Tam Coc Caves and Last Friday Night

I've been a bit slower at posting this one than I hoped, but life has been busy (and I've been kind of lazy if I'm being honest here). Nevertheless here I am with more tales from my adventures in Vietnam. It's hard to believe I only have about two weeks left in Hanoi before I head out to do some travelling. It's really amazing how quickly time flies. Before I know it I'll be at home wrapping Christmas presents and sipping hot chocolate.

Speaking of time flying, I turned 22 last Friday. I'm sure how that happened, but I double checked my passport and driver's license numerous times and it turns out I was indeed born in 1989, so simple math tells me that it's correct. In some ways I feel like no time at all has passed since I was finishing up high school at Laval, yet I feel like all the time in the world has gone by... if that makes any sense. I suppose I've just experienced so much in the last five years or so that it feels like longer. So Friday entered my 22nd year of life.

And boy did I party like a rock star.

We started out pretty tame with a group of friends and I heading to an awesome little Mexican restaurant called Provecho in the Old Quarter. I was quite pleased with my Enchiladas, I have to say (although they were no where near as good as the ones I make). Plus the owner was extremely friendly, took excellent english, and took really good care of us. You can't really ask for much better than that. After dinner we moved on to the Bucket Bar (which I've mentioned before in this blog) for party time... and boy did we ever party. We actually know the owner of Bucket Bar, so between her free shots and my friends shouting me, I didn't pay for a drink all night. I'll spare you the gory details, as those of you who know me well know just how silly I can get with a few drinks in my system. Suffice it to say, we had a hell of a night.

The next morning, however, was a whole different sort of hell. But again, that's another story I'll save to tell those interested over a couple of beers when I get back in Canada.

The Sunday after my birthday, myself and my friend Lene headed out on excursion to Hoa Lua/Tam Coc. Ironically, there was an English couple on our tour who we met at the Bucket Bar on my birthday... apparently. That really made for a good laugh when we first got on the bus!

The roads in Vietnam need a lot of work. I'm not even close to exagerating when I say they're bumpy; it's literally like riding a horse. As a female, after a while it gets pretty painful, so myself, Lene and a few of the other girls on the bus took to crossing our arms to keep things settled, if you catch my drift. And don't even bother trying to sleep with your head against the window, you'll end up knocking yourself out and sleeping a lot longer than you ever intended. It also didn't really help that there were no seatbelts in the minibus and the driver drove like a lunatic. But hey, that's nothing new, pretty much everyone in this country drives like their hair is on fire, their wife is giving birth in the backseat, and they're going to lose a million dollars if they don't make it to their destination before the person in front of them.

Our first stop (besides the obligatory roadside shop with ridiculously overpriced food and handicrafts) was Hoa Lu, which is actually the ancient capital of Vietnam. So, it of course featured the standard pagodas, temples, and stone roads all too common throughout the rest of Vietnam that I've experienced so far. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. And really, unless you're particularly into them, once you've seen one temple with an ancestor altar inside, you've seen them all. Plus, the touts inside the city's gates were even more persistant than the ones you face back in Hanoi (although I will admit that no one chased me down the street with a basket of pineapples). One thing I saw there that I had never encountered before were "picture touters." These people were lugging around expensive looking Nikon cameras (probably fakes) and they would sneakily take pictures of you and approach like 10 minutes later and try to sell it to you. I was completely befuddled as to what kind of idiot would purchase one of those, until I noticed an American tourist (who had been loudly complaining to his guide about being bothered by the touters) purchase one at an exceptionally marked up rate (total amateur, he didn't even haggle). It's clear that some people simple do not read guide books or do any research before coming to developing nations. Maybe I should have given him the link to my blog.

When we arrived in Ninh Binh (which is the town closest to the Tam Coc caves), we stopped to have a buffet lunch at a restaurant. The place was obviously very touristy and the drinks were way overpriced (package tours in Vietnam never include drinks, that's how they get you), yet I was thoroughly satisfied with the food I received. They had a myriad of vegetarian options, including many fresh fruits and vegetables which I was extremely appreciative of. Perhaps it's because I've gotten used to eating so poorly, but I really felt as though it was worth the money I paid for it.

