Ha Noi

Friday November 4th, I rush home from work, the taxi is already there waiting. Sophea took the bus from Phnom Penh earlier that morning. We get in the taxi and make it to the airport in less than an hour. The timing turned out to be much better than anticipated. We have an hour until our flight leaves at 7pm. I introduce hangman to Sophea, she tells me she's played before. However, the difference is that when she played, they draw the arms down instead of up. Funny difference but it makes sense, usually your arms are down at your side. Anyhow, we fly north for 2 hours to reach Ha Noi. Sophea does well on this flight as we both sleep for the majority of the way. The flight was quick, we bought and ate some sandwiches on the plane, closed our eyes and we set foot in Ha Noi (Hanoi is two words in Vietnamese). We walk to find our taxi driver. A few days ago I reserved a room at a guesthouse and they offered free taxi service from the airport, of course I couldn't turn that down. We looked all around for our driver and didn't find my name displayed. One driver came up to us and asked us if we were going to a different hotel from the one I booked with, I said no, but he ended up having my name on a paper. So we followed him. I called the hotel and the owner, Moon, told me she only had one room and did not have another room for my friend Hugo, who we were supposed to be meeting at the hotel. Moon hooked us up and booked us two rooms at her friend's hotel and arranged everything for us. Hugo already arrived in Ha Noi from Malaysia in the morning. We get to the hotel, drop our bags, drink some complimentary iced tea and get the scoop from Hugo. Last time I saw Hugo he and two of his best friends traveled to San Diego where my best friend Johnny Marion and I did our best to show them all of what San Diego is about. We both discuss our newfound positions and livelihoods. Then decide we need to book a tour for Halong bay the following day. We walk outside, it's about 11pm and most of the stores are closed. The tourism businesses are all shut down. We go grab a drink at a nearby bar. We only have one drink as we're all tired and decide we need to wake up early in the morning to find a tour. We return to the hotel and begin talking to the worker who tells us about the hotel's tour options. We end up booking the midgrade tour. The next day at 7:45am we would be taking a bus for 3.5 hours to reach Halong Bay.

We get a goodnight's sleep and grab breakfast. Our tour guide picks us up and we follow him as he corrals other tourists from various hotels. We get into the bus and enjoy the view of lakes and rivers in the countryside. We hit a few small towns along the way and when we reach our destination, Halong Bay, it is raining. The weather looks gloomy, we are thinking we may have come on an unfortunate day. We get into our boat and sit amongst two older ladies from Argentina and a guy from Austria. We all sit at one table and eat our meal of rice, shrimp, tofu, fish, chicken, and morning glory. The food was decent and filled us up. Our boat ventured away from the dock and we were out in the open bay, beginning to approach the roughly 1,900 limestone karsts jutting out of the bay. We venture to the top deck to take in the scenery and get some fresh air.

The boat pulled over and gave us all the option to kayak. Sophea and I were in one and Hugo in another. The above picture is one I took from inside the kayak. Straight ahead you can see two large karsts adjacent to each other, we would kayak beyond that and to the larger karst in the background on the left side. We returned through the right passageway to the boat.

After kayaking the boat took us to a nearby cave. We ascended a number of stairs to reach the cave's entrance, along the way were some viewpoints, this being one of them. The cave was expansive at parts but all of the stalagtites and stalagcites were dry. It was not as beautiful as Carlsbad caverns, but it was still a nice place to see. The lighting had variations of color which was great for pictures.

Here we were on our way back to land and caught the sunset. This was one of the most relaxing parts of the trip, enjoying Bia Ha Noi and the sunset simultaneously.

