Tour 2003 - musings on Hanoi

March 21, 2003

Dear Family and Friends,

With the possible exception of Yangon, Hanoi is the least westernized of all the Asian cities I have been in.  I have not seen any McDonalds, Pizza Hut, or Burger Kings.  The closest to Starbucks is Starbeans.  Apparently KFC does have a presence in Vietnam, although I have not encountered them.  I read that when KFC first came to Vietnam, in a leap of marketing brilliance that transcended common sense, they proposed an "Uncle Ho" burger, noting that Ho Chi Minh looked like the Colonel.  Officials coldly pointed out Ho was a General.  KFC sticks to chicken. 

Further introduction of western culture is not apt to happen soon either.  The Vietnamese have borrowed a page from the Parti Quebeqois.  Daily now, squads of police are wandering around the Old Quarter demanding the removal of any sign where English (or French) is more prominent than Vietnamese.  The locals display the usual derision reserved for such silly bureaucracy, and a crowd always gathers, people snigger, the police mostly try to look very serious and important.  Some shop owners are resigned, some angry, and yet others try to schmooze the police.  All the while a rant blasts out of loudspeakers.  It is all quite festive. 

Tour 2003 - Koh Chang Go Bang

Dear Friends,

I had a most interesting visit to Koh Chang (Elephant Island) that I thought I should tell you about.  Koh Chang is the second largest island in Thailand after Phuket and is located in the Gulf of Thailand very near the Cambodian border.  I left Bangkok at 9:00AM last Friday in a minibus headed to the ferry dock at Laem Gnop.  I caught the 5:00PM boat to the island.  I was actually heading for a place called Lonely Beach on Koh Chang but as it was getting dark when I arrived, I thought I would take a place close to the pier and then seek out an alternate place at Lonely Beach the next day.  Many Thais go to Koh Chang for the weekend so, knowing accommodation might be tight, I booked into Mac Bungalows, the first place I checked, and got the last bungalow they had.   I had a nice dinner in their restaurant, it was very newly decorated, and the food was quite good.  I was in bed by 11:00PM. 

At 2:45AM I was wakened by a goddamn mosquito biting me and was lying there semi-asleep when BOOM!  An immense explosion.  There was a scream almost simultaneously, and over the roar of the blast I could hear glass breaking, debris hitting my roof, and I was nearly tossed out of my bed.  It was a thunderous noise.