After lunch we walked to the waterfront and hopped on a boat to explore the caves, which are situated on the river. Myself and Lene got on a boat and set off on the two hour round trip journey down the river through the caves. Rather than give you full run down, I figured I'd just post some pictures, and save you all the trouble of reading (read: I'm feeling lazy)!

The good:

The scenery (featuring my fake Ray Bans that I paid 2 bucks for):

The ducks:

The locals rowing with their feet! (something I am so learning to do... well I'll try anyway):

The bad, which I won't show pictures of, was the extreme amount of pressure put on you by the locals to buy things. It was actually really sad. We were constantly bombarded by people in boats trying to take our picture and sell them to us like in Hoa Lu (I perfected the art of sticking my hands in front of our faces so they couldn't get a good picture). Then, at the end of the trip where we were turning to go back, we were surprise ambushed by hoards of venders selling drinks and food from their boats at ridiculous prices. They tried to guilt us into buying things for the people rowing our boat, and needless to say neither of us were impressed. Then, to make matters worse, the people rowing our boat stopped on the way back and pulled out their own merchandise which they proceeded to try and sell us. And then, of course by the time they finally brought us back to the dock, they wouldn't let us leave without tipping them. The scenary at Tam Coc was beautiful, but tourism has really ruined the experience of it. I would have much rathered renting my own canoe and paddled down myself than dealing with all of that the whole way there and back. Another weird thing was the Japanese tourists who kept taking pictures of us and calling us beautiful as they passed in their boats. I mean... thanks for the compliment.. but is that really necessary? Very odd.

All in all, I would saw the beauty of Tam Coc caves made it worth all of the hassle, but only just barely. It's frustating when you can't even look at a shop without having someone in your face going "madame, you buy? madame, you buy?" several million times. I swear, when I get back in Canada if anyone ever calls me madame again I'm going to blow a gasket.

After we arrived back in to Hanoi I met up with some friends for drinks since it was their last night in Vietnam. I also helped them buy a bag which was fun because I've gotten really good at bargaining. I think I'm a pretty good judge of how much something should cost which is really half the battle, plus I think the vendors usually give me a break because I try to speak to them in Vietnamese. My Vietnamese is getting half decent, which I'm pretty proud of. I can't string together many sentences yet, but I've learned alot of useful words and phrases that have been really helping me in my day to day life.

I suppose that's it for me again, I really have to get some work done before the night is over.

Until next time remember, when you're on the highway in Vietnam... wear a sports bra.

Sarah

New experiences and sad realities

When I first came to Vietnam, there was one thing that I swore that I would never do: ride a motorbike. If you have any idea what the traffic in Vietnam looks like, it's not hard to understand why I felt that way. The longer I've spent here, the more I've realized that the traffic is less dangerous than it initially appears, in fact it's more like organized chaos than anything else. Yet, even as I continued to get used to the rules of the road, my vehement veto on all things related to motos held strong. Perhaps it's due  to the fact that at home I genuinely just do not like motorcycles, and I think the ribs of anyone I've ever ridden with can attest to that.  However, once I was forced to get on one this weekend as I mentioned in my previous blog, my mind has completely changed.

Now I love them.

I don't see why I'm surprised with myself really. I mean, I've always been an adrenaline junky, and weaving in and out of traffic on the streets of Hanoi is just about as exhilarating as road travel gets. I was running a little late for work today and instead of just waiting it out at the bus stop I decided to catch motorcycle taxi to the second bus stop on my journey to work. By the time I arrived there I was considering asking the guy to take me the entire way. It's just such a faster way to travel through the often congested city streets that have left me stranded on buses for hours on end. These guys are so good at what they do you're almost constantly in motion (even through red lights... which can be a little disheartening, but practically everyone does it). Plus, it's only marginally more expensive than the city buses and much cheaper than standard meter taxis, and since you negotiate the price before hand they won't take you the long way or in circles to try to drive up the price like so many taxi drivers do here. I'm thinking it is going to be something I am going to partake in much more often throughout my final month or so in Hanoi, and potentially during the rest of my trip depending on how the traffic is in the other countries I plan on visiting.

