Anne's blog travel 06-07

Friday January 26th 2007 - Hanoi

Well, this if peak hour traffic in Hanoi. As you can see the cars are in minority. In fact as crazy as it gets, I've noticed that crossing the streets is not as dangerous as I thought. First thing to do is check for car or buses...those you really can't argue with. Otherwise the safest way to cross the streets is to cross it blind- that is to avoid looking in each direction and just go forward with no hesitation. Vietnamese are used to traveling and avoiding obstacles no matter which way they are coming at them. So you'll most likely reach the other side of the road without injury. If you look each side you are likely to hesitate and that isn't good. For when one hesitates, the riders have no idea what he or she is doing and this simply confuses them. The other thing is that scooters, cyclos and bicycle riders are not traveling as fast as cars so they have plenty of time to change their course to avoid you.

I've not yet seen an accident in Hanoi which is more than surprising. And this brings up another thing I have to get used to. In Hanoi as in much of Asia I suspect, you must push your way through. If you let someone through, as I often do, then a hundred people will go through and you'll still be waiting there for an opportunity to get by. It just won't come. People bulldoze forward and so must you.

There is never a shortage of people to come and talk to me. Today as I walk around the lake, a young man approches to try and help me communicate with a man selling books. I end up sitting with Minh for a while on one of the lake benches. He's studying Civil engineering and appologizes for his basic english. I tell him his English is very good and I just wish I could speak Vietnamese half as well as he speaks English. He's keen to speak English. "Vietnam" he tells me "is a very poor country and the standard of living is very low." Well this I know...

He tells me that his parents who live 70km away give him US$50 per months to live and study in Hanoi. He's 26 years old. I ask him where he lives and he tells me he lives in a hostel in a room with six others and he pays about 200 000 Vietnamese Dong per month. Close to US$15 per month he says. He says it's always tight but he manages with the money. And I'd realised that I spent about $42US in my first week of being here and that didn't include accommodation nor going to the gym. But he says if he graduates as a civil engineer he can earn very good money in Vietnam. "How much?" I ask. "Oh, US$200 per month or US$150"...

He's walking by the lake now because he just had an exam (which he doesn't feel he's done too well at) and has the rest of the day off.

And I think of Phi and his family leaving Vietnam when he was 7. How his life now in the USA, owning his own small company is miles away from the reality of this young man. "How about going overseas to work?" I ask Minh. "It's very hard" he says "I'd have to have US$15 000" which of course could never be acquired.

He's right. And I feel bad that there isn't much I can do about the situation in Vietnam. Betwen the guy with two amputated legs who was trying to sell me unauthorised copies of books, to the old lady who has come to try to sell me a cigarette or a paquet of gum while I'm talking to Minh, to the thousands of cyclos and motorcycle riders trying to get me to go for a ride...everyone is in the same situation or various degrees of it.

Kai, a motorbike rider who asks me if I want a ride later in the afternoon, reaches in his pocket and brings out a list of all the tourist destinations in Hanoi. His english is very very basic but he urges me to come for a ride. "Maybe tomorrow" I say. He has a beautiful smile - most of them do- and keeps trying. "Tomorrow what time?". "I don't know... I'll find you".

When I get solicited like "Madam Motorcycle" or "Madam cyclo" I usually decline but I do so by smiling and shaking my head. And more than 95% percent of the time, what I get is a beautiful smile back. Some of them recognise me now. One guy who has been selling lighters and souvenirs by foot sees me today for the third time. "Hello you again." he says to me. I tell him to call me Anne. His name is Long. His english is pretty good. "Where are you from?" he asks. "I was born in Canada" I reply. "Quebec?" he asks. I'm surprised he knows about Quebec but he tells me that he knows Quebec wanted to separate from Canada. He comes from a place 100 km away and goes back every month for a week. Comes to Hanoi to earn money. "Keep studying Vietnamese Anne" he says "in a month I think you can learn it."

I doubt that very much...

Bye for now