Hanoi, Vietnam - WTF (Watch Those Feet)

Those who are old enough to remember the Atari gaming classic, "Frogger", is aware of the chaotic traffic that the poor little frog has to endure to reach his home across the river. Fast forward to present day Hanoi - where the Frogger scenario is played out literally the second you step foot onto the streets.

Crossing the street involves a delicate balance of speed and guts. Standing at an intersection waiting to cross in Canada might persuade some drivers to stop out of common courtesy and let you cross, but here, its a whole different ball game. The technique is quite simple once you get the hang of it... look in the direction that traffic is approaching, and just walk slowly... SLOWLY!!! The drivers of cars and (mostly) scooters will just drive around you. You can't let the odd honk scare you into running, because doing so will certainly cause a chaotic traffic accident involving yourself, and about 200 scooters piled on your (very) dead body.

Other than crossing roads, Hanoi is quite an interesting city. Its a bit overwhelming coming from Laos, where the pace of life was of an old man with a walker. Again, the internet isn't so fast here so I can't really upload any photos right now, but I'll try to asap.



Moving along - I just came back from a two day trip to Ha Long Bay...

Ha Long Bay

Ever wanted to sleep on an old refurbished Chinese Junk boat? Well, this is the place to do it... it was actually a lot nicer than I had expected. There were full services, and a private room with air conditioning, toilet, and hot shower... not exactly roughing it. I think the surprise comes from the fact that I was used to sleeping with at least a few mosquitoes, spiders, and ants in my room from the last two countries.

Anyhow, we literally just sat on this boat, and did a tour of some of the most heavily touristed places in Asia - Ha Long Bay. This bay consists of thousands of tiny little rock-islands that protrude from the water, formed millions of years ago from flowing water. Its quite beautiful, and its definitely worth the 50 dollars I paid. There were cheaper tours available, but the words, "air conditioning" is like music to my ears lately.

We walked up to a cave called "Surprising Cave". This cave is HUGE! If you were Batman, and were looking for a cave for all your gizmos and gadgets, not to mention a huge cavernous place to chill in Southeast Asia - this is the place to do it. This was followed by some kayaking, and then a lot of chilling out on the boat... oh... and eating. Lots of eating.



First Impressions

So far, Vietnam is quite the interesting place to be. The taste is kindof bittersweet... coming from such a slow and relaxed pace of Laos, and even Thailand - getting accustomed to the pace of life here is kind of tough. Oh, not to mention that things are a whole lot more expensive here.

People are generally very friendly, but you kindof have to look out for some people who are looking to scam an extra buck off of you. For example, the first guesthouse we stayed at originally quoted 8 dollars a night... the following morning was 10 dollars, with a 1% tax, poorly miscalculated to becoming 11 dollars. How did I let it happen? Well, its only 11 dollars, but you get the point. I would post the name to avert potential travelers from staying there (definitely wasn't in the Lonely Planet, but they tried tricking us to thinking that it was), but the name escapes me right now.

The amount of waste that this city generates is appalling. I mean, North Americans aren't one to boast their recycling and waste policies, but there is just garbage EVERYWHERE on these streets. Along with the garbage comes the smell, and the funny milky-coloured water that runs along the gutters of the streets... don't ask. The air pollution hovers here like a hot fart in a cardboard box, and its compounded by the fact that there is about 1000 scooters and cars that pass through any given intersection per hour for at least 18 hours of a day.

Another strange, yet interesting thing to note is that everyone thinks that I'm either:
1) Japanese
2) Korean
3) Vietnamese
... in that order. Why? Maybe its because the facial hair throws people off. Who knows... I'm going to start my conversations with 'Kon-ichi-wa' just to see what happens these next few days.

Anyhow, tomorrow night we're headed to Hoi An. Apparently its supposed to be like a little beach town on the mid-east coast of Vietnam... back to a nice slow pace yet again. I can't wait! ... well, other than the fact that I need to endure another 14 hour bus ride.