Ha Noi

Left Sai Gon for Ha Noi 2 days ago. Until you've been to Viet Nam you may not understand the north-south divide that exists here. I'm sure there are numerous reasons for it, and only a native Vietnamese would really understand it. For a Californian it's similar to the Bay Area-LA divide, but turned up a couple of notches. A popular California saying is that there's a rivalry between LA and San Francisco, but only the San Franciscans know about it. Here, Ha Noi is like San Francisco and Sai Gon is like LA, but the people of Sai Gon do know about the rivalry because it's more intense here. To the point that in some Ha Noi families, the older members do not want the younger to live in Sai Gon. The accents and even the language itself differ between the regions.


Ha Noi is beautiful and with a much more classic feel and atmosphere than Sai Gon. The weather is cooler and milder (well, based on my statistically significant sample of 2 days!) While the volume of traffic is lighter, it seems to me to be a bit more dangerous for pedestrians because I sense less of a sense of cooperation here. Also, the scams against tourists are more prevalent and sinister here. Ha Noi is the capital and mecca of the 'hotel scam'. This scam involves cab drivers at the airport snagging tourists right off the plane who don't have pre-arranged drivers being driven to fake hotels and either offered inferior lodging there (at non-inferior prices of course) or being told the hotel is full and taken somewhere else and getting less for their lodging money than fair. However, I was told last night that this sort of scam is on the decline, hopefully because someone here has targeted it for extermination. My friend Iqbal and I are staying at the Hanoi Elegance 3 and I can recommend it. I'd rate it 3 1/2 stars and the price is only slightly more than you'd pay for a Motel 6 in the US. It's a nice step up from my accomodations in the backpacker district in Sai Gon. But I have to say I sort of miss my mini-hotel and the high-energy environment of Sai Gon. It's strange, but I feel like I'm here in Ha Noi on a trip away from my home in Sai Gon. Perhaps that will fade as a few more days go by.


Iqbal and I have been the consummate tourists in our time here. We even did a side-by-side xich lo ride back to the hotel this afternoon. We're both operating on the assumption that noone who saw us in the xich lo will ever see us again outside Ha Noi! We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant last night with a friend of a friend of Iqbal's and some of his friends. There were 3 Vietnamese, 2 Italians, and us. One of the Italians has started a business (selling espresso machines, what else?) and lives here and as we were leaving, he showed us his 1956 Vespa scooter! This machine is a real beauty, dark blue, and in fantastic condition. I'm surprised he feels comfortable driving it around Ha Noi. Or maybe he's not comfortable when he's driving it, but does so nevertheless!


We saw a water puppet performance yesterday that was very entertaining and interesting. Water puppet shows are done in a pool and the puppets are manipulated with controls unseen beneath the water's surface by master puppeteers from behind a screen, so the puppets look
like, well, like they're not puppets. We've also walked extensively around Ha Noi's Old Quarter and sampled the pho and the bia hoi both of which Ha Noi is famous for. The bia hoi is a light-colored beer that costs about 20 cents a glass. But at those prices you drink it sitting out on the sidewalk on a plastic stool. I forgot to ask about ladies' night.




This is the old east gate of Ha Noi from the inside. On the outside lies the great unknown, rumored to be inhabited with great smoke-spewing dragons. I refused to to go there.


Iqbal on the outside of the gate. He was brave to go there. I believe those are dragons disguised as ordinary people. That's how they get you.




This is my friend Iqbal who met me in Ha Noi. Apparently he feels he's found his 'local'.



At Ha Noi's military museum. Vietnam has quite the collection of military equipment that various invading forces forgot to take with them when they left. Here is an American tank, wreckage from numerous American planes formed into a display, and the flag tower (1812) in background.

A small cat emerges from the plane wreckage display.

As bombs go, this is about the cutest one I've ever seen!

The Ha Noi flag tower, built from 180? - 1812.

Looking down on the military equipment display from the second level of the flag tower.


This is 'Uncle Ho's' mauseleum. He was not inside this day as his body was in Russia for maintenance. No kidding. The Russians are apparently masters of this practice.


And here's Mr. Lenin.

The musicians that accompanied the water puppet show with their ensemble of traditional Vietnamese instruments.

Video of the 4 Dragons scene of the water puppet show. And please, no comments about the sweep down to my feet. This is an obvious cinematography technique to convey the fact that I don't know how to operate my camera.

When it rains....

everything gets wet around here. Yesterday I got caught outside in my first downpour. Previously I was under the (mistaken) impression the laughing Buddha was watching over me. Now I know why he's laughing and whom at. I took shelter under an awning in front of a small pharmacy. In true Vietnamese fashion, after about 5 minutes, the woman working inside brought out a chair for me to sit on. In the US I most likely would have been told to please move along.

