Vietnam turned out to be better than I expected. To be honest, I actually didn't have much expectations for it and it wasn't even on one of my to-see list. I found the people to be friendly and more polite than I had thought. The city wasn't as dirty or poluted as I had expected. There was actually some blue skies and I was able to see the city, unlike Guang Zhou where the smog is so heavy that you're lucky to see much of the skyline. The buildings are cleaner than I had thought, unlike Taipei for example where a monotone grey takes over the city.
One thing similar to Taipei though is the amount of scooters on the streets, except that these one bend the traffic rules a lot more. In fact, the only rule it seems is that you have watch the vehicle in front of you. People don't even use their rear view mirrors in fact. Just don't make aby sudden movements and nobody gets hurt. The traffic will come at you in all directions but as long as you move in a steady manner, they will flow around you just like how a river current flows around the rocks in the water. It's a frantic symphony of cars, scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians which you really can't comprehend until you're in the middle of it all. So that's exactly what I did. Janey's dad had a moped and I said that's a must-do before I leave. I even doubled him on the back, because otherwise I would be lost like a blind-man without his stick. It was very exhilarating to ride like there are no rules. In reality, its very defensive and I think everyone in BC should be forced to do it at least once to make them a better driver. You're constantly on the lookout for dear-life and it was a great adreline rush to be honest. But, for that 20 minute ride, I probably breathed in a year's supply of carbon emmisions. There's so many people in this city (8 million to be exact) that the traffic bunches up and you're literally inches away from the next person. They pretty much use their scooter and moped for everything. I've seen a family of 5 all on one scooter so it is to them what a mini-van could be for us. They were carrying all sorts of things being on it from a large piece of glass to bags of styrofoam at the front and the back of the moped such that you can't even see the driver anymore.
We were lucky enough to have Janey's brother, Tai drive us and show us around. Most of the time was spent visiting Janey's family but we managed to check out some really good local food spots. My top favorite was this restaurant called Quan An Ngon on Pastuer Street close to the cityhall . This is a super busy restaurant in the main part of District One that serves up all kinds of vietnamese dishes. We tried to get in for dinner but there was a line right out to thew street. So we returned the next day for lunch and got a spot. Its in an old french building that's 2 storeys and has a reflecting pool which leads to an internal courtyard. It has a very nice colonial feeling to it. We some of their exotic fruit shakes, vietnamese rice dish, spring rolls and Vermicelli with Snails and it was delicious! Yes, yummy snails. And the bill came out to be $218000 Dong, which sounds like a lot but really was only about twelve bucks in Canadian. The fruits were also very yummy and sweet. We tried all sorts of exotic fruits that's not available back home so it was a real treat.
On the last night here, we met up with my Grand Uncle who I didn't realize I had until a few months before I left, thanks to Maggie. I've never met him and he was my only relative in Vietnam so I figure I should go and say hi. He was almost 80 but still very healthy. He walks as fast as I did, still has great hearing and sight. He still commutes in the crazy streets with his moped so that really speaks of his health and alertness. It was great listening to his stories and understanding more about my family tree on my father's side. I even recorded him so that I can someday draw out a family tree.
So all in all, I was glad I made the trip to Vietnam. Maybe next time, I'll go back to Hai Phong also. Well, time for bed to catch our early morning flight back home, just in time for christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment