I'm Back

Using Kristen's laptop is free (read previous post...). Another positive about Kristen's laptop is the keyboard is not Vietnamese so when I need an apostrophe I get an apostrophe and then you can actually read what I"m saying. So sorry about the rushed post downstairs.

So, Hanoi, where to start...

I can cross the street without screaming in fear. A yelp, a wee squeal, perhaps an occasional four letter word but no tears. There are times when I'm in the middle of the street, cars, bicycles, cyclos, scooters, vans, buses and taxis are traveling in every direction around me and I ask myself "What in hell are you doing here?" It is quite the frightening experience, I may jaywalk across Spadina in Chinatown yet...

So Kristen and I headed out on a self guided tour of the old quarter today for about 4 1/2 hours. By foot. With a map full of unfamiliar street names with 3 and 4 words. Of the 3 or 4 words only one might be different than all of the other streets in the immediate area. Special. We quickly came to call them by their Canadian names...
scooter seat cover street (Very long...very busy, big traffic jam picture goes here someday)
baby boulevard
electronics alley
red boot way (seriously, a street FULL of shelves of RED boots! Big smile on K's face in this picture)
wash your scooter way

We have not found the street called skinned dogs ready to eat street...thank god.

A few observations

1. When you ask a price they make it up off the top of their head (have not actually bought anything yet)
2. Women build streets, clear gutters, collect trash, sweep leaves, carry enormous loads of produce in their balanced baskets, care for the children, cook the meals (on the street), wash the dishes at the edge of the road near the open gutter, plant public gardens in preparation for TET...and so much more
3. Men wear green army /police uniforms and stand at strategic points about the city, wash and repair scooters and ????I'll have to get back to you on this. Saw them sitting, relaxing, scooter driving...but working? Not so much.
4. Many MANY of the people who approach you on the street are trying to get your money...the poor rural University student who doesn't really WANT to ask for money but needs to support himself and his family and blah, blah, blah...the woman who practically threw her basket onto Kristen's back so that she could pose for a photo and then cough up some cash after Kristen said no about 18 time (who here thinks Kristen let her get away with that???)...the woman who carries around the cutest little baby bundled against the cold 17 degree weather and had the baby hold out the post card packages for purchase
5. One should not venture out after dark with a barely adequate map to walk to a destination one has never seen before let alone walked to. And when things start to look seedy it is because things are starting to get seedy. You are in fact going in the entirely wrong direction.
6. Nice ladies on bikes will not try to swindle you when you ask for directions they will simply say "The Hanoi Towers is FAR, FAR away. Get Taxi...get THAT Taxi." So we did and it had a meter and it cost us 24000 dong to learn a valuable lesson. (That is like a buck fifty with a transfer rate of 1 USD =17400 DONG).
7. If Liz says Jaspas food is worth the trip, it is.
8. Jet lag is really starting to suck. When our little 8 year old travel mate fell fast asleep on the bench seat at Jaspa's I was intensely jealous...if she hadn't been so darn cute I may have pushed her off and stolen her spot.
9. Adoption in Vietnam makes one wonder if they ate something wrong or if the upset stomach is a product of the world changing tomorrow at about 2:30...that's Benjaminh time. 2:30 am Canada time.

Till tomorrow when I will make a concerted effort to add at least one picture to my post...the picture you are all waiting for anyways.