About time I posted something here

27/08/2010
Arrival
I arrived in Hanoi at about 1:00 PM local time. The hotel sent a guy with my name on a sign to stand outside the arrivals lounge. I asked him which hotel he was taking me to as he seemed to be trying to get a taxi - but he didn't understand what I had asked. He rang the hotel on his mobile and gave it to me; they told me it was ok to go in the taxi. He called a taxi over and gave the guy inside a friendly shove out the door, then hopped in and drove the taxi himself. They both wore the same coloured clothes so I'm assuming they know each other. The only toll booth was leaving the airport and the taxi didn't pay. There was a police watch just at the start of the bridge over the Red River - that was the one that our taxi driver in 2008 told us was a toll - it isn't - they're just police watching the road.




Impressions
It's very humid here. Not hot, but really cloying. It rained heavily all last night which was a lovely unusual sound. And lightening flashed across the sky continuously. My room is on the seventh floor with a tiny balcony, only large enough to hold the air conditioner and one person. The room is very large with two enormous beds, tv, and internet connection. I've attached a photo of the room and a view from my balcony. The lift stopped working yesterday - I don't know if this is a usual occurrence - so I had a fitness session climbing the seven floor to my room. I'm not fit. I just hope the lift doesn't stop working with me in it.


28/08/2010
Finances
I bought an exercise book to keep tabs on what I spend. I think this will be particularly useful as I don't yet have a feel for the value of the money. I had a lovely time this morning wandering around for about 3 hours. I found Kim Ma street and the university, but I didn't realise today is Saturday, and they were closed.




The tailor
Lots of little alleyways have markets set up in them. I wandered down a couple; bought an /orh/ (sp)/umbrella for 5000 Dong and a bright pink plastic rain cover for 1000 Dong. Down an alley near Pho Kim Ma I found a tailor. We had a good laugh over trying to describe what I wanted, selecting fabric from an almost non-existent supply (the tailor kept suggesting either dull greys or stretchy glittery silver fabrics), and then explaining when to pick it up - tonight at 5 PM I think. It cost 450,000 Dong - but I thought I wouldn't haggle, I'd probably end up suggesting a price higher than she suggested at the moment. If she's really good, then I'll go back to her for a pair of pants. I went to pick up my jacket later in the afternoon and there had been a misunderstanding. She repeated the word /mai.i/ several times. Thankfully a Spanish woman who spoke English, knew the word meant “tomorrow”. I just hope it isn’t an Indonesian “tomorrow” which means anytime in the future.

Different cultural experiences
While I was in with the tailor, another woman indicated through sign language that she wanted to use my umbrella. Off she went to do her shopping with the umbrella. Sure enough she came back about 15 minutes later with her shopping and my umbrella.


Handcarved furniture
La Thanh street, below Kim Ma, is full of open-fronted businesses, where people make furniture, carve decorations, polish, laquer, display and sell their wares. I'll get some photos. The timber bureaus with dragon heads carved into them are magnificent. I'll also try to get a photo of the kitchen cabinets!!! WOW!!!

Food
I ate my first meal in Vietnam at a small Japanese restaurant in Kim Ma. I didn't eat last night as I didn't know where to go AND it was raining AND I was very tired. There are heaps of Japanese eateries along there; must be because of the huge and expensive Daewoo Hotel in Kim Ma. I had white rice (com trang, 10,000 Dong) and fried bean curd with spring onions (dau trang lanh, 85,000 Dong), and cafe sua (18000 Dong); total cost 75,000 Dong (less than $4.00). There was also a charge for khan lanh for 2000 Dong - I don't know what that is!!!

The shops
I haven't found any big department stores yet. Just little open air market stalls in the streets and some people use the bottom of their houses as shops or another business, eg. tailors, stationery, photo processing. The hotel seems to have satellite TV, mostly American shows like National Geographic and CNN. There may be a lot or may have been viewing them twice or three times last night - I'm not sure.

This afternoon I went exploring around the streets a bit more. There’s a very interesting block right opposite the hotel where there is a market and lots of hotels down small streets and large allies.

The map below shows red dots for places. The green line shows where I've ventured so far. The lines indicate the location of the handmade furniture businesses.


29/08/2010
I found a com chay/vegetarian restaurant during my walk up Kim Ma Street towards the city earlier today. The food was delicious; tofu with mushrooms, vegetable soup and steamed rice, and they made those yummy lemon drinks. I went for what seemed like a huge walk, but it was only 3 hours. I was able to measure it on Google Earth, and it was 7 km total. After I got back to the hotel, I had a shower and then lay down - I think I slept, but I could barely move my legs later and felt very disorientated. Then I walked up to the tailor in the little alley. She was closed!!! I'll try again tomorrow. Oh well, that's another 3 km return journey to add to my exercise for the day.



This morning I went into the market opposite the hotel. I thought I'd buy a pair of thongs for slopping around in the hotel. the girl asked for 300,000 Dong. Hmm, I'm a bit disoriented with money so, last night I made a list of what AU$1, AU$2 etc. is equal to in Dong. She asked for about $18-$19 for those thongs!!!!! I was going to walk away and then she offered them for 50,000 Dong. I know that was also too expensive at about AU$3, but I felt sorry for her, even if she was very devious.

I'll have to negotiate a price on this hotel over the next few days, or move. It's a bit frightening when I know not a skerrick of the language. The biggest problem will be washing my clothes. The hotel charges about US$1 to wash a shirt. I could almost buy one for that in the market. So I've been rinsing my clothes in the bathroom sink and using the hotel liquid hand soap. I just bought washing powder tonight. I have a small balcony but I don't know if my clothes will be safe out there, even though I'm on the seventh floor. All the apartments opposite the hotel have cage-like constructions built over their balconies.


Me when I'd just arrived on the 27 August 2010 (A Barnaby Joyce Lookalike).



Me, after a couple of nights sleep; taken on 30 August 2010.