HANOI
After spending the last month in Laos in relative peace and quiet I was actually loking forward to something a little bit more lively.....that said Hanoi is absolutely crazy!!
Crossing the street is Russian Roulette, and after many of those awkward (nearly fatal) moments where you're not sure which side of you the moto driver is going to swerve, the best policy seems to be the stupidest in just walking out in the middle or the road regardless of what's coming! (Apart from Buses, they can't move so quickly and would hurt more than a 25cc screaming moped!)
Having walked the first few hours in Hanoi paranoid of death and in a fragile state of mind the place has appealed more by the day. Although the weather hasn't been as warm as Laos and has been a bit hit and miss, it's still OK to wander around and see / do things.
So far have been to Lenin Park and after reading a book on the U.S war here I actually went to a museum to find out a bit more, not the most likely of places to usually find me, and despite the slightly sore head (which makes reading displays a bit difficult!) it was pretty good.
The sore head owes a massive thank you to a guy from Oz who enjoys drinking games as much as myself, as well as the incredibly cheap 'Bia Hoi' which they serve on street corners, at which you sit on little stools....all at the price of 1,500 dong (not quite 6p) per glass!!!
It's not quite as strong as regular beer in the bars (20,000 dong), but at that price it doesn't matter if you get through enough to fill the bath!!!
In order to keep in line with some of my entries I can also update some more of my misfortunes on the road as well....managed to get ripped off by the airport taxi (paid 50% too much taking GBP exchange rate and not USD as agreed!!) so that's a hard record to beat - getting ripped off in a place before I've even got to my guest house!!
The other incident wasn't quite so much money, but a bit more amusing....got a moto driver to take me back to my hotel at about 3am....fare came to 20,000 so handed him a 50,000 note and asked him for change, he then said "yeah, no problem" and looked into his wallet before buggering off at high speed down the road!! Nice.
Am heading off to Sapa (10 hours North) to trek in the mountains for 3 days so will update that trip when back....
After spending the last month in Laos in relative peace and quiet I was actually loking forward to something a little bit more lively.....that said Hanoi is absolutely crazy!!
Crossing the street is Russian Roulette, and after many of those awkward (nearly fatal) moments where you're not sure which side of you the moto driver is going to swerve, the best policy seems to be the stupidest in just walking out in the middle or the road regardless of what's coming! (Apart from Buses, they can't move so quickly and would hurt more than a 25cc screaming moped!)
Having walked the first few hours in Hanoi paranoid of death and in a fragile state of mind the place has appealed more by the day. Although the weather hasn't been as warm as Laos and has been a bit hit and miss, it's still OK to wander around and see / do things.
So far have been to Lenin Park and after reading a book on the U.S war here I actually went to a museum to find out a bit more, not the most likely of places to usually find me, and despite the slightly sore head (which makes reading displays a bit difficult!) it was pretty good.
The sore head owes a massive thank you to a guy from Oz who enjoys drinking games as much as myself, as well as the incredibly cheap 'Bia Hoi' which they serve on street corners, at which you sit on little stools....all at the price of 1,500 dong (not quite 6p) per glass!!!
It's not quite as strong as regular beer in the bars (20,000 dong), but at that price it doesn't matter if you get through enough to fill the bath!!!
In order to keep in line with some of my entries I can also update some more of my misfortunes on the road as well....managed to get ripped off by the airport taxi (paid 50% too much taking GBP exchange rate and not USD as agreed!!) so that's a hard record to beat - getting ripped off in a place before I've even got to my guest house!!
The other incident wasn't quite so much money, but a bit more amusing....got a moto driver to take me back to my hotel at about 3am....fare came to 20,000 so handed him a 50,000 note and asked him for change, he then said "yeah, no problem" and looked into his wallet before buggering off at high speed down the road!! Nice.
Am heading off to Sapa (10 hours North) to trek in the mountains for 3 days so will update that trip when back....
posted by aboutabwoy at 12:25 PM
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