Off on a sojourn to Halong Bay

I was gonna ask the guy 'halong' does it take to get there? but I managed to restrain myself. Retrain myself? Uh, sure, OK. Just free associating here, but I remember that when I learned how to ask, 'how long does it take to get to Madrid?' in Spanish, 'Cuanto se tarda en llegar a Madrid?', I thought, Glauber, you have stepped up a level in your Spanish speaking. Not that that helps me one iota here. I have about 5 words of Vietnamese that I can call on. Yes, no, thank you, happy new year, hello. Hey what more do you need?

I got a letter from a friend, (who unfortunately can't access this blog on her wireless phone), that says it's clear that I'm not as charmed with Vietnam as I am with the other places I've visited. Uh, that's not my impression at all. I'm digging this place a lot, even though I'm now in the big city beep beep beep. For the past two days, I've eaten my meals at little street places, where for $1.50 I get a bowl of delicious noodle soup with chicken or beef and veggies, and I get to be the appreciative white guy who is priveleged to eat like a Vietnamese. They seem slightly intrigued that I would choose to go this route, but it feels totally right.

Yesterday, I made a repeat visit to a place down the street, and she was happy to see me return. Smiled, said something to her friend, which I'm sure was, 'this guy was here yesterday, he must like my soup'. And then she made a point of showing me that the locals were paying the exact same price as me, as if she could read my mind and the fact that I wondered about it. Good vibes there. If I were in town today, I'd go back again.

Yesterday I took a long walk in search of some of the stuff I read about in the Lonely Planet. I bought a 2006 edition at a bookstore, not wanting to shell out $30 for the latest SE Asia version. I haven't referred to it much, but it was real helpful yesterday since it gave me a map of Hanoi, and I saw that a lot of stuff was in walking distance here in the northern part of the city. I headed toward the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which I knew was closed, but I wanted to see the site anyhow, I didn't need to see his embalmed corpse. To get there, I had to circimvent a very large military compound, which I gather is akin to their pentagon. It stretched for many cith blocks with armed sentries every 100 meters or so. As I walked past those gates, I glanced in to see some impressive buildings and grounds, but I didn't want to look too closely as I was being eyed by the guards. But my guess was that this was the center of the Military power structure of the country, here in the capital city.

I made it to the Mausoleum site, a huge open expanse that you could land a jumbo jet on, and the building itself was a grey, columned affair set on a little rise, with two armed guards standing at attention, guarding the entrance. On either side of the building were impressive stands of bamboo, and there was signage, and murals on both sides as well. There were busloads of Vietnamese tourists on site, snapping pictures of themselves and their children at the Ho Chi Minh site.

Heading back toward my place, I saw the large statue of Lenin in a park nearby, and then I came to the Vietnam Military History Museum, where for a buck I could see some really interesting photos and really really interesting aircraft which had been captured during the French campaign in the 50s and the 'American Imperialist War' of the 60s and 70s. Part of the museum was outside, and you could see a troop carrying US helicopter, and F5 fighter jet, lots of bomb casings, some armored vehicles, missile launchers and other weapons of mass destruction. An artist created an enormous sculpture made of downed US and French airplanes that was a powerful image of the destruction and war that the country has faced. (am I being naive to think that the US was on the wrong side of this conflict?). We unleashed such an incredible shitstorm of destruction here, with millions killed, maimed, deformed in the next generation etc, and for what exactly? Yeah, they get to gloat for winning that war. Yeah, I know I was seeing the North Vietnamese version of events. But this whole chapter is a dark stain on America. It was sobering to walk through the hardware of death.

And I found my way back to the hotel, which was a bit of an accomplishment as I had ranged far afield, so it was nice to make it back for a rest and a shower. Spent a quite night that included some street soup, an ear of street corn and getting lost in my 'White Tiger' book. Up early this morning, the bus will be here any minute to take us to Halong Bay, where we'll board a boat and take an overnighter around the islands and outcroppings. It looks gorgeous. I talked to a few people who have done this trip, and the consensus seems to be that it's a 'booze cruise' with much drinking and revelry... all of which attracts me not a bit. But I'll have my guitar and a pad, so if it's too obnoxious, I'll retire to my private cabin and do what I do. Total cost for this trip, 4 meals, one overnightin a private cabin. $38. Here his is... bye bye

Hang On to Your Dong

As you know, the Vietnamese money is called 'dong'. In honor of the dong, I wrote this tribute to fiscal responsibilty. (If any of you read anything different into it, that's on you, friend)

Hang on to Your Dong (to the tune of 'Hang on to Your Love' by Sade)

In old Hanoi, if you're a foreign boy
Hang on to your dong
On a train or bus, you sure don't need a fuss
Hang on to your dong

Keep your hand in your pocket
Never let it go
Squeeze it very tightly
If you want your dong to grow
It's good to have protection
That's never wrong
Rise up, wise up
Hang on to your dong

Here is my advice, don't make me say it twice
Hang on to your dong
When the money's tight, don't go out at night
Hang on to your dong

And if your dong gets depleted
You need to see a banker
If you don't believe me
I guess you're just a wanker
Follow what I'm saying
It will stay quite long
Rise up, wise up
Hang on to your dong....