Truc Bach Lake

So today, I brunched with a few Vietnamese friends in an Indian Cafe overlooking Truc Bach Lake. The Goat Vindaloon would need to be pretty good to outdo the fame of this particular area of Hanoi as it is where Senator John McCain parachuted in having had his bombing mission shot down by the North Vietnamese Army. The place is quite serene these days, though there is a statue to commemorate this event in particular and the American/Vietnam War in General.

In stark contrast comes the Hoa Lo Prison, or as it is more commonly known, the Hanoi Hilton. This was where the Commander of all US Forces in Vietnam was first housed when following his capture. The place is grim in the extreme. First built by the French in 1796, it housed political prisoners opposed to the French presence in Indo-China. Treatment was harsh, conditions appalling, guillotine in evidence and numerous testimonies to this pervade the exhibitions.

What follows is an about face, as the treatment of American pilots shot down during the war is then portrayed as being rather different. Games of basketball, football are depicted in photographs, cigarettes from the Red Cross shown in glass cases, and healthy looking men posing for the camera upon their release are all to be seen. Propaganda is in evidence no doubt, and it does not take too much searching to find evidence of ill-treatment of Americans but one can't help feeling that the alignment of propaganda and practice made a considerable impact on winning the world's hearts and minds in a genuine way.

Prisons remain however, something the world does not seem to stop building despite all our claims to civilization. Those in charge of Git'mo, Abu Ghraib etc might do well to learn this lesson.

Wine at Vines

An expat staple of Hanoi would it seem be the wine tasting on Friday nights at an off license just around the corner from my Hotel. For the price of a fiver 8 half glasses of a variety of wine are yours accompanied by a few canapes etc. There are more than eight wines, plenty of people and noone talks about wine.

The people you talk to give you tickets that they are not using. The owner gives you tickets. Incentives to leave aren't really there. When they finally come the entrance ticket is exchanged for a bottle of wine.

The weekend would appear to have started there.

No Sex please - we're British

But twas not to be as the fair air was o' so rocked at the Ambassador's reception in the Royal Club of Hanoi by by conversation that would be unlikely to be thought acceptable in the homes of our own dear Queen.

By some accounts, it does seem to happen rather a lot. One particular gentleman, despite having his heart set on enjoying the meagre hospitality offered to the full, vowed that he would never return to the land of his birth. Full of foreigners apparently, unlike Vietnam, that is full of Vietnamese (women). Sexual harassment is relatively unheard of here - this is a good thing apparently, as is the lack of rules.

The attitude was not unlike that held by erstwhile espousers of the Abrahamic faiths in declaring that 'man is man, and woman is woman' but recommended lifestyles based on these conclusions diverge rapidly at this point.

A later conversation involved an open telling by a local of an encounter with a chinese prostitute; in female company. I was expected to object as we heard how the shackles of oppressive chinese imperialism had been thrown off by this very act, and indeed how much the experience had been enjoyed by both the oppressor and the oppressed. I did remark that paymasters are rarely criticised but it was clearly not the moral indignation required of one working in part on gender issues.

Here the elephant in the room is at least worthy of remark - but pushing it up the stairs will take more than a bit of moral indignation.

Yesterdays

So when a friend of a friend picks you up and drives you all over town looking for a second hand bike during the fair on madness of a Hanoi rush it does well to return the favour. The opportunity fell at his sister's cafe where a live band was playing along to whatever people wanted to sing. I was asked and the reluctant exhibitionist in me obliged.

How peculiar that this would be preceeded by my kindly host informing me of the Vietnamese for 'yesterday', 'today' and 'lover', and furthermore that the suggested song was 'Yesterday' by the Beatles. So I stands up and says 'Chung toi co khoe khong' 'How we all doing' to mixed reactions, and further bemusement as I say 'Hom Quay, toi co ngoi yeu' 'Yesterday I had a lover' 'Hom Nay, toi khong co ngoi yeu' 'Today I don' have a lover'. - Lennon had no better prelude than this.

But then again he did sing it better.

It ends and a heckler from the crowd shouts out in English 'Are you Single'. Not knowing the word for single, I simply repeated 'I don't have a lover'. Bewilderment descended on the face of the deep and meaningful persons assembled. I said it again.

Penny drops.

'Are you singer' was what was said by the pretty girl with the rock lobster looking boyfriend. Comment from the compere was to the tune of, 'next time it might not be such a disaster'.

Does it pay to self-aggrandise - we shall see.

Couchsurfing

To surf, to couch, to surf per chance to enter into a fairly easy going world where everything seems to work.

A CC'd email to a random selection of registered couch surfers in Hanoi led to a rather nice little night out. Picked up on a tidy little scooter and driven through the city rush hour by a diminutive young KPMG consultant to be taken for noodles, ice cream and coffee was great. She even dropped me home.

Apart from having the biggest helmet in Hanoi, the experience was straightforward enough - and emasculation by means of riding pillion comes highly recommended.

street wandering

So a new city, Saturday night, few crisp notes in the back burner and a hike into the big bad city. Hanoi has a big lake, I had reckoned that there would be no end of culture teaming down from the shop fronts to the waters edge, and so I set about walking round it to see what craic could be had.

Prudence dictated that neither phone, nor wallet was taken and in the event of robbery, the shoes could probably do with replacing in advance of the Ambassador's reception. The lakeside certainly didn't have Bobby George at the ochy, and apart from the odd schmoozing couple was bereft of life. So forays were taken into the city, sense of direction at the ready and an unvalidated theory that the sky was brighter above the lake than elsewhere. I found myself wandering through back alleys as the streets turned and I needed to return to the landmark lake.

It was rightly different to those late night wanders from the Culturlann to the Ormeau, and the bunch of guys I met hanging around on the street corner thought no more of 'what I was looking at' than I did. They called me over, sat me down, lined up drinks and food and a conversation of smiles, rude gestures and excess ensued. Some craic was had before I picked up the bill, they tipped themselves into a taxi and I carried on my way.

robbery like property is theft

Angus, thongs and perfect blogging

Stealing a ten year olds homework isn't something I am in the habit of doing, but then again neither is flying to Hanoi, and so to do both on the same day could be viewed as auspicious if not simply careless. The homework can be sent back, and then so can I, but one will take less than the other, and so I stay in Hanoi to see what the wonders of the world have to offer.

Craic began in earnest with a middle age Norweigian who sat down next to me on the aeroplane and told me that he did 'hot werk in platforms'. Charitable as my thoughts are when directed at persons of this background, I did assume the worst, but an individual of deviant occupation he was not. Turned out he did 'hot work on platforms', oil rig platforms of all things and while YMCA might still elucidate the scene, the type of tents he was pitching surrounded a welder at work. The purpose being to snuff out any sparks before the gas fields of the North Sea were ignited. This as it turns out is remarkably similar to the recommendation of the use of prophylactics as contraceptives and the conversation rambled on from there. Associated activities are necessary but dangerous and require the use of equipment made to the highest standard. We got along grand discussing issues as diverse as the global sex trade, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the importance of taking care of the elderly.

We also drank the same drink, the whisky and beer ordered, and ordered again promptly had him fast asleep with his head resting on my shoulder just as the second round arrived. Having made friends I thought this was ok, and as payment set about finishing his drinks when my ranneth dry. Waking up hours later the guy never spoke nor looked at me, must have been hoarding his for later on, but in fairness his rolling about in his sleep would have knocked them over some time before.

Rest of the trip was unremarkable.