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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Email to Friends: Hello From Vietnam‏

Just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived safely and am still in Hanoi. Hanoi is very loud and busy and I have heard from other travelers that Ho Chi Minh City is even worse. My first night here, I was exhausted and couldn't even figure out how to cross the street. I had to walk around the block until I could find someone else crossing and quickly walked with them (yes, I used an old lady as a body shield against traffic). Half of the population of Hanoi owns motorbikes and they drive within inches of each other. There are no traffic lights, so you just have to walk VERY slowly and they move around you. It is very hard not to stop or turn back, since they honk their horns at you. I have found that they are only honking to let you know where they are, so that you do not change the speed or direction of your walking. Then they can anticipate your direction and work around you. Unfortunately, when I hear honking, I instinctively stop. Luckily, I haven't been clipped yet.

On my second day, I went to Halong Bay and stayed overnight on a junk boat. Halong Bay is spectacular. The only other solo traveler on the tour was a creepy guy trying to find a wife in S.S. Asia and he was driving me nuts, so I just hung out with the tour guide, boat captain, and boat staff. The guide was really nice and we talked for hours about Vietnam and about my first visit. The day after that, we went kayaking around Halong Bay and then went to Cat Ba Island for a hike around the forest. The boat captain invited me to give over my passport to get permissions to stay on a few more nights for free, but I decided that I'd had enough boat time and there is too much else to see. So now I am back in Hanoi for my last night.

A bonus of jet lag is that I wake up around 5:00 AM every morning. I am getting lots done. My first morning in Hanoi, I walked around the lake. Tons of people exercising (tai chi, stretching, makeshift pull-up bars sticking out of tree trunks, etc). Met a guy with a motorbike that offered to take me on a tour of the city, but I really wanted to get out of the city for the day. So I convinced him to take me out of the city on the back of his bike. Drove through beautiful countryside and saw lots of farmers in rice paddies, brick makers, water buffalo, cows, chickens and other stuff that you only see in postcards (which I will eventually get in the mail to you, if you gave me your address before I left).


There are separate villages for each craft. Saw the ceramics village where he took me into his friend's place where they handpaint pottery. The women let me try, but I was pretty bad at keeping my hand steady. Then went to the woodblock printing village and tried my hand at that, but I was too slow and not very good at it. Went to a cool temple and then off to lunch at his sister's house. Finished with the wood furniture village. My driver seems pretty safe, except sometimes when he starts talking about the government and turns to face me when he should be driving. When we got back to the city, my knuckles were white. We were swerving around within a few mere inches of horses carrying supplies, whole families of five on motorbikes, huge trucks, and buses. But all in all, it seemed pretty safe (and I secretly looked over my driver's bike before going to look for dings or scratches from accidents).

I am off again tomorrow with him to see either Ninh Binh (where he thinks I should see) or Cuc Phuong National Park to see the Primate Reserve (which, of course, I want to see). We are still "discussing" it, but since I have the one paying, I have a feeling I will win. Maybe we can do both, if I can stay on the back of the bike for 8-9 hours. Then tomorrow night, I catch the night train to Lo Cai and Sapa for trekking around the Hmong tribes and visiting markets and doing some homestays.

The weirdest thing that I've found here is that everyone immediately knows I am Vietnamese, and sometimes even starts talking to me in Vietnamese. Most of the women I have met just stare at my face and really seem to be examining me. Not sure why they are doing it, but I admit I am doing the same (looking for my features in their face). Two kids last night spent two hours talking to me and whispering to me in Vietnamese. Of course, I couldn't tell them I didn't understand them. So we just spent most of the time giggling and making faces. Gave them each a superball and finger puppet from the toy stash I brought from home to hand out, so they seemed happy. The name Betsy seems to be giving everyone trouble, so most people are calling me by my middle name (Hoa-Sen, which means lotus blossom, or just Sen for short).

Taking tons of pictures and keeping a journal (okay...scraps of paper) for when I return. Probably won't have email until I get to Hue on the 31st or first.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,
Betsy

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