Hello, Jetlag...

Well, it’s 3 am, and I’m awake. Granted, I went to sleep early, but I think I’m going to have to resume my habit of popping a Benadryl before bed to help me sleep for the next week or so. But that’s okay.

We got moving really early yesterday morning, stopping along the way for breakfast. Western breakfast is very different from what people have here, but the beef noodle soup we had was still filling, so it did the job. It took a few hours for us to get to the commune we were to visit that day, and it was up in the mountains. The engine of the SUV was straining with the effort of having to haul eight adults up the steep slopes, but we managed to make it. We were going up and down in a slow-motion roller coaster, as we went from the valley floor up to the peaks and back down. We came back down and pulled aside next to the river. I saw a small boat that looked like an oversized canoe powered by an outboard motor slowly making its way across the river to take us back to the other side. When the boat pulled up to the shore, the woman operating it started bailing water out with a metal bowl as we climbed on board and tried not to tip. We slowly set off across the river, as she wrestled with the motor and the current, with water seeping in the sides of the boat.

Upon reaching the other side, we set off up a hill, and for the eight millionth time I wished that I’d brought more practical shoes – which I would have, had I any idea that we’d be walking around so much. After reaching the top of the hill, we climbed on another set of motorbikes and took off for the next dam we needed to see, also damaged by the typhoon. The commune was set into the mountainside, and as we raced up and down a muddy, slippery track along the edge, I tried not to look down too much. It was easy not to look down, though, as the scenery was, once again, stunning, with mist clinging to the mountains. It looked like something from a movie, with the forests hanging from the slopes, almost defying gravity. We reached the hill overlooking the dam, and walked down to inspect it. It looked much the same as the previous dam in terms of the structural problems, making me wonder why dams seem to be viewed as the solution when they don’t seem to hold up to the environmental challenges they’re designed to address. Since we were back down at the river, the mountains came up on either side, and the valley floor was filled with rice fields, laid out like steps all around us. I think they do this to enable them to farm on slopes, since they need to flood the rice fields and need a flat surface to do that.

We set off again to meet at the People’s Committee Building, which was built last year. Although the commune has no electricity, the building has fans, lights and a light switch. I suppose it’s easier to build for it now than to retrofit later, and the commune has small hydroelectric cells in the river which can power a few lightbulbs each, allowing some access to electricity. After an interesting discussion with members of the People’s Committee, we wrapped up our thoughts, and made our apologies for needing to leave. Zooming back over the hills to the river crossing, I was trying to make a point of taking in my surroundings. Even if I get to go back there for work, I know that I’m lucky to be able to see it at all, and I don’t want to forget that. One thing I noticed about the kids in the area, even if they don’t actually know English, and I wouldn’t expect that many of them do, they all seem to know the word “hello”, and when I wasn’t racing past them on the bike, I was greeted with cries of “Hello! Hello!” Apparently, C and TW had both taken spills off their bikes, which PM captured with his digital camera, but they were minor and more startling than anything else.

We crossed back to the other side of the river, and then had to head straight back to Hanoi, since EP had a meeting that afternoon. The district guy who had been accompanying us since yesterday didn’t come with us, as we weren’t going anywhere near Thanh Hoa, and presumably he needed to get back there. So we were back down to seven people in the SUV, fortunately. We stopped for lunch on our way back, again very tasty, and as we set off again, the food coma began to overtake most of us. The driver put on some music, presumably to keep himself awake, and as we curved up and down the mountains, I felt my eyelids becoming heavy. I never quite fell asleep, but the breathtaking scenery, combined with my semi-conscious state, gave the whole thing a dreamlike quality. The mist surrounding the mountains never seems to really dissipate, but as the rain began to fall, it thickened.

We finally descended back into the lowlands, and a few of us began to wake up a little more. After a few very near head-on collisions, I decided that it would be good for me to read a book. Although I’ve become quite sanguine about traffic here in general, these were very close calls, and I figured that it would be best if I wasn’t visibly flinching. I had noticed the driver’s CD collection earlier, and while I didn’t recognize most of it, I saw a few Celine Dion albums in there that I was hoping wouldn’t make it into the rotation. They hadn’t up to now, but apparently IB and TW are fans, so Celine was soon bellowing out of the speakers. Accompanied by both IB and TW. I was trying not to giggle, which was made easier by focusing on my book. The dulcet tones of “My Heart Will Go On” were cut off when we reached Hanoi, winding through the streets to deposit EP at his meeting. I’ve made some mental notes of streets to go back and visit, and it’s nice that my hotel is in the middle of the Old Quarter. There’s an Australian pub around the corner, according to my guide book, and there are tons of shops, restaurants, and that ice cream place from Ho Chi Minh City. I’ve got some ideas for places to explore this weekend, and I think that the next two days are going to continue to be all worky work. Hanoi is supposed to be a much safer city than Ho Chi Minh, and since I never really felt unsafe there, I’m taking that as a good sign about being here.

There’s lots more to write about Hanoi, but I’ll get to it later. It’s after 5 am now, and I might be able to think about getting up and starting my morning soon. I think the afternoon today is going to be a long one, but it’s all part of it. I have, after all, only been here for five days. Strange to think, since I didn’t leave Vietnam all that long ago, and everything still looks familiar.