I will spend more money today since buying my airplane ticket way back in March.
Its 11am, and I haven't seen anything. Why? Because I went shopping.
Hoi An is the tailoring/suit capital of Vietnam--and you can good quality, made to measure items for nothing compared to the U.S.--and this is at the good places with positive customer feedback--I double checked, don't worry. Wool suits cost around $120--shirts about $15.
I've ordered a grand total of three suits, three shirts, and one jacket. A black pinstripe, and plain beige suit, with three shirts. I also have a three-piece suit and a jacket being made that I will just describe as "wildcards"--and will either make you laugh or cringe if you see me wearing them. I couldn't resist though.
I knew before coming to Vietnam that I would run out of my malaria medication while I'm here--it's a non-issue, though, since all the places that I'm visiting are very low risk, according to the CDC--but it means that I will not be extending my trip any further, because Malarone is one of the few drugs that cannot be obtained in Bangkok or Singapore.
Saigon will be my last stop on my whistlestop/flash bang tour of SE Asia(well, Singapore technically--but I would only be flying there the day before my flight leaves).
People are right--you definitely need more than two weeks to see Vietnam, and I will definitely be coming back to see the places I missed--sites like Dien Bien Phu, Ha Long Bay, Dalat, Pleiku, Hamburger Hill, and the Mekong Delta (which I might do on a day trip from Saigon).
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Hue
Here is the long awaited post on Hue--I will do the beautiful drive from Hue to Hoi An tmw and couple that with a post on Hoi An. When I have time, I will launch into a discussion of what I've been reading.
I will reiterate my desire to handsomely reward someone who can create a cellphone mute button or mute button for people on skype/public telephones who speak too loudly. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. That and the motorbike/taxi/rikshaw drivers who wave at you eagerly and invite you to take a ride, and if you ignore them, continue to bug you. What part of "no, not interested" do they not understand? They can speak english well enough to describe the sites and locations in their city, so they clearly understand the word "no"--they just choose not to.
Woke up in the pre-dawn hour of 4am to take a 430am taxi to Hanoi's airport. I discovered that the only time Hanoi is truly quiet is at that hour--only took about 30 minutes to drive the 33kms out to the airfield (compared to an hour coming in).
Vietnam Airlines is very excited to join Skyteam (the air alliance led by Delta and Air France)--how excited? They haven't officially joined yet--they will in July 2010--but they already have an aircraft painted in a full skyteam livery, which I saw as my A320 powered out of the airport (also saw a pair of rusting Russian aircraft that the airline had long since retired) for takeoff bound for Hue, the imperial capital of Vietnam, and site of a big battle during the Vietnam War.
Bit of a cloudy ride, but flew about 15 miles off shore, and the coast was visible the entire way.
As we approached, the coastal mountains created some turbulence that led to a bit of a bumpy ride. Flew over the ricefields with the mountains to our left and straight ahead, and touched down at the Hue Airport, which is located on a slight incline, and was originally built by the U.S. during the Vietnam War.
I already made hostel reservations in Hue, at the sister hostel of the place I stayed in Hanoi. The place in Hue proved to be much better. Whereas in Hanoi, most of the western staff created an atmosphere of get drunk or go home--one of them outright questioned me why I wasn't drinking, and one told me that his job was to get people "pissed"--australian slang for trashed, the Vietnamese staff couldn't have been nicer and more helpful. In Hue, there was only one westerner--the manager, who was a nice enough guy--and the rest were Vietnamese--all as nice and helpful as their Hanoi counterparts. The Hue hostel in general was a little bit more relaxed--drink if you want to, but there's zero pressure. Of course, they did provide free beer between 5 and 6 for hostel guests (not swill either--bottled local stuff that tasted heavenly after the hot afternoon sun).
Nearly lost it at the Hue airport--I tried to take the airport bus instead of a taxi, but the bus literally sat there and wasn't moving for a good 20 minutes--and both planes had already left (Hue's a small airport). After being frustrated for sitting in the non-air conditioned bus, I just said screw it and took a cab in.
Dumped off my stuff at the hostel, and then proceeded to wander around. The Perfume River (yes that's its actual name--not a tourist slogan) flows right through the center of town, and like any decent city with a long riverfront, Hue has created a long green area alongside it and filled it with statues and benches--forming a natural meeting point for residents of the city (and indeed it does--what do Vietnamese in Hue do on a nice friday or a saturday night? They take their girlfriend/wife/children to the river and enjoy the evening). Hue, by the way, was in the middle of a two week long arts and music festival, so all sorts of displays and temporary arenas were constructed along the river.
Looking upriver, hills and mountains come into view, all covered with green trees.
Crossed the nearest bridge and walked to the walled citadel--a massive enclosure that was once Hue proper, and contains the Vietnamese Forbidden City--the city has grown up around it, but the brick walls are well-preserved, as are some of the original buildings sitting on lush tree-lined streets.
It was in the Citadel that I did something that I shouldn't have done--it only cost me 5 bucks, but I should have trusted my gut and high-tailed it when I got the chance--a guy on his motorbike with his family pulls up and tells me he is an english teacher and that he would like to show me around for free--I don't have to pay (warning sign right there--nothing in SE Asia is free, unless you include sweat). Since the guy was with his family, I let my guard down a bit, but I knew I should have high-tailed it out of there when he said he would be back in 15 minutes.
I kept walking around, hoping he would forget/see that I wasn't there and head elsewhere. But nope, he was persistent and managed to find me--that's when I should have said thanks but no thanks, but you get guilt-tripped because they sound so sincere and nice. The bottom line: you want people to leave you alone, you have to be what westerners would consider rude, but it is perfectly acceptable by SE Asia standards.