Now, for the return trip from Halong Bay. I'm not usually one to complain about bus rides, but the bus we got onto had the most uncomfortable seats ever. Though we were all tired and WANTED to sleep, it was impossible. We had a large bench seat made of hard metal springs covered by the smooth material used for the backs of seats and bench seats of older cars in the States, naugahyde. Obviously there is a reason why that material is used for the backs of seats and not the front, every time the driver made a turn or hit a bump (which there seemed to be infinite) your head moved and made a loud noise against the naugahyde, making it impossible to sleep. Eventually we made it two hours and took a bathroom and rest break. The bathroom turned out to cause a big raucous for the women. Their stalls turned out not to have any doors, there were only two that had doors and the rest we for all eyes to see. In the male restroom, it was the same thing, no partitions and 4 urinals on each side, two toilets with doors. Most of the bathrooms here are like that, lacking partitions. I've spoke with my best friend before and we agree, partitions make for a much more comfortable bathroom experience, at least there's some idea of privacy, rather than a hey! look at me! design. Granted there are many restrooms like this in the States and so this comment is not directed solely to Vietnam, I've expressed this dissatisfaction long before arriving here. Anyhow, so when I met with Sophea after her bathroom experience, she was laughing along with her newfound Argentenian friend about the awkward bathroom situation. Many of the women were saying they had never seen that before. We grabbed some rice cakes while we waited for the bus to call us over. We browsed the store and saw some snake whiskey, and some alcohol with geckos inside. The glass gave the illusion the geckos were as large as your feet, but Sophea told us if you open it up, they will be their small, regular size. We decided to pass on this appetizing conoction and hopped onto the bus of torture for another hour. Miraculously, Sophea was able to fall asleep for a little bit of the ride home.

We get back around 9pm, shower, and go find a place to eat. We venture to a club primarily filled with Vietnamese and try to dance, but the place gives you the feeling like you're a sardine in a tighly packed can. You can't move without touching anyone. We stay in the crowd of sweat for about 10 minutes till we decide the higher temperature is not worth the toil and we reach the stairs of space. We can breathe again and decide it's time to go to a bar where we can talk and hear each other. We find a small place on a corner. It's a really cool place that even reminded me of a bar in San Diego I can't remember the name of as I had only been there once. However, at this bar, there was only two workers, most of the customers were French with a few other foreigners from different countries, the music was not overbearing and it was a smaller quaint place. Similar to a dive bar, but with modern bar seats. Unfortunately, our time here would be cut short, the Ha Noi Police showed up and shut down the bar. We headed to the bar we went to on our first night and they were also closed, the Police made it there too. Apparently, there is a curfew and things tend to shutdown from 11pm-midnight. In Saigon the Police will come to places and try to shut them down, but the bars pay them off. That doesn't slide in Ha Noi. So we head back to our hotel for some sleep.

Sunday we decide it's museum and sight seeing time. We take a cab to visit the Temple of Literature, it is also the first university established in Vietnam. It was built in 1070 and now has a beautiful garden area. There is also a picture of this complex on the back of the 100,000VND note. It was a beautiful area and when we went, there were many Vietnamese women dressed in traditional ao dai. So we took pictures with some of them.

(Garden area)

This is one of the stelaes of doctor laureates.

(Us with Vietnamese women modeling their ao dais for us)

(We walked through a park that led to a giant statue of Lenin)

(Flag tower in the army museum courtyard)

(Parts of airplanes shot down by the Vietnamese during the Indochina war and Vietnam war)

(View from the flag tower)

(Hugo was able to get a hat very similar to the guards at Ho Chi Minh's museum complex, we tried to have him take a picture with a soldier, but they all declined the offer)

(Where Ho Chi Minh's body is usually kept. Unfortunately we missed his body as it was sent to Russia for maintenance)

(Hoan Kiem Lake, a beautiful lake in the heart of Ha Noi, wish Saigon had something similar to this)

(Tough Guys)

After we made it to the temple of literature we walked around and grabbed some fresh juice. Then we went to some silk shops as Hugo wanted to buy a silk tie for his work. We continued walking till we made it to the Army museum, along the way we ran into Lenin. After the army museum we continued walking and made it to the presidential palace and to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. After a full day of walking, we decided it was time to catch a cab back to the hotel. We then went to walk around Hoan Kiem Lake right as the sun was setting. We didn't have too much time as Sophea and I had to catch a flight at 8pm. We walked around the lake which was refreshing and ran into some Vietnamese guys who saw Hugo and I taking ridiculous pictures and wanted to join in on the fun.

