ChinaTeacher

Despite a rocky start when I arrived at Hanoi Airport, I did finally get my Visa.  Most people already had theirs, but I had a “Visa-on-Arrival” Letter which required onsite processing.  I was made to wait so long that I feared my pick-up guy might leave before I was done.  But, as I dragged my bag through the last door, I saw a short little guy with a huge sign bearing my name – SAVED, whew!

He dropped me off in a little square down in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, and told me the hotel would be down the next alleyway – that’s right, the alleys are so small that cars don’t fit!  Sure enough, after a short walk, there it was, the Tung Trang Hotel, my little oasis for the next three nights.  After a few days here, I really appreciate the fact that my hotel is located down a small alley – it’s quiet there!

I absolutely have fallen in love with Hanoi!  Everything goes at a frenzied pace here.  Tons of people and motorcycles everywhere!  It’s more dangerous crossing the streets here than in China, that’s for sure.  But the people are so very friendly; even if they can’t speak English, they do try to help you out.  The Vietnamese word for ‘thank you’ sounds exactly like “Come On” and ‘Hello” is “Sin Chow”.  Very different from Chinese and certainly from Lao where you would said “Sabaidee”.

I have spent most of my days wandering the streets and settling into the pace of Hanoi.  I even got up at 5:30am one day to go to Hoan Kiem Lake to see how the locals start their mornings.  Like the Chinese, they start their days with exercise, but the majority of them exercise independently, rather than in groups.

I can’t tell you how wonderful the food is!  I have tried Vietnam’s famous PHO soup, similar to China’s wonton soups, but so tasty.  There are many French restaurants here, both cheap and expensive.  Even the baguettes bought from the street vendors are fantastic!  I made a huge mistake the other day.  A tourist told me about a “Chocolate” buffet being offered at the Sofitel Metropole Hotel – yep, I decided to go for it – I mean, it’s hard to find good quality chocolate in China (at least that was my excuse).  The buffet cost only USD 10 and had over 20 different kinds of chocolate dessserts, including a white and dark chocolate ‘fountain’ and a fruit chocolate ‘fondue’.  I didn’t eat lunch or even dinner, but I still thought I was going to die afterwards.  Unfortunately I still like chocolate too! I must warn you – the drawback to travelling through Laos and Vietnam is that you EAT all the time!  The food is so good!

I took a day-trip to Tam Coc (the land version of Halong Bay) yesterday.  The area consists of green rice-fields, bordered by immense Karst Mountains – it’s very beautiful.  Tonight I will join my group tour for the next 3 weeks, so I don’t know how much free time I will have to post my adventures.  But, stay tuned anyway…..!

   

   

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.