Overseas Travel – Page 8

March 29, 2007August 24, 2022

All about Bia Hoi

Where are all these people going, quick quick?
Why they’re heading to Bia Hoi Corner, a part of the Old Quarter where three streets converge and there’s a bia hoi stand on each point.

*Just look for this sign and a buncha ppl drinking in front*

Now what is bia hoi? Well, it’s a locally produced brew that gets distributed daily to the various bia hoi stands in Hanoi. It’s a local tipple, costing the grand sum of 2000 dong (that’s 12 cents US). That’s right, 12 measly cents! Cinguliar charges that much to receive an SMS! You can find that much in your car underneath the seats. You can find that on the street back home (cuz 12 cents dun buy much). But in Hanoi, it can purchase one cuppa bia hoi!

*Well, technically this is 1.5 cuppas but we’ll ignore that*

So how does one try? You approach, grab a chair to sit on and motion for “one”. Whoever’s on duty will pour you one and charge you. If you sit for a while and fit in, you can easily run up a tab of 10,000 dong! 5 beers at 2000 dong each. Break the bank can! It seemed on my visit (twice in one day) that bia hoi stands are the centerpoint of the neighbourhood.

*To get a feel of the place, you gotta drink here, not just snap! In his defence, I think he did…*

Besides seeing more close calls that any other intersection in Hanoi (maybe they’re thirsty and thinking about getting a drink?), there’s street theatre. 7 times I was approached to buy overpriced bootleg Lonely Planet guides. Twice, I was approached to purchase some fried donuts.

And once, the Hawker Control unit (AKA shakedown squad) came by and made a LOT of people scatter.

You eat more vegatables, more veggies now! OK, not say lah…

The man who owned the stand I was drinking at motioned me to move my bike from in front to the sidewalk across the way. Good customer service! Try finding that in San Francisco where some places seem in cahoots with the parking nazis! In the end, I spent a total of 5 hours that day at the bia hoi stand. The first 3 hours, I stumbled upon it and enjoyed. Then a few hours later, I wound up there AGAIN with a couple of blokes from the hostel. How much did I spend? 26000 dong. That’s a buck sixty four! What a deal!

*That’s a bloke from Oregon, me, and the big boss of the bia hoi stand*

March 26, 2007August 24, 2022

Joyful Anarchy with Motorbikes

Wealth = mobility and Hanoians luurve their motorbikes! For the last two days in Hanoi, I was one of them. For the sum of US$10/day, I hired a Honda 125cc bike (helmet and gas not included) and puttered around much of the city.

*It’s small but sturdy, 125ccs of vroom vroom*

I decided to take the splurge after a day of walking around the old quarter and wanting to see more. Also I was not a big fan of walking or trying to ride the bus. First reaction of most of my frens was “are you insane?” Here’s a short clip of Hanoi traffic and how to ride in it.

Replace 7/8 of the bikes in the video with urban assault vehicles and reduce the driver skill level by 9/10ths and you’re in San Francisco! Goods get transported on them. Families go out on them. People eat on them. Mobility, yeay! (take THAT Muni!)

*You can carry stuff like a 55 gallon oil drum*

*Or even the day’s bia hoi (beer) delivery!*

And as for crossing the street, what worry? Just pick an opening, make eye contact and walk at a constant speed. We will see you and ride around you. Don’t make any sudden changes in your path, OTW you may be hit…

*crossing the road for yet another bia hoi…*

March 25, 2007August 23, 2022

Peace Dividend

On the grounds of the Army Museum in Hanoi is the usual collection of war booty, equipment and exhibits. There’s also a coffee shop that serves light meals and all sorts of coffee. It’s very popular with young Hanoians, more popular than this museum memorializing “the American war”.

So there’s a gaggle of girls having green tea smoothies with their motorbikes parked nearby in the shadow of a MIG-21. That’s the peace dividend.

Coffee and chatting behing the Mig-21 Fishbed

March 22, 2007August 23, 2022

First Meal in Hanoi. Lunch!

Hey y’all! I’m having pho for a late lunch.

Here’s the pho:

It wasn’t too bad. The broth was a bit more “beefy” than what I’m used to. Not as “zingy”. The noodles were the flat vermicelli type. The beef was well done compared to the self cooking rare beef strips that come with the steaming hot broth. Not bad for a first meal.

December 26, 2006

I got crabs in Hong Kong!

Thanks to two friends, I got to try Shanghai Hairy Crabs for the first time. Homemade no less! So, yes, this was my first time sucking (out the meat) and licking (the gold out of) hairy crabs. You may stop laughing now…I’m talking about food here!
Shanghai hairy crabs (technically the Chinese mitten crab) are a delicacy during the autumn months. When I was in Hong Kong in November, that happened to be toward the end of the season and when I was asked if I’d like to have hairy crab for dinner at a fren’s house, I said, “you betcha!”

