Hanoi

Yesterday I went hashing.  What a great trail.  After a ride in an old school bus out into the countryside somewhere north of Hanoi I think it was, we had a quick drink before heading out.  The trail was prelaid.  And the start was a check.  The hares laughed at the people who thought they knew where they were going right away since they didn't.  Across the road and down a hill to another check.  A warren of streets, trails and alleyways later we wound up at a Budhist temple that was a hold.  So we hung out there and looked around for awhile till the hare told us which way to go.  We ran through rice paddies.  One girl got knocked into the water by an oxen that I guess didn't like the look of her or something.  I saw it.  And thought it was pretty funny.  I knew more hash songs than anyone in the circle and they loved me for it.  At the on after we sat upstairs and outside.  Had a small feast. 

Then today I went first to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex.  Long line took awhile.  But the air conditioning once we got there was brilliant.  Traipsed around the grounds a bit.  The museum was pretty good. Infused with modern art.  Afterwards I did the Lonely Planet city tour walk starting at the end and working my way backwards.  Stopped at some little cafe for an ice coffee and watched some woman that I think might have been a fortune teller.  No one there understood when I asked about it.

Back at the hotel I cleaned up and headed to the Water Puppet show.  Wonderful. The only low point of Hanoi, well there were two was that first the minibus took me to the wrong hotel, though it had the same name.  Lot of that here.  And my train ticket for my trip to Sapa tonight wasn't waiting for me.  So I had to call again and again to bug the travel agency to get it to me.  They finally did.  So now I'm off to dinner and to read a bit more of this heartbreaking book that I got in Angkor Wat, "First they killed my father" about the Pol Pot regime from the perspective of one of the survivors. It's making me cry.

Good morning. Vietnam?

Yesterday, all my troubles were in Cambodiay.  Now it looks like I'm on my way to ho, ho, ho chi minh.

The floating village at Tonle Sap, south of Siem Reap was nothing like I'd expected.  I thought it was going to be a village with streets and shops and such.  Instead it's a bunch of boats moored in a lake that is now only about a meter deep.  When the rains come and the water level rises the village moves.  There's a couple of stores, a school and, according the guide a tremendous amount of poverty. 

The school, for instance, which isn't much more than a medium sized-houseboat has 250 students and two teachers.  If some of the kids can't catch a ride to school they swim.  We stopped on the way there and I bought a bunch of Top Ramen type noodle packets for a donation.  Their teachers speak no English.  They learn Vietnamese first as it's a more marketable language.  I looked at some of their work and talked very briefly to the one teacher on duty who was busily grading papers while surrounded by about 15-20 kids waiting their turn to be graded.  Then I went outside to the playground, video camera in hand and a bunch of the kids mugged for the camera.  Then they decided I'd make a good jungle gym.  After about 10 or 15 minutes of using them as dumbbells I got tired.  Poof!  There was my guide, ready to take me back to shore.

He and the driver were surprised to learn I'm not 35.  They're both under 30.  I guess I'm pretty well preserved by their standards.  No post office where they are.  No child labor laws in Cambodia.  And the US hasn't banned land mines.  I'm feeling guilty.  I was entertaining the idea of joining the Peace Corps before I left.  I now have a lot more food for thought.

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Here it is a few days later.  Still haven't figured out how to upload videos.  In Nha Trang now.  Saigon, aka HCMC, was okay.  A lot of cycles.  I met an Aussie now married to a Vietnamese, who told me that the government imposes a 2-300% tarriff on cars to encourage the use of motorcycles to keep the streets from being even more crowded.  

Went to the Cu Chi tunnels with a stop at the Cao Dai Holy See.  The religion is a mix between Buddhism, Tao and Confucism.

Lost a filling to a piece of coconut candy on the Mekong Delta.  Then a few days later, right before diving, another popped out. After diving went to the local dentist, whose office is more modern than most I've seen and had both teeth fixed for 20 bucks.  And now that they're in another popped out yesterday. 

These little tables and chairs are the norm at local cafes.

Today, the next day, I didn't do much of anything. Woke up late. Packed for my sleeper bus to Hoi An.  Lazed on a beach under an umbrella. Had great Indian food, chicken tikka marsala, nan, rice, mango chutney, papardum and two beers, so cheap. Went back to the beach.  Wow is the water warm!

Lantern shop, still in Saigon.

Hot in Hoi An.  Nice hotel.  Interesting sights.  Biked into the center of town then walked.  Sent another box of souvenirs home and have pretty much booked the rest of my trip from this hotel.  Today I go by train, the scenic route, to Hue.  A couple days of sightseeing there. Then fly to Hanoi for a couple days.  Should be able to hash one night.  Then by sleeper train to Sapa, up in the mountains.  Hill tribes.  And the weather there's cold, I'm told.  Then to Hanoi where I'm picked up for a three day two night tour of Halong Bay.  One night on sleeping on a boat, another on Cat Ba Island, with Kayaking and a side trip to Monkey Island.  I'm exhausted just thinking about the whirlwind nature of it all.