Reading my Lonely Planet guidebook I encountered a description of one of the weirdest things I can remember ever hearing of. I've been a lot of places and seen a lot of things, but can't recall anything quite so odd as 'weasel coffee'. Coffee beans are fed to a weasel. Weasel's digestive system works its magic and weasel passes said coffee beans. A Vietnamese (is there any other?) person collects said coffee beans from said weasel's droppings and continues processing them as if they were just collected off the coffee bush, blithely ignoring the added aforementioned step. Vietnamese person buys said coffee, knowing full well its checkered history, and enjoys his delicious weasel coffee beverage. Again, I've never seen this at Starbucks. I do not know if I will sample this little delicacy. Of course many questions immediately rise to the fore. Why a weasel? Who, in God's name, ever thought of such a thing, much less actually first tried it?

Another Vietnam fun fact: Vietnamese don't use voice mail! If you call and noone's there, it rings about 10 times and you get a busy signal. So when you break up with your Vietnamese girlfriend, you'll actually have to SPEAK to her! It's good to know this beforehand.

Tomorrow AM I live for Ha Noi to meet my friend from the states, Iqbal.

Signs of home!

A tree growing on a wall. Space is limited in Sai Gon. This is near the US consulate. Perhaps its fruit is microphones.

When it rains here, it really does. But it's good in that it's over quickly. This Biblical deluge lasted for about 49 seconds.

Sai Gon, 21 Nov 2008

Maybe the most amusing thing to convey in the past 24 hours is the man sitting next to me at the moment in the internet cafe, an American using Skype to talk to someone. I heard this snippet of his part of the dialogue: 'No, it's not going well, that's over.' 'She wanted me to marry her and I won't do it.' 'I can't find a good one, maybe I'm getting too old.' Gosh, what's he's talking about?

It's rained the past 2 evenings here. A quick heavy downpour and it's over and everything is washed clean.

Tipping in restaurants can be awkward in Vietnam because they're not used to it. I've resolved to simply not do it for now. My Lonely Planet guide book instructed me to tip the staff directly to be sure it gets to them. When I tried this yesterday, it created a lot of confusion. I would have doubled the amount of the tip to simply withdraw from the situation I created! Anyway I ordered a drink called 'Bird's Nest' there. It came in a small can with, among others, the words 'White Fungus' on the label. So naturally I proceeded to drink it without hesitation! It was rather bland, much to my chagrin. With bits of, I assume, white fungus (mushroom?) floating in it.

If you're in Sai Gon in District 1 in the backpacker area and don't mind splurging on breakfast, I recommend the Stella Caffe. By splurging, I mean spending $5 US on breakfast. See the photo below for the artistic handiwork of their barista.

I was chatting with a Vietnamese at a coffee shop last night and she informed me that it sometimes gets cold in Sai Gon, down to almost 20 degrees Celsius. To save you the trouble of Googling a conversion calculator, that's 68 Fahrenheit. Remember to pack your down parka!

I don't know about you, but I've never been served anything like this at Starbucks! Stella Caffe in Sai Gon District 1.
Too bad you can't read the blurry image. Trust me, it really does say 'White Fungus' on the label!

another day in Sai Gon

So, it finally rained a bit last night. Noone seemed the least bit surprised, so I guess it's not so uncommon after all. The scooters don't stop, the riders just don plastic jackets and ponchos. The rain serves the useful purpose of washing everything off.

I ran into a scam a few days ago. Turns out it's a fairly common one here and elsewhere. A young girl (maybe 12) who spoke the best English of any Vietnamese I've met here approached me to buy post cards, a common trade. I declined and she asked if I needed help with anything. I needed to buy a card for the public telephones here, so she took me to a market and showed me how to buy it. She then enquired if I could help her out. 'Maybe'. 'I live with my baby sister and take care of her because our mother died and right now she needs baby formula to drink. Can you buy some for us?' 'OK, maybe'. 'I'll take you to the store and you can buy it there'. So we enter a very high-end mall (this was in the upscale part of Sai Gon near the Caravelle Hotel) and went to a grocery store on the top floor and to the baby aisle. She points to a $35 giant can of baby formula and says that's the one she needs. $35 here is a huge amount of money. It was about a 10 lb. can of formula. I said no and offered to buy a smaller one. 'I only need the big one' was the reply. At this point I knew it was a scam and turned and began to leave. She followed me out pleading to please help her and her sister (she wasn't a good actor anymore!). The scam is that they either return it later for a cash refund or resell it. The whole baby orphan story is just to get you to lay out some cash. Or maybe I'm just a hardened cynic?

