Letters to Wilson....: Hanoi!

Under glittering lights that banish the monsoon darkness, this street vendor sold me this incredible inedible fruit for a whopping $1. But there was no modeling fee!

HANOI, AUG 18-19--

Hello, Wilson!

It only took minutes to get past immigration at Hanoi's modern airport, and customs just waived me through. The May de Ville Legend didn't have anyone to greet me with a sign that bore my name, but there was a hard-working young man who snagged me, called the hotel and arranged to be their transportation agent. I say hard-working, because he told me he put in 16 hours a day, probably a lot of it as a free-lance taxi driver. I expected to pay $25, but I'll be charged $18 for the ride. That's him and his car in the photo below.

Worst opening line

Perhaps you have heard of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for the worst possible opening lines. Bulwer-Lytton inspired the contest decades after he penned the immemorial phrase, it was a dark and stormy night...

Well, I arrived on a dark and stormy night, in the tail end of the monsoon season. Here is how some of the multitudinous scooter drivers dressed for the occasion, as seen through the taxi windshield:

My rain gear and Guccci hat

By the end of the next day, I had gone rogue and followed their lead with a charming outfit that I purchased in the middle of a deluge while I cowered under an awning, speaking with a family from Spain.

A local snagged me and sold me that fashionable, sheer plastic rain garment. I noticed she also had one of those Gucci hats that all the locals wear, and I couldn't resist. Afterward I shot a selfie in my bathroom at the hotel.

The photo is almost as good as all those selfies people shoot for posting on OK Cupid. Pity I won't be here long enough to find the girl for me.

You know, when you're in a strange city with a strange man on a dark and stormy night, you kind of wonder whether that was the right thing to do. And what you are actually going to pay when and if you reach your destination. It helped that the driver worked a bit with the local information booth at the airport, called the hotel and had me speak with the desk clerk. But with my slight hearing loss and their accent, this kind of felt like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You just nevah know what you gonna ge-et.

Particularly when the taxi pulls over and this is the alley you're gonna walk down in the rain:

Well, the May de Ville Legend was off to the left. We walked right by by the door and had to back track, but it was indeed there. Whew! In no time at all I was checked in, and Jean Baptiste was relaxing on one of the twin beds, checking out the $23 per night room. It's tight quarters. You have to scoot a bed to get into the closet or refrigerator. But there's air conditioning, and a comfortable shower, and a little desk where I can write to you with this tiny little $180 Dell computer with the crappy keyboard and tiny type. Blame any typos on this machine, OK?

I probably was asleep by midnight. The next morning there was a free breakfast on the 10 floor, providing an opportunity to sample the local food. It was OK, and had some stuff I've never eaten before -- jellied coconut milk, for instance. When I started shooting photos, one of the staff gestured toward the roof, which turned out to give a grand view of the surroundings:

The rain had let up for a moment, giving me an opportunity to record some views. The photo immediately below serves as a reminder that France had colonized Vietnam. Note what appears to be a small pagoda atop a structure reflecting French Colonial architecture.

Check out how crowded this city is, but keep in mind this is the Old Quarter.

Here's a look at a street intersection below, with scooters being the dominant form of transport for individuals:

There's an outlet store for items made in Vietnam -- I guarantee that they beat Sports Authority's going out of business fire sale:

And here's a puzzler. Didn't anyone tell the Vietnamese that Saigon is now called Ho Chi Minh City? Maybe the name change didn't make it into the business sector:

The Hotel Viet proudly flies several flags, including Old Glory:

And solar power has arrived--with the sun beaming down most of the time, there's no shortage of hot water Note that mechanism at the right of the photo with all those long black tubes. I'm pretty sure that's what we're looking at.

This final from-the-roof shot gives an inkling of what it's like to work during monsoon season:

After napping off jet lag, and two intrusions by a maid who was surprised I was in my room blogging, I decided to go out on the street. The monsoon patiently waited until I had walked just far enough not to get lost in the confusing street network of the Old Quarter. But monsoons have only so much patience. The rain started. I dodged the deluge from awning to awning. Scooters navigated up the narrow passage ways. People sought shelter where they could, as the following photos attest:

I bought my Gucci rain hat, my sheer raincoat, and headed back to my room for a nap. Later I ventured out for dinner. This is what Old Quarter streets can look like at night:

Before returning to my room for the night, I checked out a local garment vendor,who held up a $23 North Face jacket made in Vietnam.

If there are any donors who want some outdoor gear, let me know before I return in September. I'll have plenty of room in my luggage and backpack when I offload the One World Futbols. You'll never see prices like this again--unless you'r coming to Asia.

Love,