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February 22, 2005
Charlie don't surf
I finally got a chance to upload my pics from the last few weeks, so there's something new to look at in the gallery! Check out the photos from China and Vietnam.
Hanoi is an amazing city, probably my favourite so far for atmosphere and character. Walking the narrow streets around the old quarter, you pass through the daily lives of local inhabitants, which spill right out their front door and on to the sidewalks - cooking, eating, chatting, laughing, fighting, and doing business. Instead of highrise buildings, the architecture is reminiscent of Hanoi's French colonial heritage, somewhat delapitated, low and tightly packed together. Motorbikes, cyclists, and women carrying baskets of fruit and bread on their shoulders all share the road in a relaxed chaos that somehow works. The streets are full of life, not just people, and I spent most of my time just wandering and observing the goings-on.
As a foreigner, of course, you can't walk more than a block without someone trying to offer you something. "No" is the word I spoke most often in Hanoi, mostly to the ubiquitous motorbike taxi drivers. Yesterday, while I was hurredly trying to dismiss a guy begging me to buy a postcard, I realized his hand was half in my jacket pocket; he was after my stash of cashews! Luckily I caught him before he made off with my delicious salty snacks.
Last night I took a 12 hour sleeper train south to Hue, which is close to the old "DMZ" - Demilitarized Zone, the border between what was once North and South Vietnam. I could have gotten a bus for half the price, but if there's one thing I've learned about buses in Vietnam so far, it's that I don't want to spend a lot of time on them. They blast crappy asian pop music at you the whole time, which is like imitation crappy north american pop but in a language you don't understand. Driving etiquette here involves honking at anything you pass, which means the driver is on the horn every 30 seconds. On these rides, my discman is the most valuable possession I own.
I plan to spend a couple of days here, and hopefully find a good guide to show me around the important sites from the Vietnam-American war. As always there's temples to see, although I'm getting to the point where I'm all templed out, and may institute a "one temple per country" rule. With some outstanding exceptions (notably in Japan), you've seen one temple, you've seen 'em all. Speaking of Japan, by some weird coincidence the hotel I'm staying at is popular with Japanese backpackers, so I've had the opportunity to show off the half-dozen Japanese phrases I know, and tell them about the sleepless night I spent wandering the streets of Tokyo. Good times.
Enjoy the new pics,
Greg
Posted by Greg at 11:14 AM | Comments (1772)
February 15, 2005
A change of plans
Henrik and I arrived in Nanning at 5:30a.m. the day before yesterday after a 13 hour train ride from Guangzhou. We traveled in a "soft sleeper", meaning we had a closed compartment we shared with two other people - very comfortable, and the time passed relatively quickly. Bleary eyed, we stumbled in to the nearest hotel, where the staff were just waking up from the makeshift beds they'd constructed from chairs behind the reception desk. After booking a room, we promptly crashed out for several hours.
The plan was to stop in Nanning so that I could arrange a visa for Vietnam, a process which the guide book said would take 10 days through a local travel agency. During those 10 days, we'd run up to Yangshuo, which is supposed to be completely gorgeous - my friend Alanna described it to me as "heaven on earth". This was the plan.
After coming-to around noon, we ventured out into the city to find the travel agency. Of course, thanks to the lunar new year, 90% of stores are closed for the week, and the travel agency was no exception. An employee at the flight center next door who spoke english recommended we come back the next day between 10am and noon. So we had a day to spend in Nanning.
Make no mistake, if you're visiting China, stay away from Nanning. There is nothing for a tourist to do there; there seems to be little for anyone to do there, except go shopping at the new malls, eat dog hotpot, struggle to breathe through the pollution, and make LOTS OF NOISE. From the moment I arrived in Nanning to the moment I left, I had a headache from the constant blaring of car horns. It seemed you could hear them particularly clearly from our hotel room, at all hours of the day and night. In my dreams, I imagined I'd found a secret passageway to escape the noise, and I had twisted nightmares of helping people escape the tyranny of the horns - for some reason, I was always unable to follow.
For added fun, the weather had been miserable ever since we arrived in China, and when we got to Nanning it just got worse. It was cold, wet, and foggy, and of course there was no heating in the hotel, or indeed anywhere. We ran in to a couple of British girls at a restaurant who had just come down south from Yangshuo, and they reported it was just as foggy and even colder the week they'd spent there. Hardly inspiring news, but we'd already purchased bus tickets anyway. As the pair were also in Nanning to arrange a Vietnam visa, we agreed to meet in the morning to show them where the travel agency was.
So yesterday morning, after my tortured sleep, we met up with Puffin and Jess and set out for the agency, which was of course still closed. However, a new helpful person at the flight center next door told us we could go directly to the Vietnam embassy in town and arrange it for ourselves - a fact that the good people at Lonely Planet are apparently ignorant to. Indeed, we discovered that not only could we arrange it ourselves, but we could get it processed the same day. That's when I made the snap decision to leave China. As soon as possible.
