View from my hotel
06/01/2012 5:05 AM
So its five in the morning and I'm awake. Slept for about five hours last night, tried to go back to sleep this morning with little success. So I think I'm just going to rough it and deal with my day on five hours of sleep. Life could be a lot worse. I wonder what time the street vendors set up shop, I'm craving some pho pretty badly.
So today is the Hanoi city tour. I have somewhat mixed feelings about it. I’ve never really been one for organized “get on the bus get off the bus” tours; perhaps thats why its taken so long for me to actually book it. Probably a good thing I did though, not sure how much more my body can deal with perpetual caffeine rush that I put it trough for the last few days. A change will do me some good and give me a chance to learn a great deal more about the city.
The two Canadians I met up with last night are headed for Hue today; it’s unfortunate they are only staying here such a short time. Theres talk about trying to meet up down south for New Years, perhaps in Dalat down south but this would mean rushing what I planned to do over 2 months into three weeks, So I think its unlikely it will work..... too bad, they were pretty chill.
Think I'm gonna try for another couple hours of sleep. This five hours a night doesn’t work for me!
06/01/2012 7:32 AM
So just a quick update; finally went back to sleep for a bit more than an hour. This coffee is so good, I'm going to bring back pounds and pounds of it. It is by far the tastiest coffee I have ever had and at the cost way less then ive ever paid. Dark, thick chocolately black coffee mixed with sweetened condensed milk is the ultimate drink. I'm seriously addicted to it.
So there is a Montreal couple staying in the hotel; I talked to them a bit over breakfast. They are here for the next month to do all of Vietnam. It seems as though most people I’ve talked to spend about a month doing all of Vietnam. I think I will take six weeks so that I can do it at a relaxing pace.
At this point I'm just waiting for my tour to pick me up. I think they are supposed to be here around eight. So I'm just organizing a few things. I want to pick up some bread and fruit before heading out. So I'm off to do that. I'm also having a bit of an issue accessing my blog, I have a feeling that it may also be banned in this country. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. So, it may be a while before I can post any more, but il definitely keep writing.
06/01/2012 7:45 AM
So I just bought bread and got totally ripped off. I paid about $3.25 for two little baguettes. Mind you they are the lightest, crispiest, airiest bread you’ve ever had, but not for that price. Its hard to bargain with these people. Seeing a seventy year old women walking around with her basket of bread knowing that’s her livelihood, it’s hard to not just want to give them money. So maybe I overpaid, I guess what I'm trying to say is who really cares?
06/01/2012 4:57 PM
Wow long day. Just back. Where to begin? So I finally went back to sleep this morning. Ended up getting my wake up call around 7:05 and had a few cups of good coffee with breakfast. Got picked up at 8:15 along with three other people from my hotel; one guy from Japan and two other Aussies in their late 50s. Our first stop was the West Lake temple, not entirely sure the significance of it as our tour guide’s English was spotty at best... I guess that’s what you get for booking budget tours. Anyways it was nice. Somewhat awkward for the first 30 minutes, but people loosened up. There was nine of us altogether. Two solo travellers both from Tokyo as well as two Aussie couples, both in their late 50s and two girls who were travelling together for a couple of weeks.
The first stop was not so grand. I didn’t have all that much life in me whether because I didn’t sleep enough or had not had enough coffee yet. The West lake is nice, much bigger than the East lake (Hoan Kiem Lake, near to where I'm staying) however the benefit is that its not as much of a tourist place is. So we hung around there for about forty five minutes and took some decent pictures.
Haon Kiem Lake
Next we hit up the Ho Chi Minh Massoleum which was unbelievable. This place is like entering North Korea – at least it felt like it. So we got off the bus and got in line to get in which fortunately only took about ten minutes, during which time our tour guide gave us a brief history of the late Emperor about half of which I picked up. When we got through the gates we were quite forcibly told that we MUST walk two-by-two and stay in line. There is about a hundred yard walk from the entrance gate to the massoluem itself; guards spaced about every ten paces. I wish I had pictures up, this would be so much easier to describe (they are coming, ive created a Flikr account for photo sharring, but I havnt quite figured out how to share the link to my page). Upon walking up the giant steps were we were met by guards with the rifles cocked and ready every ten paces. So we entered the giant building which is essentially just a tomb for the late Emperor. I had my hands in my pockets at this point and I was immediately told that I was to keep my hands by my sides and that there would be absolutely zero talking. So we made our way up the stair cases into his burial tomb. I had known ahead of time what I was walking into but I was not aware that it would be so real. So instead of burring him or creamating him and subsequently building a monument, they have preserved his body, which is on display in a large glass case. He really looks like he is sleeping and that at some point is just going to wake up and realize he’s on display in a giant glass case. He was very well preserved. Once a year he is taken out of his resting spot and “maintained”. Its really quite impressive how real he looks. So yeah, this was quiet the experience!
Nearly forgot to mention this stop. Vietnam unfortunately has a huge handicapped population due to the chemical warfare during the war. Affected people passed it down from generation and approximately 200 000 young people had disabilities related to the war to date. These handicap people have been put to work in “Arts” shops. We visited one today which focused mainly on embroidery. We are not talking about grandma’s wool-style embroidery that might take a few hours of solid work to complete. We are talking about silk embroidery. Just to get a sense of how intricate these images and works are, a 24xx36 inch piece could take up to three months to complete. We are talking about hundreds and hundreds of hours of work to complete some of the larger pieces. These workshops must not be comfused for anything like sweatshops as they are government funded and have the right to sell their finished product. I must say, their work was beautiful. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures because I did not buy anything and didn’t feel comfortable doing so. At first, I felt bad for these people, however, I started to have second thoughts. More about this later; all I will say for now is that this was very akin to an art gallery with beautiful work ranging in price from $50 to $3 000 depending on the intricacy of the piece and the amount of time required to complete it.
