Advertisement
Published: November 6th 2009
A wise traveler prepped us for this leg of the trip with the following admonition: "When you arrive in Vietnam, you will either love it or hate it. There's no in-between." After one day here in the capital city of Hanoi, we can answer: "We LOVE it!!"
But, we're getting ahead of ourselves. First we must recount our 3-day exodus from China. Tuesday afternoon we didn't even leave Guilin until almost 3pm. Since it was only a 5 or 6 hour train ride (supposedly), we booked regular seats for the afternoon instead of sleepers. EIGHT HOURS later we finally arrived in Nanning, the last big city in southern China before you hit the Vietnam border. If there was any hope of redemption for Chinese trains, they were dashed to bits on this ride. Aside from obviously arriving several hours late, the seated section proved to be even filthier than the sleeper cars. People threw every bit of trash, fruit peels, seeds, empty bottles, bags, and who-knows-what-else all over the floor of the train - THEN the janitors come through every hour or so while the train is in motion and sweeps the mountain of trash all the way down your
car. You have to lift your feet, legs, and all your belongings off the floor as the trash heap goes by. Absolutely disgusting. And the fact that the process was repeated several times during the journey - I mean, how much trash can you generate in eight hours? And are the trash cans only for decoration? It boggles my mind that the country with the cleanest subway system in the world (Beijing) can simultaneously have people that throw garbage on the floor and spit everywhere. The contrast is amazing.
Anyway. We at last arrived in Nanning and, thankfully, walked right outside the train station and across the street to our hotel. As we were only staying for one night, supposedly, we'd decided to just book an actual hotel room with a REAL shower and REAL beds - the hostels have been great so far but definitely lacking on the privacy end. The hotel was great, we were psyched when we opened the door to our room and saw how enormous it was (with a great view of the city)...however, since it was so late, we had no hope of arranging an early-morning bus ride to Vietnam. Thus, it would
be necessary to stay for two nights in Nanning, a nice enough city but mostly business hotels and banks - nothing in the way of things to see or do. But, we caught up on some sleep, easily purchased our bus tickets in the morning, walked around the city for a bit, and finally indulged in a Chinese classic - KFC and McDonald's ha!! Actually, they're quite a bit better than they are back home; it's easy to see why they're enormously popular.
We decided on Wednesday night to indulge in massages at the spa of a 5-star hotel nearby, where I had what was surely one of the strangest and most unpleasant massages of my life. For starters, the room you go into looks like a sparse hotel room - twin bed (not massage table), nightstands, television. I change into the hospital-gown-and-shorts type thing provided and in comes my therapist, dressed in a mini-skirt and (I kid you not) 5-inch stilettos. She then hands me the TV remote and tried to get me to turn it on - I politely declined until she snatched it and turned it on herself. And Chinese TV was on during my entire
90-minute massage. Twice during the massage, she answered her cell phone and spoke for several minutes each time. And I swear she spent about 20 minutes of the massage on my inner legs - not inappropriate, exactly, but far too much time and attention and completely unnecessary. I've never been so glad when a massage ended! Keep in mind this was a 5-star hotel's spa. If any of the staff spoke even a word of English, I would have complained profusely, but seeing as though they didn't even understand "toilet," (I had to run across the parking lot and find one in the lobby - they literally had no idea what I was talking about, even though there are signs that read "toilet" all over the city and even the hotel's lobby!)...I figured I'd be wasting my breath. Jeremy's massage was much more pleasant, he said, though his therapist's idea of entertainment was putting on a recording of "Learn to Speak Chinese" for him to listen to, and then she would quiz him after each section and try to make conversation. Very, very,
very odd experience, to say the least! Goes to show that you don't always get what you
pay for - the $3 massages in Guilin were far more professional for a fraction of the price!
But, that kind of goes with our overall impression of China. Not exactly unpleasant, but definitely different than you would think. I would go back, for sure, as the sights are amazing and we barely scratched the surface, but socially the country has a long way to go before it would ever be considered "comfortable" to travel in. Most of the other westerners we've met share the same sentiments. In Nanning, especially, the language barrier was painfully difficult - even gesturing didn't get the point across for something as simple as ordering our meals or staying the extra night in the hotel. Twice the receptionist at the hotel had to phone someone (who knows who?) and hand me the phone, where I tried to explain in very basic English what we wanted, and I was barely understood. They tried to do the same thing at the hotel's spa when I asked where the toilet was, except whoever they phoned
still didn't understand me. Now, in all fairness, I certainly could have learned the Chinese word for "toilet" to try and help
out, but you would think that the staff of a 5-star hotel who advertises to western tourists and has signs in English in the lobby would AT LEAST know what a toilet is. Am I being unreasonable here?
Anyway. Moving on. Yesterday morning we awoke early, checked out, and headed for what we prayed would be a nice easy transition to Vietnam. And, miraculously, it couldn't have gone more smoothly! We were on the bus with about six other couples (all blond Europeans, funnily enough) and a handful of Chinese businessmen. Air-conditioned, soft music playing, impeccably clean bus. Quick lunch two hours into the ride (down a REAL highway), where we changed the last of our yuan into Vietnamese dong. We're dropped near the border, where we take a small shuttle bus to the Chinese customs building. Much like airport security, you show your passport and visas, run your bags through the x-ray machine, and pass a brief health exam (swine flu paranoia). Then you get into another minibus and drive through "no man's land" - the little strip between China and Vietnam - then you proceed to enter the Vietnamese immigration building. This takes a little longer, as
there are a few forms to fill out, and they take your passport for a good half hour or so (why, I don't know), you do
another health inspection, and at last you are free to enter Vietnam. You board yet another shuttle, which takes you to your shiny new Vietnamese bus (as nice as the Chinese one)...and you ride another three hours into Hanoi. A little time-consuming but overall easy and painless!