Sophea and I caught our plane and made the trek back to home in Saigon. The next morning I dropped her off at the bus station and she returned to Phnom Penh. Luckily, I made it to work at 7:59am, a minute early. 

Here is a video on our way back.

New Place

Last week I moved into an apartment. I've now been here for 8 days. When I walked in, I was taken away by the amount of space, location, view, balcony, and the size of the kitchen. Previously I looked at about 6 or 7 places. Most were in the Phu My Hung area which is basically a suburb for rich people/foreigners. It was not what I was looking for, and nor was the price. The location of my place is great, I'm in District 1 which is still near many restaurants, cafes, bars, and a river. I am the only foreigner in the building, all the other residents are Vietnamese. So far the neighbors have been extremely helpful and friendly, today I bought one of those large 5 gallon water dispensers for $13,000 VND, yep that's right, .62 U.S. cents for that much water. I couldn't believe it to say the least. I'm sure the guy would have charged me more, but one of the neighbors initiated this for me, she must have seen me buying gallon jugs of water. Last night the moto security guy wanted me to drink with him and his buddies, but I had work to do. My first night here, I accidently left my keys in the doorknob and a neighbor knocked on my door and handed them to me. Have to say I've been blessed thus far regarding my neighbors. The building has 9 floors, but only about 4 floors are used for housing, the rest are used for government meetings and businesses. I live on the 9th floor. When I walk into the apartment to the left is the large bathroom which includes a washing machine (wasn't expecting that, added bonus) straight ahead is the living room and entrance to the balcony. If I turn right into the living room, the kitchen is on the right which has two burners and a lot of space for cooking. My refrigerator is placed between the doors to the bathroom and bedroom. The bedroom which is on the left side after entering the living room is large and has a lot of closet space, a large dresser, air conditioning and access to the balcony as well. Now to the balcony, it is about 25-30 feet long. It has a great view of the river which has a distant bridge and highway running along it. At night the lights zig zag with the road and during sunset it is a nice relaxing view. Unfortunately the sun is blocked by a building across from this one, but I can still see the change of color in the sky. Now that I have glorified my apartment, let's get to some of the parts I wasn't aware of before signing my contract.

Last Wednesday I saw the place and decided this was it, it had everything I wanted and then some. Thursday night I moved in and signed the contract right after work. I had to pay 2 months rent for a safety deposit, and then pay 1 month of rent (1 month is equal to $350 USD). So in total 3 months worth of rent on the spot. I will get the safety deposit back as long as I stay for the full 8 months of the contract which is until June 20th. So Thursday night, I sign the contract, pay the money and later leave to grab dinner. I walk to the elevator and wait for an exhorbitant amount of time. I call my realtor and he talks with the owners. It turns out, the elevator shuts down at 7pm every day. All I can do is laugh, though I am frustrated at the same time. But what's the point of getting angry, it won't make anything better, I'll just be pissed off. So I descend 9 flights of stairs to go grab dinner. I get my food, return, and walk up the 9 floors again. It's not too tiring, but I do wonder how much it will take its toll on me in the long run. I do admit I am annoyed at the fact the owners did not mention this rather LARGE detail when signing the contract. Since I found out this information, I've done my best to plan my outings directly after work and to return by 7pm. This week I was successful with that. We will see how much more of this will bother me, but I've been thinking of it as a more positive thing. I can get exercise if I really want to, and it may serve as a deterrant for me from going out at night which means I should save more money. So it may turn out to be a better thing for my wallet at least.
This is the only downside I've encountered so far about this place, except the neighbor to my left also has access to my balcony. The owners told me only I had access to it, but sure enough, yesterday morning I saw a guy doing push-ups with the railing, and open this seemingly wooden barricade that turns out to be a door. So the owners lied to me about that, whether it's grounds to receive my safety deposit back and find a new place, I'm unsure. Right now I'm still testing the place out, I like it, I don't mind the sharing of the balcony so much since the neighbor appears to only use it around 5:30am and the elevator thing is the only major downside.

