Arrival in Hanoi

Friday, 10 June 2005

(Sarah modelling a gift from one of her students, a Ho Chi Minh decorative plate)

Well, things are quite different from how I imagined. I don't know how long this first entry will be because the net PC I'm working on keeps trying to autocomplete my writing in Vietnamese.

So far, I've started learning a little of the language, managed to cross the road without being killed several times, and have bought a mobile phone. I texted my brother from hanoi and it wasn't too pricey, but I don't know how much it is from Oz.

I'm going to spend my first month living at the Lavender Hotel in Hanoi, then get a shared house somewhere. The expat lifestyle is pretty wild here - I was out till 3am last night, and when I ordered a Vodka and Cranberry at this expat bar called Half Man Half Noodle (although I keep thinking of it as Half Man Half Dog), they gave me a Vodka and Campari instead. It was very difficult to drink!

Besides the endless offers of motorbike taxi hawkers, it's actually pretty chilled out in Vietnam - there's much less harassment than in Denpasar, for example. My French is already improving, as there are heaps of French expats, and the best TV channel is TV5 asie. It's a French cultural commentary station, quite academic - they actually interviewed a "pommeteur" (an apple expert), which a Belgian musician I met last night said does not exist.

I can't believe how much the expats smoke here too. They drink and party hard, and at the moment, police are cracking down on "social evils" and shutting the bars, either permanently or at midnight. There's a strange 'speakeasy' feel about some of the bars I've been to.

I'm starting to be able to use my phrasebook more confidently, but if anyone tells you everyone speaks English here, they have had a very sheltered Hanoi experience! Almost no one speaks English, except in the Old Quarter. Hai, at my hotel (near the Old quarter), is the best, but she only really started understanding me after I started writing her messages in very broken Vietnamese. I've found some gluten free food after some arduous shopping - peanuts, shrimp-flavoured rice cakes, and ham! Also the fruit here is just fantastic. I'm not quite sure what all the names are, but I like the fuschia-coloured artichoke-looking one with white flesh and black seeds inside (dragonfruit). V nice with lime juice!

Anyway, having a blast, finding my way around, and not even getting ripped off too much. I'm trying not to act like a sahib, although I did have an in-depth foot massage (including back and shoulders) yesterday for around $4.10 AUD.