Something interesting about the motorbikes here I don't think I've ever mentioned is that they literally transport everything you can imagine on them here. I've seen bed frames, floor boards, live pigs, kitchen sinks, refridgerators... basically anything you can imagine on the back of those things. I actually saw a guy carrying a tree on the back of one the other day. I'm not even joking. A freakin' five foot tall tree. It's pretty comical when you see it, but it's also really impressive that manage to do it without hurting themselves or someone else in my humble opinion.

Motorbikes aside, here are three other interesting tidbits of information from the past few days. First of all, I met two Canadians last night! I know it's excrutiatingly lame that I'm excited about that, but honestly it's so refreshing to run into other Canadians because they just seem to be non-existant here. I know that's not exactly true, but it is a fact that I have run into very few. Ironically though, I met an Australian girl last night who told me that she had not met many Australians while visiting Vietnam. This, of course, prompted me to laugh out loud and ask if she was for real. It seems like every second person I meet here is Australian (if they're not Vietnamese, that is). The second interesting piece of info: I found Coors Light for sale in a cafe today! I mean, yeah, Coors Light is an American beer, but it still made me really excited because up until now the only foreign beer I've seen around has been Heiniken. I didn't buy it because it was like 1:00 in the afternoon and I didn't feel like being that much of a wino, but I intend to in the near future. The third interesting thing is that last night I went out with a few friends to this place called Le Pub and they served poutines! I was really excited because it was the first time I had seen anything even remotely Canadian for sale in a Vietnamese pub. It was, of course, absolutely terrible. The fries were like rock hard, the gravy was runny, and the cheese was practically non-existant. It made me slightly homesick for Harold's Hotel poutines, to be honest.

But aside from being a disappointment, it made me think about the five things from home that I miss the most (people and Misha notwithstanding).
5. Canadian food
4. My MacBook
3. Greenie Dos
2. Jeans
1. My X Ring

I think I'll be more than glad to see all of those things (and people/Misha) when December 14th rolls around!

And now, on to the sad realities portion of this particular blog entry. This is something that I have not blogged about as of yet, but I think now is the perfect time to do so. As you all know, I work for a local NGO that helps develop health and education related projects all over Vietnam. Currently, my organization is seeking funding from the EU Commission on Human Rights on a project that is seeking to raise awareness about the rights of children in two extremely poor provinces. I was really excited about this for two reasons. The first is very simple. Human rights is what I'm interested in, it's what I focused my degree on, and I have a lot of knowledge on the subject that I feel will allow me to make a significant contribution to the development of the project.

The second reason is that I know how children, particularly disabled children, are treated in this country.

I'm going to go ahead and warn you that this may not be easy for many people to read. I know for many people, ignorance is bliss and I do not judge you for feeling that way because sometimes I wish I didn't know as much as I do about what people less fortunate than me have to face in their day to day life. I would also like to say, I am well aware that things like this happen at home as well. But after reading it, I'm sure you will see that it is quite different.

For many families in Vietnam, having a disabled child is considered a bad omen. Particularly in more remote locations, the people just do not have enough education and awareness about disabilities to understand what is wrong with their child. This leaves to adandonment and extreme mistreatment by not only the families, but also teachers, health workers, and other members of the community. Furthermore, mothers often do not have any knowledge about how to limit risk for disability during pregnancy which leads to many children being born with completely preventable disabilities. This problem is not limited to rural locations however, and it is in fact very prevalent right here in Hanoi.

Many of the people that I live with are doing placements in schools for disabled children, and some of the stories they have told me have made me simultaneously emotionally distraught, and physically sick with rage. These kids are not given a chance. In one of the schools there is a room upstairs where the "good" kids (read: less disabled) learn from under-qualified teachers and international volunteers. Downstairs, however, is a different story. The kids are expected to sit in a straight line, quietly and unmoving, for five hours every day. The teachers do not try to teach them, and the volunteers are not allowed to play with them. If they move, talk, or do anything considered "bad" by the teachers, they get beaten to bloody pulp. And I'm not talking a smack on the hand or a tap on the bum, I'm talking about a teacher driving her knee into a kids neck, pinning him to the floor, and smacking him across the face until her hand hurts. More often than not, from what I'm told, they will be whacked with a metal rod if they do anything the teachers do not like.