Vietnam looks, funnily enough, so much like Florida. Our Brits and Danes and Irish travelers were reveling in the sunshine and palm trees, while we just smiled and relaxed and said, "Ah, home..." It is still fairly mountainous, but the trees and the farmland and the water could be a dead ringer for Florida City, Belle Glade, or Kissimmee. (On a side note, when one of the British guys found out we were Floridians, he said, "Oh, yeah! I was there once. You have Disney World and lots of old people." To which we busted out laughing and replied, "Wow, you really
have been there!" It was a hilarious bonding moment).
So we arrived at last in Hanoi, where a caravan of taxis were waiting
to whisk us away to our respective locations. We'd pre-booked our hostel online, a hip new backpacker's place run by a couple of Aussies called "The Drift." Eight stories, western restaurant, rooftop bar and pool lounge with sweeping views of the city, and sparkling clean rooms - for $5.50 a night. How can you argue that? Ate loads of really, really good thick-cut french fries, had a couple Long Island Iced Tea's, shot a game of pool, and called it a night!
This morning we headed for the ATM, and it's official - we're millionaires!! Ha ha. We withdrew 2 million dong, the maximum amount allowed - which currently equals about $110. Their banknotes here come in denominations of 5,000, 10,000, 50,000, 100,000, and 500,000 dong, if you can wrap your brain around that. The numbers are so high, it's absurd. My iced tea today for lunch cost 48,000 dong, for example. We've started roughly rounding 20,000 dong to $1 and 100,000 dong to $5, just to make some sort of sense of it...but it's pretty crazy. I thought the euro was confusing - ha!! Walking by a department store and seeing merchandise ON SALE for 10,000,000 dong just
seems a little wacky...
But anyway. Hanoi is such a beautiful fusion of a city. It has the ambience and warm humid sunshine of Miami, but a strong European influence in the food and the architecture. We're in the old French quarter surrounded by cafe's, gelato, baguettes, and pizza. They have a gothic cathedral and an opera house styled after Opera Garnier in Paris. Yet it's definitely an exotic Asian land, buzzing with what has to be a world-record amount of motor bikes and scooters (you have to see it to believe it!)...women walking down the street in high heels and triangular rice-paddy hats...a dizzying array of shops, markets, foods, and tiny streets. If it sounds confusing, don't worry - it is!! But in a dazzling way. It's so chill and laid-back compared to the big cities in China, yet as cosmopolitan as a big European capital, and just enough "western" influence to feel comfortable (a level of comfort China does not yet possess).
Today we walked around the old quarter, through its markets, and tried not to get killed crossing the street! If you're looking for a little excitement in your life, come to Hanoi and try
to cross eight lanes of traffic with half a million motor bikes running you down at ninety miles an hour. It's a rush like no other!! Lunch was at a fabulous cafe' right on the lake. We decided to dive right into the local cuisine - Jeremy ordered up a plate of steaming curried noodles with pork and seafood, while I tried "Nasi Goreng," a wonderful fusion of fried rice with chicken and shrimp, skewers of beef and chicken with spicy peanut sauce, all topped with a yummy fried egg. Exotic? Yes. Exquisite? Oh yes. I have a new favorite dish!!
Twice after lunch we ran into the Irish couple from our bus ride (they're in the process of moving to Australia), and spent most the afternoon walking around with them. We headed back to the same lakeside cafe' for coffees and ice cream and swapped notes on China and shared travel stories and wedding stories...a lovely afternoon, to say the least! It's always nice to make new friends, and now we have someone to visit if and when we make it to Australia (and they of course would be welcome in New Zealand)...
Dinner tonight was at
a local Italian restaurant, where we feasted on crab soup, giant tiger prawns baked with lots of gooey cheese, salmon and homemade fettucini alfredo, and, drumroll please...fior di latte gelato. I first tasted this flavor of gelato (Italian ice cream) in Spain, of all places, when I was 18. It is, for lack of better description, whipped cream flavored ice cream. Beyond divine. I've since sampled it in Italy and once found it in the North End of Boston...but never since. And here, in VIETNAM of all places, there it was, in all its creamy heavenly goodness. I will be returning at least twenty more times before we leave to have some more.
😱
So!! Needless to say, we are feeling right at home in Vietnam so far. Tomorrow we head to the coast for a three-day, two-night cruise of Ha Long Bay, a place with mountains as crazy as Yangshuo, but on the water. Our itinerary includes cuttle-fishing, sea kayaking, island trekking, monkey jungles, and lots and lots of delicious fresh seafood. Should be a great time! Obviously we will be off-line for a couple of days on the boat, but we promise a nice long post and
lots of photos sometime on Monday when we return to Hanoi! Until then...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.197s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 9; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0993s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
anonymous
non-member comment
OH MY god,wanna go to Vietnam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!