Next we hit up the Museum of Ethnology. This was really cool, however, we spent a bit more time there than I would have liked. There is both an indoor and outdoor section to this museum. So we arrived about 11:15 and we caught the 11:30 showing of a water puppets show. Now, my next opinion on this Vietnamese tradition is going to be quite bias because what we saw was a VERY low budget version of it and I found it incredibly boring. But this was because it was done in a terrible translation with terrible acoustics with a narrator and voice actor who had really strong accents. Aside from the mini fireworks it was quite dull. Now, I'm sure if you went to one of the indoor Water Puppet theatres things would be a lot different, but personally, its just no my thing. So il leave it at that.
After this performance we were given about 30 minutes to wander around the outdoor section of the museum. This was REALLY cool. We are talking about bamboo huts that have been moved hundreds of miles and preserved impeccably. Some of these buildings were HUGE. Like one was 19 meters tall. Yes, I am correct in that measurement. It was freaking huge. Another was 40 meters long. This houses were all sectioned off inside and would have housed multiple generations and extended family. For example, one of the long houses could fit up to 40 people. These houses were built big and sometimes ostentatiously built as a sign of wealth. Anyways, this was really cool as each section of the outdoor museum was devoted to either a different time period or different area/tribe.
It’s about 12:15 at this point and I have not eaten anything since about 7:00 and you know how much I like my food. Unfortunately we still had the inside section of the museum to see. At this point I'm pretty much only thinking about lunch, and believably, with a diet that includes very little protein, hunger hits hard and I was not the only one in my group feeling it. So the museum was filled with mostly smaller artefacts... hunting tools, clothing, etc. There was a picture I need to put up that was a bike that was used by a fisherman for 15 years to carry his traps back and forth from his home to the sea. How many traps? 800!! He had traps strapped to the front and back of his bike. Was really cool!
So we got back in our mini-bus just before 1pm and headed back to the Old District for lunch. This is when things got pretty fun. Over lunch we all got to know one another quite well. A few beers, six giant bowls of rice and numerous dishes of veggies with a bit of meat, we headed to the Temple of Literature, built in honour of Confucius. This was fun. At this point I had gotten to know the Aussies quite well so I spent a fair bit of the afternoon chatting with them. I don’t know why, but the coolest thing I took out of this was a 500 year old tree as well as all the bonsai trees that dotted the interior of the temple courtyard. Pictures about this to come.
Next we went back to the Old District to see the Temple in the centre of Hoan Kiem lake. I’ve walked around this lake numerous times before but had not yet entered the temple knowing I would do it late on. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera had died after the Temple of Literature so we don’t have pictures for this. Bassically this is a temple that is devoted to a giant turtle. Like the body of Ho Chi Minch, this turtle has been very well preserved and is on display in a glass case, mind you without all the security and guards. This turtle died during a bombing campaign by the Americans during the war. Glad I had my backpack with my Canadian flag on it at this point. Anyways, this turtle was 200+ years old and must have been 6 feet long. I kid you not.
After this there was a scheduled to be a cyclo, which I have been informed are actually referred to as rickshaws, but it was about 4pm at this point and given that I had done this on my own previously, I opted not to do it. So yeah, that was pretty much my day.
I’m really beginning to fall in love with this place. I just don’t want to leave. Its such a different place and it’s just so incredibly special. Making friends is so easy. Everyone is just so happy. I’ve already got a couple cafes and pubs that one could probably consider me a “regular” at. I love this place. There is no other way to say it. Anyway, I’ve been writing for like two hours at this point and I'm getting pretty hungry, going to go get some dinner. There’s more to come later!
07/01/2012 7:21 PM
So it looks as though its going to be a pretty rainy day in Hanoi. Not poring, but just wet. I'm headed out to the Perfume Pagoda today which is about an hour and a half drive from Hanoi, followed by an hour long trip in a row boat and a gondola ride to the top of a mountain to see a number of temples. Apparently this is a big spot for Buddhist as a pilgrimage; however, it is not until March that they begin to make their treks to the top. Given this and the weather I don’t imagine it will be that busy. It unfortunate the weather is not all the nice, but what can I say.
I started talking about a new topic last night that I was too tired to continue talking about. What I wanted to explain was that this place is turning me into a skeptic. What I mean by this is that I'm beginning to see beyond the “impoverished” and the “suffering”. The more and more I think about it the more I come to realize is that these street vendors, small cafe owners, cyclo drivers and cabbies are doing quite well for themselves. Indeed, the tourist industry is booming here, and there is no sign of it slowing down. When I originally came here, I had no problem paying the “western price” for everything. That is to say the extra 30-40% extra for everything thinking that it was going to hugely benefit someone. What I’ve come to conclude is that there really is no need to put yourself out of that extra dollar on lunch or 50 cents on that beer. They are doing quite well indeed.
Mmmmm first cup of real coffee at my local cafe, which just happens to be literally right next door to my hotel, even sharing the same wall. One does not have to wander far in this city to find wonderful things.
So yeah just a quick check in before I head off for the day. Not sure what time this tour is over, however, I'm headed to Halong Bay tomorrow so no matter what I'm excited.
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