Returning to last week. As I said, I moved in on Thursday. Sophea ended up coming over the next day. Friday after work I had to rush to buy some basic necessities before she arrived. These included water, food, soap, drinks, toilet paper, a blanket, and pillows. I purchased the groceries and headed to the bus station, the worker told me the bus wouldn't arrive for another hour. I hitched a cab and the driver was extremely helpful, after some misunderstandings he helped me find a place with blankets, pillows, and pillow cases. He took me back to my place where I carried all of this up the 9 floors and dropped it off. The driver took me back to the bus station where I waited for about another 20 minutes until Sophea showed up. I assumed she would have a decent sized bag so I took a cab rather than my moto. Unfortunately I was wrong as her bag was small enough and light enough to easily carry on the moto. But we hitched a cab and made it to my place. Earlier in the week Sophea told me she injured her leg, but didn't give me any details of how bad it was or how it happened. I didn't notice anything at first and I regretfully informed her about the 9 floors we would have to climb to get to my place. I offered to carry her, but she declined. We walked up to my apartment and she didn't complain once the whole way up. We sit down and I notice a small cut on her leg, she quickly hides it from me. After some convincing, she reveals the rest of her foot, she has a large gash on her left leg. She also has large black and blue bruises on both knees. She now tells me she was driving her moto when some guy was speeding and cut her off, she slammed on her brakes, lost her balance, and fell. She informs me she didn't tell me during the week on the phone because she didn't want me to worry. Now I feel like a real jackass for having her walk up the 9 floors.

Due to her leg and the closed elevator, we order pizza delivery. First time I've ordered pizza on my own here. The driver was too lazy to come up the 9 floors so I had to go down there to pick it up, there goes his tip. Not that tipping is a common thing to do here, but if someone walks up 9 floors to bring me food, I'll be happy to give them compensation for it. We have pizza and enjoy a quiet night together at my new place. Saturday we get up early and head over to Diamond Plaza. It's a mall with 4 floors. We check out each floor and at the 4th floor we play fooseball, air hockey, a racing game, basketball, and we consider bowling, but instead grab some fruit shakes and អង្គុយលេង​ (angkewy leng) or sit and relax. We decide it's time to return to my place because the owner would be coming to install the internet and ensure the washing machine is working as I had trouble with it earlier. We begin watching a movie as the owner and his son show up. They get everything working and take off. We get ready for the night and grab dinner at Pacharan, a Spanish style restaurant/bar with 4 floors. We eat at the 4th floor which has a view of the downtown buildings. The view is alright, nothing spectacular, but this place was suggested by a friend. The food is decent, but nothing I found to be worth trying a second time. I take Sophea to Lily's Bar on De Tham street, where my friend Dung works. He's been wanting to meet her and I wanted him to meet her as well. We have a drink there and have a good time, then head over to 17 club as Sophea wants to see what the nightlife is like in Saigon. The 17 club is a really cool place, I went there the previous week with Dung and some friends. It's a western style saloon type of place. It has 3 floors and they provide live music on the 1st and 3rd floors. The 1st floor is primarily rock and the 3rd floor is pop, country, and hip hop, pretty well varied. We go to the 3rd floor, grab a table and some drinks. Tonight we are lucky because when the band takes a break, we catch a flamed bottle juggling show. All of the male bartenders juggle bottles they light on fire. One balances a bottle that is lit on top of his head and juggles three lit bottles. It was a really cool sight to see. The music was decent and the English of the singers was impressive. Sophea was even surprised, but she didn't want to dance due to her foot. We stay until a little past midnight and decided it's time to go back.

