Blogs from Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 279

Asians are not known for their eccentricity but watching hundreds of Hanoiens partaking in their morning exercise routine around Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake is a sight to behold. Old, young, disabled, fit and fanatical all congregate at and around the lake, not discounting sword-wielding grandmas, Tai Chi masters, gyrating mums at public aerobics, and buffed wannabe steroid junkies using portable gym equipment on the narrow footpath just centimetres away from the onslaught of morning moto traffic. You can also get a weigh-in by the side of the lake, or just about anywhere in Vietnam, on a set of musical mobile scales. Hanoi is a beautiful city, described as the Paris of the East given its legacy of French colonial architecture. But somehow my heart still lies in Cambodia and with the Khmer people. In spite of ... read more

Day 1 - 2 in Vietnam Getting to Vinh Our bus to Vinh (Vietnam) left from Phonsavan (Laos) at 8.15, more than 1 hour late - something we are getting used to - stressful for Marion, perfect for Zak :) Our entry into Vietnam was NOT a pleasant experience! Already on the bus, we noticed a big difference between the calm respectful Laotians and the loud invasive Vietnamese passengers. We also started feeling at a disadvantage, as suddenly, Zak had zero understanding of the local languages - Vietnamese is a whole other language family, nothing like Thai or Laotian, which he had learned from his volunteer work days. We could tell when people were discussing us and dishing out snide remarks - they had no qualms about making that really obvious - but we had no ... read more

It's all coming back to me now.... Maybe it's the constant horn honking, maybe the lawlessness they exhibit behind the wheel or handlebars of their motorbikes, perhaps it was the feeling of being marked in the crosshairs of street vendors as their next meal ticket that has made me realize where I am today. Hanoi - April 5th, 2005 Landing in the belly of the red dragon (as I will refer to Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam) from now on, was as smooth as can be. After a rather comfortable 17 hour flight from LAX to Hong Kong, playing video chess and watching some of the latest movies, I had another 1 hour flight into the dragon's belly before the start to my latest adventure. The taxi ride from the airport was about 40 minutes ... read more

To be honest, that is what Vietnam is all about. Getting the money out of my, into different Vietnamese pockets. Starting at the border from China where I got sold a non-existing ticket for a minibus, ending on the border to Laos, where the Vietnamese wanted to throw us (4 huge Swedish and Irish guys and me, huge of course as well;-) ) out of the bus, claiming our ticket was not ok for the way to Lao capital Vientiane. Guess who was staying in the bus! Anyway, Hanoi, the Vietnamese Capital is nice. A French influenced eating culture gave me the first baguette with sausage and a nice chocolate croissant after 4 month. Believe me, that was pure pleasure. Another big pleasure in Hanoi is riding a Honda Scooter together with 100.000 Hanoians. The traffic ... read more

After three days in Beijing, we flew the three hours back to Hong Kong, and that afternoon flew about two hours to Hanoi in North Vietnam. This also is a large city, a smaller (and lesser in nearly every respect) version of Beijing. Here we were greeted by emerald green rice paddies on the way from the airport on either side of a fine expressway. The land is very flat with many rivers and streams which of course for generations have been re-directed through the paddies. After watching the backbreaking work going on in the fields (mostly by women bending over all day) we could understand why the Charleston rice planters wanted to bring over Africans to farm their rice plantations in colonial days. Our guide said men usually ride their bicycles to the city for ... read more