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"i'm so hanoied at you!" (cough)

Blog: katie has itchy feet - 23 July 2009

By: kenners

hanoi 7th july - arrived saigon 24th: with some heinous gaps in our three week entourage!











so i'm sat in the concrete jungle that is saigon. we were gonna skip through it and head straight to phu quoc island, i wasn't too fussed for it at first as i've been yearning for countryside/beach action since i left the queen's land, plus i'm flying out of here in september which'll give me more time then. let's just say, all preconceptions have been smashed. i've fallen prey to the mantra of the big, asian, city life. this place is unreal. i take everything back what i said about motorbikes. today i was stood at a crossroads trying to plot a route across six lanes of solid motorbikes; there were literally thousands of bikes flying past and as i stood in the middle of them, i started to panic, then giggled when i saw an asian guy tailgate me! saigon has restored my faith in cities and reignited the flame of why i love manchester, madrid and berlin so much. it's mental, there's everything you need here, and on top despite the fact it's hot, it's humid, there's the odd monsoon and i probably saw at least thirty rats last night in the space of four hours (i'm not exaggerating), this place still owns.


i guess we expected it to be a bigger, dirtier hanoi. though not necessarily a bad thing, we expected it to have the features of run down buildings mixed with french architecture. this place is the polar opposite. in fact it has it all. how the hell did we end up here?! amazing.




so working our way from hanoi, we spent a few days longer than expected in there due to indecision over which tour and when to go to the wonderful UNESCO site that's ha long bay. this, coupled with the fact becky and scott didn't have a watch nor phone between them, meant notes were being left at hotels and hostels around the city and 10p beer at my new-to-be second home BIA HOI, was consumed intermittently. thus rendering my decision making and organisational as useless!









so back to hanoi; the heat was mental. did i say hot and humid? it was like nothing i'd ever experienced, temperature wise and culturally. after a couple of days of wandering around enjoying the city, something finally clicked. you look beyond the xe oms, above the shops and beyond the people trying to sell you knock-off lonely planet guides to s.e asia (which, apparently. have the funniest translations ever, alongside blurred maps. blunder) and you find those little gems where you wave to a man on a balcony, and he'll come let you in and let you drink, listen to dylan and marley (his choice) until half four in the morning. in hanoi, everything winds down by about 11pm, except the odd bar akin to the quayside or deansgate locks. so it's momets like that, when you're sat with awesome people, in a ridiculously relaxed setting, that can truly make things special. my weekthere pretty much entailed getting to know and appreciate the amazing food, cheap beer at aforementioned bia hoi -quite simply my favourite place to sit and drink beer. you sit on red plastic chairs, on a cross roads, watching the bikes fly by and now and then being shooed back onto the nonexistent pavement while a military looking police truck coasts by.

a bit of background to how i came about being in vietnam. around six weeks before i flew, this all came into fruition. none of this was planned (this will be come a recurring theme in my muses. well, in my life, also!). i was either gonna spend my summer working in debt management (yes, really), saving for canada, or moving back to madrid for two months, before going to canada. a mind on fire night, film sesh and rum for breakfast later and next thing i know i'm booked on a flight into hanoi in july and out of saigon in september. i came out here a multiple entry visa, some malaria tablets that i've hummed and harred over and a few injections to see me through a two month trapse through unknown lands (to me). the initial "plan"* was to travel north to south and then take it from there. see cambodia and laos and pop home then. oh how plans change! i'm now destined for bangkok on the 2nd august on a flight i booked for twenty quid, and gonna head to the south islands and hook up with some people i met in hanoi and others on buses. talk of burma has become a reality. the other day, whilst in mui ne and trying to avoid sunburn, my mind started racing. i really do fancy going somewhere where there are no ATMs, don't accept cards nor cheques and dollar bills? well, they won't accept anything nothing but new, crisp, fresh ones. this whimsical thought looks like it could be the best (or even worst) move i've made all travels. he prospect of myanmar's unique and mysterious ways seem damn fucking endearing. cambodia and laos can wait til early september!




so while hanoi was a plethora of motorbikes, 10p beer and humidity,we then hopped on a seater bus to hue as the sleeper was full. unfortunately we only spent the night there, as we wanted to spend time in hoi an, and out night was pretty much spent on one street. well, that's what you get when the hostel dishes out free beer between 5-6 and then free shots thereafter. i'd like to go back to hue, my memories involve said drunken antics and a gruelling 14hr bus ride next to some gibroni who felt the need to show me pictures of fish all the way there, coupled with the fact the lights were out at 8pm, he was taking up half my seat AND the driver decided to blast music out at 5am followed by a japanese film shown in both vietnamese and japanese (this is when i reached for the valium and diy gin to send me to sleep), we arrive to find a beaming aussie holding a bit of paper with "KATHARINE KENNEDY +2" written on it. holy fucking shit was that a good feeling! a common theme will occur of "another hangover, another 12hr bus journey". the bus journeys have become a staple diet in our adventure and emotions. staying grounded to my roots, out comes the ipod, lost boys and for nap time aphex twin's selected ambient works! ha.

i'll have to fill in the rest another day. today, we've been true "culture vultures", as i like to put it, by trapsing off to district 13 in a cab to indulge in water park action! i haven't been to one since i was a whippersnapper and it's definitely the most fun you can have for 3quid. and now? we're waiting for the 10pm seater to rach gia where we'll then get a boat to phu quoc island. i'll fill in the gaps of hue/hoi an to saigon later. for now, dream of uncle ho and eatin' pho bo for breakfast.








* although can you call it a plan if you booked this trip rummed up with no further clue what to do?









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Tags: backpacking , Canada , culture vultures , hanoi , ho chi minh , laos , madrid , saigon , vietnam

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