first days in vietnam

arrived in HCMC on a wednesday past midnight. standing on the immigration line, i knew i was in another country again.

so this is vietnam, i said to myself as i was getting out of the airport. it has tropical weather just like my country's - warm and humid.

on my way to the hotel, i was trying to get a closer look of the city. but it was nighttime. i knew i had to wait until morning to better appreciate the view of old saigon.

in the morning a few minutes after 9, i was back at the airport. had a late breakfast of vietnamese noodles, and got booked for a late afternoon flight to hanoi. the earlier planes were all full. that left me with 5 hours to spare at the airport.

at a cost of USD 1/luggage/hour i was able to leave mine at the international airport which was adjacent to the domestic airport. then i went to a nearby shopping center as recommended by the staff at the locker room.

prices were in thousands and millions. 1 american dollar = 16,000 vietnamese dong (pronounced as dom) more or less.

as i was about to cross the road, a guy in motorbike asked me if i wanna take a ride. (i understood his vietnamese the way he said it while on his bike.) i refused. i thought his bike was not a public ride. and that it was a motorbike! only to find out later that it was a 'xe om' - a biker who takes a passenger for a fee usually cheaper than a taxi's.

i arrived in hanoi at almost 7 pm. i had to find my way to my hotel. ordinarily, the taxi fare would be around vnd 300,000 from the airport to the city. however i was asked to pay only vnd 250,000. my taxi driver's expected passenger did not show up at the airport so i guessed my payment was an extra income for his part. it was a real bargain - he spoke english, taught me my first vietnamese words and oriented me a bit of hanoi.

the long and winding staircase to my hotel room on the 4th floor. actually, on the 5th. they have ground floor, then 1st, 2nd, and so on.

i stayed in a hotel in one of the 'hang' streets. it means shop in vietnamese. before in the old days, the area were workshop villages. they evolved into commercial areas where people of the same skill/product stayed together. and so there were 36 'hang' at the time - one area for each kind of product or service.

motorbikes were parked and can be seen everywhere. around 1 million in hanoi only. they occupy the streets - middle and side. and there were bicycles too.

the bike drivers were not that fast but they rule the road with their numbers. they don't beat the red light. they just drive through it as the stop sign goes on.

both driver and passenger need to wear a helmet. i saw kids - toddlers and infants also in the bikes. little children usually had a transparent cloth covering their heads.

some of the souvenir and decor shops not far from the city center (the 'hang' area). they were located by the railroad tracks. they reminded me of home where we also have the same setup. only back home, we have squatters though. but here, i still have to find that out.