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Friday 9th February
We've arrived in Hanoi and the place is mentalist! Apparently it's worse than usual as it's the run up to Tet which is the Lunar New Year here. We venture out onto the streets and try to do as the Lonely Planet book says and walk slowly across the street into the oncoming stream of mopeds while your senses are screaming at you to run like you would in the UK. Apparently though you are meant to walk slowly so they can see where you are going and drive around you! Crazy crazy!
The reason you can't walk on the pavement is that there are too many mopeds parked on them or people sitting on them or hawkers selling their wares - mostly food.
A woman in traditional dress walks up to Kate and gives her her hat and the two baskets she's carrying between a long stick (kind of like a milkmaid) and proceedes to insist we take a photo and buy some pineapple from her. Very funny.
We then head off around the city on a cyclo for 2 hours. How we are still alive I'll never know! What an experience - I'm glad I've done it but never again. The traffic is madness, the fumes sting your eyes and the guides didn't really speak much english. It was quite funny - every time Kate asked him what something was he would just reply, "I don't know the words." It became his mantra!
I think we passed the mausoleum dedicated to Ho Chi Minh, where his embalmed body lies (even though he specifically requested to be cremated in his will), also lots of embassy buildings in a french colonial style, and Ho Tay lake where you can hire a giant swan shaped pedalo! How romantic. Apparently it's very popular with couples as people tend to live at home with their parents here till they get married and it tends to be one room that the whole family lives in.
Yet again we are trying to come to terms with another currency, here $1 = 16,000 vietnamese dong. And like the King in Thailand, the Vietnamese love Ho Chi Minh - the guy gets everywhere.
Saturday 10th February
We wander around the city and walk across a foot bridge to visit a temple in the middle of Ho Kien lake. From a distance it looked beautiful but as we get closer we discover it's not a patch on the Thai temples. It's a bit of a concrete monstrosity - I didn't realise that the Russian communist influence would stretch to temples too.
While on the bridge we are stopped by a bunch of students aged between 20 and 25 who are just starting to learn english and have been sent out to talk to tourists. They are right at the early stages and all they can manage is the usual, Hello, how are you, what's your name and where are you from? They are delightful though and we write our names down for them and a short message. We then proceed to be photographed by them all. Very funny.
The next thing we know a completely random vietnamese young man who isn't with the students is paying the photographer (who works at the temple taking photo's of tourists) to have his photo with us. Very very funny. It's the first time anyone has ever paid to have their photo taken with us. Perhaps we should start charging? Hee hee.
We also notice people regularly plopping goldfish into the lake - don't know what that's all about but I can only assume it's got something to do with Tet.
We decide to take in the flower market and there are hawkers on the streets selling lots of cherry blossom and apricot trees. They are supposed to bring wealth into your house at New Year. There are also hundreds of chinese style decorations and porcelain pigs for sale, since it's going to be the year of the pig.
They are also burning money in small metal waste paper bins on the street. We found out that this isn't to do with New Year though, they burn things when it is the anniversary of their parents death to send them luck and money in heaven.
Everything is done on the street here, drinking, cooking, eating, driving, burning paper, ladies sit and pick the grey hair out of their friends head with tweezers, people rinse with nit-wash. Then combine this with the horns beeping - it's a mad place but I kind of like it!
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