Hitting Hanoi’s high spots on my birthday
Posted: April 15, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: birthday, chico, Hanoi, sofitel plaza, summit lounge, views 2 Comments »The theme of my birthday night out was definitely height.
We started off at Chica – eight floors up above the Hoa Binh Palace on Hang Be street in the Old Quarter.
All the reviews we had read of this place said pretty much the same thing – how come it’s always empty, the food is great? So true. It was absolutely delicious and, for the two hours we were there, we were on our own. A crying shame for the owners of such a lovely place but, selfishly it was rather nice for us.
Anyway – Chica is very highly reccommended. Two three-course meals, including two steaks, smoked salmon and a fabulous chocolate pudding – as well as three drinks – came to $68. I reckon that’s pretty good.
We then went on to the Summit Lounge at the Sofitel Plaza. This time we were 20 floors up looking out over Westlake, all with a lovely fresh breeze. I’d never been before and to be honest, after three courses I’d have been happy to head home and lie in a darkened room groaning but I was persuaded. And I am glad I was.
Even at the (for Hanoi) exorbitant drinks prices – two Jack Daniels and ice and one mojito came to around $23 – I really loved the place. I must go back during the daytime sometime to take more pictures.
Bangkok: easy to like but hard to love?
Posted: April 5, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bangkok 9 Comments »
I’ve lived in four cities in my life Newcastle, Hanoi, Manchester and Bamenda – after that there’s Bangkok.
I’ve never spent more than a week at a time there although I have lost count of the number of times I have visited.
And yet it’s never really been to see Bangkok.
For the most part it’s been a travel hub. I’ve left Bangkok by plane, train and automobile. Just this week I made a flying visit for visa reasons.
I’ve always felt remarkably comfortable there. All those flyovers, sky walks and urban engineering which I can never quite work out whether they’re a marvel or enormously ugly.
The food is fabulous. I possibly even prefer it to Vietnam’s.
And even if you didn’t like the food there’s every other world cuisine available – even assorted guilty secret eating in international fastfood restaurants.
I was never much of a shopper before I started living in developing countries but now I feel I got to take the chance when I can. I’ve always recoiled at places being plugged simply for “great shopping” and yet being able to buy clothes in genuinely natural fibres in big tay sizes is too good an opportunity to miss.
Then there’s technology – on my most recent trip I have never seen so many iPhones in one place. Genuine or not it almost become difficult not to buy one.
And I could see myself living there. Before I wound up in Cameroon I answered a VSO ad for volunteers working in Bangkok. Somehow, along the way, I got talked into Africa instead.
Even now, I still think I’d like to spend a year there in the future when I need a break from Hanoi. Though Hanoi will remain home.
And yet, strangely my attachment to Bangkok never goes beyond finding it very comfortable.
It’s like meeting a beautiful member of the opposite sex, enjoying their company, but realising there’s ultimately no spark between you.
Beyond Bangkok there are the beaches and islands I adore and for the first 24 hours I always think that I could live the island life forever.
Then over the next 48 hours I scale down those thoughts and try just to enjoy the moment. Then, within the week, I am more than ready for a Hanoi return – grey skies, pollution and all.
I’m intrigued by my relationship with Bangkok and wonder if it’s just me. Does anyone else find it very easy to like but very hard to love?
And what does that say about why I love Hanoi? Do I love it because it’s just a little more difficult?
Any thoughts?
A proposal
Posted: February 23, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: engaged, marriage, proposal, wedding 31 Comments »
A few weeks ago, I was sat at my girlfriend’s parents’ kitchen table.
I had briefly been allowed to leave the dinner table after eating and now I had been summoned back. I was receiving a grilling. What was my work? Tell me about your family.
And then the big question.
He asked me whether I would like to ask permission to date his daughter.
Considering we had been seeing each other for some months this seemed odd. But thinking about it afterwards it follows the Vietnamese norm of official truths which exist despite real situations. Reality can easily be ignored in favour of the official line.
That said, it all seemed a bit much to go through just to request the right to date. I took a deep breath and instead I asked if I could marry her.
