Hanoi, Vietnam - September 30, 2002
Back to Hanoi. As soon as I crossed the China/Vietnam border, all the very familiar harrassment and attention began. From the moment I went through immigration, tons and tons of people yelling 'motorbike' all of the time time.. and 'hello, hello'.. and 'come to my restaurant' constantly.. I'd only arrived in Vietnam (the city border city of Lao Cai).. and already I felt myself getting pissed off and angry as I was just trying to make my way to the train station.
Now its been a couple of days as I'm writing this email.. and I can't wait to get out. There are only two airflights flying the Hanoi-Seoul route.. and I'm on the waiting list for every one of the very few flights leaving this place over the next couple weeks. I really hope to get on one fo those!!
Since I've been back in Hanoi, its just one big stream of people yelling 'motorbike' and 'come in' and 'postcards' and everything else you can imagine. A few more days of this and I will be going completely and utterly insane. I went to the bank today, and with a wad of cash in my pocket, I had some street kid grabbing at me and telling me to give him money. I lost it and yelled at him "STOP" about five times.. I couldn't take it anymore.. not just because of that as an isolated experience, but because it was just one of a long stream of people trying to constantly get money from me. I don't know why the people are so desparate here. They don't make hardly any money across the Chinese border in Yunnan provence.. but no one there acts like this. I've been to Cambodia, and they are quite mellow comparitively as well, and Laos, forget about it.. from everything I've heard.. they are the most peaceful people on the planet. But for whatever reason, the Vietnamese are so in-your-face give-me-your-money than you can imagine.
Its so strange because I was here a year and a half ago and fell in love with the place. Was it because I was constantly on the move the entire time? Maybe I didn't deal with the locals of Hanoi (or Saigon) anywhere near to the amount of time as I'm doing here? Anyhow, I really liked this place ALOT the last time here, and I don't know if the people are just more aggressive or I just was blissfully on Holiday last time and not considering the option of living here. Anyhow, for whatever reason, I am quite sick of this place, and really hope to be out of here as soon as I can..
Okay, lets see.. trying to think of something positive here to write about.. but.. well.. I just don't think its going to happen.. for the positives.. you'll probably have to refer back to my journal entries from over a year ago when I really liked and admired this place.. funny how things change sometimes like that..
Next Journal Entry in Hanoi, Vietnam:
October 1, 2002
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Wintermoon2@yahoo.com