Brief upate. I looove Vietnam. How could you not admire a country that managed to build a whole language out of two and three letter words?? I feel a bit guilty because everyone seems to be veeery suspicious of the locals and scared of scams etc. to the extent of paranoia. The Lonely Planet also mentions that for some reason, people are much more suspicious of the Vietnamese than of people in neighbouring countries... which makes me feel very guilty, even though after what happened at the border I might be forgiven for being suspicious. However... it's horrible to suspect everyone wants to trick you. Mmmmm, moral dilemma.
One note on the traffic: I start every morning smiling and saying 'no, thank you very much' to the motorbike (taxi) drivers. Which then deteriorates into a mere shaking of the head or I just ignore them. But this morning... I was finally so incensed (can't they just leave people in peace!) that I actually did tell one of them to go f*** himself. Which I also feel sorry for. But these guys ARE a serious health hazards. They tend to congregate at road crossings where the poor (irony) westerners are busy trying to figure out where they are on the map and to avoid being hassled by the bikes, everyone just walks off without looking, risking to be run over... Okay, I start moaning now.
The weather's still terrible. Well, not terrible, cloudy. I've actually only seen the sun the day I arrived here, but then that serves me right for going during the rainy season. Plus, apparently there was a taifun over China (I'm avoiding the news) which is partly responsible for our bad weather. Which was an immense shame yesterday because... I took a day trip to Halong Bay, one of the world's most beautiful places. Which on a good day is supposed to look like the photograph accompanying this entry (it's actually from a place in Thailand, but who cares). But yesterday it was just grey, grey, grey with the additional rain. Still beautiful and the water was still amazingly clear, hinting at what it would be like on a good day... oh well, I'll just have to come back to Halong Bay one day.
It's funny as well, I don't think it would ever occur to me to be scared being on my own etc. if it weren't for other people suggesting I was brave. Not that I've not met a hell of a lot of single travellers out here, but the 'older generation' tends to point out how brave I am, and then I ask myself, errr, am I. Apparently it's okay if you work here but not if you're travelling, to be on your own that is, weird logic. I do stare at the door to my hotel room a lot but then my last room had a sort of see-throughy door which I didn't appreciate and kept checking for shadows etc. And then I am sometimes petrified of sleeping on my own in Oxford as well, that's just cos I'm a big cry baby.
Tonight I'll be leaving Hanoi. I've just heard that Saigon will be a thousand times worse in terms of traffic and hassling etc. so I'm not particularly looking forward to that... but, before that, I'll be chilling for a few days, in a place called Hoi An. Hoi An is a small town in central Vietnam, and it's famous as 'the town that wasn't bombed in the war'. So there's loads of old architecture still in place. I'm heading there tonight, on a night bus (wish me luck, about 16 hours, for 800km...), and will stay for a few days before heading further south to Saigon.
Also an update on my health: no cold or any sign of tummy irritation, which is good. Still not eating much though. I've literally been eating only Western food since coming here, with one exception, which is a scandal since I was really looking forward to Vietnamese food, but I just could not motivate myself to eat any more rice or noodles, and since I find eating such an effort at the moment... I finished a whole plate this lunch time though, so maybe things are looking up. I don't feel ill at all, just worry that running through humid Asian towns with a daily calorie intake of below 1,000 is probably not healthy.
Oooh, and I saw Uncle Ho this morning! Went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and it was... well, infuriating actually. They had a very bizarre but intricate lack of queuing system, well, we started off as one queue, then got split into three, then two, then one again, and then two once more... it was sooo symbolic of communism itself - the plan's not working guys, hehe. Ho Chi Minh goes to Russia once a year for maintenance but cynics (according to the Lonely Planet) suggest that in fact, he goes to Madame Tussaud's... well, he didn't look particularly Asian to me, actually. Vague resemblance to the guy on the bank notes here. Actually looked a lot like Lenin - maybe the mixed the two of them up last time round?
Sorry, a very confused entry today. I'll probably need to go and get another mango smoothie, mmmmm.
Will update you all again from Hoi An.
Lots of love
Jn x
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