Back home

The last spot we traveled to before heading home was Halong Bay, part of the Gulf of Tonkin. A green ocean spotted with tall limestone islands, Halong Bay is an amazing destination. We did a two day tour through Ocean Tours on the Hai Au Star, and loved it. It was the perfect blend of relaxation and activity. I wished we could stay a week. I need photos for more words…

Anna and I are back home from Cambodia and Vietnam. We are tired and dragging from the jetlag, but we both really enjoyed our time in the two countries. Never enough time, as usual. Will probably do some more writing about the two countries, as we didn’t spend much time in net cafes while we were there. Photos should start to come some time later in the week – it takes a while to sort and process them.

Bia Hoi

Only have time for a quick post before the tour bus gets here…

We had wanted to try out Bia Hoi (fresh beer) in Saigon, but didn’t get around to finding a watering hole near our hotel. When went looking for one in Hanoi when we arrived, but they were all closed (11pm). Everything seemed to be closed after ten in Hanoi. Saigon kept going all night. Bia hoi is a light (4% alch) lager (almost a pilsner, but not as bitter) that is brewed and consumed daily. Usually served on the street, the beer is also dirt cheap. Depending on the rate of white-face-tax, you can usually pick up about four pints for a buck, and the food at a bia hoi place is cheap as well.

Yesterday after a long walk we finally managed to get some bia hoi. We stopped in at one busy shop near our hotel, and grabbed some seats on the first floor (second floor). There was a party of some sort finishing up near us, so we made our way through the peanut shells and paper napkins to snag a table. These places don’t seem to be touristed at all, so we had a pretty warm welcome.

We ordered a couple glasses and watched the guys next to us get more and more red faced. I’ve heard some disparaging remarks about the taste of bia hoi, but I found it quite good. Served in a cold glass, the light body is perfectly suited for the weather. I polished off three glasses. A bia hoi spot seems to be the perfect place to take a break. You can sit and relax, or make a toast and a few friends.

PS – The bia hoi staff also seemed to be some of the most deserving of a tip. They were friendly, hard working, and seemed to be on the lower end of the income scale. Most of the staff seemed to live at the joint (they were collecting their laundry and rolling out sleep mats as we left), and were hungry enough to finished off food that guests left behind. Since your bill is probably only a buck, there shouldn’t be any excuse for tight wallets.

Random Ha Noi

We arrived in Ha Noi around 10 PM last night. Our singing cabbie with a musical horn provided us with an adrenaline filled drive from the airport. Once the traffic opens up, everyone takes the opportunity to drive as fast as they can, regardless of lanes or the potential for smearing the scooter driver beside them into a wall. There is less traffic here than in Saigon, but the drivers seem a bit crazier. Its like a really fun video game, except no one wears helmets or seatbelts in this version. Good times.

One thing you will also be quick to notice in Vietnam – music. They love saccharine love songs, and lots of singing. A good bit of prime time tv here is game shows where the host, contestants, and some random other people all end up singing at some point. But it isn’t just TV, random people through the day will break into song. Maybe it is just all the practice, but I have to say, most of them are pretty good.

Today we wandered around Hanoi’s old quarter maze. Hanoi’s streets used to be arranged by guild – ie metal workers street. These days it isn’t followed as much, but there are still streets where you find a whole lot of one thing. Need to get your grave stone done? I know where to take you.

Hanoi seems more tourist driven than Saigon, but that’s probably just the old quarter. During your walk you have to fend off fruit cyclos, motos, and fruit vendors. The street vendors in Saigon just sort of eyed us over before getting back to work. Here the buggers cross the street to get to you, slap the fruit on your shoulder and say “Picture!” Then try to sell you a couple bananas for some crazy price. You need to keep your sense of humor.