Guy finds me and he drives me around the old city--which was quite nice--the place is beautiful--lots of canals, trees, and gardens, and Hue natives have built their houses around them.
Go the guys house, and he tells me all about his relatives, and how it was his lucky day to meet me, and maybe I would show him around in the U.S. if he came to the U.S. He keeps insisting to take me on all these day trips and the like, and I keep politely declining. Finally get him to take me to Thien Mu--one of the most famous pagodas in Vietnam--and is gorgeous. Beautiful setting, but even more beautiful is the view upriver of the surrounding mountains and the local boats heading to and fro. I wish I could go more into depth, but the pictures speak for themselves--and I've taken a lot of pictures.
I purposely get the guy to drop me off a couple of blocks from my hostel, just in case. He tells me I don't have to pay, but I offer to give him some money for gas--I get out some money--offer him 30,000, but he sees my bills, and promptly grabs a 100,000 note (about five bucks)--I realize the money means more to him than me, but give me a freaking break--talk about a scam artist. I was just disgusted, and forced me to put up my guard even more.
Took a break, and hired a motorbike to take me to some of the imperial tombs in the afternoon. The tombs are upriver, and are built along the hillside. There are five sites, but you only really need to see two of them to get the full gist--especially when you do it in the afternoon, like I did, when it is boiling outside and you are sweating in places you didn't know you had sweatglands.
The tombs are spectacular--more like open air mausoleum than tombs, on well-manicured and landscaped grounds with ponds and various gardens. In terms of architecture--it is pretty similar to traditional chinese architecture--whereas the traditional architecture of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand all share similar features, the mountain range running down west Vietnam appears to have formed a physical divide and prevented the spread of that tradition to Vietnam.
It was just hot as hell--easily the second hottest place I've been in other than Cambodia (Vietnam has the harsher sun and less havens from it, Cambodia has the hotter winds).
Like I said, the free beer at the hostel tasted great when you've just been outdoors in around 100+degree ready and a glaring sun.
Had an early wake up call (not so surprising--in these past 8.5 weeks, I've probably had more pre-630am wake up times than I've had in the past six years combined--including my 10pm wake up call for Merapi) to take the DMZ tour, which takes the entire day, mainly because of the considerable amount of driving involved.
I have to admit, I was somewhat disappointed by the DMZ tour--but most of that is due to my own expectations. When you imagine the DMZ, you think it will be a place like the borderland between South Korea and North Korea, that the area will be deserted and preserved the way it looked nearly 30 years ago.
That said, it's been 30 years--and Vietnam has been united since then. Life goes on, people move on, and the DMZ pretty much resembles the rest of the Vietnamese countryside--with one notable exception--all the buildings were built after 1975--lots of ricefields and farmers, with various villages along the highways. The legendary McNamara line is no more--and only a rusted American tank, somewhat hidden from the highway, shows where the line once stretched.
I would have probably gotten more out of the tour if I had done some reading beforehand, had grown up in the 60s, or was led by a vet who could point out what some of the sites used to look like.
We started out by driving along highway 9--the main east to west artery that was built originally by the French and is now part of a larger international route that links Vietnam to Thailand through Laos. During the Vietnam War, highway 9 was the main transit route for Americans, as American bases and airfields populated either side of the road. Very little remains, though, of these bases, aside from various depressions.
You drive up into the hills near the Lao border, and the views of the riverside and the hills are spectacular, and you begin to appreciate the difficulty of waging a war in these conditions. The Rockpile and Razorback Ridge are easily visible from highway 9, as is one river crossing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The trip up highway 9 culminated at Khe Sanh--the site of an American base, and a bloody battle between the North Vietnamese and the Americans. The base is in a beautiful location--in a high valley surrounded by high mountains and hills. Little remains of the actual base though--only a few depressions where buildings were obviously situated, and the airstrip itself. The place is now one giant coffee growing plantation, except for the runway, which, for some reason, won't allow anything to grow on it. Because of the changing times, it is extremely difficult to imagine or picture the battle--but that doesn't make it any less real to those brave soldiers who endured it.
Drove back down Highway 9, past the DMZ and north to the town of Vinh Moc--notable because they built a series of underground tunnels where the villagers lived for six years. The war is most visible there, as bomb craters and depressions surround the site, and it is pretty amazing to think that an entire village was able to endure the war by hiding out in these tunnels.
Crossed over the traditional dividing river between North and South, where remnants of propaganda blasting loudspeakers still linger on both sides.
Again, the current state of the DMZ makes difficult to picture that a war once took place there--evidence is hidden, and you have to know what you are looking for in order to see signs that something took place--occasionally you see small circular depressions along the roadside that don't look natural, and the plant life is generally stunted--it all looks young and the forests are second growth--indicative of the defoliants used by the U.S. to clear the vegetation from the area.
Driving back to Hue, got caught up in the typical afternoon rain that falls, but makes for a spectacular scene. I've never seen a greener place--and it is vivid, kelly green, not dry faded green.
Of course, the advantage of the rain is that it actually cools off after it falls--and it feels so much nicer out.
Watched the world cup that night--didn't have much of a choice--no tv in any bar was showing anything else, although my hostel owner tried to keep it on Aussie Rules Football for as long as possible, and we had fun making fun of the soccer players (he isn't a fan, and neither am I--not until they eliminate diving).
