Worldwideeyed Archives, Vol 1 – Hanoi

Ed note: the first real blogging effort I ever made was a website called worldwideeyed.com, chronicling my travels in SE Asia from late 2004 through early 2005. More public journal than traditional blog, I wrote near stream of consciousness essays every few days and posted them, with pictures when I could. The site wasn’t worth maintaining but I do like some of the stuff I wrote quite a bit, and so I’ve decided to publish some of the best stuff here. The following entry was written January 1, 2005, and is published without editing, for better or for worse.

I arrived in Hanoi Tuesday night, back on my own after a week in Laos. I was both psyched to be back by myself — Laos was amazing and I was with a great group of people, but at times felt crazy for some solitude — and concerned, because in the few weeks I travelled mostly by myself in late November, I found myself actually craving more company than I had.

The plane landed after dark, not an ideal situation for me — I try to arrive places early in the morning, as it is easier to negotiate and secure lodging and one is generally safer and more comfortable. After switching my money — it only takes about $60 in USD to be a millionaire in Vietnamese Dong, so now I’m a multimillionaire — I found the $2 bus into town. I was the only white guy on it, which felt great, a small win for the traveler.

There was a girl, I think she said her name was Ho An, seven years old or so with perfect command of English. We talked a very little bit, and she was extremely polite and well spoken. When I think of reasons the US might be hitting the downslope in global positioning it seems to be in, it’s things like this I think of — children here seem so much more versatile in terms of things like language. I realize that in North America one only needs two languages to excel and one to get by, whereas there are so many more in Europe or SE Asia, and that’s probably a main reason. But the world is becoming more global, and even though everyone wants to learn English everywhere I’ve been, I think the (lack of) ability to speak multiple languages will be a major thing. I’m glad I speak Spanish, but I feel a need to learn more if I want to be a part of a global community going forward.

Anyway, one of the most beautiful moments of my travels so far was riding from the airport into the city, listening to Ho An sing “This old man” in her soprano English. I was I had the ability to record it at the time, it was truly amazing.

Ha Noi, or at least the old quarter, is a charming little place. One of the things I’ve liked most both in Luang Prabang and here is the architecture — the upside of colonialism, I say to myself. The old quarter is filled with narrow little blocks and alleys, and in the past each street was the market for a different thing — one block for shoes, for example, another for silver wares and one for textiles. I am staying on the street for mortuary needs.

Traffic here is insane. I remember writing in Costa Rica that the traffic reminded me of a school of fish — everything moving in a group, not really restricted to lanes, filled with jerky movement but amazingly enough never colliding. The roads in Bangkok are stifling and slow. But here, ninety percent or more of the traffic is motorbikes, which are more agile and their drivers more fidgety and prone to sudden movements. Lanes are present but meaningless; people fill whatever available space in whatever direction they can, constantly honking as bumping into each other. The increased maneuverability means that things can get really jammed, to the extent that as a pedestrian, I actually got caught in a jam from which I couldn’t move for literally minutes the other day. Crossing streets can be a nightmare.

I am reminded of one of the lessons I read during a brief experiment in the martial arts last summer — move swiftly and with decisiveness of purpose. This is exactly how to navigate traffic in places like this. Look both ways, sure, but once you start crossing, keep moving. Do not hesitate. People will adjust to you, usually, but if you show fear and hesitate, their adjusted trajectory goes through the spot you were supposed to vacate. It works in Bangkok, but here, there are so many bikes that it’s almost impossible not to balk at one of them. It’s taken me minutes to get off a curb here. I’ll post pictures of some of the crazier intersections.

Anyway, I’ve sort of hit a writing roadblock, so rather than bumble lamely through a recap of what I’ve done here (Uncle Ho’s grave, the Hanoi Hilton, etc), I’ll save it for another session. It just hit midnight on the East Coast, so happy new year everyone — be safe and sound. I’m headed down to Hue on a train tonight and will be going a little further south to Hoi An in a day or two, then need to decide if I’m going all the way to Ho Chi Minh City or back up to some of the islands north of here. It’s so damned cold here I don’t see how islands can be that fun, but they’re rumored to be amazing, and I’ll make it there sooner or later regardless.

Ed note: check out this time-lapse video of Hanoi traffic. If this is where I think it is, it’s only a corner or two away from where I was talking about.