(Sorry - no spell check where I'm at now - so this entry will be very raw)
So - here are some notes I took in my paper journal during my last day (without Jared) in Hanoi:
Stayed in the hotel until noon! Then I ventured out to find the Sinh Ha trval office in the old quarter. Surprisingly I found it with no problem (the old quarter is notoriously difficult to navagate) - but when I arrived they were closed! I then decided to get totally lost - people kept yelling at me "moto" - but I refured. It is so easy to look like a tourist when you are the only white person for several blocks....That alone (being a racial minority in a place) is a valuable and interesting experience.
So now (when I wrote this in the journal) I am lost and it looks like it will rain. If it does, it will be the first rain I've seen all trip. I've stopped at a cafe by West Lake (across from the Mauseleum - which is heavily guarded by Vietnamese solidgers with heavy machine looking guns) - to have a coffee yoghurt (very, very nice). One nice thing about facing the lake at this cafe is that I don't have to watch people staring at me.
THUNDER! - It just dropped like 10 degrees too!
But one of the things you are supposed to do in Hanoi is to hang out at a cafe with a silly coffee drink, so here I am. The young couple next to me are drinking 3-layered coffee drinks (three different colored tiers of coffee).
Strangly, the second waitress at this cafe (the only person here who seems to speak english) asked me if I was a professor in America (before she even heard my accent). I was amazed and said "Yes!I am a teacher - how did you know?" "I just good at knowing those things," she responded.
Lessons learned at cafes:
1. Women don't try to hussle you as much as men (or cheat you as much). Solidarity.
2. People really don't want to take old looking bills.
3. No one here seems to care about the very important distinction between coke and pepsi.
(From memory - not from my journal)..
After the cafe I wandered around some more and decided to try to eat some street food. The first place I tried to sit down, men mad sucking noises at me, so I got up and left (I then noticed I was the only woman in the place, besides the cook). The second place I went to there were small children running around, who then swarmed me when I sat down. I just met a lovely little girl named LiQuin, who was super interested in my journal and pen. I ate pho (with beef - I don't really know how to order anything else, and NOTHING looks vegetarian). I learned that pho is not pronouced PHA, like we do in Seattle. If you say PHA, they think you mean tofu. Pho, noodle soup, is pronounced, Pha-ua - sort of....more or less. And there does not seem to be any such thing as Pha Pha-ua (tofu pho). Oh well.
Some lists:
Things I'm Really Happy I Brought
-dramimine
-baby powder (thanks for the tip, Fareed)
-my journal
-misty no-rub sunscreen
-wonderful, expensive, travel underpants (totally worth it).
Things (so far) I wish I had brought:
-Written more Vietnamese sentences in my journal
-Moist towelettes
-Something to hand out to the children I've met
Eating pho while it is hot outside is somehow, strangly, cooling and wonderful.
Some other observations while walking around/ cafes/ street places:
1. Several people have been curious about my left handedness
2. If I am sitting at a communial table, I have to invite people to sit down with me, otherwise they seem scared.
3. Any cafe will let you sit for as long as you would like.
Fakes I've Seen on the Street
1. Fake H&M store
2. Fake Nine West shop
3. Fake K-Mart
4. Fake North Face everything!
5. Fake Chaco sandals (I've seen quite a few Vietnamese people wearing them).
OK- Back to the narrative:
After lunch, I went back to the travel office (now open) and booked my bus ticket from Hue to Hoi An (Hoi An is where "The Quiet American" was set and shot). I also found a silk sleep sac on the street, which I purchased for 50,000 dong (like $2.50). I then went to go see the Hanoi Water Puppet show. Jared's friend Austin told him it was "lame," but I thought it was really lovely. There was a Vietnamese orchestra beside a pool of water. The pupets emerged from the water and told the story of the different Vietnamese tribes. According to the water pupets, a swan and a dragon had sex and it produced 100 eggs which turned into the 100 tribes of Vietnam. While all the tribes have their different traditions (all of which were acted out by differently dress water puppets), the Vietnamese people are united in work and struggle with the land. The narration of the puppet show was hardcore Vietnamese propaganda, and was utterly facinating. The audience was split between Vietnamese people and Western tourists.
Subsequently, I got totally and utterly lost - somehow - and negotiated for a $1 motorbike ride back to the hotel (which really should have only been a few blocks away, but I got so lost). The motorbike rider also got totally lost, so a 1 mile trip turned into many, many miles - with us pulling over and looking at maps. I gave the nice gentleman $2 - twice what he asked - and he seemed pleased.
Back at the hotel, they were waiting for me with water and gave me a towel to take a shower in the communal shower area. I then waited and read for about 30 until it was time to take a taxi to the Train Station.
The train station wasn't too confusing, but I was glad that I had purchased my ticket ahead of time through a travel agency because no one at the train station seemed to speak English. I waited in the waiting room and boarded my sleeper train to Hue.
Next entry preview: Hue night bus (comfy beds, disgusting bathrooms), broken lock (had to cut it off my bag), nice British 22 year old friend, rented motor bikes around Hue.
I'll try to get to write about my Hue adventures tomorrow in Hoi An. Right now I am sitting at HueNino hotel, having left my new British girlfriend at the backpackers hostel (for them to go out partying), about ready to crash in my lovely little room. I get up tomorrow at 6 am to catch the bus at 7:30. More in Hoi An! Wish me luck!