Now what you have to realise is that this wasn’t just us talking. My girlfriend was translating everything. This now included asking her father for her own hand in marriage on my behalf.
It wasn’t as much of a shock as it could have been – not to her at least. We had talked about it. I had even found her Googling pictures of wedding dresses.
She took a moment and translated. Her father didn’t miss a beat. He thought some more and the questions intensified. They started to come thick and fast.
Earlier, the large bottle of Johnny Walker I had brought had been gladly accepted but it was my answers now that were going to swing this one way or another.
I talked more. I spoke of my absolute commitment. I spoke of being the product of a happy marriage and of having sisters also settled. I told him Hanoi would be home – although he never insisted upon it.
He said that if he was to give the go-ahead then he didn’t want to just bump into my parents for the first time at the wedding. I explained how a meeting in the near future would be difficult but that I would ensure they would all meet ahead of the big day.
He remarked on my inability to speak Vietnamese and how he wanted to be able to talk directly to his son in law. I agreed that learning the language was a priority.
And he asked me if I could make his daughter happy. In the end, he said, that is all that matters.
I promised and he said yes. Yes, I could marry her.
Shortly afterwards I bought the ring. Nine diamonds in the shape of two stars. Both are considered lucky numbers. The number two, in particular, at Tet where people often give $2 notes as gifts.
I had already noted that the first day of the Lunar New Year was also Valentine’s Day.
We had planned a trip to Koh Libong, Thailand . I envisaged us staying up past midnight and then at one second past, in the New Year of the Tiger, I would get down on one knee with the ring in my hand.
In reality the sea air got the better of us. She said she would take a nap and I said I’d wait up and wake her at 12. And then I fell asleep too.
Around five I woke up and in our rustic beach hut there was no power. I stumbled my way to the toilet, tripping and muttering along the way. By the time I returned my noise and clumsiness had woken her.
The ring was under my pillow. Though still half asleep I still felt that now was the time. I said “chuc mung nam moi” (happy new year) and then, I can’t even remember the words, in a roundabout way full of promises, commitments and declarations of love I asked her to marry me.
She said yes and I put the (much too big) ring on her finger.
It was hours before it was light enough for her to see it.
British Embassy persists with Facebook launch in Vietnam despite site block
Posted: January 22, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized 12 Comments »This is rather odd but this has appeared on the British Embassy website:
The official Facebook page of the British Embassy Hanoi is now launched. It is named ukinvietnam. With Facebook we are now having one more digital interactive platform to connect with internet users and UK-related information seekers.
***
News on our diplomatic activities, visa issues, scholarships, employment opportunities at the embassy or our sister organisations, interesting educational and cultural events by British Council will be published on our Facebook page. Furthermore, we aim at enhancing our public engagement taking advantage of various useful Facebook applications.
“I am very happy with our brand new Facebook page; I hope we’ll get more and more friends on this very useful social network. Facebook has more than 1 million users in Vietnam and I believe it will get only more. High speed, easy to use, excellent interactivity, and friendly, all of these make Facebook an ideal space for sharing and connecting,” says British Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Mark Kent.
Which is all well and good except Facebook is essentially banned/blocked in Vietnam. Although, to date, there’s been no absolute confirmation of this, there have been enough hints dropped and the inability to access Facebook has, at times, been across all internet service providers.
So is the launching of the Facebook site:
i. An acknowledgement that so many people are evading the blockage that they might as well launch anyway
ii. A calculated dig at the Vietnamese authorities
iii. Ignorance by the marketing people (despite ambassador Mark Kent having made statements regarding Facebook in the past)
But what is strange is that there is virtually no mention of the ban in the launch information.
Except this rather odd line:
Having troubles accessing Facebook? No worries. Just Google search again using a Vietnamese key phrase: Lam sao truy cap Facebook?, a number of as-easy-as-a-pie tips will be ready for you to use.
Which is just strange on so many levels. I am assuming that this is referring to get-arounds for the ban. But why give you a Vietnamese phrase to Google in an English language translation? Google that and your answers will be in Vietnamese.
