vietnam

some preliminaries:
thank you kevin and abe for your 'comments' i apologize for not having updated this sooner - you were right in that it is going to take a hell of a bit of time to blog now that it is all over (and so, lucky reader, vietnam might just be a two part entry)
thank you puster, for providing somewhat timely advice and for trash talking me to all those who would listen -- perhaps in the future i may travel with you, and provided we dont kill one another, i might learn to get it right...

ok, to vietnam!

we flew out on saturday (18th) evening to hanoi - when we got off the plane it was like stepping out into a different world - unsure of where to find the airport shuttle we went to the information desk and were given a blank stare and '$12' as a response... undaunted we went out into the night and randomly saw a rickety minibus that turned out to be the shuttle -- welcome to vietnam!

the bus drops us off in the middle of nowhere and instantly we are swarmed by about 15 men all asking us to go with them to their hotel on their bike or in their cab.. overwhelemed tanya and i latched onto a pair of german girls who actually made a reservation and went with them to their hostel (thinking safety in numbers) -- for $8 US we had the pleasure of sleeping in what was essentially an ash tray that opened up into the alley (ok, so the back door was raised about 10 cm off the ground!!) needless to say we found another spot for the next night, which was probably the best place we stayed for only $2 more!!

in hanoi we saw ho chi min himself (or uncle ho, to those who regard him with affection) you may ask yourself - did he not die almost 40 years ago? - and you would be right, but luckily they have preserved his body and he is lying in state in a mausoleum with dim orange lighting, a faint chemical smell and surrounded by guards -- believe me, its more than a little creepy!

walking around the city we also saw 250lb preserved turtle - which finally gave me some insight into why puster loved the city so much- they are really into turtles, something to do with a story about a turtle in the lake in the middle of the city keeping a sword safe or something.. which was also a story we saw acted out in the water puppet show we saw-- very cool

from hanoi we did two day trips: one to the perfume pagoda and the other to halong bay

perfume pagoda: because it is just after the lunar new year, many local people make a pilgramage to this pagoda which is named after the strong scent of incense that surrounds it... after driving for a couple hours 18 of us got into a really small boat rowed by someone in the back and in the front--- seriously, the boat was floating just above the water- i'd say not more than 10 cm... initially i was not cool with this because i was sitting on the end and we all know about how i swim (and obiviously safety is not an issue for those administering the trip!) but since the boat ride was about an hour and the scenery was so nice and there were sooo many other boats, eventually i forgot about it! the pagoda itself was about 4km up a mountain side which was essentially a bunch of loose dirt and rocks lined with stalls of people selling an insane variety of things... when you finally make it to the top, you descend into this cave which is where the shrine is and it is packed with people praying, picnicing and trying to catch water dripping from the ceiling 'for prosperity'!!!

halong bay: is a unesco world heritage site (note to self: figure out what that actually means!) we took a one day boat tour that drove us through the bay (you'll have to check out the pictures) it was really beautiful and i can only imagine what it might look like when the sky was not overcast (its spring there, so everything was grey) the trip was really good - and came complete with an offer to go to heaven from our tour guide (i'd explain if i understood) and being swindled by the locals (offered a boat ride into a 'cave' which actually turned out to be just riding under a rock to see exactly the same stuff that was on the other side!)

then we took a night bus to hue - which is also filled with unesco sites and hired motor bike drivers to take us to them because we only wanted to spend one night in the city! i think that vietnam easily has the most motor bikes in the world and they are all careening and weaving through traffic, honking madly and stopping for no one-- although it was slightly less crazy in hue as compared to hanoi or saigon - it was still a crazy ride-- and the air in vietnam- AWFUL soo polluted from the diesel -- i bought the mask in the pic above for jokes since everyone seemed to be wearing one... and then when i was on the bike i actually put it on for real- because the air was that bad! my driver got a real kick out of the fact that i had one!!

the next day we took a beautiful bus ride down to hoi an and chilled out in the nice old town... really good for walking around and relaxing, we also toured the 'old town historic sites' another unesco heritage thing... i also succumbed to having some clothes made-- i guess thats no surprise-- there are more tailors there than you can imagine, lining the streets, imploring you to come in- it was absolutely insane- you could even get shoes made (ridiculous) in the end i got some pants and a jacket- i think they did a nice job... and it wasnt like walking up to a sweatshop which is what sealed the deal for me (except later tanya was like- they are probably on the outskirts of town! - shit! we came to the conclusion that at the very least it was good we skipped the western middle man in getting the stuff made) ... i also was stopped in the street by this random guy who wanted to take a picture with me -- its not easy being the only black person fro miles!!!

then we took an absolutely insane 24 hour bus ride to saigon... i swear to you, i was convinced i was going to contract birdflu!!! like 3 people on the bus were hacking their lungs out the entire night and one of our drivers pretty much left his esophagus out on the road hoarking out the window in intervals of less than a minute (yes, T and i timed it, it was that bad) all i have to say is thank god for my mp3 player- THANK GOD ... it was also really handy when the second driver thought that driving through mountains in the middle of the night was best done as fast as possible (how fast? who knows? the odometer wasnt working!!) ... needless to say, morning was a relief!! dropped off most of the bus in Na Trang (i moved promptly to the back to get away from el horko) and the scenery on the way to Mue Ne was gorgeous (as was the beach, which we sadly stopped at for only one hour-- sigh!!!!)

saigon was way more modern than any of the other cities we visited but just as crazy busy as hanoi was... again we were swarmed by people 'marketing' their hotels and managed to retreat into a back alley where lo and behold we found accomodation! the following morning we went to the Cu Chi tunnels- that the viet cong constructed to evade the americans during the war -- it was truely amazing to see how ingenius the network was -- kilometer after kilometer of tunnels, with kitchens, reading rooms and hospital sections -- it was even several layers deep becoming increasingly narrow to permit only the smaller vietnamese bodies from going through the tunnels!!! they had decoy tunnels and entrances to trap americans and had vents from their kitchens diverted to spots well away from the actual tunnels- it was incredible! we went through a part of the tunnels that had been widened for north americans- it was so small i still had to crawl on my hands and knees and it was pitch black -- a little scarey!

the next day we went to the mekong delta to see the islands and hang out.. had a pretty good tour, ate some coconut candy (which i later found out includes durian- ick! - -- dont worry, am bringing some back :) ) drank some banana wine (you'll want to pass on that)... didnt see any rice paddies tho (apparently that was for the two day tour) but i saw them up north -- interesting thing about them is that there are sometimes graves in the middle of paddies- that is because people had to bury their dead on their own land, and sometimes that is all the land they had!! probably not a bad side advantage to have some fertilizer for the crops!!!

and the next day (thankfully, because my wrist is cramping) we checked out some markets, wandered around a little more and then got in a cab headed to the airport and back to singapore!! there you have it, ten whirlwind days of vietnam - filled with natural beauty, constant hawking of goods and services, tons of air and garbage pollution and people with seemingly endless energy! good good times :)

thanks for reading!