Slept in a little bit the next day, since my body was drained from two straight pre 6am wakeups, and walked over to the Forbidden City--a beautiful place where the Vietnamese emperor once lived--like the tombs, the place looks very Chinese--although there is a big picture of Uncle Ho on the frontgate, just like Mao is on the Forbidden City in Beijing. Vietnamese tourists easily outnumbered western tourists by about four to one--as the former center of power of the Vietnamese ruling family, Hue is understandably a popular tourist destination for Vietnamese. Vietnamese tourists were all very nice and kind--and whenever I asked them about the ho chi minh city/saigon debate, all insisted that the city is called Saigon--a point that was most emphasized by Saigon natives.
Even though I was there in the morning, it got hot early and fast, and by noon or so I was wilting in the heat. I actually needed to take about a 2.5-3 hour break to fully recuperate I was so drained. Then the monsoons came early, which cooled things off, and I took a one hour boat ride on the perfume river.
The ride was nice in the fading afternoon light, and because the rain cleared out alot of the haze in the air, you could clearly see the outlines of mountains farther out--ones that I hadn't seen before from the same location. What made the trip, though, was a giant rainbow. It was easily the largest and most vivid rainbow that I have ever seen--and was awe-inspiring to look at.
I understandably chose sleep over soccer, and didn't watch the England-US game--a decision that I am more than happy with considering that if I had watched the game, I would have slept on the bus ride and missed out on four hours of spectacular scenery.
I will reiterate my desire to handsomely reward someone who can create a cellphone mute button or mute button for people on skype/public telephones who speak too loudly. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. That and the motorbike/taxi/rikshaw drivers who wave at you eagerly and invite you to take a ride, and if you ignore them, continue to bug you. What part of "no, not interested" do they not understand? They can speak english well enough to describe the sites and locations in their city, so they clearly understand the word "no"--they just choose not to.
Woke up in the pre-dawn hour of 4am to take a 430am taxi to Hanoi's airport. I discovered that the only time Hanoi is truly quiet is at that hour--only took about 30 minutes to drive the 33kms out to the airfield (compared to an hour coming in).
Vietnam Airlines is very excited to join Skyteam (the air alliance led by Delta and Air France)--how excited? They haven't officially joined yet--they will in July 2010--but they already have an aircraft painted in a full skyteam livery, which I saw as my A320 powered out of the airport (also saw a pair of rusting Russian aircraft that the airline had long since retired) for takeoff bound for Hue, the imperial capital of Vietnam, and site of a big battle during the Vietnam War.
Bit of a cloudy ride, but flew about 15 miles off shore, and the coast was visible the entire way.
As we approached, the coastal mountains created some turbulence that led to a bit of a bumpy ride. Flew over the ricefields with the mountains to our left and straight ahead, and touched down at the Hue Airport, which is located on a slight incline, and was originally built by the U.S. during the Vietnam War.
I already made hostel reservations in Hue, at the sister hostel of the place I stayed in Hanoi. The place in Hue proved to be much better. Whereas in Hanoi, most of the western staff created an atmosphere of get drunk or go home--one of them outright questioned me why I wasn't drinking, and one told me that his job was to get people "pissed"--australian slang for trashed, the Vietnamese staff couldn't have been nicer and more helpful. In Hue, there was only one westerner--the manager, who was a nice enough guy--and the rest were Vietnamese--all as nice and helpful as their Hanoi counterparts. The Hue hostel in general was a little bit more relaxed--drink if you want to, but there's zero pressure. Of course, they did provide free beer between 5 and 6 for hostel guests (not swill either--bottled local stuff that tasted heavenly after the hot afternoon sun).
Nearly lost it at the Hue airport--I tried to take the airport bus instead of a taxi, but the bus literally sat there and wasn't moving for a good 20 minutes--and both planes had already left (Hue's a small airport). After being frustrated for sitting in the non-air conditioned bus, I just said screw it and took a cab in.
Dumped off my stuff at the hostel, and then proceeded to wander around. The Perfume River (yes that's its actual name--not a tourist slogan) flows right through the center of town, and like any decent city with a long riverfront, Hue has created a long green area alongside it and filled it with statues and benches--forming a natural meeting point for residents of the city (and indeed it does--what do Vietnamese in Hue do on a nice friday or a saturday night? They take their girlfriend/wife/children to the river and enjoy the evening). Hue, by the way, was in the middle of a two week long arts and music festival, so all sorts of displays and temporary arenas were constructed along the river.
Looking upriver, hills and mountains come into view, all covered with green trees.
Crossed the nearest bridge and walked to the walled citadel--a massive enclosure that was once Hue proper, and contains the Vietnamese Forbidden City--the city has grown up around it, but the brick walls are well-preserved, as are some of the original buildings sitting on lush tree-lined streets.
It was in the Citadel that I did something that I shouldn't have done--it only cost me 5 bucks, but I should have trusted my gut and high-tailed it when I got the chance--a guy on his motorbike with his family pulls up and tells me he is an english teacher and that he would like to show me around for free--I don't have to pay (warning sign right there--nothing in SE Asia is free, unless you include sweat). Since the guy was with his family, I let my guard down a bit, but I knew I should have high-tailed it out of there when he said he would be back in 15 minutes.
I kept walking around, hoping he would forget/see that I wasn't there and head elsewhere. But nope, he was persistent and managed to find me--that's when I should have said thanks but no thanks, but you get guilt-tripped because they sound so sincere and nice. The bottom line: you want people to leave you alone, you have to be what westerners would consider rude, but it is perfectly acceptable by SE Asia standards.
Guy finds me and he drives me around the old city--which was quite nice--the place is beautiful--lots of canals, trees, and gardens, and Hue natives have built their houses around them.
