Our flight from Bangkok to Hanoi was to leave at 6am. We stayed at our hostel until about 2am then took a taxi to the airport. At about 5 delirium set in as I had been up since 6:30 the previous morning on my adventure to see various temples in Bangkok. Our flight left Bangkok bound for Hanoi on which I got a solid hour of sleep. Arriving in Hanoi it was instantly apparent that it is a communist country. The red flag with the gold star was everywhere. The customs agents were all soldiers wearing their green uniforms with the red and gold insignias. The sickle and hammer logo was everywhere on bright red banners.
Development in Vietnam is visibly less advanced than it is in Bangkok. Even in Hanoi which is the second largest city in Vietnam with Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) being the largest. We headed out in a taxi for the hotel in the French Quarter. Arriving at our hotel we checked into our room which had three clean looking beds, a sizable bathroom, French windows, a balcony with a view of the surrounding streets, and most importantly for me-AC!!
We headed out to find some food seeing as we hadn't had any food since the night before. We searched and searched but had no idea what any of the menus said. The area had a few restaurants but the majority of food around lunchtime is street food. We picked out one of these spots with there 6inch tall stools and 8inch tall mini tables. We pointed to what the person next to us was eating at motioned with our fingers for 3 of them. The very nice Vietnamese lady brought us a tray with little noodle clusters, bowls with fish sauce, two types of fried tofu, and cucumbers. I know it doesn't sound very appealing but let me tell you, it was amazing. Maybe it was because we hadn't eaten in about 16 hours but I like to believe it was just that good.
Experiencing various cultures has been the highlight of this trip so far. The Thai people are very friendly and go out of their way to help you. It seemed that most Thais spoke English fairly well whereas here in Vietnam, most locals do not. Many actually speak Vietnamese, French, and some Chinese. Back in the states it is rare to find someone that speaks more than two languages but here in Southeast Asia the average seems to be around 3. However, pointing has been my main method of communication here in Hanoi.
The bus ride out to Ha Long Bay was...bumpy. In fact, I typed this blog on that bus ride. I've never had so many typos before! My spell check was definitely getting its fair share of work. Anyhow, the views on our way out to Ha Long Bay were amazing. I got to see much of the countryside which is almost all rice paddies and farmland as far as the eye can see. Water buffalo are everywhere in the fields. The most odd thing I saw on the way was a dead donkey tied down to the back of a motorcycle with two people riding in front of that. Only in Southeast Asia!
About an hour out of Hanoi while driving through a small town on the main highway, I looked ahead and saw a large crowd on the side of the road. As we slowly approached the crowd I saw something that I haven't been able to shake out of my mind. Everyone was looking at this guy who was covered in blood. He was alive but looked seriously injured. He was being carried on someone's back to a vehicle nearby. If I had to guess, he was on a motorcycle and somehow got into an accident. This was very disturbing. Even writing this is making me a little uneasy. I began to think about how much we all take things for granted. One minute things could be going great, the next minute things could be completely downhill. As messed up as this may sound, it made me really appreciate the current situation (knock on wood). All I could think about the rest of the day was how that guy was doing. Was he okay? Did he get to a hospital? Was there someone else involved that was worse off? I hope that he is recovering and doing well.
On a lighter note, I hope to have some more internet access but it's been slightly limited here in Vietnam (hence the double postings). Updates coming soon!