Took a cyclo ride today. That's a 3-wheeled bike with 2 wheels in the front. See the photos below. In Vietnamese it's 'xich lo'. Get it? xich lo = cyclo. Vietnamese is so easy! I've been regaling the locals ever since with my perfect Vietnamese. They're so good at acting like they don't understand. I only did this cyclo ride because they're a vanishing breed and have a hard time making a living these days. The government has already banned them from certain streets because they slow the traffic flow. But it was fun. The driver had a limited English vocabulary and used every opportunity to impress me with it. He was very good at pointing out markets, dogs, motorbikes, and not much else. He also knew the locations of all the massage parlors. Every one we passed was accompanied by a harsh jolting rub of my shoulders with his calloused hands and a dry raspy laugh. I declined his offers to stop at any. He's paid by the hour, you see.

I have 3 more days here in Sai Gon and then it's off to Ha Noi and other parts.

Some more photos below and a short movie of the cyclo ride through one of Sai Gon's many traffic circles where the traffic gets particularly chaotic and hectic. All yield to the might xich lo!

My xich lo driver and his finely tuned machine. As you can see this is a strictly first class mode of transport.
Some detail inside a pagoda during my xich lo tour. There are numerous of these Buddhist worship temples scattered throughout Vietnam. They are all incredibly artisticly constructed, inside and out.
The interior of the pagoda where the offerings of incense are burnt. The view through the door is out into the street.
Approaching the An Hanh market in Sai Gon. These markets are mind-boggling with the vast array of goods for sale. This one had mostly textiles.


Dragonfruit. It grows here. On trees. Very easy to eat and delicious.



Here's the video from the xich lo ride. What a rush!

first entry addendum

I left a few pics off the first blog and will add them here as they're amusing as long as you have the right perspective, as I'm sure all readers of this blog do! 2 of them are from the Ho Chi Minh museum and reflect the Vietnamese perspective of Americans and others (the French, Chinese, etc) when they show up uninvited with the intent of controlling the country. As I left the HCM museum, I saw the 'No Photos' sign. Chalk up another one for the American free press!


View into the street below my hotel window on my first morning in Vietnam in Sai Gon.


At the HCM museum.


At the HCM museum.

First Sai Gon Blog

These are the first words I ever blogged! Now these are not, but those were. So, that's out of the way.

I'm on my 5th day here in Vietnam. I actually spent 2 days in the Mekong delta area, so it hasn't all been in Sai Gon. I've yet to see a drop of rain. Yet another myth propagated by the locals to keep people away! Just like the 'earthquakes' (ha, that's good one!) in California and the 'terrorists' in the Middle East. Well, actually it's the start of the dry season here and that's why I chose this time to be here. As described so well in the movie 'Forest Gump', there are 2 seasons here. One's dry and the other is not. It should stay fairly dry here until April or May.

There are many differences of course between here and the States. 2 I've quickly noticed are the low number of street people and the rarity of sirens, even in downtown Sai Gon. I've heard sirens maybe 5 times in the 5 days I've been here. That would take 5 minutes in most US cities. Family ties here are very strong (most live with their parents until they marry, men and women), so unless someone has no family members left, they will most likely never be homeless.

Synonymous with Sai Gon (and Ha Noi) is the constant river of scooters that buzz through the streets 24/7. Many of the intersections are uncontrolled, except by the drivers that move through them. But it works amazingly well. I've seen no accidents or even any contact. This in what should be a dangerous mix of scooters, cars, trucks, buses, cyclos (3 wheeled bikes) and pedestrians. Also, it's apparently OK to ride your scooter up the wrong side of the street, or in certain circumstances, on the sidewalk! Vietnamese have their own style of freedom.

My most memorable experience so far happened as I was walking down some nameless street somewhere in Sai Gon and passed by a group of old men enjoying 'bia hoi' (home brewed beer) out on the sidewalk at about 10:30 AM. Seeing me, they shouted and gestured and pointed to me and then the glass. Limited as my Vietnamese is, I got the message. One shot of bia hoi amidst shouts of approval and laughs later, I continued on my way. Yes, it was good beer.

Here are some pics:








This is a busy intersection in the city of Soc Trang in the Mekong Delta area.











Part of the floating market in the Mekong Delta area. Merchants hoist their wares up on the post to show what they have for sale.















A house along the river in the Mekong Delta area. I wonder who their flood insurance provider is?










Fisherman lift their net so our tourist boat can pass under in the Mekong Delta backwaters.















This is a real lotus blossom!













Dry ground is at a premium in the Mekong Delta region, so if you've lived a good life maybe you'll spend eternity high and dry in an above-ground tomb. These often occupy the front yards of houses or an island in the middle of a rice paddy.










View out my hotel window on my first morning in Vietnam, in Sai Gon.












A lovely Saturday morning in a Sai Gon park.













Ho Chi Minh Museum in Sai Gon. They had many nice things to say about Americans in the exhibits. I assume they were only joking. Everyone was quite friendly to me, as they've been everywhere I've been in Vietnam.










School kids at the Ho Cho Minh museum. What's with the red uniforms?