Go the guys house, and he tells me all about his relatives, and how it was his lucky day to meet me, and maybe I would show him around in the U.S. if he came to the U.S. He keeps insisting to take me on all these day trips and the like, and I keep politely declining. Finally get him to take me to Thien Mu--one of the most famous pagodas in Vietnam--and is gorgeous. Beautiful setting, but even more beautiful is the view upriver of the surrounding mountains and the local boats heading to and fro. I wish I could go more into depth, but the pictures speak for themselves--and I've taken a lot of pictures.
I purposely get the guy to drop me off a couple of blocks from my hostel, just in case. He tells me I don't have to pay, but I offer to give him some money for gas--I get out some money--offer him 30,000, but he sees my bills, and promptly grabs a 100,000 note (about five bucks)--I realize the money means more to him than me, but give me a freaking break--talk about a scam artist. I was just disgusted, and forced me to put up my guard even more.
Took a break, and hired a motorbike to take me to some of the imperial tombs in the afternoon. The tombs are upriver, and are built along the hillside. There are five sites, but you only really need to see two of them to get the full gist--especially when you do it in the afternoon, like I did, when it is boiling outside and you are sweating in places you didn't know you had sweatglands.
The tombs are spectacular--more like open air mausoleum than tombs, on well-manicured and landscaped grounds with ponds and various gardens. In terms of architecture--it is pretty similar to traditional chinese architecture--whereas the traditional architecture of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand all share similar features, the mountain range running down west Vietnam appears to have formed a physical divide and prevented the spread of that tradition to Vietnam.
It was just hot as hell--easily the second hottest place I've been in other than Cambodia (Vietnam has the harsher sun and less havens from it, Cambodia has the hotter winds).
Like I said, the free beer at the hostel tasted great when you've just been outdoors in around 100+degree ready and a glaring sun.
Had an early wake up call (not so surprising--in these past 8.5 weeks, I've probably had more pre-630am wake up times than I've had in the past six years combined--including my 10pm wake up call for Merapi) to take the DMZ tour, which takes the entire day, mainly because of the considerable amount of driving involved.
I have to admit, I was somewhat disappointed by the DMZ tour--but most of that is due to my own expectations. When you imagine the DMZ, you think it will be a place like the borderland between South Korea and North Korea, that the area will be deserted and preserved the way it looked nearly 30 years ago.
That said, it's been 30 years--and Vietnam has been united since then. Life goes on, people move on, and the DMZ pretty much resembles the rest of the Vietnamese countryside--with one notable exception--all the buildings were built after 1975--lots of ricefields and farmers, with various villages along the highways. The legendary McNamara line is no more--and only a rusted American tank, somewhat hidden from the highway, shows where the line once stretched.
I would have probably gotten more out of the tour if I had done some reading beforehand, had grown up in the 60s, or was led by a vet who could point out what some of the sites used to look like.
We started out by driving along highway 9--the main east to west artery that was built originally by the French and is now part of a larger international route that links Vietnam to Thailand through Laos. During the Vietnam War, highway 9 was the main transit route for Americans, as American bases and airfields populated either side of the road. Very little remains, though, of these bases, aside from various depressions.
You drive up into the hills near the Lao border, and the views of the riverside and the hills are spectacular, and you begin to appreciate the difficulty of waging a war in these conditions. The Rockpile and Razorback Ridge are easily visible from highway 9, as is one river crossing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
The trip up highway 9 culminated at Khe Sanh--the site of an American base, and a bloody battle between the North Vietnamese and the Americans. The base is in a beautiful location--in a high valley surrounded by high mountains and hills. Little remains of the actual base though--only a few depressions where buildings were obviously situated, and the airstrip itself. The place is now one giant coffee growing plantation, except for the runway, which, for some reason, won't allow anything to grow on it. Because of the changing times, it is extremely difficult to imagine or picture the battle--but that doesn't make it any less real to those brave soldiers who endured it.
Drove back down Highway 9, past the DMZ and north to the town of Vinh Moc--notable because they built a series of underground tunnels where the villagers lived for six years. The war is most visible there, as bomb craters and depressions surround the site, and it is pretty amazing to think that an entire village was able to endure the war by hiding out in these tunnels.
Crossed over the traditional dividing river between North and South, where remnants of propaganda blasting loudspeakers still linger on both sides.
Again, the current state of the DMZ makes difficult to picture that a war once took place there--evidence is hidden, and you have to know what you are looking for in order to see signs that something took place--occasionally you see small circular depressions along the roadside that don't look natural, and the plant life is generally stunted--it all looks young and the forests are second growth--indicative of the defoliants used by the U.S. to clear the vegetation from the area.
Driving back to Hue, got caught up in the typical afternoon rain that falls, but makes for a spectacular scene. I've never seen a greener place--and it is vivid, kelly green, not dry faded green.
Of course, the advantage of the rain is that it actually cools off after it falls--and it feels so much nicer out.
Watched the world cup that night--didn't have much of a choice--no tv in any bar was showing anything else, although my hostel owner tried to keep it on Aussie Rules Football for as long as possible, and we had fun making fun of the soccer players (he isn't a fan, and neither am I--not until they eliminate diving).
Slept in a little bit the next day, since my body was drained from two straight pre 6am wakeups, and walked over to the Forbidden City--a beautiful place where the Vietnamese emperor once lived--like the tombs, the place looks very Chinese--although there is a big picture of Uncle Ho on the frontgate, just like Mao is on the Forbidden City in Beijing. Vietnamese tourists easily outnumbered western tourists by about four to one--as the former center of power of the Vietnamese ruling family, Hue is understandably a popular tourist destination for Vietnamese. Vietnamese tourists were all very nice and kind--and whenever I asked them about the ho chi minh city/saigon debate, all insisted that the city is called Saigon--a point that was most emphasized by Saigon natives.
