Anne's blog travel 06-07

Sunday, January 21st 2007

The day seems to start a bit slower out there on the streets this morning which is nice. Out running early, and on my fifth out of 7 laps of the lake, I spot a western man ahead and already I know he's running slower than me. By the time I start my 6th laps I'm only a few paces behind him and wondering what to do. If I stay behind him I have to slow down, yet invariably if I pass him he will accelerate to keep up with me. So, as a woman if you pass a man (mostly western men) while running you must be prepared to race or slow down.

So, I wait a bit until there are a few people between us to pass, almost hoping he won't notice and I accelerate a bit beyond my normal pace to make it harder for him to keep up. But as expected I soon hear his footsteps behind me so I keep the pace up. I can also hear his feet slapping the pavement so I know he's not comfortable holding this pace. When I assume he's a bit tired I suddenly accelerate noticeably to lose him and keep this pace up for 300-400 meters and then slow back to a more comfortable pace. I seem to lose him for a while but by the time I start my last lap, I hear his footsteps behind so he's managed to catch up. I do the last lap simply at a fast pace which he manages to follow and at the end he start talking to me so I slow down to have a conversation. He's an Australian and I eventually meet his wife and another woman traveling with them as they are walking around the lake.

Ah well, at least we pushed each other. Might see him again on the lake in the morning if he can keep up... Me competitive? Naaah

By the way and before I forget, I got an email from Ahmed yesterday and he's back home after the open heart surgery (9 hours and 4 new arteries) still feeling dizzy and weak but the operation was a huge success he says. Let's just hope he takes better care of his new arteries.

I catch a representation of the Thang Long Water Puppets not far from the lake this afternoon. It's the most anciean art form in Vietnam and the show is amazing and different to anything I've seen before. Apparently these shows were performed on lakes and the handling of the puppets by the puppeteers is amazing. The music is also beautiful. The room is packed and the theater performs about 6 or so shows a day which sell out days ahead.

I meander the streets earlier today. I keep thinking I've seen a lot of the area and keep finding areas I haven't seen at all. Today I found streets upon streets of merchand areas. One street will be full of merchants selling dry goods (biscuits, candy, rice etc), a few streets further it will be hardware, then ironworks, fresh goods etc. The first thing to do is to surrender to the fact you will get lost. It's too tedious to try to keep an idea of where you are. And no matter what, by the time you want to find your way, it's never that hard. Just pick up the map and eventually find one of the roads on there and just meander back to the lake. Or if you really want to make a Cyclo happy jump in his cart and ask him to get you back. But, tired of being asked all the time and enjoying the walk I haven't tried this yet.

Bye for now