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Published: January 4th 2010
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HECTIC HANOI
Tired, exhausted and with me feeling extremely unwell by this point, we arrived at Hanoi airport located 35km from the city centre. Guess what?? The pick up did not come to collect us! How typical is that when the one time you really, really need it! We contacted the hotel (no hostels in Hanoi) and they said he would be with us any minute. Ten minutes past ... then twenty. Everybody gradually left or was collected. Thirty minutes and their were only us two sat waiting and one bloke pacing up and down. He was carrying a sign saying 'VazPaz'. Finally Paul approached him - yes, can you believe it ... that was our pick up. When Paul phoned to arrange the collection he spelt out his surname Barber, however, with the language difference the girl had thought he said V not P, Z instead of R (couldn't work that one out!) and then P as opposed to second B! Just relieved by this point to be heading back to a hotel, we laughed it off and jumped in the cab.
We were staying at the Hanoi Gecko Hotel, it was lovely and the staff were SO
friendly, once again they would go out of their way to help you with any inquiries and to make the place feel really homely.
Early the next day, Sun 15 Nov, we located Kangeroo cafe and booked to go to Ha Long Bay, as luck would have it we couldn't leave till Tues so it meant we had an extra day in Hanoi ... must have been fate as I felt too ill to explore and instead returned to my hotel bed and slept for rest of day!!
CHAOS OF HANOI
By the following morning (Mon 16 Nov) I was back to normal and feeling 100% better, just really pleased we didn't have to miss anything out! We set out to explore the capital of Vietnam ... it was chaos!! All around, noise, shouting, car horns - there are hustle and bustle type cities, and then - there's Hanoi! I have never observed such insanity and organised chaos in a capital city! Firstly, there are no pavements in Vietnam as they are commandeered by either street stalls or parked moped scooters. Subsequently, you have to walk in the road. Along with the other pedestrians, the women carrying goods
(they reminded me of the star sign Libra as they had a strip of bamboo across their shoulders, with string at either end dropping down to a huge basket at each side full of their goods (I included photo of this on last blog), cyclists, moped scooters, cars, animals etc etc. As I stated in the first blog on Vietnam, there are no road rules here! It was mesmerizing observing a cross road junction, no traffic lights, cars and scooters would just weave in and out to reach the other side. No stopping. No giving way. Then pedestrians would just be walking in the middle of the road between all the weaving bikes and cars! It is no wonder that Vietnam has such high road casualty incidence figures - over 12,000 people die and a further 34,000 are seriously wounded every year on Vietnamese roads! Roundabouts were even more chaotic, we actually went for a coffee on a roof top terrace just so we could sit and watch the roundabout below. Anybody and anything went anyway around or over the roundabout, all dependent on which looked the fastest route when they got there!! I have tried to put a video
on the blog for you, click on 'VIDEO' and you should be able to see it (just watch for the pedestrian crossing in the centre of the clip - crazy!)
Secondly, the shops are fairly unique out here. They are only a few metres wide but stretch back in length for an entire block in some cases! This is due to the city people trying to evade taxes as there is some regulation meaning buildings are taxed on their width not length. All along the streets (sometimes even in the middle of them) people are selling anything from books to bread, clothes to sunglasses, its absolute mayhem ... but there was something really appealing about Hanoi and it did have TONS of character!
Our accommodation was in the old town near the lake. When we eventually manged to cross the main road (best method of attack was close your eyes and just walk, allowing the traffic just to avoid you - if you paused or hesitated it seemed to confuse the driver or scooter rider and they wobbled towards you rather than around you!) We walked the perimeter of the lake to see the sights it had
to offer then trekked to the opposite side of the city to visit the 'Temple of Literature'. A centre of learning and Confucian sanctuary. It was built in the eleventh century and modeled on a Chinese town. Walled courtyards, separated by parallel walkways and large gateways, beautifully maintained and landscaped grounds and gardens displayed relics and were much more impressive and stunning even if only on a miniature scale than the temples in China.
Another decent walk away was Ho Chi Minh's Museum celebrating his life and role in Vietnamese history and the One Pillar Pagoda, a pagoda, resembling a lotus flower blooming, seemingly balanced upon a single stone column in the middle of a small lake. In the near vicinity to these sights, Ho Chi Minh's House, Mausoleum and the Presidential Palace finished off our explorations of the major sights in the city.
The Vietnamese people were very friendly and hospitable, especially the street sellers and the small stall workers. However, we still found Cambodia on the whole much more friendly than Vietnam as there was still some animosity and attitude towards Westerners particularly from people who were in service roles such as train ticket sellers, hotel
workers in the smaller hotels and in the larger commercial stores. Despite this, all in all, the Vietnamese people were very friendly and helpful and Hanoi was a great city with tons and tons of character, although, the noise level, smog and chaos was just all a bit too much for a country bumpkin like me so by the end of the day we were ready to pack and head to more serene parts of North East Vietnam and its most prolific tourist destination: Ha Long Bay.
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Barbara
non-member comment
Are they all women drivers?!!!
So glad that you made it safely back to civilised driving! Unbelievable! Hope you haven't picked up any new driving techniques! George would have said that they were all women drivers! Typical male but he knows I have a great left hook so he can only think it!!! Aren't you two having fun!!!Sending lots of love, light and hugs, Missing you! Barbara and George! xxx