Even though I was there in the morning, it got hot early and fast, and by noon or so I was wilting in the heat. I actually needed to take about a 2.5-3 hour break to fully recuperate I was so drained. Then the monsoons came early, which cooled things off, and I took a one hour boat ride on the perfume river.
The ride was nice in the fading afternoon light, and because the rain cleared out alot of the haze in the air, you could clearly see the outlines of mountains farther out--ones that I hadn't seen before from the same location. What made the trip, though, was a giant rainbow. It was easily the largest and most vivid rainbow that I have ever seen--and was awe-inspiring to look at.
I understandably chose sleep over soccer, and didn't watch the England-US game--a decision that I am more than happy with considering that if I had watched the game, I would have slept on the bus ride and missed out on four hours of spectacular scenery.
Post delay once more
I was going to try to post a recap of Hue and my bus ride from Hue to Hoi an--one of the most scenic bus rides I've ever taken--but I've only been able to find one internet cafe that is not in my hotel/hostel, and unfortunately that internet cafe is right next to a busy street--lots of motorbike engines and horns; a construction site--lots of noise; and somehow only manages to only have one working oscillating fan during the hottest part of the day.
Sorry, but it will have to wait--the extra noise coupled with my participation in a wet tshirt contest isn't worth enduring.
Sorry, but it will have to wait--the extra noise coupled with my participation in a wet tshirt contest isn't worth enduring.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Hue Delay
Sorry for the delay in posting--I assure you I am alive and well--the problem is that my hostel only has two computers and I'd rather not be a computer hog. Unfortunately, this post will be brief because the internet cafe I am at, for whatever reason, has a funky keyboard that is attuned to a non-english language. which means that i can't type as fast as I want, and it is a pain in the rear end to finish words. For example: hơ ảe you today?--me trying to say hơ ảe you on thí computê.
brìe summảy ò hue
ví sit citadel, old city, fỏbiđen city
old nguyen tombs
beautìul rivẻ setting
did the dmz tỏu ýêteday (bit ò a díappointment, but i ưill ẽplain latẻ)
mónôn séaon hẻe
grên rice fields
frê bêr at hótel
vẻy social atmóphẻ
vietnam ảiliné skyteam joy
taking lót ò pictúe
scammed by "teachẻ"
hottét place othẻ than cambodia
I just typed all that without making any changes to the words.
In case you are interested what I have been reading, though, hêre are the books that I've read ỏ am reading on the trip:
Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
The Ravens by ChristophẻR Robbins (u.s. pilots in the lao secret war)
The Gate by Francois Bizot (westerner's memoir of his time in a khmer rouge prison camp)
In Retrospect by Robert McNamâra (a must read, even if your copy was bought on the streets of bangkok and has more typos than this email)
I didn't read a book for one month, because I was toting around the decline and fall of the roman empire with me, which bored me to tears and I tried to avoid reading it all costs. ẠJ called me out on it in Laos, and i've been reading ưhenẻvẻ i get the chance nơ.
Going to Hoi An tmw.
brìe summảy ò hue
ví sit citadel, old city, fỏbiđen city
old nguyen tombs
beautìul rivẻ setting
did the dmz tỏu ýêteday (bit ò a díappointment, but i ưill ẽplain latẻ)
mónôn séaon hẻe
grên rice fields
frê bêr at hótel
vẻy social atmóphẻ
vietnam ảiliné skyteam joy
taking lót ò pictúe
scammed by "teachẻ"
hottét place othẻ than cambodia
I just typed all that without making any changes to the words.
In case you are interested what I have been reading, though, hêre are the books that I've read ỏ am reading on the trip:
Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
The Ravens by ChristophẻR Robbins (u.s. pilots in the lao secret war)
The Gate by Francois Bizot (westerner's memoir of his time in a khmer rouge prison camp)
In Retrospect by Robert McNamâra (a must read, even if your copy was bought on the streets of bangkok and has more typos than this email)
I didn't read a book for one month, because I was toting around the decline and fall of the roman empire with me, which bored me to tears and I tried to avoid reading it all costs. ẠJ called me out on it in Laos, and i've been reading ưhenẻvẻ i get the chance nơ.
Going to Hoi An tmw.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
DIY Halong Bay in the Ricefields
So, I didn't go to Ha Long Bay--that doesn't mean that I didn't get my fill of the karst landscape, though. About two hours away from Hanoi (three according to LP...) via the public bus which was actually better and nicer than some of the "v.i.p" buses that I've taken in other countries.
I honestly don't remember when my last haircut was--so, this morning, when I woke up at 6am, I go to the bathroom, and discover that I could pass for an 80s soft rock singer--my yellow mane looking almost like a mullet, as it floated above my head. Fortunately, I spared others the sight of me looking like Hall and Oates, and tamed the mane via a brief shower.
I was going to take the night train to Hue tonight, and I figured, like I did last night, that this is se asia--booking less than 24 hours in advance isn't a problem, I'll get it, etc. Well, there was a problem--the only seats available on the night train to Hue were "hard sleepers." If I was travelling with someone else, I might have considered it, but I'm not, so I just decided to hop on a plane tmw morning--I actually get to Hue earlier than the train gets in, and thus, don't have to waste a day. And the plane wasn't that much more expensive than what I would have paid for a sleeper seat on the train if I had gotten a first class or a soft sleeper.
Looking up other options for what to do for the day, I discovered in the LP guidebook a place called Tam Coc, which they described as Ha Long Bay in the ricefields. I figured I had nothing else to lose, so I might as well do it. Took a motorbike to the bus station, and was greeted by the site of the typical polluted haze over Hanoi.
