The Hanoi Tattoo

I currently live (out of a backpack) in Hanoi City. Hanoi is crazy! There is no other word to describe it; it is crazy. The streets permanently buzz with activity in every direction, and a million distractions in relentless heat. The motorbikes resemble a swarm of wasps, which you have to manouver through, one (slow) step at a time, eyeing down the drivers as they pelt towards you. The busses, although air conditioned, also resemble a swarm of wasps, but this time some cruel ticket man has put all the wasps in a really small tin and decided to shake it, and drive over pot holes. It's pretty fun.

So, I decided to rent a motorbike! I am doing Hanoi, I am doing Vietnam and so I decided to do as the Vietnamese do and learn to ride a motorbike on the streets of Hanoi! Nope, I've never ridden before, I don't drive and the most powerful vehicle I have been in control of during the last 3 years is my bicycle, while racing rowers up St Aldates hill in pretty, pretty Oxford. I am not entirely sure why I thought I'd just be able to hop on and be a veritable Harley queen - but I did, and I'm not! Maybe I am just naively optimistic, or have a deluded sense of self confidence, but a motorbike is nothing like a bicycle, Hanoi is nothing like Oxford and I am nothing like a Harley queen! The first time I tried to drive, I might have, maybe, almost crashed. eh hem. I need a lot of practice! For the time being I am driving up and down the streets outside the Pagoda during my lunch times and when I've learned how to control the machine (and not panic) then I am going to have to tackle the swarm of wasps. somehow.

A mark of a Hanoi biker is a scar on the inside of the right leg, from where you have burned yourself on the exhaust pipe getting off the bike the wrong way. This is referred to as a "Hanoi Tattoo". To my mind it is a very appropriate impression that one can leave Hanoi with - motorbikes and blistering heat. Thus far my legs are motorbike-burn free (sadly they are a little sunburned) and I intend for them to remain that way! (scar free - not sunburned)

For all it's crazy Hanoi is a great city. It has it's oddities, and I'm getting a tiny bit sick of men coming up to me and poking my white-white skin and laughing at freckles or staring down blue eyes. I'm also getting pretty skilled at bartering market tenders down to the local, rather than the white price. On the whole it is great, and it is only when I've had beer (which is the same price as water) that I am nearly killed by a motorbike, and want to punch the person who nearly Hanoi-Tattooed my leg.

The Pagoda

The orphanage I am working in houses children from 3 weeks to about 16 years old. In short: The children are wonderful! I am finding it pretty hard going though. The children are housed in rooms of 6 with fewer than 6 beds, and one nanny. They are bathed once a week and have very few clothes, no possessions and little privacy. The nannies are not warm towards the children, and I have seen then beat them when they misbehave, and physically tie children to the beds if they don't sleep. The part of the orphanage I work in is the kindergarden, where from 0800 - 1500 we provide a place for the children to go (many are not allowed to go to school) and receive some affection, attention and mental stimulation. It's tough, and an almost vertically steep learning curve for me, but the more I relax into it, the more I fall in love with the children and want to go back the next day to see them. A lot of their stories are particularly hard to take in, and hearing them gives quite an insight into the position of women in Vietnamese society, as well as the class structure and attitudes towards family and children. I am finding it a very internal process and the more time I spend with them the more astounded I am by how open and warm and vulnerable they can be with someone who is going to be there for only a few more weeks.

A happy story, to balance this out. There is one boy in particular they I have become very fond of. His name is Nguyen Van Hung (pronounced Ewan Van Huong) and he is 11. The week started with him punching me as he walked past me. Cute huh? We've started having spontaneous one-to-one English lessons in the afternoons. Thursday afternoon was particularly hot, and seeing that I was, erm, suffering, he jumped down from our riverside desk, picked up a big leaf from the floor and started to fan me with it! A few moments later he ran off again, found a local volunteer and asked her to write "wait" in English on a slip of paper which he then handed to me. I nodded and watched him run off again. He returned a couple of minutes later with a bottle of water for me! He's gorgeous!

The novelty of the orphanage did last about one hour of day one, but it is going well. When it gets too much I escape to the nursery and feed the tiny, tiny babies, which I have not yet broken and feel surprisingly at ease with! There is nothing in me that screams "I want one" but they're not scary anymore, and actually pretty darn beautiful.

The Halong Dragon

This weekend myself and my lovely room-mates and fellow volunteers spent the weekend in paradise, literally! On Saturday morning we all crammed into a little mini-bus and drove to Halong Harbour where we boarded our sleeper boat to sail around Halong Bay. Now, if you've watched any of the Poirot in the Orient episodes, the boat was so very similar, but on a much smaller scale to the one the Hercule himself has stayed in. I got a big kick out of this, and was disproportionately excited walking around the lower-deck with all the cabin room doors and the ocean! Anyway, the boat was cool and I am a geek, but Halong Bay is really the most beautiful and peaceful and majestic place I have ever been! It is perfect. The water is so still and calm and eagles soar from cliff top to cliff top. From the top deck of the boat in the sun and the cool breeze there seriously is nothing closer to perfection!

That afternoon we sailed around paradise, walked through some of the massive (!!!!) caves and then we went Kayaking!!! It was amazing!!! The kayaking itself felt great (first bit of exercise since I left London) as did gliding though the smooth waters but you could get so close to the cliffs, so close that I could see the smaller birds and flowers on the rocks. More, more, more subliminal perfection!!! That evening I jumped from the top deck of the boat (with everyone else) into the South Pacific and swam before dinner.

Sunday morning I woke for sunrise. I could gush some more about how wonderful it was but you all hate me already and I've run out of hyperbole. Later that day I found myself laid out beneath the shade of a palm branch parasol on Cat Ba island beach resort. I couldn't have been further away from the crazy "beep beep beep" of Hanoi, or more relaxed. After a nap, a swim and some time with my head in a Vietnamese war novel, I walked along the cliff top to admire the surroundings. That evening we went to the Cat Ba pearl market, where I indulged my inner 60 year old and also bought a super nice present for my sister ;) ...and then we sat out on the sea front drinking cold, cold beer. Jealous?

My birthday was a while ago now, but we (me and my new friends of 24 hours) went to an ice cream parlour called Fanny (?) on the bank of Hoan Kiem lake in central Hanoi to celebrate and had fantastic ice creams! Nicola packed me away with some little treats to unwrap (thank you), one of which was a small monkey with instructions to name him something Vietnamese. I have, however, gone one better. He has a conical hat! My birthday sundae was decorated with a monkey-sized decorative conical hat on a stick which now belongs to my monkey, which I think shall be named "Vietnam Monkey", or "Nicola".

I so wish that I could upload lots of photos to show you all the amazing things that I am seeing and experiencing, but at the moment that's not possible (the keyboard on which I am typing has ants running across it, and no memory stick drive) but if and when it does become possible I'll go photo-crazy. My phone is also on the blink. I think it object to the heat. I'm in the process of getting it sorted, but if you have txt I haven't recieved it yet - DAD! :) Lots and lots of love - I miss you all terribly, but I am having lots of fun for you.

Girls - If you had seen the selection of shell boxes and ANIMALS on offer at Cat Ba Island market, you would have been SO excited. Promise. (miss you xxx)