And “easy-as-pie”? Is that a “ya-boo-sucks your-ban-doesn’t-work” dig?
And why tell you to Google? Were the British Embassy happy enough to have a dig with the launch of their own Facebook site but not quite brave enough to give their own advice on how to avoid the site being blocked?
four wheels bad
Posted: October 16, 2006 Filed under: Uncategorized 8 Comments »
Tonight’s trip home on the back of a xe om was no fun.
Sad really, it used to be my favourite part of the day. Of course you can put some of this down to becoming a little Vietnam jaded. It’s nothing new any more.
But the roads are becoming undeniably more busy. In recent months my regular xe om driver has had several incidents with me on the back when we’ve scraped other bikes with my elbows. Contact was hardly ever made in my early days here, he was far too skilled to let it happen.
Tonight we were nearly forced off the road by a big white taxi. I forgot the usual zen like Vietnamese approach and made sure the driver knew what I thought of him. It’s the cars that are the problem.
The motorbikes are a feature of Hanoi. Arguably they are a tourist attraction in their own right. And their numbers are growing. Environmentalists argue that the car trip of one person per vehicle is ludicrous. With that line of thinking, five on a bike isn’t so bad.
But the cars are taking over. Of course not in terms of numbers, although they are growing. It’s their size that makes them the bullies of the road. Vietnamese roads may look like chaos but there is a code. I watch what’s in front of me. You be careful not to run into the back of me. Each person concentrates on what’s ahead and trusts the others behind to watch out for them.
But the cars are the more dominant. Despite being the minority they push everyone else around. Motorbikes don’t cause traffic jams. They’re too fluid. Too agile. Too flexible. For the most part they sweep around and ebb through difficulties.
It’s the cars that cause the difficulty.
The typical old quarter traffic jam? One car parked. Another car trying to drive past it. That is all it takes. And the bikes get stuck behind it, their numbers growing by the second.
It is starting to get out of control. There is a danger of cars wrecking this city. And the penchant for SUVs makes it so much worse. There can be few places in the world less suitable to an SUV than Hanoi. There is a charitable organisation which I regularly pass on my way home, which has a fleet of SUVs that are forever stopping the traffic. I’d be ashamed if I worked for them. They obviously have too much money and its not being spent wisely.
I’ve seen Hummers parked here and I’ve just thought: "What kind of idiot…?"
But then again I guess I think the same at home.
Vietnam is making an environmentalist out of me. The damage that is being done is forever in your face.
As you may recall I recently holidayed down in Phu Quoc. My trip was a day after the typhoon. While the south of the country had not suffered like the central area it was still pretty badly buffeted.
We arrived the following day and the sea in front of our bungalow was a stew of plastic bags. Swimming was impossible. There was so much rubbish, churned up by the storm, that the only blue you could see was of the ubiquitous plastic bags that carry everything in this country. It was one of the saddest things I have seen here (pictured below).
Our resort hosts worked tirelessly to clear it. They were plainly embarrassed by it but it wasn’t their mess. It had been thrown up and out by the rivers and streams and while it wasn’t normally on show in such a horrific way, it was always out there, growing and accumulating.
I sometimes think that Vietnam doesn’t realise just what it has. Just how special it is. Its unique atmosphere, its beautiful countryside. I worry that its tourist industry will be killed. I worry that, for the locals, the quality of life will deteriorate in adverse proportion to the rises in standard of living.
I fear for the future of this country in a totally different way than I used to. I used to fear for the poverty and I now I’m fearful of over industrialisation.
It’s hard to live in Hanoi without being a part of it too. Buy a single tub of yoghurt and it comes with a throw-away plastic spoon and it’s bagged up. Buy rice crackers and each cracker has its own individual wrapping. Even sauce from a takeaway or sugar cane juice off the street is bagged.
As for transport. Well the bikes are the lesser of the evils as far as I can see compared to cars. The buses are actually pretty good. I’m ashamed I don’t use them more. But I guess a few more pedestrianised areas and bus only lanes might force me and others.
Well its getting cooler again here. Time to get the bicycle out.
