Bustling Hanoi
Hanoi is a bustling and incredibly interesting city! I just spent my whole morning sitting at a corner cafe, sipping excellent Vietnamese coffee (yep the coffee here is indeed very good!) and watching the people and their busy lifes! The major means of transport is the motorbike! About every second person in Hanoi drives a motorbike! This accounts for very adventurous street crossings! Who thought Rome has the craziest traffic maybe assured that it can get MUCH worse! Almost everything gets transported on motorbikes, sometimes you cannot even see the bike anymore, because the box or the canisters completely cover the bike leaving just enough space for the driver. And wandering the streets you almost can't escape the constant "Hey, YOU!! Need motobike? Vely cheap!! hey hey!!"
Life in Hanoi is outside on the streets. People work, chat, meet and eat on the streets and every corner is just equally busy! In terms of food, the Vietnamese eat just about everything that can be cooked fried or steamed! I had the famous 'Mien Luon' for lunch, basically fried Eel with glass noodles, egg, some greens and accompanied by some soup and a sweetish red sauce and the obligatory fish sauce! Delicious :-)
But it gets even better! Last night I had WHOLE fried frogs with fish and chilly sauce! And believe it or not, you eat them WHOLE! That means the head and the bones as well! If you switch of your mind, they are actually very tasty ;-) Elodie and me sampled already quite a few other culinary delicasses before (like steamed frog and fried pigeon). I haven't made it to try the famous dog or snake, but who knows, maybe i still get a chance ;-)
The overall pace in Vietnam is very different from all I have seen so far on my travels. People here are much more lively, have a greater business sense and Western influence is ubiquitous. I met a recruiter from a London college yesterday at lunch who confirmed my first impressions: "The Vietnamese young are much more clever than their neighbours!". You can see it everywhere: They try to sell you just about everything and for incredible prices. You need to be firm in bargaining if you want to survive the shopping experience here!
Nevertheless, traditional cultures blend well into the bustling modern day life and create a truly interesting mix. You see people playing Go and Chinese chess on the streets, people making traditional arts and handicrafts, worshipping in temples or practicing Thai Chi along the lake! However, the youth seems to change a lot and Western culture strikes hard. Almost everyone has a mobile phone, the young dress up and spend all their money on clothes, hairstyle and prestige items and go out to the new 'hip' bars and night clubs to impress! I had a little chat with a nightbar owner last night and he told me that the average wage of a waiter sums up to about 80 - 100 US$ a month! Not an awful lot considering that normal rent for Vietnamese is already about 40 $ a month and a beer in a bar is about 1 US $ !
People here hardly have any holidays! Maybe one year a month and they spend it maybe at the closeby Halong Bay or some beaches there, since they cannot afford the trip to further away destinations. However, the gap between the 'normal' and the rich seems to be quite significant, since you see a lot of people driving around in Mercedes and dining in top notch places! Concerning business, Vietnam is definitely facing a period of rapid growth over the next years!!
Well, I am going to take in a little more of the city spirit before I continue down south to Hue with the night bus later on.
Oh I haven't talked about Halong Bay yet. The whole thing was a bit touristy. One of these all inclusive bus tours with the regular bus stops where they try to sell you the usual items for 5 times of the regular price and put you for lunch in a shitty restaurant. But we still had a great time out there. The nature was just beautiful! Over 3000 island and rocks with the most grotesque forms (as you can see in the picture below... kazzo ;-)! Almost magical. And we spent the night out on the boat in a cozy bay and had a great seafood dinner, the crew prepared for us.
Life in Hanoi is outside on the streets. People work, chat, meet and eat on the streets and every corner is just equally busy! In terms of food, the Vietnamese eat just about everything that can be cooked fried or steamed! I had the famous 'Mien Luon' for lunch, basically fried Eel with glass noodles, egg, some greens and accompanied by some soup and a sweetish red sauce and the obligatory fish sauce! Delicious :-)
But it gets even better! Last night I had WHOLE fried frogs with fish and chilly sauce! And believe it or not, you eat them WHOLE! That means the head and the bones as well! If you switch of your mind, they are actually very tasty ;-) Elodie and me sampled already quite a few other culinary delicasses before (like steamed frog and fried pigeon). I haven't made it to try the famous dog or snake, but who knows, maybe i still get a chance ;-)
The overall pace in Vietnam is very different from all I have seen so far on my travels. People here are much more lively, have a greater business sense and Western influence is ubiquitous. I met a recruiter from a London college yesterday at lunch who confirmed my first impressions: "The Vietnamese young are much more clever than their neighbours!". You can see it everywhere: They try to sell you just about everything and for incredible prices. You need to be firm in bargaining if you want to survive the shopping experience here!
Nevertheless, traditional cultures blend well into the bustling modern day life and create a truly interesting mix. You see people playing Go and Chinese chess on the streets, people making traditional arts and handicrafts, worshipping in temples or practicing Thai Chi along the lake! However, the youth seems to change a lot and Western culture strikes hard. Almost everyone has a mobile phone, the young dress up and spend all their money on clothes, hairstyle and prestige items and go out to the new 'hip' bars and night clubs to impress! I had a little chat with a nightbar owner last night and he told me that the average wage of a waiter sums up to about 80 - 100 US$ a month! Not an awful lot considering that normal rent for Vietnamese is already about 40 $ a month and a beer in a bar is about 1 US $ !
People here hardly have any holidays! Maybe one year a month and they spend it maybe at the closeby Halong Bay or some beaches there, since they cannot afford the trip to further away destinations. However, the gap between the 'normal' and the rich seems to be quite significant, since you see a lot of people driving around in Mercedes and dining in top notch places! Concerning business, Vietnam is definitely facing a period of rapid growth over the next years!!
Well, I am going to take in a little more of the city spirit before I continue down south to Hue with the night bus later on.
Oh I haven't talked about Halong Bay yet. The whole thing was a bit touristy. One of these all inclusive bus tours with the regular bus stops where they try to sell you the usual items for 5 times of the regular price and put you for lunch in a shitty restaurant. But we still had a great time out there. The nature was just beautiful! Over 3000 island and rocks with the most grotesque forms (as you can see in the picture below... kazzo ;-)! Almost magical. And we spent the night out on the boat in a cozy bay and had a great seafood dinner, the crew prepared for us.
borislauser - 8. Jan, 09:58
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