Hanoi

We arrived in Hanoi early yesterday morning on another overnight bus, which luckily I again had an OK night's sleep on. We spent the day wandering around the Old Quarter of the city, checking out the shops, markets and beauty spas (I couldn't resist the works: a foot scrub, leg wax and back, neck and shoulder massage. I felt like a goddess after the latter!).

Hanoi is actually a really lovely city to walk around. Like Saigon, it has a very French feel, and being surrounded by a couple of lakes and a river it seems quite serene despite the choking traffic and other general cacophony common to all Vietnamese cities.

The most disturbing thing so far has been seeing carts full of dead dogs on one street that I can only assume were on their way to be butchered and cooked up into some kind of local dish. For a while I tried to tell myself that they may have actually been pigs, but nope, they were dogs. One market stall we came across even had a roasted dog's head with its teeth bared on display.

On a general note, nowhere else in Asia do I thank my lucky stars that I'm a vegetarian as I do here in Vietnam. Vietnamese people eat a LOT of meat, and at any one time it's rare that you're not within eyesight of some sort of carcass being cut (smashed is more like it), hung, cooked or eaten...and they all have their heads intact. Even worse are the poor animals sitting around waiting to be eaten. Luckily, there are lots of vegetable and tofu dishes around too.

It's raining today, but as Phil pointed out, this is only the third day of rain we've seen in the last ten weeks, so it's actually not bad at all. After the 38+ degree heat of the central coastal cities, it's such a relief to not be constantly dripping with sweat.

We went on a city tour today which was pretty good - saw lots of pagodas and temples, but the highlight was Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, where we got to see his embalmed body. It was really interesting to see, but I have doubts about its authenticity - the former President looked like a white waxy statue, and was lit up from underneath so he sort've resembled a nightlight!

Tomorrow we're off on a two-day, one-night trip to Halong Bay where we'll spend the night sleeping on a boat. From what we've heard from other travelers, the weather and visibility has been pretty bad there recently but I'm sure it'll be a fun experience anyway.

Started checking out NYC accommodation today - $30 a night minimum charge for a dorm room in a hostel seems ludicrous when I'm used to paying less than US$5 for a private twin room here with our own bathroom. Vietnam is so cheap, it's great.

I missed my graduation ceremony today which was a bit sad - just one day where I would've rather been home. Oh well, I'll be there next year instead.

Love,

E xxx