in the glory of finally getting two big things taken care of, I went to use the bathroom on my floor and briefly saw a large mouse or more likely a rat scurry across the floor. He darted out from under one of the toilet stalls, ran in front of the sink’s cabinet, turned around and bounded like a kangaroo to concealment behind the sink’s cabinet. I didn’t know that rodents could bound but he sure did.

This just wouldn’t do so I went and found two staffers to get them to fix this. They followed me up to the bathroom where I explained what happened. With their limited understanding of the English language, they started looking in the sink’s drain, thinking I meant he jumped in the sink. No. Behind. They looked behind and he wasn’t there. They were now convinced I was making this up. I tried to convince them that the possibility existed that, perhaps, our little friend could have vacated his hiding spot while I was out of the room getting them. I told them that they should probably get some traps to get rid of him. I am disgusted with the infestation of vermin in my temporary residence.

I have always had a great disliking for rats well beyond any other animal. I’m not too fond of snakes, either, but I have petted and held them. I don’t want to be anywhere near a rat. Even those nasty ones in the subway tracks were too close for my comfort. Making matters worse was what I had recently read in 1984. The protagonist, Winston Smith, shares a similar dislike of rats.

'A rat. I saw him stick his beastly nose out of the wainscoting. There's a hole down there. I gave him a good fright, anyway.'

'Rats!' murmured Winston. 'In this room!'

'They're all over the place,' said Julia indifferently as she lay down again. 'We've even got them in the kitchen at the hostel. Some parts of London are swarming with them. Did you know they attack children? Yes, they do. In some of these streets a woman daren't leave a baby alone for two minutes. It's the great huge brown ones that do it. And the nasty thing is that the brutes always-'

'Don't go on!' said Winston, with his eyes tightly shut.

'Dearest! You've gone quite pale. What's the matter? Do they make you feel sick?'

'Of all horrors in the world -- a rat!'

She pressed herself against him and wound her limbs round him, as though to reassure him with the warmth of her body. He did not reopen his eyes immediately. For several moments he had had the feeling of being back in a nightmare which had recurred from time to time throughout his life. It was always very much the same. He was standing in front of a wall of darkness, and on the other side of it there was something unendurable, something too dreadful to be faced. In the dream his deepest feeling was always one of self-deception, because he did in fact know what was behind the wall of darkness. With a deadly effort, like wrenching a piece out of his own brain, he could even have dragged the thing into the open. He always woke up without discovering what it was: but somehow it was connected with what Julia had been saying when he cut her short.

'I'm sorry,' he said, 'it's nothing. I don't like rats, that's all.'

There were far more pervasive references (found here) later on in the novel but I dare not repeat them for anyone who has not read the book. Without giving away too much, the mentioning of rats being carnivorous and their ability to leap through the air and “on to your face and bore straight into it; sometimes the eyes first; sometimes through the cheeks and the tongue” (brackets used for grammatical purposes only).

With the morbid tales of rat attacks fresh in my mind, I could think of no better use of my time than to validate the accuracy of these literary claims. I went online and researched wild rat bites and found that, at least in the United States, it is unlikely that rats are rabid - wild rat bites account for less than one percent of rabies cases. If anything, bites will likely bring about rat bite fever (oddly most common in Japan and referred to as “sodoku”, which I always thought was a game), though most bites are fine untreated or with a quick wash. Bites are rare and generally occur on the exposed skin of children at night while they sleep. Even with this newfound knowledge abating the actual cause for concern, I remained uneasy.

I decided to walk around the Old Quarter some more to take my mind off the revolting state of things at the hostel. While I was out I grabbed dinner and, somewhere along the way, completed my trifecta of unfortunate events today. First, it was the cab ride (which likely was a scam). Second, the rat. Now, my camera was gone. More than likely I forgot it at dinner, though I don’t remember taking it out. Either that or the pickpockets here are second-to-none. Nevertheless, this is what happens when you travel alone and you let your guard down for just a second. Fortunately, I didn’t lose any pictures and even have my old camera along as a backup.

Back at the hostel, with a keen eye looking out for my nauseating friend, I took care of the last of my flights. I head to Hong Kong on Monday, March 22 and Taiwan on Friday, March 26. Afterwards, I read a bit of Gulliver’s Travels to try and put my mind to rest.

I decided to try and go to sleep. Bites generally occur on the exposed skin at night. I got as much of my body as possible under the blanket. While sweating profusely, even with the fan and air conditioning on, I swear I could hear stirring underneath one of the other beds. I thought I must just be hearing things and tried to go to sleep. Every so often, just as I was about to finally nod off, I jumped up, startled from a sound I thought I heard. After a few of these, I decided to switch to the unoccupied top bunk above my bed. Let’s just see SuperRat try and leap through the air and onto my face to bore straight into it. The sounds subsided, yet I still couldn’t quite fall asleep. I began to wonder if I was somehow going insane. The issue left unresolved, at some point I must have finally dozed off.

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Photos

Ngoc Son Temple
The view of the temple from across the lake.

Temple bridge
The red bridge that leads to the temple's island.

Horse
For some reason, this horse reminds me of Trigger, the toy riding horse I had as a kid.

1,000
A display of flowers on the lake denotes the 1,000th anniversary of Ha Noi's founding.

Lunch
My cha ca lunch.

Bathroom
The rodent shot out from the toilet stall door on the left, ran in front of the sink then bounded up behind the cabinet where he disappeared.