After being ushered through the bus station where I bought my ticket, I get on a bus--and I sit--and sit--and sit. The bus leaves every hour and I got there with 45 minutes to spare. Fortunately, it was airconditioned--something I wasn't necessarily expecting. We finally get started, slowing down every so often to pull in additional passengers, and then hit the road. Of course, the serenade of honking never ends--and my head is basically pounding by the halfway point. View from the road is interesting, as you see the ridgeline of karst mountains outlining the foreground of the green and yellow ricefields. Interestingly, for a majority buddhist country, there are occasional churches plopped out in the middle of the ricefields.
Get to Ninh Binh--the bus stop, and a motorbike driver promptly swoops in and takes me to Tam Coc. A word about Vietnamese motorbike drivers for hire--though traffic may be a mess--chaos doesn't even begin to describe it--they are all equipped with an additional helmet for their passenger--a first in SE Asia--and they insist that you wear it. Of course, the helmet doesn't really cover all that much--just the crown of the head--think of it as a fortified ball cap--but it is nice to know that they at least care, in theory, about their passenger's safety.
Tam Coc is basically a river through the karst landscape that rises above the ricefields. It certainly spectacular, but, as blase as this sounds, once you see the first couple of karsts, it kind of starts to get a little boring, especially when the sun is beating down on you. I was glad that the boat ride I took was only the standard two hours--in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't do the Ha Long Bay cruise--I think I would have been bored shitless after the first couple of hours, and probably subsequently disgusted by the rest of the booze cruisers.
Interesting/funny story of the day: after getting back to the bus station, I had to use the toilet. My problem: I don't know the Vietnamese word for toilet. Whoops. When I said toilet the first time, they pointed to their watch thinking I had said something about the time. Acting like a dumb/stupid westerner who comes to a place without knowing the language, and expecting the locals to speak english perfectly, I repeated the word toilet, only saying it louder. When they, not so surprisingly, didn't understand what I was saying, I did one of the most awkward sign language gestures of my life: I mimicked unzipping my pants and holding my genitalia as any normal male would do when they pissed. It might have been awkward, but, hey, it worked--they realized what I wanted and pointed directly to the toilet--and I was able to relieve myself, as well as probably be the talk of the local bus station for a couple of days, as the guys I tried to ask started laughing, and I saw them imitating me as I walked back.
It was certainly a fine way to kill a day, but I'm glad to be moving down to Hue and seeing the rest of Vietnam, even if it means a 4am wakeup call to get to the airport. It will be nice to get away from the horns. My general plan--see the citadel and some of the tombs tmw, and then the next day, do a DMZ tour--Hue was very close to the DMZ, and its airport started off as an American forward landing strip.
I honestly don't remember when my last haircut was--so, this morning, when I woke up at 6am, I go to the bathroom, and discover that I could pass for an 80s soft rock singer--my yellow mane looking almost like a mullet, as it floated above my head. Fortunately, I spared others the sight of me looking like Hall and Oates, and tamed the mane via a brief shower.
I was going to take the night train to Hue tonight, and I figured, like I did last night, that this is se asia--booking less than 24 hours in advance isn't a problem, I'll get it, etc. Well, there was a problem--the only seats available on the night train to Hue were "hard sleepers." If I was travelling with someone else, I might have considered it, but I'm not, so I just decided to hop on a plane tmw morning--I actually get to Hue earlier than the train gets in, and thus, don't have to waste a day. And the plane wasn't that much more expensive than what I would have paid for a sleeper seat on the train if I had gotten a first class or a soft sleeper.
Looking up other options for what to do for the day, I discovered in the LP guidebook a place called Tam Coc, which they described as Ha Long Bay in the ricefields. I figured I had nothing else to lose, so I might as well do it. Took a motorbike to the bus station, and was greeted by the site of the typical polluted haze over Hanoi.
After being ushered through the bus station where I bought my ticket, I get on a bus--and I sit--and sit--and sit. The bus leaves every hour and I got there with 45 minutes to spare. Fortunately, it was airconditioned--something I wasn't necessarily expecting. We finally get started, slowing down every so often to pull in additional passengers, and then hit the road. Of course, the serenade of honking never ends--and my head is basically pounding by the halfway point. View from the road is interesting, as you see the ridgeline of karst mountains outlining the foreground of the green and yellow ricefields. Interestingly, for a majority buddhist country, there are occasional churches plopped out in the middle of the ricefields.
Get to Ninh Binh--the bus stop, and a motorbike driver promptly swoops in and takes me to Tam Coc. A word about Vietnamese motorbike drivers for hire--though traffic may be a mess--chaos doesn't even begin to describe it--they are all equipped with an additional helmet for their passenger--a first in SE Asia--and they insist that you wear it. Of course, the helmet doesn't really cover all that much--just the crown of the head--think of it as a fortified ball cap--but it is nice to know that they at least care, in theory, about their passenger's safety.
Tam Coc is basically a river through the karst landscape that rises above the ricefields. It certainly spectacular, but, as blase as this sounds, once you see the first couple of karsts, it kind of starts to get a little boring, especially when the sun is beating down on you. I was glad that the boat ride I took was only the standard two hours--in hindsight, I'm glad I didn't do the Ha Long Bay cruise--I think I would have been bored shitless after the first couple of hours, and probably subsequently disgusted by the rest of the booze cruisers.
