I'll try to keep this pretty short and sweet since there's a time limit on this computer. I've been in Hanoi just over 30 hours now, and wow, this place is really wild. First impressions after arriving on Laos airlines yesterday afternoon (which was better than I expected; Prop plane? yes. Worse than flying out of Bakersfield? absolutely not.)...Hanoi puts Manhattan traffic and LA pollution to shame. Complete shame. These people could drive from Manhattan to Jersey at 530pm with their eyes closed. I have never, ever seen so many damn motorbikes in my entire life. Ever. In 30minutes here, I saw 5 times more motorbikes than I've seen in my 21+ years of existence. No exaggeration. This city will be horrible. Way too hustle bustle; it will be just like Bangkok. Let's get out of here tomorrow (this initial impression turned out to be wrong...I actually really like this place). Anyway, those were my first impressions.
When we arrived, we hopped on a sketchy van to get to old town Hanoi, near where we wanted to stay, and for two bucks got an interesting ride from the airport to our destination 45minutes away--our destination being the side of the road somewhere in old town, who the hell knows where. When we got dropped off after 45minutes in awe of the traffic jam madness that is everywhere here, we were on an adventure to find Hanoi backpacker's hostel with a british couple, Patty and Jenny, and a Canadian couple that we had hung out with in Chiang Mai and happened to run into at the airport (cool coincidence). After about 30minutes of roaming without a clue (well, we had a map, but still...), we miraculously found Hanoi backpacker's hostel, and this place is really sweet. We're staying in a big dorm for the first time (8 people, mixed guys/girls), which is kind of a cool change. Right away we met a few more cool backpackers. After we got settled, it was time to check out the city. And by check out the city, I mean go to the 4th floor bar at our hostel to get ready for a hostel-organized pub crawl around Hanoi. A hostel, that organizes pub crawls? Umm yes, I think we'll stay a while.
Not 10 minutes after leaving our hostel with the group, around 10pm, we were lost from the group. Us, the british couple, and the canadian couple, lost in Hanoi at 10pm on our first night. Awesome. It took us a good 40minutes of walking aimlessly to finally find the group again, which was a pure miracle, but it ended up being one of those times where you're really glad you got lost because you saw some really cool stuff. Like 150000 motorbikes, and 150000 more vitanamese people eating on the ground outside of these street food stands. And people selling crap. Like fans. And pinapples. Anyways, it was a cool adventure. We found the rest of the group at another hostel bar (actually, the 2nd Hanoi backpackers hostel, they have two locations), and hung out there for a while before moving to the next bar. The next bar, called the Hair of the Dog Bar (huh?) was in a sort of sketchy part of town, but again it was really cool hanging out and meeting other travelers from all over, including another American (guy from Maryland) and a couple Danish guys with buzzed hair all up the sides and a little poof of spiked long hair on top (there were 3 of them, same style)...yes, I'll be getting my haircut like that later this week. We made it back around 2am, I got a nice much-needed tipsy shave in since the one bathroom we share with 8 was unoccupied, and then crashed.
Today, we woke up ready to explore this crazy place. We grabbed some free breakfast at the hostel (baguette and banana, not terrible), and were off with the patty and jenny to explore. Early on in the day, I learned the art of crossing a street in Hanoi. Here's the deal. No one stops. Ever. There are exactly zero stops in motorbike traffic. It's not as if you could just wait until traffic passes by and then run across the street like you can on Foothill at 2pm. It's more like trying to cross the busiest street in whatever town you live in at rush hour. So, you close your eyes. Pray to the god of your choice. And walk. Seriously, that's exactly what you do. The motorbikers go right around you, aiming for where you currently are with the assumption that you'll keep moving--so you do NOT stop. Pick your pace, and go. It is completely insane...[and I've heard Saigon is ten times worse, so I need to perfect this art by the weekend.] So, tomorrow, go to the busiest street in your town, close your eyes, and start walking...I'm sure the cars will just go right around you, and you'll make it to the other side. Just kidding, don't do that.
