So I just woke up from New Year’s Eve and it was definitely a good time. There was a concert over at Hoàn Kiếm lake which is the central lake of Hanoi where most of the bars and clubs are located. It’s a fun area and walking distance from my new apartment. I haven’t been in Hanoi for more than a week but I feel like I am already getting used to the city. I have been ripped off a couple times which were annoying but I am already getting a bit savvier to how much things should cost. For me getting blatantly ripped off is unpleasant but not something I really make a big deal about. It’s pretty easy here for people to scam foreigners who don’t understand the language or know anything about the city. I’ve been scammed in the States too. It’s a worldwide phenomenon. Still to this day, from all my time spent in the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam, I have only been pickpocketed in Spain. I think that says something. Not that Spain is a bad or dangerous place but that Southeast Asia is not as dangerous as people make it out to be.
I honestly like Hanoi though. As I mentioned before, most of the people I knew in Saigon tried to convince me to stay in Saigon but I’m glad I made this decision. It will be tougher getting by up here but I like a challenge. The weather is actually a lot colder than I expected. I am actually get use out of the big jacket I brought here. I heard that people were unfriendly here but I don’t think they are any more or less friendly than people in Saigon. I like both cities and I don’t see why there would be a culture war between the two. I liked Baltimore when I visited it. I don’t see why people in Pittsburgh have to hate the city of Baltimore just because we are rivals in football.
Finding my apartment went a lot smoother than I expected. Luckily my friend knew a real estate company that helped a lot of exchange students from his university find apartments. We went to what we thought was his office but there a lot of people in there apparently playing games on computers that reminded me of SimCity or something. There was a nice girl who spoke English and sat us down in some guy’s office and she called the real estate agent. She was very sweet and brought us tea and entertained us before the guy came. We discovered he had actually moved his office over a month ago and we were at an architecture school but the girl was friends with the guy. He was there only ten minutes later and he had us viewing apartments later that afternoon. We eventually made a decision the next day and we moved in just yesterday. The nice thing about the whole thing is that the guy didn’t expect any money since he is paid by the landlord to find foreign tenants. We did give him a small tip which did seem to make him really uncomfortable but he was a really nice guy and did all of the leg work for us so I insisted.
The apartment is nice and centrally located but a bit more expensive than I had hoped. I didn’t expect the cost of living in Hanoi to be significantly higher than Manila. Vietnam really doesn’t seem like that poor of a country at all. Actually if I had lived in an apartment as nice as this in Manila I probably would have paid something similar. When I was in Manila I was sharing a room with three guys with no air conditioning and no hot water. I couldn’t afford much more since I was volunteering but since I will be working here I can hopefully afford this place. I honestly don’t care where I live but my English friend was anxious about living alone so I thought it was a good idea if we team up. She has a bit more expensive taste than I do but I do like the place we decided upon.
I think a lot about what that French girl on the train told me; that Hanoi is a poetic city. I can’t say that I have felt the poetry but this city is definitely captivating. I like the mix of architecture here. There are old rustic buildings that date back to the French period as well even more rustic, only almost ancient seeming, more “Asian” looking buildings. There are of course more modern buildings as well but I like how they are all haphazardly located. You can really feel the history of the city just by walking down the streets. That’s one thing I wasn’t able to sense in Saigon. This time of year Hanoi seems to have continually cloudy weather and there is a nice fog that floats over the many lakes throughout the city.
The war is constantly on my mind. Even if most Vietnamese people seem to have moved on and consider it ancient history, it kind of haunts me as I walk around. There are ambiguities with the war but is safe to say that United States was on the wrong side of history. I have heard some Southern Vietnamese people voice their displeasure with the North Vietnamese government and even Ho Chi Minh, this country’s patron saint. Most of the criticism of the government that I hear comes with the ambiguous phrases that I associate with people that come from communist countries. When you hear a slight criticism it is usually the tip of the iceberg. I did go to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum which was interesting. It is a very massive and imposing building. We weren’t allowed inside for some reason. They were probably closed for lunch or something. Any Vietnamese government office seems to take 2 hours for lunch. Even the train station booking office in Nha Trang was closed for two hours and only opened again 15 minutes before the 1:30 train so people could frantically buy tickets.
I think the government’s attempt at censoring the internet is interesting. Facebook is blocked but is easily accessed by downloaded some sort of proxy software that does slow my computer down a little bit but makes me able to go to any website I want. All the Vietnamese people I know have Facebook so I don’t know why the government really invests money in trying to block it. The Fox News and Rush Limbaugh site are also blocked which is kind of funny. Aljazeera is easily accessible however.
It’s interesting but I really do miss Manila and the Philippines. I really value my time spent over there. I can’t wait to go back and visit. I really think that it is a magical country. I’m sure I’ll grow fond of Vietnam as well. I also miss Kristine intensely and it is painful for me to spend the holidays away from her but hopefully this will be the last time.
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