Interesting/funny story of the day: after getting back to the bus station, I had to use the toilet. My problem: I don't know the Vietnamese word for toilet. Whoops. When I said toilet the first time, they pointed to their watch thinking I had said something about the time. Acting like a dumb/stupid westerner who comes to a place without knowing the language, and expecting the locals to speak english perfectly, I repeated the word toilet, only saying it louder. When they, not so surprisingly, didn't understand what I was saying, I did one of the most awkward sign language gestures of my life: I mimicked unzipping my pants and holding my genitalia as any normal male would do when they pissed. It might have been awkward, but, hey, it worked--they realized what I wanted and pointed directly to the toilet--and I was able to relieve myself, as well as probably be the talk of the local bus station for a couple of days, as the guys I tried to ask started laughing, and I saw them imitating me as I walked back.
It was certainly a fine way to kill a day, but I'm glad to be moving down to Hue and seeing the rest of Vietnam, even if it means a 4am wakeup call to get to the airport. It will be nice to get away from the horns. My general plan--see the citadel and some of the tombs tmw, and then the next day, do a DMZ tour--Hue was very close to the DMZ, and its airport started off as an American forward landing strip.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Meeting Uncle Ho
Moscow has Comrade Lenin. Beijing has Chairman Mao. Hanoi has Uncle Ho.
Despite what you might think, Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh to us westerners) isn't buried in his namesake city, the former Saigon. Actually, he isn't buried at all. He's embalmed and on display in a mausoleum in Hanoi--and if you want a true Vietnamese cultural experience, join the hordes of Vietnamese, and wait in "line" to pay your respects to the man.
Why did I put "line" in quotes? There's no such thing as a "line" in Vietnam. At least to check your bag. You'd think people might be a little more respectful, considering this is probably one of the holiest "nationalist" sites in Vietnam, but nope. Elbows fly, people jostle for position--and I think some of them were doing it deliberately, just because they could get away with it. The concept of "personal space" is about as foreign in Vietnam as my fair skin and yellow hair.
It probably took about 30-45 minutes for the line to finally enter the mausoleum itself--and native vietnamese outnumber westerners by a margin of about 40:1, if not more. Communist pomp and pageantry is on full display here--with white gloved, white uniformed, white hatted guards, whose formal dress is accented by the polished brass buttons and buckles, and various medals--all marching in parade form.
Despite what you might think, Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh to us westerners) isn't buried in his namesake city, the former Saigon. Actually, he isn't buried at all. He's embalmed and on display in a mausoleum in Hanoi--and if you want a true Vietnamese cultural experience, join the hordes of Vietnamese, and wait in "line" to pay your respects to the man.
Why did I put "line" in quotes? There's no such thing as a "line" in Vietnam. At least to check your bag. You'd think people might be a little more respectful, considering this is probably one of the holiest "nationalist" sites in Vietnam, but nope. Elbows fly, people jostle for position--and I think some of them were doing it deliberately, just because they could get away with it. The concept of "personal space" is about as foreign in Vietnam as my fair skin and yellow hair.
It probably took about 30-45 minutes for the line to finally enter the mausoleum itself--and native vietnamese outnumber westerners by a margin of about 40:1, if not more. Communist pomp and pageantry is on full display here--with white gloved, white uniformed, white hatted guards, whose formal dress is accented by the polished brass buttons and buckles, and various medals--all marching in parade form.
They change guards or add a new wreath every 15-20 minutes or so, which pauses the entire line for a couple of minutes. Of course, you have to check your camera (which magically winds up at another place by the time you finish), and are serenaded by the sounds of Vietnamese singing patriotic hymns on some of the lcd boards along the line.
The mausoleum itself screams eastern bloc communism, but is not nearly as brutal looking as other such structures. The best way for me to describe it would be a communist interpretation of a traditional greek temple--dark gray marble, with square columns, forming a solid mass that towers over the flat landscape.
Once inside the mausoleum, which is thankfully air conditioned, the lines end and its pretty much a free for all. The inside is dimly lit, but also very clean--kind of felt like I was back in the Beinecke rare book library, actually--you struggle to keep your footing as the crowds swarm around you before you enter the chamber. Uncle Ho sits in a glass case lit by reddish light, and is separated from you by a waist high wall forming a barrier, and one vietnamese guard stands by each corner of the glass case. Other guards line the walkway, urging people around, tugging on your hand and wrist urging you to move along. They are harsher to the vietnamese, though--I saw one guard physically yank one guy's hand out of his pocket, as if to urge him to be respectful. I won't fully describe Uncle Ho, for fear of possible censorship and or expulsion (I don't know how strict the party is in Vietnam, nor do I care to find out), but I'll write two words: Madame Tussaud's.
It is a good thing, though, that Uncle Ho is embalmed--for the avowed communist would probably be rolling over in his grave if he saw the scene around his mausoleum. The best example of the fact that though the U.S. may have lost the physical war, we have won the ideological war, can be seen just yards from where he now lies for eternity--small kiosks, and some not so small kiosks, sponsored by some not so small corporations (Fujifilm anybody?) line the pathways in the area surrounding his mausoleum. A Vietnamese-version of Starbucks sits alongside the line. Vendors sell various knicknacks and chotchkes. Vietnamese schoolchildren walk into his tomb wearing hats provided to them by Yamaha and designer (or at least, designer knock off) blue jeans. Vietnam is indeed CINO.
Walked the brief distance along Dien Bien Phu avenue (the Vietnamese glorify this battle all over the city--it would be like Washington D.C. having one of its main thoroughfares named Yorktown) to the Army Museum, bracing myself for the propaganda that I will almost assuredly see and encounter. I didn't know it was possible, but my blood managed to boil more at the Army Museum than at the Revolution museum. You walk through the usual displays about the french and the like, and then you hit the American area--among other items, on display is the exact tank used to break the gate at the Saigon Presidential Palace.
