Hanoi, its not all bad

If long term travel, has its ups and downs, independent solo travel has Marianas trenches and Himalaya. So it was with a little trepidation I hugged goodbye to Chris in Hanoi, and wished him safe passage back to Swansea. Wondering how he would view the ugly lovely town, having been exposed to so many new things, and how I would feel once again the captain of my soul, with no-one familiar to reinforce my persona.

Three of us reached Hanoi, via three boats in Halong Bay, two long bus journeys. Our new traveling companion was a graduate of Humboldt State, and like me had left a large part of his heart in Arcata in Northern California.

Cat Ba Island where we met, was almost deserted being low season, and no doubt affected by the worsening financial crisis. One could not help imagining this as a vision of the future, with water no longer running down the aqua slides, and cafes only serving drinks. Fortunately for us a sea-front room with stunning views and two comfortable double beds was ours for $5 a night!

Again we were though crazy for renting mountain bikes rather than motorbikes. We were told impossible – hills are too big, very far – which only encouraged us more. The hills though steep, were not nearly as hard as from Caswel back to Mumbles, the effort helping the scenery and making us feel we earned our lunch. Just as well as it included a mystery package, unwrapping the banana leaf parcel we found a block of glutenous rice, filled with egg and fish, really bland but great cycling fuel.

Following these tranquil days with the Capitol city was not going to be an easy transition. The roar of the motorcycles, smells and 3000 Dong beer hoi – home brewed small beer sold from a barrel on the street was inviting.

Funny how inviting smells, can become cloying after a while. The sight of a dog chopped up on a market stall, its duck coloured meat, and gruesome snarl was at first interesting. It soon came to symbolize quite how alien the culture felt. Stragely the next time we visited the head was covered.

In preparation for Tet, the lunar new year, people all over Hanoi were burning paper, and boxes simply made just for burning, held together with plastic ribbons which caught the back of the throat, and worsened the smog hanging over the rainy city.

With both my companions leaving, to the UK and Borneo respectively, I too felt the urge to leave – every long beep of the horn making me want to be on the next flight. Something that could easily be arranged at no cost given my airlines ticketing rules. I had tried to arrange the flight for the next afternoon, planning to confirm the next morning, after Singapore airlines had spoken to their London office.

That evening I spoke to some ex-pats, learning some valuable insights into the culture. I drank two mugs of hot chocolate, and began to remember how much I enjoyed traveling alone, it is far easier to meet people, and you do not get hassled nearly as much.

Waking after a long sleep to a sunny morning, I remembered how I had vowed not to run away when things got tough, I began to realize how easily I had slipped into the default tourist mode. I would stay on, and wait for the change of luck that was sure to follow once I let it.

With time to spare till the flight, I decided to get this laptop running properly. Despite my early attempts with a USB linux distro, the hard drive was too corrupt to be repaired with e2fsck, it needed a complete reinstall, the disk was safely in my drawer at home!

How to get a linux install DVD for one particular computer, and the use of an external DVD drive with very little English spoken was my challenge for the day. No easy task, as everyone here uses pirated copies of Windows, and the Vietnamese people prefer big laptops.

After calling shop to shop I found one with an external DVD drive, and another with the necessary installer disk. Eventually, by leaving my mobile as security I was able to borrow the disk, to get the little Acer back on the road! A little risk for a little reward has always paid off in the past.

While the re-install was underway the shop owner invited me to drink tea at a stall. I learned that he had obtained his CCNA , a valuable computing qualification in one year for $600. His business partner knew Cardiff was the capital of Wales from the football results, and thought the picture I showed him of Three Cliffs Bay, just as beautiful as Halon Bay. I learned it is as I thought just tobacco they smoke in those bamboo bongs. Even after taking up hours of the computer guy's time I was only charged a couple of bucks. The shop that had lent me the disk would accept no money, and even gave me a couple of tangerines!

I am now sat in a cafe, having enjoyed a steaming bowl of pho at 15000 dong, ($1 = 17500 dong ), well below the usual tourist rate. I am using an open wifi connection, so much nicer, even if it is cheap, paying for Internet access feels like soliciting.

.............

Before I could post the above, I discovered a great little place playing early Beatles and serving BBQ burgers in time for happy hour, and just been talking to a fan of A to Z of Bushcraft! Unfortunately Vietnam is behind the great firewall of China. Sites like blogspot have been deemed subversive, but never fear dear readers, I have rerouted the encryptions, and will not be silenced ;)

Peace out folks