This is not just the severely disabled kids they place on the bottom floor, the other kids are beaten as well. And from what I understand it is completely subjective to the teachers, and some kids can end up bullied while others get away with anything. And, to make it worse, they don't even get smacked for what is actually bad behaviour, it is for completely trivial things that almost all kids do. If the kids punch each other (which they obviously would because they watch their teachers do it everyday), the teachers do nothing, but if they don't want to finish their dinner they'll be black and blue for weeks. My friend describe it as a hopeless situation, because if they try to properly discipline the kids nothing good comes out of it. I've heard stories of volunteers putting children in time out only to have the other kids throw things at the child, because the teachers do it as well.

The unfortunate thing about all of this is that in Vietnam, technically, treating children like that is completely illegal. Vietnam was the second country in the world to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and therefore this behaviour is completely against the law. However, law is a subjective term in Vietnam. The police can always be bought off for the right price, so when it comes down to it, if you have money you're pretty much untouchable. This is why children of government officials can drive the wrong way down a one way street, crash into three motorbikes and still have the police side with them. And it's also why these schools can beat the hell out of the kids without anyone doing anything about it, because corruption keeps the head haunchos safe.

I often find myself wondering why organizations would continue to facilitate this kind of behaviour by giving them funding and providing them with international volunteers. I have thought about contacting my organization (IVHQ, not the uselessness that is VPV) and telling them that it is an absolute travesty that they would continue to send volunteers to a place that mistreats children so terribly. But then, I also think that the attention they receive from the international volunteers may be the only real affection some of these children ever get. That thought in it's self is devastating, but it is an unfortunate reality that keeps volunteers in these places.

Although I have been fortunate enough not to personally witness any of this yet, I still feel the same hopelessness regarding the situation as the other volunteers who have worked at these schools. It is not in my nature to stand by and do nothing while others suffer, yet the more I learned about the situation the less I felt I could do. Which is why I was so excited to receive this project at work, because I finally felt like I could do something to help. Although I was not allowed to do it in Hanoi (a story I will tell in a future blog) the opportunity to make a difference for a even a few kids somewhere in Vietnam that are treated like that feels like the start of a new beginning. Change has to start somewhere, and Vietnam has seen remarkable social and economic development in the last twenty years. Perhaps in another twenty Vietnam will live up to it's commitment to the UNCRC and children with disabilities (and all children) will be treated with the respect and dignity they should be.

Until next time, remember just how much worse it could be. Positivity always goes a long way.

Sarah

Hookers and Halong Bay

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the fact that I haven't blogged much recently. But, to be completely honest, now that I've settled in here my day to day life is not really that interesting. I get up, go to work, and go to bed during the week, basically, and I suppose I could blog about that if you really want me to but I hardly think it would make for an enjoyable read. So, since nothing interesting was happening, I decided to refrain from blogging until I went somewhere cool, which I did do this weekend.

But before I get to that, I have a funny story.

About a week ago myself and a friend of mine decided to venture into the city centre for breakfest and to book some tours for upcoming weekends. We had a lovely time just relaxing and I booked some awesome tours for the next couple of weeks. When we were ready to catch the bus back home, I realized I really had to use the washroom. Now, our house is about 45 minutes out of the city centre so I was hardly going to hold it the entire way. So, naturally, we decided to stop somewhere. After venturing into a few hotels who turned us away with a sour look and a dismissive hand wave (great promotion for their business), we finally spotted a cafe/bar called "Cool" who would assuredly let me use their washroom if the place did indeed live up to its name. As soon as I stepped into this place I was a little sketched out. The decor was very dark and neon-lighted with red velvet ceilings and mirrors all over the walls. My friend waited for me at the bar while I wandered off to find the washroom.

Once I found it, things got even weirder. I stepped into the stall and immediately I was bombarded with images of mostly naked men! I was completely baffled, and suffice it to say I got out of there pretty quickly. I made it back to the bar where my friend was awkwardly looking around, and as I soon as I reached her she said "yeah I think we should go." We got outside, both of us looking incredibly creeped out, and the men on the door just started laughing at us. I was completely confused until I turned around and finally noticed this sign.