The stuff that really got to me were the various relics of American soldiers and downed airmen present throughout the section--they have old flight helmets, old army/air force clothing, personal possessions, and even the manufacturing serial plates from downed aircraft. It was only natural to wonder about the fate of those whose items were on display. Were they killed instantly? Were they captured and imprisoned? Did they ever return back to the U.S.? What about their families and the lives that they left back home? How many of them left wives and children who were told the news that their husband/father was not coming back alive? How many know that their husband/brother/son/father's gear is now on display in a museum as a war trophy?
Captions of villagers and vietnamese soldiers who killed many Americans as heroes also incensed me. Most of the Americans in Vietnam weren't there voluntarily--they were conscripts, fighting in a war that from a foreign policy standpoint, didn't make a whole lot of sense--fighting in a place that most of them had probably never heard about until the 60s.
Look, I understand that is only natural for any ruling party to build a national heroic narrative--every country does it--but it is weird, as an American, to be on the otherside of that narrative--as the enemy, as the "foreign devil," as the "imperialist"--but I just thought the displays in Hanoi were just over the top in their absurdity--they didn't make even the slightest attempt of telling the entire story--it is merely about glorifying the communist party.
Next to the museum, in some outside yards, are various military aircraft on display--some captured war booty in perfect condition, some legendary Vietnamese fighter planes/tanks responsible for all sorts of "heroic deeds."
The museum itself is across the street from a larger than life sized black marble statue of Vladimir Lenin, in Lenin Park.
You can't help noticing the irony--communism, a governing philosophy built around the idea of eliminating the elite and providing for everyone, breeding a culture that glorifies several figures, and devoting gosh knows how much money to insuring that the memories and the memorials of these leaders are in immaculate condition, while some of their countrymen continue to live in poverty around them. You can only wonder what Chairman Mao and Uncle Ho would think about the mausoleums? Would they be corrupted and enjoy themselves, or would they be ideologically pure and denounce such displays as overly extravagant--a sign that the party has been corrupted by the bourgeoisie?
Spent the rest of the day wandering around the old quarter, revealing that Hanoi can be extremely disorienting--but it was great to explore, and see the narrow alleyways. Tried some Bia Hoi--or fresh beer--a local specialty--that pretty much tastes like non-alcoholic beer, and its also dirt cheap--25 cents a glass. Walked down the park in the center of Hanoi--Hoa Kiem lake, which is simply beautiful, and the symbolic center of Hanoi--barring the sight of vietnamese and some chinese pagodas, you could have easily been in the center of some european city--that's what it felt like.
As I mentioned previously, I did not go to Halong Bay--instead today I went to Ninh Binh to go see Tam Coc--an experience that I will describe a little later.
The night trains to Hue were all booked, so instead, I am flying to Hue at 630am tmw morning on Vietnam Airlines.
Swing and a miss
So, I had considered going to Ha Long Bay, but, for whatever reason, was kind of turned off by the tours my hostel was offering--namely, they were basically booze cruises, and I tend to get bored pretty quickly of sitting around in the sun with nothing to do--they are also relatively expensive (by vietnam standards). Besides, I take two medicines that work on my liver, which means that my liver can't keep up (nor do I really want to keep up) with these gap year brits, and aussies and kiwis that can drink like fish anyway. The other options I was looking at didn't really have the same appeal to me, namely because I was afraid that I was going to be stuck with a bunch of old geezers. Of course, I change my mind when tonight I happen to meet a bunch of people who I actually like and who are going on the tour, but, of course, the tour is all booked up. Oh well--to be fair, while the scenery looks amazing, if I had really wanted to do it, I would have had it booked well in advance, and I was kind of mixed on it. I'm not much of a beach/bay person, and I'd probably increase my skin cancer risk tenfold.
What does that mean? That means that I have an unexpected day with nothing to do, depending on how much Vietnam Airlines charges to fly to Hue (considering how far the Hanoi airport is from Hanoi, I'm really not so sure I want to take that haul out there again). Instead, what I will do is probably find a good day trip, and do that, and come back in time to take the night train to Hue. Day tripping to Halong bay is not really much of an option, considering it is a 3.5 hour bus ride there, one way.
To be honest, I might have to "kill a day" but I'd also gain a day, and from what I've been hearing, as great as Ha Long bay might be, Hue, and specifically Hoi An, is much more of my "style" and what I would rather be doing anyway--wandering around and exploring, instead of being stuck on a boat. Those of you who know me know that I have somewhat limited patience and can be restless at times, and I'm pretty sure that the boat thing would probably get old after a couple of hours.
The other alternative, though, is to take a ten hour bus to Hue, and get to see the countryside in the daytime. I can book a hostel in advance, and have that arranged. Whatever happens, as usual, I will keep you posted.
What does that mean? That means that I have an unexpected day with nothing to do, depending on how much Vietnam Airlines charges to fly to Hue (considering how far the Hanoi airport is from Hanoi, I'm really not so sure I want to take that haul out there again). Instead, what I will do is probably find a good day trip, and do that, and come back in time to take the night train to Hue. Day tripping to Halong bay is not really much of an option, considering it is a 3.5 hour bus ride there, one way.
To be honest, I might have to "kill a day" but I'd also gain a day, and from what I've been hearing, as great as Ha Long bay might be, Hue, and specifically Hoi An, is much more of my "style" and what I would rather be doing anyway--wandering around and exploring, instead of being stuck on a boat. Those of you who know me know that I have somewhat limited patience and can be restless at times, and I'm pretty sure that the boat thing would probably get old after a couple of hours.
The other alternative, though, is to take a ten hour bus to Hue, and get to see the countryside in the daytime. I can book a hostel in advance, and have that arranged. Whatever happens, as usual, I will keep you posted.
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