Hanoi Travel Log

Dear Diary,

Today was a day which I had to overcome my shyness on many occasions. In the morning, I attended a prominent Asia Pacific congress meeting whose attendees were mainly managers and medical consultants. Frankly, I didn't know what I was doing there. I did have some small chats with the people there, including a Korean lady whom I met briefly at the GUT 2008 congress held at KL. After that, I went back to office and tried to clear backloads of work which had accumulated over the last one week. Well... then, I attended salsa dancing class for the first time earlier this evening. It was kinda interesting to learn something very different. The instructor was like embarking on an accelerated program for us... I could master the footsteps but kinda flipped when the hand actions came into the picture. I think I need to improve my hand-feet coordination. =) Had dinner with a friend after the dance class before returning home. Maybe I can type something about my business trip to Hanoi, haha... Okay, let's see. Where's my reading glasses? ;-)

Last Wednesday (12 Nov 2008), I left for Hanoi. It was the first time I ever travel alone and to a country that does not speak my languages. The in-flight movie "Get Smart" starring Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway, got me into a light-hearted mood but upon landing, I soon realised the daunting task of communication with the locals. Waiting for my check-in luggage was really a test of patience. I thought I stood there for more than 40 minutes before my luggage came out on the conveyor belt! The travel information booth in the airport had ran out of maps... ggeessshh... and they told me that it cost USD $25 to book a cab. I thought it was too expensive, so I left the airport and went to the taxi stand just outside. Many taxi drivers rushed towards me, jostling and trying to tug me towards their cabs. I eventually followed one of them and asked him the price to Hanoi Hotel. He kept saying that he would be giving me a very good price but I was not taken in. I called out for a security officer to come over and asked him what was the current taxi rate. He told me that it was USD $16. I asked the driver if he would drive me for that price. He reluctantly accepted my quoted fare. I had my first glimpse of the infamous Hanoi traffic conditions. My cab driver honked so often that I doubt I will ever honked that much in my entire life! He was practically honking every other instance. Motorcyclists SMSing on their mobile phone while riding! Mother with two children on a scooter... cars turning into a one-way street... It was mayhem to me, haha... After 45-min of taxi ride, I made it to the hotel. The hotel room was large and partitioned into living room and bedroom. I loved my hotel room. Anyway, my first "tour" destination was the Hanoi Medical University Hospital where I met up with the congress president who is the head of Gastroenterology in that hospital. Then I visited the largest hospital in Hanoi, the Bach Mai hospital. It was quite an overcrowded hospital and almost every single-sized bed had two patients on it! Thank God for SGH in Singapore, haha... I went to visit the my company's regional office before proceeding to take a short nice walk along Hoan Kiem Lake. There was even this preserved giant turtle which was fabled to surface the lake and died at the same time President Ho Chi Minh died. There is this cult over that late president. The entire nation practically idolises him. Ate a bowl of pho-bo at street-side stall. It cost just about USD $1 and tasted good especially with that lemon juice and pepper sauce. Unfortunately, it did not end that well when I saw cockroaches all over the place. My stomach survived though.

On Thursday (13 Nov 2008), had buffet breakfast at the Green wave restaurant. The food was not bad but the variety disappointingly limited. However, the view of the Giang Vo Lake was magnificient. My colleagues from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh picked me up in the company car and we headed to the international convention centre (ICC). The booth was set up pretty fast and I stayed till late for the ceremony opening, The official opening ceremony of the congress went by without much fanfare. In Hanoi, always get into taxis from reputable companies so that you won't be cheated! For dinner, we ate from this famous "La Vong" grilled fish eatery. There were many foreigners (esp Caucasians) in there. The food "Cha Ca" consisting of "bong" noodles, grilled fish and an assortment of vegetables, was quite interesting. Anyway, on the way back in the cab, I heard a very loud explosion along the road. Not sure what caused that... an exploded tyre? It just occurred to me that a tourist will be super traumatised if he or she witnesses an explosion tragedy on a trip which is supposed to be their holiday.

On Friday (14 Nov 2008), I woke up early to proceed to the ICC and our booth was well-visited by doctors as we provided some free tests for H. pylori infection. I ate lunch at a hall where lunch was served for the participants and delegates. The food was so-so. Think most Singaporean doctors (if they were there) would not have expected such a simple humble fare. As our booth was so well-received, we ended the day a little earlier. Then I proceeded to visit the Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and its surrounding parks. The place was heavily guarded with soldiers in ceremonial uniform. I then went on to visit the largest church in Hanoi which was situated somewhere near the Hoan Kiem Lake I think. The Cathedral of Hanoi (St Joseph's Church) was a magnificient building. The facade was imposing and there were many people at its entrance. I entered the church and saw its gothic architecture. I was able to appreciate how the pillars were made and role of the flying buttresses in stablising the structures. This church was definitely bigger and more awe-inspiring than any church in Singapore. Nice to see the school students leaving their school just situated beside the church. =) I then went to the Sen ("Lotus") restaurant for dinner. Learnt to appreciate some traditional tea drinking and I had a great time interacting with my Vietnamese colleagues. One even brought her ex-classmate! Her ex-classmate was real fun to chat with partly because he was educated in the US and could speak some English. There is this English culture affinity between English-speakers, haha... The food was quite good. Tasted snails for the first time in my life. The restaurant served local Vietnamese food, Japanese and Western cuisines. The avocado smoothie was superb I must say. Although they invited me to have a chat over some drinks in a pub after dinner, I declined and headed back to the hotel.

Yes! Saturday (15 Nov 2008)! I checked out of the hotel, got the receptionist to book a taxi for me. Off I headed towards the airport. In the airport transit area, I was browsing through their stores. I saw a box of Vietnamese coffee powder (500g). There was no price tag on it. I fingered the box and opened it up. There it was... the price tag was on the package in the box. It read USD $8. I brought it to the cashier and wanted to pay. However, I casually asked, "How much does it cost?" That guy told me USD $10!!! I was like... hey... it is written as USD $8 in the box! That guy became embarrassed that I "exposed" him of his scam, and I paid just USD $8. Couldn't believe this cheating incident happened at the transit area in their international airport! Incredibly, despite all the attempts to cheat throughout the trip, I wasn't cheated once because I was extra careful. In the airplane, as we were reaching Singapore, some Singaporean guy sitting behind me was playing his Chinese music to loudly that it disturbed everyone! How inconsiderate. No one told him off but I could see everyone kinda rolled their eyes. To top it off, I felt that the Singapore Girls (SIA stewardesses) are no longer as appealing to me anymore, both in terms of mannerism and customer service. Then it was deja vu when I waited very long to collect my check-in luggage at the conveyor belt. Our airline and airport service have definitely deteriorated over the years.

Okay, that's about all for the updates on my business trip to Hanoi. Will miss its cool 20 degree Celsius temperature. Goodnight! ;-)

God Bless,

Andrew