Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Hanoi Preparations

Sitting on a street corner in the old quarter of Hanoi with a beer watching life go by is a very relaxing introduction to Vietnam.  It's 10pm and 21 hours since I arrived at Wellington Airport. Tired from travelling it seemed sensible to unwind for a few minutes before attempting a time zone confused sleep.

The "bar" is a set of low plastic stools on the pavement that overflow onto the road -until the police come around and they move back to the pavement for 5 minutes.  20,000 dong buys a beer - it sounds a lot but it's NZ$1.25 and it's a large beer.  The traffic going past is very different from Courtenay place at 10pm, but maybe intentions are quite similar.  There are lots of young couples on bikes.  The women looking smart in very short skirts and the men looking very confident.  A few old women cycle past slowly on old upright bikes, wearing coolly hats and often with large loads they are expressionless. An occasional cyclo goes past touting for passengers, but no-one seems interested.  There are almost no private cars going past but there are whole families on a single small motor bike. Dad at the front, eldest child next and mum on the back carrying the baby.

The pavement bar has more locals than foreigners with people ordering food from adjoining pavement food sellers, who are set up with charcoal and gas cookers producing noodles, spring roles and other popular food.   A woman wanders through the patrons offering what looks like cold spring rolls, but no-one is interested.

A young guy with a bright red bandana around his forehead introduces himself as Lee.  He tells me he is from Northern China and that he is planning to travel for several months, with no need or interest in settling down.  Maybe this is a new breed of Chinese traveller, or maybe it's bar talk.

This morning we strolled the streets of the old quarter.  Breakfast was the traditional noodles, served with thick dark coffee in a restaurant beside the lake.  By day the traffic is very different as commerce takes precedence.   There are small motorbikes carrying loads of concrete blocks, others with gas bottles stacked high and some with such large bundles of flowers that they look impossibly top heavy.  Motor bike taxis are everywhere.  It is not uncommon to see women riding side saddle on the back.   There are a surprising number of new cars around (or rather very few old cars).  These new cars include more Porches  than I've seen in Wellington and a new looking Rolls Royce, which did not appear to need licence plates.

We treated ourselves to lunch in an upmarket restaurant and had a delightful meal of spring rolls, rice pancakes, duck and beef with a couple of beers each and for less than the beers would have cost at home.

Tomorrow we leave Hanoi and start our motorbike tour.  We have been down and checked out the bikes (160cc Honda road bikes) and sorted the safety gear.  Unlike the locals we will be wearing crash helmets and knee and elbow protectors.  The bikes are far from new, but they look well serviced.  We have been putting considerable effort into understanding the road rules.  So far the only clear one seems to be "might is right".  Chaos seems to reign at intersections, but the traffic actually moves quite slowly and everyone seems to stay calm.  While in South America the roads often seem dominated by aggressive male egos behind the wheel, here there are almost as many women at the handlebars as men, and they seem very calm.  For all the apparent confusion the traffic flows remarkably well.

Ross

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