i finally made it north! to coldness! Ohhhhhhh how i missed it. it was overcast, foggy, drizzly, rainy, cold almost the entire weekend. it was pretty much amazing. :-)
i had my camera, and i would have taken a million pictures, but as luck always has it with any camera put in my hands, it shut down after i took one (possibly two) picture. i had arrived in hanoi the late the night before, hadn't checked the camera (was more worried about the battery lives--both of which die rather quickly--and had them charging earlier that day) before i left, and found out it was too early in the morning (could have also been a 'closing for the holiday' thing) for the local camera stores to be open. so i left for my first excursion with not even a simple clicker. it's okay. i'm not sure if my words will do justice to a picture. but, then, sometimes a picture doesn't even do a moment justice.
one thing that i have found this semester, is that i'm pretty much a locked-up hobo, and my social skills have reversed to pretty much nill. my biggest conversations take place with esl 7 yr olds, a 9 mo. old cat, and a literal virtual boyfriend (now just a virtual friend). so i soaked up conversations and social moments with my co-travelers. and then i cherished the quiet moments :-)
my first friend in passing was a mother, barely older than me, with her son and nephew--local--also visiting from hcmc for the holiday. we had our planned excursions scheduled backwards and found the traveling company wouldn't let me switch mine last minute...sadness. sweet lady works for a (singaporean?) company just south of mine, as their office secretary. we chatted on the annoying process of applying for work visas. i personally don't know all of the annoyance, lol, but i know the lady who does the same in our office pretty much wants to pull her hair out whenever faced with an application. my camera died just as i was wanting to take pictures with this lady and her boys before they left on their bus. the weather was good that morning, i'm hoping they actually got to see a full picture of the rocks at halong bay--they were far disappeared into the fog by the time i arrived the next day.
on the way to the perfume pagoda (my agenda for the day), i was seated next to a viet-kieu (a vietnamese who lives overseas) on the bus. she was raised in hanoi, but had traveled a bit in her younger days, eventually making it to the states about 40 years ago (you do the math) and was visiting her hometown for the first time since then. she said she had seen the house she grew up in--it still looked the same. :-) she currently lives in california with her family, and was on vacation with her husband (also a viet-kieu), a son, a daughter, and the spouses. i bumped into her and her family the rest of my trip, as they also went to halong bay the next day (just on a different bus, then). very sweet lady, she translated for me (from the tour guide's english, as his english wasn't really that great and seemed incredibly nervous the whole trip--possibly one of his first) most of the ride there and told the tour guide to stop asking me how old i was, as it was considered rude in american culture (lolol)...he asked again, though, when she wasn't around...(it is a favorite question of this culture--i don't actually care--but it can get annoying when it's synonymous to their interest---as when they keep repeating 'you're very beautiful!'...again and again and again...)
to get between the bus and the area where the pagoda was, we had to take canoes on a 1hr. (one way) trip up a river. i sat with a malaysian couple and two korean guys who work for a cell phone company stationed near hanoi. the malaysian couple was super cute. muslim, we compared the foods that we eat and cultural differences of malaysia to vn to the states. their son actually went to okie state! and liked it...but, then, i say i liked living in kansas, so, to each his own :-) their daughter lives in london, and during the month of the muslim fasting, they all travel to london to celebrate it together. the husband served in the malaysian army back in the day. my knowledge of the wars here are obviously more limited than i thought. i had absolutely no idea that the malaysian army was involved, and was terrified that thailand might let charlie in, as they apparently did to the japanese, so the japs could attack china. we need more eastern history lessons in the west. i believe one of the highlights of our conversations though, was the topic of pizza, which we were all by the time we reached our landing. (i found out later that one of the koreans--who sat in the front and never talked--actually speaks good english, heard every bit of the conversation, and does not like pizza...)
by land, my friends were a french couple (well, mostly the woman, mon amie francaise!). 'come, my friend, let us go!' (i half-way expected her to say 'my american friend' lol. lady was Super funny (and a little bit hung-over from new year's eve festivities the night before). And it was really nice to practice some french (which her quiet husband finally figured out most of the way through the trip that i could speak a bit lol--i know i'm a quiet talker, but...). she was quite nervous about the canoe trip, as she kept expecting charlie to pop out of the water next to her boat with some semi-automatic aimed at her (because of her nationality) and was quite concerned for my safety as well. i think it was why she hung out with me--if we ever came under fire, she could push me in front--'she's an american! take her! her country did worse things!' (liking running faster than your friend when a bear is in pursuit lol) on our trip up the mountain to the pagoda, we had to take a cage lift (similar to a caged ski lift). while waiting for the lift, we had a few minutes to spare and waited by a look-out (of a most gorgeous mountain scene) where we also found a cage of puppies. my french friend was quite adamant that they were to be snacks, or if left to grow a little more, lunches. i did my best not to think about it. unfortunately, it's not far from the truth here. and the cries of the puppies made them hard to ignore. i think if we had known of a place to stash the puppies, we would have rescued them right then. my friend friend and the italians on board were quite terrified of the lift. it swung a little--but what scared my friend friend the most was the maintenance schedule date--which is due in a couple of weeks. :-) we made it there with no problem. i was quite sad to see her leave at the end of the day--she was some of the best entertainment that day.