Anyways, we had lunch at Cafe Pho Co after looking for a place to eat FOREVER (there are no damn restaurants in this town, only shops, and street fruit. Apparently they eat pinapple, bananas, and...cotton.). Cafe Pho Co was courtesy of Lonely Planet, which marks the first time that the guide has actually had a good restaurant suggestion. It was kind of expensive compared to Thailand and Laos, but not bad, and it was quite good. I had sweet and sour shrimp with rice (no so viatnamese, I know, but at least it's asian food). After lunch we decided to go check out the famous Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanoi_Hilton), you know, the one where John McCain supposedly hung out for a while (I believe the length of his stay was heavily debated in the last election...). It was really, really, really interesting. [We haven't done much touristy history stuff since Hong Kong]. There's a self guided tour, sort of like Alcatraz, with cool info, pictures, actual cells, manicans depicting how the prisoners were locked up, etc. Apparently, it was quite a hell hole when the French were running it, though quite different when it was used for POWs during Viatnam. The way it's depicted in the museum, the Americans that stayed there during Viatnam hung out in style. They played basketball, made fresh meals, had Christmas dinner, watched great movies, etc. For some reason, I highly doubt that the Vietnamese soliders were all buddy buddy with the American soliders that were TRYING TO BOMB THEM...But, in any case, it was super interesting, and I'm really glad we checked it out. I have a few good pictures that I'll post when I'm on a fast enough computer.
After the prison, we walked the streets of Hanoi for what seemed like 2hours until we finally made it to the Temple of Literature (
http://asiaforvisitors.com/vietnam/north/hanoi/templit/index.html), a really old University founded on Confucious principals back in the year 1070, or around there. It's apparently one of the only preserved examples of traditional Vietnamese architecture, and it was awesome. It's laid out on a big grass square, with an eloquant enterance and the university on the interior. However, it's not a traditional university with buildings and classrooms. Teachings came from big, gravestone looking pieces laid out under outdoor cabana type things...there were rows and rows of these teaching stones, all with a turtle head at the bottom (I think this represents wisdom)...I have some cool pictures--I'll post them later. Not a ton to say here, but it was really interesting to look around, and it was a peaceful escape from the bustling madness that is Hanoi.
Tonight, we went to dinner at the same place we had lunch, and then went to a puppet show (it's all the rave around here, so we had to check it out). It was umm....well, you probably know me well enough to come up with an idea of my opinion.
Tomorrow we're off to Halong Bay on a 3day, two night cruise. We'll spend one night on the boat, and another on a private island...it's organized through our hostel, so it should be a great time with a bunch of other young travelers. We'll be back in Hanoi on Thursday evening, and are off to Saigon (southern Vietnam) on Friday afternoon.
Other random thoughts on Hanoi:
-there's a really awesome lake with a park situated around it right in the center of this insane city...I guess it's sort of their version of central park (nyc)
-people are pretty pushy here trying to sell you stuff..much more so than thailand or laos. you always get the feeling someone is trying to hustle you
-there are some GREAT street doughnuts here...these little old ladies walk around with baskets of them, and they run about 25cents a pop. awesome.
-highly recommend hanoi backpacker's hostel if you're ever here
-i had heard some travelers say that bangkok, hanoi, and saigon are all the same. too hustle bustle, too crazy, too hard to get around, whatever. i completely disagree...this is nothing like bangkok. if bangkok felt like LA, this feels like SF.
-motorbikes, motorbikes, motorbikes. holy crap, I have no words for the number of motorbikes.
-pollution...so, so polluted. LA air is like breathing from an oxygen tank in comparison. Many people here wear protection over their faces while riding their motorbikes...I think I would too
Other notes:
-until I shaved last night, I was starting to look alot like a backpacker. hair is way too long, I had an awesome shaggy beard. and i've definitely lost some weight
-i feel rested, finally. i had been exhausted for days. it's really nice to have some energy back
-I think I spelled vietnam or vietnamese incorrectly a few times in this post--i'm too lazy to correct it...but sorry about that. i realize it's vietnam.
Ok, I can't think of much else for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up soon so you can get an idea of the prison, the temple of literature, and the insane traffic. I took a video of me crossing the street...it's like frogger, in real life, and i'm the frog.
Hope all is well in CA. Vietnam is great so far. Goodnight.
