It’s a travel day. We started this morning in My Tho, where we got on a bus bound for Ho Chi Minh City. From downtown Ho Chi Minh City, we took a shuttle to Ton Son Nhat airport, where we boarded a plane to Hanoi. We’ve gotten a taste of southern Vietnam. Now we’ll get to see what the North is like. I’ve heard it’s quite a bit different. We shall see!
Ho Chi Minh City
Based only on my view from the bus window, Ho Chi Minh City, a.k.a., Saigon, seems to be a typical big city. A lot of traffic, a lot of big buildings, a lot of advertising – a lot of everything.
We entered Vietnam by way of Cambodia, traveling on a boat on the Mekong River. Since then, we’ve been cruising around in the Delta, visiting laid-back little Delta towns. This is the first big city we’ve seen in Vietnam. Compared to those Delta towns, Ho Chi Minh City has a decidedly “Western” look.
Ho Chi Minh City’s airport, Tan Son Nhat Airport, is modern and not much different from any international airport anywhere. We checked in, boarded a plane, and two hours later we landed in Hanoi.
Heading North
A lot has been written about the differences between Vietnamese people in the north compared to those in the south. The usual generalization is that since southerners have been more exposed to western culture, to northerners, they seem to live life a bit too “fast and loose.”
Northerners, more influenced by neighboring China than the West, are said to be more conservative: thriftier, less ostentatious, more inclined to honor and maintain traditions.
Life in the North is said to have always been harder than life in the South. While southerners have enjoyed the bounty of the fertile Mekong Delta, northerners have had to eke out an existence on mountain hillsides. That’s what the books say, anyway.
By the time we landed at Noi Bai airport, just outside of Hanoi, it was getting dark. We collected our luggage and hailed a taxi at the airport. Up to this point, everything had gone smoothly.
Taxi Ride
We climbed into a taxi and told the driver we wanted to go to the Hanoi Sheraton Hotel. He didn’t understand. Hmmm. He said something back to us that sounded kind of like “Sheraton,” but I didn’t understand him. We were on equal footing: he didn’t understand me, and I didn’t understand him. He wasn’t the friendliest guy, either. I was having second thoughts about this ride, but our bags were already in the trunk. We’d work it out.
I fished out a piece of paper showing the name and address of our hotel. (Which I should have had at hand, anyway. Oops. My bad). He scrutinized it and seemed to get it, sort of, maybe. Whether he really did or not, we were on our way.
Shortly after we left the airport, the driver’s cell phone rang. He had a short conversation with someone, then hung up. This happened two more times in the next ten minutes. His voice sounded a little more agitated with each call. He was having a pretty serious discussion with someone.
It’s Nervous Time
His phone rang again. He was still on the phone, when, all of a sudden, he pulls off to the side of the road and stops. We were coming onto a bridge. It was a six-lane freeway, and the guy pulls over and stops. Whoa!
He got out, went around to the back of the car, and opened the trunk. We were thinking, “Not good! This is not good!”
I got out, too, and went around to the back of the car, where the driver was. If we were going to get rolled, I at least wanted to be outside. Why? I didn’t know. Everything was happening fast, and anything was better than just sitting there. Besides, now I could finally put my years of martial arts training to the test. I wish!
While he was still on the phone, he was counting the pieces of luggage in the trunk. There were four pieces. Two big ones, two small ones. He said something to me like, “All yours? Is good?”
I said something like, “Yes, those are all ours, no extras, none missing. Everything is there. Is good. All good.” I’m sure I used way more words than he could understand.
He seemed to be telling the person on the phone that there was no problem with the luggage – that everything as OK. (Perhaps he wasn’t going to throw us over the side of the bridge after all). We got back into the car, agreed a little more carefully on the destination, and just like that, everything was fine.
Phew!
We went further on the bridge, and when we came to the main section, sky-high supporting structures overhead were lit up in wild, changing colors. It looked like we were on a ride at Disneyland. Really neat. I didn’t expect anything like this in “conservative” Hanoi. Clearly, this is going to be a city of surprises. (But we don’t need anymore surprises for a while!)
To be continued…
