Sunday, August 8, 2010

Hanoi A-Go-Go

After 20 hours, three meals, a handful of bad movies, a few drinks, little to no sleep and a short break in Bangkok, we landed in Hanoi. Noi Boi International Airport is nothing more than a runway and tiny terminal on the outskirts of the city. Russian-made fighter jets rest unused in hangers by the tarmac. It took 40 minutes to actually make it into the city. A chorus of horns accompanied our arrival.

We tumbled from Thursday to Saturday due to the meddling of the international dateline. Friday’s overrated anyway. Jetlag squishes your brain into mush and warps your senses. Your mind tries to compensate but overdoes the process and sends you into a super-charged hyper-realism. Hanoi is the perfect jam-packed metropolis to experience this distorted perception.

The Vietnamese capital is comprised of buildings jutting out from the ground like blocks stacked high by someone in a hurry. The scraggily compact domiciles are crammed tight as they clamor for space with their surrounding neighbors, each one seemingly falling over the other. New buildings comply with the Communist ideal of simplicity. Remnants of the old French Colonial architecture stand out and give the area flair. Nothing is empty. Storefronts are packed with merchandise. People constantly spill out from doorways and poorly lit alleys. Nothing is quiet; everything is humming…

…mostly from the relentless noise created by the swarms of motorbikes and vans that fight for dominance on the roads that twist through Hanoi. The motorized bicycles are the clear victors in this battle just by sheer numbers. Millions of them buzz around the streets and sidewalks. Traffic signals and rules of the road are more of suggestions rather than requirements. The simple act of crossing the street is a harrowing experience as pedestrians are obstacles to maneuver around instead of heeding on the side of caution towards. The screeches of horns justify the lack of brake use. The continuous honking is seizure inducing. There is no escape as families pile themselves onto one mechanical cycle to go from here to there, the parents taking the proper precautions by wearing helmets while children are wedged between adults for safety. The entire population heads somewhere to somewhere else throughout the day.

The heat is probably the reason for the unending movement. It acts as an escape from the sweltering temperature. Your innards melt and seep from every pore. The humidity is suffocating, surrounding you like an angry mob. The only escape is to drift into one of the thousands of restaurants and cafes whose hypnotic aromas tumble out and lure you in for a beer, some noodles, something edible and refreshing. The day slowly ticks by and the day trickles into afternoon that bleeds into night and while your mental capacity starts to dwindle from traveling, Hanoi continues to chug on without noticing your absence.

1 comment:

  1. Great descriptions, Sean! I'm right there with you about the heat and humidity-- you had me flashing back to a year ago with the first sentence. And the motorized bikes! Amazing how much can be transported on a single bike. So what great things have you been eating so far?

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