Showing posts with label Hanoi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hanoi. Show all posts
8 Jun 2007
Motorbike in Hanoi (English)
The best way to get around in the Vietnamese capital is the motorbike, noisy, stinky and very dangerous - just as the traffic itself there. Being back in Taipei makes me actually think that traffic here is boring and well organized. HAHA. Who could have thought?
Water Puppet Theatre Hanoi (English)
The first introductory piece of the famous water puppet theatre in Hanoi. The water puppets are a Northern Vietnamese speciality and quite nice to see.
Pics: Back to Hanoi
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| Hanoi2_Ret |
Another few days back in Hanoi! Museum of Ethnology, Mausoleum of Hoh Chih Minh, and just walking around the city. Later back to Taipei, via Hong Kong.
4 Jun 2007
Back to Hanoi (English)
I came back from Sapa this morning at around 5.30 with the night train. The trains are quite comfortable, even in the 6-people soft-sleeper. After breakfast with some people from my Sapa trekking group I headed out to search for a new hotel; this time a somewhat more expensive and better 2-Star hotel for 20 $ per night. But I feel that it is worth it and I want to enjoy my holiday, so don't think to much abou the $.
After showering and resting for a while I went to see some sights in Hanio with my new Vietnamese friend Hanh (who I met on the trip to Sapa). She took me all around the city on her motorbike, and so I got to see the Ho Chih Min Mausoleum, bot only from the outside, as it is closed on mondays, the zoo and the temple of wisdom (some kind of Confucius temple and the oldest university of Vietnam, dating back to around 1076 AD).
Later I met my Dutch friend Leonore and her colleauge Jurgen (?), who both do an internship here.
That's about it for the day, time to go to bed and relax...
28 May 2007
Hanoi (English)
Yeah, I am here. The first day of my trip is almost over. Time to look for an internetcafe and type some words.
When I arrived I could not believe that none of the stories seemed to be true. The airport was silent, almost boring, though I really liked the Asian-style architecture of some of the airport buildings there. There were also no Taxi drivers yelling at me, trying to pull me in their car.
I just choosed the next best one and asked him to use the meter. The 30 km ride from the airport to downtown was not very stressful, considering that I am used to some Asian traffic by now. Though I have to admit that you feel and see right away that there is quite a difference between Taipei and Hanoi. The "freeway" was in some parts not completed yet and scooters are allowed to use it (without helmet of course). The whole car traffic is packed to the left lane, as the right lane is occupied by slow two-wheelers.
Entering the city by taxi was a good choice, having windows around you makes it a lot nicer to be around here. Traffic is chaos and everyone honks his car or scooter horn as often as possible.
People here definately look poorer (as expected) and there is a lot more life on the streets. Some really nice Mediterainian feeling, with small bars offering chairs outside to take a rest and have a drink.
My experience so far is that people here a open-minded towards white foreigners, they like it to talk to you. An old man (maybe 70) sat besides me on a bench and told me about his children, in French (colonial influence, which is also captured in the architecture here and makes a lot of buildings look nicer then in Taiwan), and you see a lot of white foreigners walking around (most of them look like properly tanned tourits).
People's spoken English is a lot better in Taiwan, but here they try to speak it with a lot of passion as well.
You get offers at every corner and every minute; people trying to sell you fresh fruit, books or offer you rides on scooters or rikschas.
A book vendor was not satisfied with my offer for his copied version of the Lonely planet and actually threatened me after a while, that I should not meet him again, or he would hit me. That is something I never experienced in Taiwan and the general attitude of vendors here seems to be a lot more aggressive, or desperate.
But my general impression is still positive. I booked two trips out of the city and my hotel's travel agency, totalling about 100 US Dollar for 5 nights and all transportation and accomendation. I hope that the money is properly invested and I will experience a lot of interesting sights with my properly tanned travel mates.
When I arrived I could not believe that none of the stories seemed to be true. The airport was silent, almost boring, though I really liked the Asian-style architecture of some of the airport buildings there. There were also no Taxi drivers yelling at me, trying to pull me in their car.
I just choosed the next best one and asked him to use the meter. The 30 km ride from the airport to downtown was not very stressful, considering that I am used to some Asian traffic by now. Though I have to admit that you feel and see right away that there is quite a difference between Taipei and Hanoi. The "freeway" was in some parts not completed yet and scooters are allowed to use it (without helmet of course). The whole car traffic is packed to the left lane, as the right lane is occupied by slow two-wheelers.
Entering the city by taxi was a good choice, having windows around you makes it a lot nicer to be around here. Traffic is chaos and everyone honks his car or scooter horn as often as possible.
People here definately look poorer (as expected) and there is a lot more life on the streets. Some really nice Mediterainian feeling, with small bars offering chairs outside to take a rest and have a drink.
My experience so far is that people here a open-minded towards white foreigners, they like it to talk to you. An old man (maybe 70) sat besides me on a bench and told me about his children, in French (colonial influence, which is also captured in the architecture here and makes a lot of buildings look nicer then in Taiwan), and you see a lot of white foreigners walking around (most of them look like properly tanned tourits).
People's spoken English is a lot better in Taiwan, but here they try to speak it with a lot of passion as well.
You get offers at every corner and every minute; people trying to sell you fresh fruit, books or offer you rides on scooters or rikschas.
A book vendor was not satisfied with my offer for his copied version of the Lonely planet and actually threatened me after a while, that I should not meet him again, or he would hit me. That is something I never experienced in Taiwan and the general attitude of vendors here seems to be a lot more aggressive, or desperate.
But my general impression is still positive. I booked two trips out of the city and my hotel's travel agency, totalling about 100 US Dollar for 5 nights and all transportation and accomendation. I hope that the money is properly invested and I will experience a lot of interesting sights with my properly tanned travel mates.
I arrived in Hanoi! (English)
Only a few hours later and I am here: Hanpi, the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. I did not do much yet, except for booking a 10 dollar hotel and arriving here.
I live in the old city centre and will get to know the area now...
I live in the old city centre and will get to know the area now...
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