Just calmy step out into trafffic

We have arrived in Hanoi. And I don't think the city noticed at all. Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam is bustling and crowded the way all capital cities are. But the Vietnamese do bustling with a special kind of vigor and enthousiasm and a cacophony of honks and beeps. There are about 6 million people in the city and approximately 5 million motorized bikes. No kidding.


After checking in at our hotel we headed out onto the streets for our first lesson in walking. Andy has a policy that she won't allow her passengers out of her sight until she has taught them how to walk across the street here. The trick is to find a break in the edge of traffic and then calmy step into the road and start walking. Walk, NEVER RUN, across the street and watch the traffic flow around you the way a river does an obstacle in it's path. And it works! Mostly.


All driving rules in Vietnam are fluid except this; do not take your eyes off the road in front of you. This is the only way you will avoid hitting something. Therefore, the only way to know if something is beside or behind you is if they let you know they are there, by honking their horn. This generally applies to everything; bicycles, cyclos, motos, cars, trucks and busses. If you want to go around something, you honk at it. If you don't want them to go around you, you honk at it. If you want to say hi to someone you see on the street, you honk at it. There is actually a very fine art to driving here but I think generally, the idea is to keep moving ahead and not hit anything. The only way to really understand it is to get in the middle of it, so I did. The first day we took a walk around the area, then took cyclos in the evening (a bench type chair with a bicycle behind). On day two I tried a cab and then a moto (a scooter). By far, moto is the way to go and we spent one night hopping on and off them to check out the bar scene.


Our cyclo tour dropped us off at the theatre where we saw a traditional water puppets show. I am glad I saw it, and think it's a must see during a visit to Vietnam. If I understand it correctly, the water puppet shows were used as a tool to teach moral values as well as history. My favorite act was called "Fishing" or don't smoke dope or you will go hungry. We had dinner in the old quarter of the city and strolled around. The coolest part was when we came across an shop with a collection of propaganda posters from the war. Really fascinating! The slogans were about beafing up production of food and natural resources, successes during the war and political philosophy. It was really very cool.

On my "free day" I stayed in bed until 1pm trying to recover from the cold that settled into to my head at the home stay. Over the past few days I have run out of my stock of dayquil so first on my list was drugs. Apparently, you can get any drug you want here from the pharmacies, you just have to know what to ask for. Sadly, pseudophedrine and dextromathorphine (spelling?) are not internationally recognized drug names. A lot of pantomiming and giggling later, I have cold meds. Hooray!

As a group we met for dinner in the old quarter and then stopped in at Finnegan's Irish pub for "a" drink. Several rounds later, the police dropped in to kick us all out. Sadly, not because we were dancing on the bar or anything, simply because the bars close down at midnight here. It didn't take long to find more trouble though, we hopped on moto taxis, said the words "more beer" and were delivered on the steps of the 1/2 Man 1/2 Noodle bar. The sign outside read, "Drink here...or we shoot the puppy." Ha! About an hour later the cops stopped by again but this time we were told just to go outside for 5 minutes and then we could come back in. We closed the bar down at 3am. By any standard we have a big night out. A three course meal follwed by bar hopping, 8 or 10 rounds of drinks and two moto taxi rides...$50. Excellent!

On Monday afternoon I visited the Hanoi Hilton, the former prison come prisoner or war camp where John McCain was held during the war. This morning we visited the Ho Chi Minh complex. Ho Chi Minh, or Uncle Ho as he is referred to, is calmy resting on ice in the north part of the city. It is hard to put into words all the things I have learned about the Vietnamese perspective on Uncle Ho, the french colonization and the American War. Perhaps I will try at another time, but for now I will leave it. One guide put it into perspective this way: he said the Vietnamese don't harbor any ill feelings towards the French or the Americans. They have won every battle they have ever fought; they have removed out every foreign body that has ever tried to occupy their country. This makes them a generally happy and welcoming country. I can't say if this is true everywhere, but the hospitality of everyone we have encountered has been great and they have been excited to know that there is an American in the group.

Tonight, we are off to Hue (promounced hway) via overnight train. This is the former capital of the country. It was recently declared a UNESCO site and there are now efforts to restore the palaces and temples that were destroyed during the war. We are told the only way to get a feel for teh city is via motorbike so we have an all day tour in store for us!