Long term travel - it's not a vacation!
After three months of traveling, this is my life. I'm not vacating my regular life to go explore the world. Exploring the world IS my regular life. And as such, it feels more like a job. You wake up everyday and the plan is you have to explore the place you're in or travel to the next place. It's not always easy and after awhile it can wear on you. Lose its luster, like a new job might after a few months. This is where I'm at. I've lost all interest in traveling and I want to go home, back to routine life. I don't feel lucky that I have this chance to travel anymore. I feel trapped in a schedule that I can't change without spending more money that I don't have. So after Ha Long Bay, I'm quitting! At least for awhile. Until I feel like traveling again, or until my dad arrives, whichever comes first. Because I just don't care anymore about the next great place. I'm just not excited. I need a vacation!
Hanoi feels overwhelming! Especially after the quiet organized life in Taiwan. The old quarter is quite busy. A lot like India, but it's actually much more developed here. Especially for tourists. No cows, more pavement. And motorbikes!!!!
Motorbikes are everywhere. Everywhere! They even use them as taxis. People just take rides from guys on the corner with their motorbikes. This seems weird until you understand what's happening. Before you understand what's going on, it appears like men, and occasionally women, are lounging at the corner on their motorbike, offering rides. Weird. But it's not weird, it's a moto taxi. I did not try this. Mostly because I don't feel safe on motorbikes. Likely, the actual taxi system is relatively safe, though not regulated.
There are still a lot of people on bicycles here, especially women in traditional Vietnamese conical hats who are selling fruits and flowers and all sorts of things from their bikes. They can fit a phenomenal amount of stuff on bikes here. And on mopeds too. Today, I saw a guy with two huge bundles of 8 foot long sugar cane dangling from each side off his motor bike. His legs were dangling over the cane, and he was just barely able to reach the ground when he stopped. Amazing. Cane juice is very popular here on the street, they mix it with lime and hot pepper and spices. I imagine this is what the sugar cane was for.
The women vendors will walk with two baskets full of produce dangling from a long stick that they can balance on their shoulders. It's kind of amazing how much weight they can carry, easily balanced on these baskets.
Today, I also took a bicycle rickshaw. It was lovely. But there aren't that many of them left. They've mostly been replaced by real taxis and moto taxis, and only the tourists use them because they cost so much more.
In addition to the streets being mobbed with mopeds, I've seen more than one person texting on their phone while they're cruising along on their moped. Granted they don't ride that fast, but still, an accident in the making. Yikes! Just another reason I don't like to cross the street.
When the girls ride mopeds they nearly always have riding jackets. Thin, cotton, long sleeve jackets with really colorful prints that also have hoods and extra long sleeves that go over their hands. The jackets are really nice and look like they might double as rain jackets. Everyone also wears masks a lot when they're riding moto to cover their nose and mouth and these are also colorful and patterned. Not the same throwaway masks the Taiwanese wore. These fabric masks are used to protect from sun and dust, unlike the Taiwanese who used it for hygiene to protect when you're sick.
It's kind of insane how covered up these girls get. Especially considering the heat. It reminds me of Muslim girls, but it's not religious. They just want to stay out of the sun and keep their skin white. Which is weird because their skin tans really nicely when you have the rare chance to see that.
For garbage pickup, two ladies go around with a large rolling bin and ring a bell really loud to signal that people should bring out there garbage. Thus, there is very little garbage here. And they're always sweeping up the rooms and sidewalks, but they throw a lot of water in the street. Sometimes they would throw it out of the second floor, so it would drip down the awnings to the street. As if they're wasn't anything else to avoid on the sidewalk, dripping water had to be added. It was kind of gross.
Like in India and Taiwan, they have mosquito rackets here. These are a badmington racket with a short handle like a ping pong paddle. When you push the button on the handle the strings turn on and when you wave it around it electrocutes mosquitoes in its path. I don't know why I've never seen these in the US, but I have to believe we have them. If not, we should get them. They're fun for people of all ages. And they do kill mosquitos.
Another surprising thing, Vietnam has all western toilets (no squat ones) and always has toilet paper, even in public toilets. And there are a lot of toilets at restaurants.
The food and accommodations are cheap here. I paid six dollars a night and got a very nice dorm bed for the first five nights. Tonight I will pay eighteen to get my own room. Amazing.
During my time here in Hanoi, about two weeks, I've been staying up late watching movies on HBO and sleeping until noon. Kind of enjoying my vacation from traveling. I think this was a good place to take a break, despite the overwhelming streets and humidity.
It's not raining in Vietnam. This surprises me, because I thought it was the rainy season. Hasn't rained here one day since I arrived, although a few people said it was raining before I woke up a few days. I thought it would be kind of monsoon season, but it's not. I'm just ridiculously lucky.
Regular Facebook is blocked here in Vietnam. You have to download the app or change to the mobile site. Just a tiny reminder that this country is still run by a communist government.
So far, Vietnamese food is tasty, but not at all spicy. Well, that's not exactly true. There are some spicy dishes, but they're not hot like I expected. They are more subtle and balanced. I really love the food here.
The juices here are amazing. So many combinations available at all the restaurants. It's quite special. Fruit is everywhere on the street so it's not surprising. The fruit is amazing, especially the pineapple, which they cut very carefully in a beautiful shape so as to preserve as much fruit as possible while getting rid of all the prickly eyes.
They have a lot of street food and street kitchens. They would set up street kitchens at dinner time literally on the sidewalk. Just pull out a bunch of plastic stools and tables and start serving food they cook on an open flame. Right there on the sidewalk.
My time in Hanoi has come to an end and I have to meet my Dad in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City today. I'm flying there on Viet Jet Air. Viet Jet Air is pumping mist into the air along with the cool air. I don't think I've ever seen that before. It's quite nice.
I'm not really sure I'm ready for the vacation to be over, but it's time to get on with my adventure and at least I'll have my dad to help me get excited about the next leg of the trip.
Goodbye Hanoi. Hello Saigon.
