We’re leaving on a jet plane…….

23 March 2007

After a twelve hour night train fom Hue to Hanoi we checked into our hotel in Hanoi’s Old Quarter and caught up with some much needed sleep. We spent our first day doing what we usually do when we arrve in a new city – walking aroud and getting our bearings.

Street Food – Hanoi Style

At the end of a long day walking around the various roads and lanes which each seem to sell a different type of product, ie. the washing powder street, the sunglasses street etc etc, stopping for beer and smoothie breaks and generally watching the world go by, we ended up at Hoan Kiem Lake which is where the nightly water puppets shows are held.

Chris by the lake

Moto Mayhem

Family of five on Moto

We were not really that bothered about seeing the water puppets, but as it is an ancient Vietnamese Art which dates bck to the 10th Century and seeing as we were in the area we joined the queue. We eventually made it to the front to find the tickets were sold out but a tout came to our rescue and sold us two tickets at face value …where was the catch? Well it became evident when we took our seats; me in row B and Chris is row E, that they were the last tickets of the day.

The water puppetry is performed in a pool of water with the water surface being the stage. The puppeteers, who train for approximately 3 years, stand behind a screen and control the puppets using long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water surface. The puppets are carved out of wood and often weigh up to 15 kg. A traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides background music accompaniment. Singers of Cheo (a form of opera) sing songs which tell the story being acted out by the puppets.

The puppeteers

The show was entertaining, even if we could not understand the commentary, moving fast enough to hold our limited attention spans. Each scene was a short skit which covered farming, fishing, swimming and a number of other activities. I think we both ended up surprised by how much we enjoyed the hour show and felt we had well and truly ‘got our moneys worth’.

Also on our agenda whilst staying in Hanoi was a visit to see Ho Chi Minh at the Mausoleum. We dressed appropriately the next morning (no shorts and no sandals) and headed out on the walk across the city to the Mausoleum only to find we had well and truly mis-timed our visit and the place was shut for the day (strangeley the place shuts at 11am on the days when it is actually open). Disapointed our trek had been in vain and we didn’t get to see the preserved body of the former Communist dictator we commandeered a cyclo to take us back to our hotel.

On our way back we were slowly chugging along (speed is not something that can be expected when some poor Vietnamese guy who could only be weighing in at 10 stones max is having to power himself and us two heavy weights along) when we noticed a small crowd of people staring at something on the road. As we passed by we found out they were staring at the body of a young man (maybe in his thirties) lying in the road. Our cyclo driver said he was sleeping but having seen the man’s grey face and no signs of breathing we questioned this only for the driver to reply ‘Mafia’ ….’Opium’. Disturbed by the sight we continued back to our hotel having been disapointed not to see the dead man we had set out to see and disturbed to see another.

30 January 2006

Well we made it in which is always a great start when the welcoming signs at the airport convey messages of death!

When you are aware the country you are entering imposes an immediate death penalty for drug traficking, despite the fact you packed your backpack yourself and you like to think of yourself as an up-standing responsible human being, it still doesn’t stop all sorts of scenarios entering your head where the said backpack has been tampered with or your dirty laundry smells like old sausages to the sniffer dog who decides to scratch at your pack looking for his fix only for you to be surrounded by ten five foot tall policemen waving their guns at your face (make that chest!).

First impressions of Singapore? Clean, futuristic, shoppers haven! (think dettol – think the jetsons – think Posh Spice’s idea of Utopia), but after spending a day walking around the city it is clear Singapore has so much more to offer. Singapore is home to a multi-cultural society which is reflected by the four official languages – English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. Four and half million people occupy 269 square miles (New Zealand has only four million in 103,735 sq miles) yet the state is meticulously kept and statistically Singapores crime rate is placed way below that of other Asia-Pacific cities. You see size doesn’t really matter! (ahem!);…..because Singapore is a city-state the city government is also the national government therefore the city gets exactly what it wants, more green spaces, re-developed housing projects to accomodate the city’s less affluent, more food-courts! However we both agree that the city seems to lack a ceratain character! It almost seems too squeaky clean…on two separate occasions we have witness public bins being scrubbed clean (something you would never see in London – or many other places to be honest!).

So – on to the food – a subject close to my heart as you all know. Around the city are various Hawker markets where you can pick up a meal for about S$2-3 (approximatley a pound (there is unsurprisingly no pound symbol on this keyboard!)) and the food reflects the multi-cultural society – you can get any variety of Asian food from stuff that would not be misplaced on a menu at home to stuff that I wouldn’t even care to hazard a guess at what type of animal it is – that being it is of course an animal? But I’ll tell you something – it all smells delicious!

I must admit I have so far only dipped my toe in the ocean that is Singapore cuisine, playing it somewhat safe with a prawn Laksa (noodles served in a coconut curried sauce) and a chicken curry (the best we have had since leaving home 😉 but I can promise you I am going to branch out and make the most of the food while I can (Dad – you better widen those door frames for when I get home!).

So what exactly have we been up to?

Well I reckon we must have walked about 20 miles in the 2 days we have been here. The first day was spent walking around all the colonial district taking in some amazing buildings that have been either immaculately kept or loving restored, checking out chinatown which is currently in the midst of the chinese new year celebrations (its the year of the pig and we fully intend to honour that 😉 ) and the quays.

We spent the first evening with a visit to Raffles hotel for an obligatory Singapore Sling in the Long Bar (did you know Raffles was not actual created by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles but four Armenian brothers called The Sarkies?). The visit was a little more poignant than simply an excuse to have the famous cocktail. Chris’ grandpa was in Singapore during the Second World War and stayed in the hotel following the end of the Japanese occupation; so like he always did, we raised our glasses ‘to absent friends’. Later that night we wandered around until our legs could no longer keep us upright!

Our second day began with a few stretches to loosen the tight muscles and then a bus trip to Chiangi Museum and chapel to learn more about the plight of Singapore during the Second World War. With neither of us having ever paid my attention to history at school the visit was certainly educational but more so moving and humbling to read stories of the hardship and awful circumstances that both men and women, old and young endured as a result of the Japenese occupancy. The museum is a wonderful reminder of the people who fought and all to often gave their lives for the liberty of future generations.

The afternoon was spent wandering around ‘Little India’ and visiting temples which were bustling with activity and venturing out to Sakya Muni Gaya -The Temple of 1000 Lights which houses a 15m Buddha which takes up most of the Temple and is surrounded by lots (nust short of 1000!) of fairy lights which flash when an offering is made (very Kitsch in my book!). We late retraced our steps from teh day before into Chinatown for our evening meal. After our fill of Singapore Noodles we caught the cable car over to Sentosa Island which lays to the south of the city. The reason for our visit was to see the Musical Fountain, laser and fire show.

Sentosa is described by the Lonely Planet as akin to Disney World so we were not really expecting much. However the show was absolutely fantastic! The fountains move in time with the music, lasers are projected onto the fountains and then all of a sudden numerous cartoon animals begin dancing around in a giant wall of water. Truly wonderful! We couldn’t help thinking it would be the perfect venue for an amazing nightclub;)

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