I punched out 2 million dong last night from an ATM in Hanoi and still had money left in my account. I guess I have finally made it to the millionaires club!
I have been looking forward to this Vietnam trip for a long time. I am sure that if it was my first time in Asia I would be blown away by the noise, sounds, smells and incredible number of people but frankly, after living in Bangkok for the past 4 months, it is not such a big deal. However, there are differences between the two countries. As Joshua’s tailor told me a few hours before I left Bangkok, he said Vietnam was the Thailand of 25 years ago and now I see what he meant by that. As we drove through the countryside, I saw open pit coal mining, harvesting of rice by hand with no machines, and not much infrastructure to support tourism. In fact, our guide told me that tourism counts for 5% of the Vietnam GDP but something like 40% of Thailand’s. In Hanoi, the airport was like a small Caribbean island airport as opposed to one that supports a population of 4 million people with 2 million motorcycles. Every one of these motorcycles, by the way, takes it as a point of honour to honk their horns at least once every 5 minutes leading to a cacophony of noise. The whistles Thai doormen use to usher cars on to the street now sounds melodious to me.
I was also surprised that the women do not seem to take as much care as Thai women in how they dress. In fact, a women in an art gallery was wearing pajamas. The prices of goods are cheaper in Vietnam, which I guess is another difference.
There are also some Asian similarities. The respect and veneration for parents especially dead parents. As our guide told us, even though 80% of Vietnamese people are declared atheists, they definitely venerate their parents and on the 1st and 15th of every lunar month pay their respects to their parents by lighting incense in their house and putting food on the alter or shrine of their deceased parents and perhaps grandparents. .One of the reasons it is so important to have a boy child is that it is the boys that set up the alter to their dead parents. If you only have girls you will not be officially remembered since it is the woman’s duty to support her husband in ancestor worship or respect. It is the woman’s brother that would set up a shrine in his house.
The markets are similar, although prices cheaper, but the haggling the same. People are equally friendly, I think, and take great delight when you try to speak their language, which comes from Chinese, I think, so it is a tonal language. However, there is only one syllable in every word so Han oi, for example, is two words. They use a Roman alphabet because of the 80 year influence of France until 1954.
Last night we drove down to Halong Bay which looks like it has wonderful shaped limestone islands which I am looking forward to seeing tomorrow. The weather is very cold for me at 20 degrees, but it should be the last day of the excruciating cold and then we fly south to Danang and China Beach.
Looking forward to the perpetual summer again..it really is not that hard to take!
I have been looking forward to this Vietnam trip for a long time. I am sure that if it was my first time in Asia I would be blown away by the noise, sounds, smells and incredible number of people but frankly, after living in Bangkok for the past 4 months, it is not such a big deal. However, there are differences between the two countries. As Joshua’s tailor told me a few hours before I left Bangkok, he said Vietnam was the Thailand of 25 years ago and now I see what he meant by that. As we drove through the countryside, I saw open pit coal mining, harvesting of rice by hand with no machines, and not much infrastructure to support tourism. In fact, our guide told me that tourism counts for 5% of the Vietnam GDP but something like 40% of Thailand’s. In Hanoi, the airport was like a small Caribbean island airport as opposed to one that supports a population of 4 million people with 2 million motorcycles. Every one of these motorcycles, by the way, takes it as a point of honour to honk their horns at least once every 5 minutes leading to a cacophony of noise. The whistles Thai doormen use to usher cars on to the street now sounds melodious to me.
I was also surprised that the women do not seem to take as much care as Thai women in how they dress. In fact, a women in an art gallery was wearing pajamas. The prices of goods are cheaper in Vietnam, which I guess is another difference.
There are also some Asian similarities. The respect and veneration for parents especially dead parents. As our guide told us, even though 80% of Vietnamese people are declared atheists, they definitely venerate their parents and on the 1st and 15th of every lunar month pay their respects to their parents by lighting incense in their house and putting food on the alter or shrine of their deceased parents and perhaps grandparents. .One of the reasons it is so important to have a boy child is that it is the boys that set up the alter to their dead parents. If you only have girls you will not be officially remembered since it is the woman’s duty to support her husband in ancestor worship or respect. It is the woman’s brother that would set up a shrine in his house.
The markets are similar, although prices cheaper, but the haggling the same. People are equally friendly, I think, and take great delight when you try to speak their language, which comes from Chinese, I think, so it is a tonal language. However, there is only one syllable in every word so Han oi, for example, is two words. They use a Roman alphabet because of the 80 year influence of France until 1954.
Last night we drove down to Halong Bay which looks like it has wonderful shaped limestone islands which I am looking forward to seeing tomorrow. The weather is very cold for me at 20 degrees, but it should be the last day of the excruciating cold and then we fly south to Danang and China Beach.
Looking forward to the perpetual summer again..it really is not that hard to take!
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