Food porn. Bound. Restrained. Steamy. I’m stopping now.
Now, mind you, prior to this, I’ve never had hairy crabs before. I was told there’d be a lot of licking and sucking involved. And they were right! There’s a ritual in cracking open one of these hairy buggers. First, you twist off the legs and use your chopstick to poke the meat through, like typical crab legs. Then you take the crab body, flip open the nose (like a coke can tab), peel the shell off and lick and suck your way through. If you’re good at dismembering your hairy crab, the shell should come off in one piece, forming a bowl. The gold part (the roe) lining the inside is especially decadent. I think I fulfilled my cholesterol quota for the rest of the year devouring that golden stuff. Don’t eat the intestines, lungs or brains cuz it’s bad.

If you do it right, this is how it winds up looking like.
And it was so good, I had another! That’s right, I had two at once! So that would be like a threesome! WAHAHAHAH!
That’s enough innuendo for the year. But wait, the year begins anew next week! Talk about planning!

December 20, 2006

More from the “missing Hong Kong” series

When you make it here and you wind up on the Tram, make sure to go upstairs and sit at the very front of the car. You get to see views like this.

Somewhere in Wan Chai…

So fast fast

December 18, 2006

Xmas on Orchard Road

Orchard Road in Singapore gets all blinky and bright during the Christmas season.

Lots o’ lights here!

People always in a hurry…

You can make a tree lidat with cocktail glasses, vodka and some food colouring!
It’s one of the few places I’ve been recently where they still say “Merry Christmas”. However, snowmen and trees in 30+ degree weather is, for me, odd. That’s 30 degrees CELSIUS!
Then I think of Australians and their Xmas summer…

December 2, 2006

back in SF

Mucking about in Asia is nice, but it’s always a pleasure to sleep in your own bed…

December 1, 2006

Memories of an icon

On 1 December, between my flights arriving from Taipei and going out to San Francisco, I paid the old Star Ferry Central Piers a final visit. They’re being demolished to make way for reclaimed land. Their replacement, the new Central Piers are a good 300 meters and 15 minutes away (I timed it!). They shouldn’t even call it “Central” as the out of the way location of the piers will deter many regular commuters from riding the Star Ferry. For the longest time, the Star Ferry was the only way across the harbour. I’ll bet that most of the people in Hong Kong have ridden the Star Ferry and more than a few have a story or two about it.

Remembering an old friend…

Continue reading “Memories of an icon”

November 30, 2006

Delayed in TPE

This has been a hard travel day so far.
Of course, this day will involve close to 20 hours of flying/flying related time and involves time travel (arriving earlier than I left on the same day!), that makes it even more difficult.
So here is how the first leg of this latest “Longest Day” began:
First off, I had to cross the street to catch the “express basi” that goes to Taipei Taoyuan Airport (the airport formerly known as CKS). Dun sound too bad, right? Wrong! Signage is scarce, but after 20 minutes of stress and searching, I find the exit from the Taipei Railway Station MRT that brings me to the basi terminal (it’s exit 9 out of the mall, in case any of you were wondering). Take the lift to the surface before you hit exit 9 because it’s all stairs.
And then I promptly pass out on the basi, waking up in time when we arrive at Terminal 1. Check in, passport control and duty free shopping pass as usual. Then I walk onto the plane and take my seat. Routine flight, right?
WRONG AGAIN. Our departure time comes and goes while we have the flight crew AND the ground staff running up and down the aisles with clickers, noting seats and clicking away. It seems that we have a missing passenger who checked bags.

You may now begin paranoid thoughts about bad guys and explosions.
The CX crew does a head count again. One missing. They identify the missing passenger and pull its bags off the plane. Sure enough the moment they finish that, the cow shows up, claiming that she got “lost” on her way to the gate.
Now a clarification on my use of the word “cow” in the last sentence. Imagine a taai-taai gone bad. Very bad. In both taste and in weight. Well, that’s how our errant passenger looked like. And as she hustled on the plane, escorted by three CX staff, the amount of dirty looks she got from the now-delayed passengers who were staring daggers would have seriously wounded her. I think the CX staff were there to protect her; if she strolled in by herself, she would have been beaten up by most of the plane.
We finally go wheels up enroute to HKG 1.5 hours late. In other words, we leave TPE when we were supposed to be landing in HKG. I’ve got stuff to do on my layover and losing close to two hours ain’t gonna help!