Yeah... I don't really have any words for this.

Don't think I'll be going back there though.

So shenanigans and hookers aside, this weekend was pretty awesome. I finally ventured to the famed Halong Bay for a weekend out of the city and I have to say I was not disappointed. It is every bit a beautiful and serene as people say it is, perhaps more. I started my trip by arriving at the travel agent's office in the city centre at 8:00 in the morning. That might seem like a random and overly detailed way to start my story, but I can assure you I'm starting here with purpose. You see, in Vietnam, you literally can not throw a stone without hitting 75 motorbikes. They are absolutely everywhere. Up until this weekend, I swore on my musical abilities that I would never even touch one throughout my entire trip in Southeast Asia. Oh how wrong I was. After waiting for about 45 minutes for my bus to show up, this guy shows up on a motorbike and says "okay we go." I looked at him like he was crazy, of course, and asked if I could walk. He told me, however, that it was "short motorbike, far walk," so I was left with little choice but to jump on the gas powered death trap he was driving and hope for the best. I started off by swinging my leg over the bike, catching my pants on a hook and ripping them. Fantastic start. There was no way this could end well for me, as far as I was concerned.

Surprisingly, however, once we got going I realized it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be. I mean, at first I'm pretty sure I nearly broke the driver's ribs. But after a few minutes I wasn't even holding on anymore. It's another one of those things in this country that looks ridiculously scary and dangerous, but once you actually do it it's not that bad at all. I still don't really see myself driving one, but I wouldn't be against getting on the back of one again.

After my uneventful first motorbike ride, I hopped on the bus with all of the other members of my tour and we headed off. The bus ride was dreadfully boring, so I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say approximately three and a half hours later we arrived in Halong Bay, after a single stop at an extremely overpriced tourist market that I of course bought nothing from. The sky was slightly overcast so I was quite disappointed that I wasn't getting a sunny day, but my mind quickly changed once we got on our boat.

The boat was every bit as beautiful as it looks. The rooms were comfortable, the food was great, and the rooftop lounge area was awesome. I was quite impressed, to say the least. I quickly got to know the other members of my tour, which included one Romanian, two Germans, two Frenchmen, two Americans, three Indonesians, and four Brits (I was, of course, the only Canadian).

The first part of our tour was my least favorite. Our guide took us to one of the 1969 islands in Halong Bay to check out some caves. I have to admit, the caves were pretty cool, but the whole experience was far too touristy for my liking. I know it's kind of an odd thing to say considering it's Halong Bay which is a major tourist destination, but there were literally like two hundred Japanese tourists stuffed in these caves. The view from the top of the stairs looked like a sea of white hats rather than a majastic ancient cave. Suffice it to say, I was more than happy to make it back to the boat to watch the sunset.

Once the sun set, myself and my shipmates decided it would be a good time for a swim. The boat anchored down and five of us (me and the four Brits, basically) jumped into the ocean. It was amazingly warm and totally refreshing after such a warm day on the boat. Four of the five of us decided to swim to another boat that was about three hundred metres away, which was quite tiring but and awesome experience since the water was so nice. Halong Bay is known for its extremely salty water so my eyes were burning a little when I got out, but that hardly nullified the experience.

After a few drinks and some chatting, we all headed to our rooms where I had the best sleep I've had since I've been in Vietnam. The water was so calm it was just like being in a hotel on dry land (Mom, even you would have liked it). When our 7:30 breakfest call came around I hardly wanted to get out of bed.

For our second day on the water we got to go kayaking for a while. I've kayaked in some beautiful places, but this truly took the cake. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures because the boat didn't have a waterproof sleeve and I didn't want to risk getting my camera wet. One of our tour mates took a picture of us in the boat with her camera, but I will have to wait for her to email it to me before I can post it anywhere.

Overall, my trip to Halong Bay was fantastic and I would definitely recommend doing it to every person I know. Honestly, I wanted to stay there. Just make sure you go with a good company, because I do have friends who did not have such a good experience on their tours. It's one of those things that paying an extra ten dollars can really go a long way in ensuring you have a good time. I doubt I will get to go back during my time in Hanoi, but if I ever return to Vietnam I will most assuredly do it again.