I arrived in Hanoi 3 hours ago. The weather is beautiful, the countryside on the drive in was amazing, and the city is full of energy and character. And motorcycles - everywhere, motorcycles. As cool as it is in Hanoi, I've had enough of big cities for the time being, and I plan to make arrangements to get out to Halong Bay on the Gulf of Tonkin tomorrow. Recharge my batteries on a beach for a while before returning to tackle the city.
I'm trying not to let my 4 day less-than-pleasant experience in China ruin my perception of it. I spent all of my time there in transit, and never got to see any of the interesting sights it has to offer - just big, crowded, dirty cities and the inside of trains, buses, taxis, and hotels. My plan still is to return to China in the summer, when the weather should at least be warmer, and visit the great wall, terra cotta warriors, etc. etc. For now, I just need some good weather and a respite for my sinuses from the burning pollution.
Today is exactly one month since I flew out of snowy Ottawa. It simultaneously feels like no time has passed and so much time has passed. I reflect on my first post from Japan where I was too nervous to walk in to a restaurant to order food, and have to laugh a little. Nearly every meal I ate in China was a struggle to get someone to pay attention to me, to figure out what the process was to order food, and to figure out how to get food that was palatable and not beef, all with people who spoke no english. Not only was I not nervous, but it was my favourite part of China. The challenge of being dropped off of a bus from Hong Kong somewhere in the middle of Guangzhou, and needing to get to a train station to figure out how to arrange the next leg of my journey was exhilarating. To be fair, I have to give Lonely Planet its due; I'd probably be dead right now without that guide book. But even then, the guide book didn't help me order food on the train to Nanning. I had to work that tricky piece of business out for myself.
They've just shut out the light in the lobby of my hostel where I'm using the internet, so I take that as my cue to go to bed... goodnight all.
Greg
Posted by Greg at 10:04 PM | Comments (11)
February 10, 2005
Gung Hay Fat Choy
I stepped off the bus onto the sidewalk in the heart of Kowloon, and made it about 2 steps before someone latched on to me. "You looking for a hotel room?". Giant backpack, dazed look, stepping off a bus from the airport... I couldn't have advertised myself any better if I were wearing a neon sign on my head. I was officially fresh meat for the grinder, and I could feel hungry eyes appraising me from all sides. In the streets of Hong Kong, if someone is talking to you, it's because they want your money. The seemingly kind buddhist monks dealt a crushing blow to my faith in humanity by offering me a small prayer card and then asking for $500HK in return. In this city, even the monks want a piece of you.
I followed my new friend in the street up to a guest house in a large apartment block full of them and arranged for myself a single room with a bathroom. Luxury accomodations. Then I hit the streets to explore.
The first thing I noticed on arriving in Hong Kong was actually a realization about Japan. Walking through the busy street markets, surrounded by Chinese people chatting and laughing, I was oddly relaxed in a way that I never felt amongst the throngs in Osaka. Although I couldn't understand the language they were speaking, I could understand their body language, their behaviour, and it was natural and familiar to me. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how alien Japan felt to me - and it has nothing to do with the obvious superficial things like the gaudy pachinko parlours, the alcohol vending machines in the streets, the chaotic 3km long malls, or the hordes of cyclists going full clip on the sidewalks. Those sort of oddities I enjoyed and appreciated. But it's the cultural differences, the subtle and complex unwritten rules of social behaviour so foreign to anything from my experience, which are the most striking in retrospect. By comparison, Hong Kong feels much more like western society, although I'm not sure if it's only the effect of 100 years of British colonialism... I suppose I'll have a better idea of that once I get in to China proper.
Since I arrived here a week ago, day by day the city has been getting more and more crowded with tourists, mostly from mainland China, some 600,000 of whom have descended on Hong Kong for the lunar New Year. It's a very vibrant atmosphere, although focused mainly on shopping - there's little else to do but spend money in HK. As a result, I've been spending gobs of it. After 3 days in my private room, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and start living the true backpacker lifestyle, so I moved to a bed in a dorm room with about a dozen other people. Frankly, I'm enjoying it more than the single room, and it saves me HK$90 a day - that's 2 pints at the local pub.
The pub's been a great place to meet fellow travelers. I've met Belgians, Swedes, Norwegians, Americans, Canadians, Brits, and of course Aussies, who are so damn friendly it's ridiculous. One Aussie I met was telling me I could stay with her and her boyfriend in Dongguan, China, before she even asked my name. I met a group of American girls who are hilarious fun, and a Swede named Henrik who I've spent a couple of days traveling around seeing the sights with.
To be honest, I was less than impressed with Hong Kong at first. It struck me as just a big, stinky, expensive shopping mall. But as I've been meeting more people, and taking better advantage of the strengths of the city (great night life, amazing deals in the markets, good food), I've come to enjoy it a lot more. After a week, though, I'm ready to move on - if for no other reason than I'm quickly going to go broke if I stay much longer. Tomorrow, I'm going to jump on a bus to Guangzhou with Henrik, and we'll be striking out for Nanning and Guilin from there.
I'm going to go back to my room and eat some instant noodles now... another attempt to save money on my part. Tonight there's a big fireworks display over the harbour which should be cool.
Take care all, and happy new year!
Posted by Greg at 05:12 PM | Comments (28)