The moto guys always seem to be precariously perched & lounging on their scooter seat when I see them. I aren’t real motivated, the biggest sales pitch I get is a half assed eyebrow nod and a “moto?”. Though some also do the shifty-eye and then say “maruwanna” in a low voice. I always laugh and say no. The cyclos on the other hand, those guys might follow you for a block before jumping on an easier target. They seem to always in a good mood though, so it can be a fun time.

Tomorrow it is off to Halong Bay for some kayaking & lounging on a junk. Back in Hanoi Friday night, then we fly out on Saturday. I wish we had more time…

Rule number one

Rule number one for air travel – check your flight before you leave for the airport. Of course, it helps if the airline actually lists that sort of information on the internet, or has an easy to call hotline. Ours doesn’t. But, thats what your friendly hotel staff should be for, we just weren’t that bright this morning.

Our Vietnam Airlines flight has been “delayed” nine hours – from 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM. The staff said, “no problem, go to your gate and we will feed you lunch and dinner”. Some how passing 9 hours on a chair and eating airport food didn’t sound fun. So we went the taxi voucher route to the Dong Khoi district. I picked the district because I thought 1) we need to use the internet to contact our hotel (and ride) in Hanoi and let them know about the flight change, and 2) we need to pass a lot of time.

Traffic took care of an hour for us. Getting “directions” to an internet cafe ate up another hour, so it is now 11 AM. Still better than sitting in a terminal. Finding a net cafe was particularly hard – usually you can’t swing a cat with out hitting a moto driver, a cyclo, and an internet cafe. But it was complicated by other factors…

I hadn’t had to deal with the “face” aspect of Asia culture too much. Mostly just to keep things light when in negotiations. But today I think I’ve figured out another aspect of “face”. If someone hesitates while giving directions and is a bit vague (general hand sweeps or points), then there might be a good chance that they are making it up. I’m assuming it is seen as better to give a wrong answer, than none at all.

Not knowing that some of the answers might not be so informative, we had a bit of a wild goose chase before we figured out we should only trust some answers. For the Harpers fans:

Saigon’s Index for Internet Cafe directions
(aka the rough statistics for the last hour and a half)

  • Total number of people asked for directions: 21
  • Total number of people that gave directions: 20
  • First person to give a correct answer: 11th person
  • Total number of people that gave correct directions: 3

Good times.

The “American War”

Anna here, posting while Chris is nursing a cold. Today I spent some time on my own in Saigon — getting lost and taking cyclos to get back on track. It takes a lot of my energy to strategize how I’m going to cross the street. By the time I get across several streets and a few massive, chaotic traffic circles I end up turned around and heading in the wrong direction. But it’s definitely no problem, still fun.

Today I went to the War Remnants Museum (American War Museum). Chris did not want to go. He wants to focus on Vietnam today, not in the past — which I respect and understand (even envy). That war was over before Chris was born, and Canada wasn’t involved. For me, that war was in my lifetime and I felt some need to display some reverence for the tragic events that my government participated in. After reading about the museum, I had opted to go to the Reunification Palace instead and avoid the disturbing photos. But the palace is under renovation this month — so off to the war museum I went.

I’m not really capable of describing how I felt from this experience, so I’ll just give a brief review of the museum. They had a lot of U.S. military equipment on display. Bombers and helicopters, bombs and tanks and bulldozers and many other weapon and chemical delivery devices, each with a description of what they were used for, how many were in Vietnam and when they arrived, and their effective distance and radius of destruction. Most of the rest of the exhibits were photos, with one wall of paintings by children about war and peace. In school, I learned about what we call the Vietnam war, but it’s a different scale to hear the story told from this side (the American war). Three million Vietnamese killed in that war, and the museum managed to make the point of the individuals — with before and after photos of victims of various massacres, their names and stories. It was impossible not to cry. I don’t understand the motivations for the types of weapons, chemicals and tactics — from this side it really does look like an attempted genocide.

On the up side, I was able to leave that behind when I left the museum. The chaos of the city wouldn’t let me dwell — it swept me back to today.

Anna