I suppose that it is it for me this time around. I will be getting another blog up sometime within the next week because I'm travelling to Ninh Binh on Sunday (yay!) and my birthday is on Friday (double yay). So expect some other stories fomr the great beyond in the near future.

Until next time, remember: life is beautiful. Appreciate it.

Homecoming in Hanoi and the Quickie Quickie Bang Bang Dance

This weekend in Hanoi was a little bittersweet for me because many of you know, back in Antigonish this weekend is homecoming at St.FX. As a new graduate this was my first homecoming and, realistically, I always knew I was almost definitely going to miss it because I can never really guarentee where I'm going to be six months from now. However, seeing so many of my friends posting on Facebook about being back there really got me thinking about how much I actually miss that place (aside from KP or course). What better way to cure the "can't be at X" blues than a night on the town in Hanoi?

My friends and I set off from the dorm to this place called Bucket Bar, which is a pretty literal name considering they serve your drinks to you in buckets (it reminded me a lot of Pail 'N' Shovel for any fellow Tiger alumnus that may be reading). As I may have mentioned before, the alcohol here is incredibly cheap. When we first arrived they had a two for one beer special on for the hour, so we got two large beers for about 30,000 dong. That's $1.50. Once that hour was over, we all ordered bucket drinks, which is something you kind of have to experience. The way that the buckets work is basically they have a big list of cocktails and you can choose either one to be made into a bucket drink. So for $5 you get about 7 shots of liqour. To make it even better, they had a two for one special on vodka redbull last night, so for five dollars you could get about 14 shots of vodka. Suffice it to say, it is not difficult to get drunk on the cheap at this place.

Early in the night when we were sitting outside chatting, I brought up how I was missing homecoming at X this weekend. Not everyone really understood what it was, but I tried my best to explain. For Americans, obviously homecoming is a little different. So my friend Lene from Denmark asked one of my American friends what homecoming is and she said something about flowers and a parade or something. So Lene apparently got up to see if there was a flower shop open somewhere around so she could get me a flower. When she couldn't find one, she went up to this random group of Scottish/English people and asked for a favor.

So I was sitting at our table outside of the bar when this guy taps me on the shoulder and says "are you Sarah?" When I replied that I was he said "your friend Lene says Happy Homecoming!" Then he ripped open his shirt to show me that Lene had written on his chest, in red marker: "Sarah, for your homecoming I got you this!" And, there was a big flower drawn as well! It was really funny, really random, and really sweet. They all then proceeded to tell everyone they talked to that it was my homecoming, and by the end of the night random people were coming up to me going "are you Sarah? I don't know where you're coming back from, but welcome home to Hanoi!"

Unfortunately the night ended a bit sooner than we would have liked because the police came and broke up the party around midnight. That's the thing with Vietnam, since it is a authoritarian-lead country things like that happen. It can be a little unnerving if you aren't expecting it, but I was standing outside watching the police pull up and I was just kind of like "oh well, time to go somewhere else." Apparently the police are cracking down pretty hard right now, so early nights can be expected at least for a while. After that most of our friends caught a cab back to the dorm, but myself, Lene and our new Scottish/English friends wandered the streets for another while looking for food before we finally decided to give up and caught a cab home. Somehow we managed to pick the perviest taxi driver in all of Hanoi who continually hit on Lene while I had my head stuck out the window yelling "mi oi, xin chao" to everyone we passed (what? I was having fun.) By the time we made it back, to the dorm we were quite glad to be rid of him to say the least.

So even though I couldn't be at X for my first homecoming, celebrating it in Hanoi was a pretty freakin' awesome replacement.

This morning, however, was not quite as fun. But that's the price you often pay with a night out, and once we went out and got some greasy food for lunch, I felt quite a bit better.

It's unusual for me to write a blog about just one night, but it was a pretty good night and I wanted to make sure I wrote it all down so I would not forget. Tomorrow it's back to work and I have a few projects due by the end of the week so I'm probably going to be quite busy for the next little while. Hopefully I will post a new blog about our West Lake adventures sometime later in the week.

Until then, remember that literally drinking buckets of alcohol is probably going to leave you with a pretty nasty hangover.

Sarah

"X is dynamite!"