Sunday we leisurely decide we want to go to a museum. We spontaneously find out the Fine Arts museum is 2 blocks away from my place. We go there and look at the art. One of the artists is there and tries to tell us about his paintings but he only knows Vietnamese, French, and a little bit of English. My Vietnamese is minimal and so we are only able to get a few points across. Sophea's leg is bothering her so we don't spend much time here and we go to the Chinese market since one of my sandals broke on Friday. We each had only been there once and with some minimal directions we were able to find it fairly quickly. This time around, the people aren't very helpful. We ask for a sized 43 sandal, but nobody appears to have it and does not want to attempt to search for one. I settle for a size 42 which is a bit smaller, but it works. We then go to another mall called Lotte Mart in District 7. It's a bit of a drive for where we were at the Chinese market. While there we go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of groceries for my place and so I can cook more things and have more tea. As we are leaving Lotte Mart Sophea realizes she doesn't have her sunglasses, I head back into Lotte Mart. I ask Person A who refers me to Person B, Person B directs me to a place where I can buy sunglasses, I ask the Cart Person who directs me to a security guard, the security guard directs me to a lost and found person who was at the same place as Person A. The lady brings out Sophea's sunglasses. I'm very grateful and surprised, I imagined they would have already been stolen at that point. I go back to Sophea who is pleasantly surprised. We return home and put the groceries away. We venture over ideas for what to do with our night. We consider a boat ride, but we went to the dock area the previous night and none of the boats seemed that nice or that it would be that great of a trip. Instead we cook at home, and relax.

Monday morning I wake up, get ready for work and eat breakfast. Sophea gets up as I'm finishing breakfast. I'm surprised she's already up as I assumed she'd want to sleep as long as possible since I wouldn't be home from work till 5pm. But she gets up and I take a Xe om (moto taxi) to work so she can use my moto. This time I make sure I tell the security guys Sophea is going to be driving my moto for the day. I go to work, have a usual day at work, and get home around 5:30pm. Sophea opens the door and slowly walks back to the living room. Earlier I did my laundry on Sunday and hung it up. She has already folded and put away my laundry. That was a pleasant surprise, but unfortunately she's walking with a limp, her leg is obviously in pain. We enjoy the sunset from the balcony and take pictures together. We ponder over ideas for what to do. I look up other boat rides and find one that looks pretty nice, it's a 2 hour ride that includes dinner. I call them, but they are booked for the night and ask if I can go tomorrow, but I decline as Tuesday morning Sophea will return to Phnom Penh. We decide to stay in for the night, we look at our pictures from previous times together, watch the movie I created, and discuss what to do about her injury. We end up watching some of the movie Heat and both doze off.

Tuesday morning I drop her off at the bus station and she catches the bus. I go to work feeling elevated. I had a great weekend with Sophea and I can tell things are progressing. That night I call her and find out she had an okay bus ride, it wasn't too bad. We discuss the next time we'll see each other. I'll be going to Hanoi and Halong Bay November 4th-6th which is in two weeks. Sophea says she'll see me next year, I say, "WHAT?!" Then she explains how she doesn't know how she can explain to her mother about why she has to go to Saigon so frequently. It no longer appears to be a question of whether she wants to go :)

I know last time I said I would make a posting about moto driving, it's written already but I've yet to take the pictures, so once the pictures are taken, that posting will be published. Here are some pictures of the view from the balcony, I'll take pictures of the inside this weekend and add them.

(View from my balcony)

(At Pacharan)

(View from Pacharan)

(Bottle juggling at 17 Club)

(Sunset from the balcony)

(Entrance to the living room)

(Looking down from the balcony)

(Washing machine on the left)

(View from the door to the balcony in my room)