Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
I'm in the Business Centre of my hotel, baffled by the speed of the internet connection. What I mean, really, is that I am baffled by its lack of speed. It claims to be 56K and I know I am used to my home ADSL instant connection but this is ridiculous - snail's pace reminiscent of the oldest machines at school.
Anyway...
We finally got to Hanoi yesterday late in the morning, having spent a total of 8 hours at Heathrow - our plane which was scheduled to take off at 10.30pm did not move anywhere until 3am! We stayed in the airport hotel in Bangkok and caught the first flight of the morning to Vietnam.
The culture shock here is immediate - each time you cross a road, you feel as though you are taking your life in your hands but in reality, you are probably safer than thousands of moped drivers who swerve around you, often practically into the paths of oncoming cars, whose drivers simply charge straight on down the road,leaning hard on their horns. Overtaking on the wrong side of the road, whilst going round a blind bend, in the middle of a tropical rainstorm, when several scooters are coming towards your taxi seems commonplace. All manner of objects are transported by moped, the most remarkable so far is perhaps a toilet and sink, which were balanced carefully between the driver and his pillion riding passenger.
The heat engulfs everything, the air completely still, is saturated with water. To walk around town is to take a sauna.
Rubbish is discarded in the streets and the mopeds have access everywhere, even the narrow lanes of the fruit market, which are barely wide enough for one person to walk down. So stepping out of the way of a moped whose driver was headed towards me showing no sign of slowing, I tripped over a bowl of seed at a stall and received a furious glare from the vendor. Our guide bought a dragon fruit from her and she seemed less annoyed. The dragon fruit's skin is bright pink in colour but has sweet white flesh dotted with black seeds. I like it.
I have bought a beautiful silk scarf, from what is known as the best quality silk store in the city, but still it only cost me 14 pounds. My sister has a new umberella which cost us 80 pence. The native currency, the Dong is 25 000 to the pound, so to be a millionaire is no great achievement.
Tomorrow, my birthday, we shall visit Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, house and museum. He is remembered very fondly by the people, though to me it seems that socialism does not really remain here - asking your guide about the school system, there is no free education. What there is seems to be all the trappings of an authoritarian State. There are elections but there is just one party. I shall learn more, I hope.
Anyway...
We finally got to Hanoi yesterday late in the morning, having spent a total of 8 hours at Heathrow - our plane which was scheduled to take off at 10.30pm did not move anywhere until 3am! We stayed in the airport hotel in Bangkok and caught the first flight of the morning to Vietnam.
The culture shock here is immediate - each time you cross a road, you feel as though you are taking your life in your hands but in reality, you are probably safer than thousands of moped drivers who swerve around you, often practically into the paths of oncoming cars, whose drivers simply charge straight on down the road,leaning hard on their horns. Overtaking on the wrong side of the road, whilst going round a blind bend, in the middle of a tropical rainstorm, when several scooters are coming towards your taxi seems commonplace. All manner of objects are transported by moped, the most remarkable so far is perhaps a toilet and sink, which were balanced carefully between the driver and his pillion riding passenger.
The heat engulfs everything, the air completely still, is saturated with water. To walk around town is to take a sauna.
Rubbish is discarded in the streets and the mopeds have access everywhere, even the narrow lanes of the fruit market, which are barely wide enough for one person to walk down. So stepping out of the way of a moped whose driver was headed towards me showing no sign of slowing, I tripped over a bowl of seed at a stall and received a furious glare from the vendor. Our guide bought a dragon fruit from her and she seemed less annoyed. The dragon fruit's skin is bright pink in colour but has sweet white flesh dotted with black seeds. I like it.
I have bought a beautiful silk scarf, from what is known as the best quality silk store in the city, but still it only cost me 14 pounds. My sister has a new umberella which cost us 80 pence. The native currency, the Dong is 25 000 to the pound, so to be a millionaire is no great achievement.
Tomorrow, my birthday, we shall visit Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, house and museum. He is remembered very fondly by the people, though to me it seems that socialism does not really remain here - asking your guide about the school system, there is no free education. What there is seems to be all the trappings of an authoritarian State. There are elections but there is just one party. I shall learn more, I hope.