up at the pagoda, i went the 120 steps down into the cave to peruse. the large cave was amazing--but i was more into the cave and the hike than the pagoda--nothing i hadn't seen before. i quickly grew bored and returned to the top to talk to the malaysian muslim couple. because of health (and i think also religion) they had opted to wait up top.
at the end of the trip, i started hanging out with one of the korean guys (the one who hates pizza) and we made dinner plans, as everyone else had plans to leave for Sapa that night or go elsewhere. it took us forever to make a decision about where to go. he finally mentioned a restaurant to the taxi driver, which is part of a chain restaurant that i go to here lol--when he found that out, he changed to another. he'd never been there before--mistake #1: never take someone you don't really know to a possible high-end place that you've never been. once there, we found it was obviously over our price-range-but both a bit to shy to admit it, stayed. food was really good. semi-expensive. and he paid. almost like a date lol--kinda nice. was really just nice to sit down and talk culture, politics, social habits and mundane things. i think he and i both needed it. his company seems to be a bit seclusive as well--leaving us both in want of a social life lol
i slept Amazingly in the hotel bed both nights--my bed...sucks. and breakfast at the hotel (complimentary) was pretty much amazing as well. home-cooked and hot. no cereal! (which i love, actually, but also love breakfasts cooked for me------i can be lazy in the morning...or rushed lol)
pumpkin soup is pretty much the most amazing food this country makes. and it's everywhere. including breakfast :-)
the bus trip to halong bay, saturday, was definitely a highlight of the trip. i sat beside a japanese man, yuji! something like twice my age, but in the educational field, and well traveled-especially to the states. not only does he work with several colleges and universities in the states to coordinate student exchange programs to/from japan, one of the colleges he works with happens to be UT Martin. he even noticed that i don't have a southern accent! it's been sooooo long since i've heard someone observe that when learning where my family comes from. his most entertaining comment, though, came when the tour guide was trying to get us to participate in an ice breaker, and yuji talked about his visit to middle vn, and seeing the ruins (made by americans) and how they affected him, as americans seem to ruin anything they come in contact with. :-) the aussies sitting in front of us dropped their jaws in shock, the lady turning to look at me to make sure i was okay by the comment. what was i supposed to do? get mad? what he said is true. including destruction of his homeland, his hometown, even. he's not mad at americans, just annoyed with the actions of the army. i won't argue that. what yuji was most entertained with? how quiet i am. lolol as most asians seem to be. even though he travels to the states at least once a year, he even sees americans as being loud, boisterous and in-your-face. as i am none of the above, i have been questioned more than once about my nationality really being american. lol... he said that for possibly the first time, he was able to speak in at least half of the conversation, in fact, i think he did most of the talking :-) he was also impressed by my long nap (during the day--as i was still catching up from lack of sleep during that week) as americans are known, world-wide, as Not being nap-takers. My work colleagues and students (grades K-12) all take naps after lunch. in fact, you can usually tell if they haven't been able to have a nap lol. coming from a society where you can get fired for taking a nap at work, i have to be deliriously sleepy to even consider a nap. and the few times i have allowed myself, i feel like i'm slacking off and will get in trouble if any director walks in.
sad part of the day came when we got to the landing to board the ships. our group was split up--i went with a korean family and a set of korean girls (which is good since i know nothing of korean language or culture!) and yuji went with the aussies, malaysians(?) and brazilians(!). i kept thinking our groups would meet up again at different parts to join our tour guide. but our small group was given our own tour guide, and we ran into the other group just once, much later that day. i never saw yuji again. but it totally brings to mind the saying about some friends are meant for a few minutes, some are meant for a few days, some are meant for life (or something like that). god bless you, yuji, in all of your world travels.
halong bay was a bit colder and foggier than i had thought it would be--you couldn't even see the rocks a few hundred yards away (did i mention it reminded me of puget sound???). we waited FOR-EV-ER for our boat to come, and was super excited about the warmth and the good food when the boat did arrive. they served us lunch on our way to Surprise Cave (the name our tour guide used). after lunch, i took a quickie nap (i got a lot of sleep on the trip!) in my small cabin. a super cozy bed with a super cozy down comforter with an amazing view of the bay from the window. even though i was crazy tired, it actually took a bit for me to go to sleep, i was so entertained with the view. the harbor carries something like 1,000 boats and small cruise ships and miniature individual boat markets. even with the dense fog, you can still make out quite a few. Surprise Cave was entertaining, however, either i have been in too many caves in my short life, or i was still groggy, but, again, i was more entertained by the hike through the cave, than the cave itself. it could also have been the tour guide..as the translation left a bit to be wanted for information on the cave--nice guy, though.
