Friday, October 24, 2008

Visting hanoi and sapa

For me to visit a capital city like Hanoi in the north of Vietnam is very different from the typical capitals of S. E Asia. In Hanoi you will find lots of communist influences (as in the hammer and sickle symbols, statue of Lenin, Vietnamese red flags with the distinctive yellow star in the middle and reverence for Ho Chi Minh) set amidst often colonial French buildings and the typical Vietnamese tube building! They build many of their of their buildings in what we can describe as a tube style where the width of the building is narrow but the depth of the building can be very long. Staying at the old quarters which is where all the hustle and bustle is. At first you will be confused with the various streets and roads but after some time and with the help of a good map you can orientate yourself and walk around to find streets which seem to specialize in nothing but paper, in artwork, in metal products and even in coffins. The curious thing is that there does not appear to be any KFC, McDonalds, 7-11 or cinemas around either! Food is not a problem in Vietnam and you can get good and cheap food ( a meal can costs less than VND 10000) from the dirty road side stalls to the nicer cafes and restaurants. If you have no problem eating from the dirty road side stalls where people sit on small low stools(why they all have the low stools I don’t know), and eat their fantastic beef/pork noodles etc and then wipe their mouth with tissue and then throw it on the floor. The more modern cafes are not only nice in décor but serve good western often French food as well. This is what Singapore, KL and other capitals looked like in the 50s I supposes. There is already a non stop hustle of scooters and vehicles on the road where to cross the road is a great skill. For whatever reason the drivers there like to honk their horns at almost every opportunity. So not only do you get smoke pollution but also endless noise pollution. Slowly the western influences will creep in I am sure and eventually everything will become more orderly, Nike will conquer, Big Mac will enter the market and cinemas will entertain people, another 10 years or sooner it will look more like Bangkok. You can stay in Hanoi for a few days before the noise and the traffic will drive you crazy and after that it is time to take a 8 hour train trip to Sapa. Sapa is very much up north and in fact only a few km from China. In the late 70s when there was a a border conflict with China, china in fact invaded the Sapa before being driven out by the reknowned fighting spirit of the Vietnamese army. Don’t mess the Vietnamese army who have defeated the French, Americans and Chinese. Anywhere the reason why people go to the Sapa region for 3 reasons namely the scenery, the minority people that live there and the cool weather of the highlands. The scenery at Sapa and around there is beautiful with lots of rolling hills and valleys, stepped paddy fields, rice farms etc. Go in their winter season and the place can be often covered in clouds and when the stun does make its appearance and the clouds clear make sure you get the chance to admire the nice views before the clouds cover it up again. When the clouds and mist envelop the whole town, you can hardly see beyond 5 m at times in front of a vehicle or what’s in front of you as you walk. A whole building can disappear behind the mist. Needless to say if you enjoy the cold you will probably like that experience. Sapa is also the home region of the ethnic minority people of the Vietnam. Their dress code and their looks set them apart from the typical Vietnamese and the more prominent ones seem to be the black Hmong and flower Hmong people who still go about in their traditional clothing. They have been heavily influenced by the modern tourist and the black Hmong women and girls can be seen all over sapa trying to sell their products to the visitors. Be sure to make treks and visits to their village and markets like Bac Ha Sunday market if you want to see the ethnic people in their more natural setting and way of life as they go about I the hustle and bustle of a market that seems to sell all the essentials for living in the mountains. As I see the ethnic girls go about selling their products to the tourist, I cannot help but think what does the future hold for them. They do not seem to go to schools for education and they work tirelessly trying to earn a little money in even the biting cold from the tourist. What will they be doing in 5 years from now or 10 years from now. Can they survive in the progressing and more expensive world or will they change and adopt the ways of the modern people.

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