Greetings from off the gringo trail.
Thank goodness.
This installment comes after three days in frenetic Hanoi
A day in tourist trap Hoi An
And finally a couple of days without seeing another foreign face.
Let me address the traffic in Hanoi first
As it’s the first thing anyone mentions about the city
Including a college acquaintance who’s lived there for years.
Yes, it’s a buzzing hive of motorcycles, pedicabs, cars, bikes
Pedal to the metal, hand on the horn
No, there are no traffic lights
Or only a few
And some don’t work
And some ignore the ones that work.
Yes, crossing the street is an adventure sport.
It helps to be from a city where we
Practice jaywalking regularly
But we ain’t got nothing on Hanoi
Not anywhere close.
Saw many museums
The stand-out being the poignant Museum of the Revolution.
French, Soviets, Americans
Colonists, occupiers, killers all
At least the French and Soviets built things
You can see it in the lovely French-Asian buildings
And the oppressive block buildings.
I’m not giving the nod to the French or the Russians
But we just came in here and destroyed.
And now back to the regularly scheduled trip blog.
Ate some good meals in Hanoi
Not as good as in Laos
And some not-so-good ones.
Best meal in Hanoi at Cha Ca La Vong
Serves only one dish
Of fish and veggies sautéed tableside
Put over noodles and add your own mix of sauces and greens.
Walked, walked, walked all of Hanoi
Best way to see life
And we did
City style
Bill got hair cut (head shaved) highway side
Breathed mad exhaust fumes for days on end
Wonderful hotel in old city
With a balcony for watching Hanoi at all hours.
Next stop, Hoi An
Another UNESCO world heritage site
For—again—its historic temples and other ancient structures
And again, the UNESCO seal is a mixed blessing.
Or in the case of Hoi An, maybe just full on nightmare.
Tourists, tourists, everywhere
And not a drop to… well, something like that.
More motos, more exhaust to breath in
Locals literally pulling at you to get you to buy
Their tailor-made clothes (beautiful, actually)
Food from their stalls or restaurants
An English language local newspaper from two days ago
A ride on the river in their boat—one hour, one hour.
Walked around town.
Rented bikes (one broke down near end of excursion)
And headed for nearby beach
Worst ride ever
Inhaling moto exhaust
Horns blaring
Cars with loudspeakers squawking about their wares
Crowded beach with hot bay water.
Pretty once upon a time, when deserted.
I was sick the whole day
Stomach, head, muscles, everything.
And disheartened at talking only to locals serving the tourist trade
Not doing so great at Vietnamese language, either
Hurt my pride a little not to have the basic phrases down by day three.
Needing to get off tourist trail.
Bill and I fought bitterly at dinner.
Bill threatened to go back to NY the next day.
I said fine, and left the restaurant without him.
We packed up and split for a shabby little beach town
Near the site of the My Lai massacre
Which hardly sounds happy-making
Neither the beach not the massacre site
But it worked quite nicely.
Memorial and museum at My Lai is
Deeply poignant
Extremely tastefully and beautifully done
Sad beyond words.
Foundations and shells of destroyed houses left as they were
With a simple plaque at each one
Giving the names and ages of those killed there
Paths of cement poured to resemble dirt
And imprinted with chaotic footprints of
Army boots and bare feet and bicycle tires.
Guestbook at museum filled with heart-wrenching comments
Including a lovely one from Tim O’Brien.
Trip brought me to tears numerous times.
And then to our shabby, ant-filled hotel
Fine for one night.
A run on the beach and a swim
Stars at night—first time on this trip.
Lunch and dinner at beachside shacks.
Say the word for fish and take what they give you.
At lunch: grilled fish served do-it-yourself spring roll fashion.
We had to be shown how to roll up the rolls.
Thought the wrappers were paper at first—weird napkins?
At dinner: fish soup… or rather the head of the fish
With some noodles and very strong greens and a couple of beers
Served warm with ice.
Slept badly. Love to travel, but it rocks my insomnia.
Short run, swim in AM.
Wandered to find a most delicious iced coffee at a riverside joint
Over a little bridge, away from the coast
Chatted with older Vietnamese couple
Trotting out our few Vietnamese phrases
Thier few English phrases
Arranged for them to take us to our next stop, 20K away, by moto
For a rip off fee
But having fun schmoozing
Until
Bill got a weird look on his face and said to me
We need to go this second.
We went.
And Bill said
He put his hand on my dick and squeezed it.
At least someone did, he added.
Hightailed it back to hotel
Packed up
Called a taxi
For only slightly more than the motos would have cost
And split town before the couple arrived to ferry us onward.
Now in Quang Ngai
Small city
No tourists
No English
Very comfy hotel with big pool and wireless
To research next leg of trip.
Lunch at a veggie restaurant
A welcome relief after all the fish heads
But Vietnamese veggie
Not hippie veggie
Buddhist veggie
Veggie soup
Veggies over tiny grains of rice
With all manner of cool tofu/soy ‘meats’
Happy traveler, happy trails.
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