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Sunday, March 27
[.......]posted by pete at 22:13This blog is now closed. There exists an archive, should you happen to care.
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[Taipei wakes up]posted by pete at 13:41Well, long time no computer, excuse me while I reach into the recesses of my memory... but first things first, the "tweed" coat was a resounding success, the only issue being a faint petrochemical aroma, most probably cheap cleaning fluid, which will probably be eliminated after a trip to a real xenoestrogen-free Japanese dry cleaner.
I was sad to leave Hanoi. Must make a quick mention of the very beautiful Halong Bay with magnificent caves inside the rock formations and how I freaked out a guy from Fukuoka by speaking to him in his own language. Pippa and I spent the last morning at the terrific Press Club Cafe, which has amazing bircher muesli (made by a real Swiss!) and an impressive pastry selection. One of the managers told us he was sad we were leaving that day, because otherwise we could have attended their New Year's party.
We took a taxi to the airport... Pip flew to Singapore and I to Taiwan. We promised to meet in Reykjavik soon.
Taipei was reasonably wonderful. I listened to Supertramp and Beck on the bus into the city. The city is a sprawling urban assortment, not dissimilar to fair Tokyo but less busy. The traffic lights have trippy animated characters that run faster as the pedestrian crossing counter ticks down.
I don't know if I really "felt" the city, due mainly to my being hideously unprepared upon arrival. Basically I had little idea what I wanted to see (nor indeed what existed), and were it not for the world's coolest Subway Sandwich Artists I would have known nothing at all. I loved the people in Taipei actually.
But I had decided beforehand that my time in the city would be simply chilled, and it was. I read in Starbucks (of course I did), browsed one of the best bookstores I've ever visited (everything under the sun in uber-minimalism... at the bottom of the Taipei 101 building, currently the world's tallest skyscraper), avoided museums (I love them but just couldn't, despite the tempting lure of 6000-year-old Chinese relics), listened to Kraftwerk on the metro and found a groovy Harajuku-esque area where I bought a dark grey tshirt with angular splashes of green and pink. Generally speaking, the clothes in Taipei were great.
My hotel was very clean and very comfortable but the location left just the littlest bit to be desired. Nevermind, it was fine for two nights. I crashed in the room and watched Charlie's Angels and a truly engaging Hong Kong film but the satellite broadcast went dodgy at the end so I don't know what happened and I never will because I couldn't read the Chinese title.
I arrived at the airport ridiculously early, thanks to misinformation from hotel staff, and my airline wouldn't let me take an earlier flight for reasons of their own.
When I got back (on New Year's Eve) it was snowing in Tokyo.
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[Of coats and pagodas]posted by pete at 09:57Ok so I've found the most wonderful tweed coat (whether it's tweed or "tweed" I cannot say for certain, but honestly don't even care) with a crazy zigzag pattern in tones of beige/brown and a big collar. It is single breasted and lined.
Only US$23. Probably "tweed".
For an extra US$2 I am having it adjusted to fit, however not much in the way of tailoring skill went into this process. Basically the shop assistant just pointed and shouted "2cm here, 2cm here", so the whole thing really could turn into one big fiasco, but at least it won't be an expensive fiasco and unless they truly go to town on it, I doubt they'll render it completely unwearable (and I always have my own pair of scissors to cut loose with).
Yesterday we went to to Perfume Pagoda which was not, as I'd imagined, a picturesque timber structure perched on a hillside. Instead it was a dank geological formation in a large cave, which is not to say it wasn't strangely beautiful or interesting.
We had to hunch in tiny river boats for one hour in each direction, and I quelled the resulting headache with some sort of Panadol derivative.
Today we are going to Halong Bay. In many ways I'd rather just loll about in Hanoi's glorious cafes and restaurants, but it probably would be stupid to miss out on this well-publicised piece of Vietnam, especially since it really does seem that we'll never actually make it to see another well-known attraction, namely the Water Puppets, mainly because we could eat instead. (There! I've said it!)
Actually I'm very excited about everything. I'm just a big believer in the whole "you can't see it all" philosophy.
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[Oriental bizarre]posted by pete at 23:50It only occurred to me literally two minutes ago that yesterday's visit to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum was a somewhat morbid, if not macabre, Christmas activity. And touring the temple of literature hardly constituted a Christmas Day service. But such was Christmas in Hanoi, and ending the day at a sensational vegetarian restaurant before chilling out to live jazz at a different venue was just ace.
I am strolling around in perpetual exhaustion, and finding that I need to nap in the afternoon. One wonders whether the cough-suppressing tablets I've been taking are messing with my biorhythms, but there's something glamorous about a siesta in Hanoi, don't you think?
No luck with the tailoring so far, seems that the styles here are a little too far removed from Tokyo to be useful and I'm too scared to invest significant funds into a garment based on a paper sketch (guess who forgot to collect magazine pictures beforehand?).
We keep finding wonderful cafes, and today ordered plates of miniature patisserie to go with warm beverages. We returned to the vegetarian restaurant for lunch and a different one for dinner which was just hideous because they forgot our order and then served sub-standard fare.
Tomorrow we are off to the Perfume Pagoda, and the day after to Halong Bay. Indochina is just wonderful, might I just add.
I feel terribly sad about the tidal waves though. :(
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[Hello Hanoi]posted by pete at 20:05After a slightly arduous air journey involving a brightly decorated transit hotel in Taipei and a rather brusque air hostess who kept barking at me at the departure gate (where's my ticket? I don't have it because they took it at check in...) before apologising for a rather ill-defined mistake but not for a stress-filled 10 minutes, I have arrived in glorious Hanoi, which I love.
It's such a multicoloured ramshackle assortment of all things chaotic and wonderful. The people have a terrific sense of fun and humour, the buildings are just beautiful and dodging the motorcycles is invigorating.
One of the best things so far has been the hotel Christmas party (our hotel is in the old quarter... it's a huge room with a computer and everything!) at which the staff proceeded to get riotously intoxicated on red wine and a strange rice-filtered Thai concoction imbibed through bamboo straws. Then they brought out a number of long bamboo poles which they proceeded to rhythmically smash together at foot level and encouraged guests to dance among the virtual rabbit traps. All very fun and I met some wonderful people, almost all of whom seem to live in Japan, teaching English of course.
And then Pippa arrived. How splendid. We went out and about for a little while with some of the others from the Christmas party, retired at a sensible hour, and today strolled about and acted all colonial in a lakeside cafe. It must be said that Vietnamese coffee leaves a little to be desired. I still have a cold though, so my sense of taste is acting oddly.
More soon, I'd imagine.
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[Currency exchange]posted by pete at 16:21What kind of money does one take to Vietnam? US dollars? Yen? Or just rely on my international cash cards? Difficult.
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[Semi-adjacent countries]posted by pete at 10:52Christmas is in Hanoi this year, in case nobody told you. At least that's where Pippa and I will be. I am flitting off to Vietnam for a rather short break which will hopefully allow enough time to take in Halong Bay and a lot of coffee in the French Quarter. Generally excited although not sure what forms to bring money in, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
And then I'll be spending a couple of nights in Taipei, a city which I've heard generally good things about. Absolutely can't wait in fact, it's just a shame that I have a tendency to put off preparation which probably results in the slightly high blood pressure that I apparently have at the moment (and yes I skipped the gym this morning).
I am going to go crazy with tailored clothes in Vietnam. Main necessity is a winter coat, but the big question is should it be tweed or some other fabric? When it all comes down to it, as long as the lining is some out of control fabric I don't really care about anything much else at all.
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