the korean girls were super sweet--come to find out they were all teachers on their winter break, traveling through s.e.asia. definitely around my age, they were all high school teachers: politics, history and chinese. when the chinese teacher found out where i work, her first question was if i spoke chinese--and then was quickly deflated when i said only a few words lol. the politics teacher offered to take some pictures for me when she found out the state of my camera. pictures in the cave are quite are to take, though, because of lighting lol. it's okay, at that point, i was quite resigned to my state of living in the moment, not creating picture memoirs. :-) still, we tried. after the cave, we were taken to a small floating kayak rental. the water, itself, was actually rather warm-ish--but the breezy air was frigid and quickly chilled All the water (and there was lots of it) that ended up dripping off the paddle and onto my pants and down my sleeves, and eventually down the plastic to my seat...we had an open, plastic fun-yak. it was the first time for the korean girls to ever go kayaking. they were quite excited and terrified by the adventure. as we were in extremely calm waters, i didn't think they really had anything to be scared of. though when a motorized boat passed, it would leave a good wake--always fun :-) and many times boats, without motor or loud motors, would come out of nowhere and almost run you over (if they were other kayaks, they would run you over). it didn't take too long for the girls to want to head back. i Love paddling, but didn't object as i was ready for warm clothes and a shower.
After putting the kayaks away, I ran into yuji the last time--his section of the group had just come back from kayaking as well--but they were heading back to their mini-cruise boat. After a warm shower, dry clothes, i had a long talk with our tour guide. he was very interested in my thoughts of vn, especially the south, where i currently live. one questions i wasn't ready for, though, was what i don't like about vn. what do you say to a local? a lot? things that i can't explain to you, because they have to do with cultural differences that you won't understand because you don't yet know my culture? well, i don't like the year-round heat of hcmc, or the smog. i don't like being cheated out of money by locals, as they look at my western skin and think they can raise the price without me knowing. and i'm tired of the language barrier, where, when i ask for one dragonfruit, the merchant insists on one kilo of dragon fruit (that's about 2 dragonfruit--i can't eat so much before they spoil). i had the same issue with apples. i finally decided that apples are good for me and that i like them with peanut butter (one of my all-time fave foods) anyway, And they give you more energy than coffee, so why not eat them all....except after the first batch, you don't really want any for a bit.
after an amazing dinner, where the vn couple at our table (who speak english, but we were shy of each other, and comfortable at the same time--i'm not sure how else to explain that one) and i discussed and tried to remember the english name for 'taro' (english is 'taro', we just couldn't remember it). this is sad, as barely a couple weeks ago, my good friend, mona, and i had the exact same discussion, about trying to remember the name. we recognize it, we know what it is, it's a purple starch, a root like a potato---but what is it's english name!!! we eat this in the states, right? maybe i just need to eat it more... we finally remembered...it just took us longer than it should have... the vn couple had the most adorable, bratty kid, who was Crazy picky about eating. i felt terrible for the parents.
after dinner, i pretty much went to bed. it was crazy early, still, but i was uber exhausted, started up my 'mellow' itunes playmix and passed out. well, after making a long-distance call to the states to wake up my 'virtual friend' at an ungodly hour, just to rub in my giddiness about being on vacation, on a mini-cruise boat, in vn. :-)
next morning, after breakfast, we had to check out of our rooms pretty early (and leave our packed bags elsewhere on deck). the korean family and i decided to pay a small, extra fee and take a local bamboo boat tour of some inlets and the local floating school (175 people live in house boats--on rafts--in that area, with two floating banks!). the inlets were kinda cool, talking with the korean mother was a bit more entertaining--are you sensing a theme on this trip?? what i was most interested in was the floating school. however, after our paddler coerced a motor boat to hook us up and pull us to the school (which we thank the travelers on that boat generously for, and they welcomed us 'aboard' lol) and then dropped us off in front of the school, our guide merely pointed out that the building was the school, then turned around and took us back to our mini-ship. lol, so much for a tour :-( i realized, later, it was the monday after new year's day, a holiday, why i was there. there was no school that day. duh.
On the hour-long trip ride back to the shore, we stayed on the top deck, in the cold breeze, trying to take pictures and soak in the last moments of our trip. for the korean family and me, it was our last day of vacation. we would be leaving that night to return home to work the next day. the korean girls still had a couple more stops before making it back home. on shore, we had our last meal together, in a restaurant crammed with other tourists. i was baffled most of the trip (mostly in halong bay) by the massive amounts of foreigners. hcmc is home to a good amount of foreigners as well, however, as i work there, i don't always get out to see them, let alone interact with them. it's almost overwhelming in the rare chances that i do. lol i'm no puppy running around licking everyone's faces and peeing on the floor, but it's exciting all the same. :-)
back in hanoi, waiting for my taxi to the airport, i wandered around the area, still intrigued by the cold, nw'ern like weather, the tourists, and the cozy streets. i knew, even before moving to hcmc, that i would much prefer hanoi as a place to live. and even when all my local friends tell me horror stories with hatred toward that northern politically-scorned and supposedly rude city, i was still intrigued. maybe it was like when everyone warns you of a terrible movie, but when you finally watch it, you find it wasn't really as bad as they all said (or vice versa), but i didn't find the locals there to be rude, at all. or it could be that i was just there for a short visit, and cannot compare my interactions there with a year and a half-worth of interactions here. my work, though, is here, not there. and i must be okay with that. but, oh man, do i love that northern city. (don't tell my local friends! shhh!)
No comments:
Post a Comment