flight 217, ha noi to hcmcit was a bumpy flight, so i took pictures to keep from bursting into tears. i really need to look into hypno-therapy... any suggestions?
this past saturday marked the mid-point of my program - the ten of us left ha noi (bye bye grey skies, floods, and crazy traffic) and flew two hours south to ho chi minh city (hello sunshine, urban sprawl, and crazy accent!). how to describe the difference between ha noi and hcmc, or sai gon as it is more commonly known? it's like going to another country really. we're not just talking different consonant sounds ('z' and 'v' have now become 'y'; 'q' is 'w'; and 'n' is 'ng'!!) and a remarkably lax system of tones, both of which have had a very negative effect on my listening comprehension; we're talking centuries of two separate histories, very distinct cultural influences (chinese in the north, cham in the south), and more than one civil war. and if ha noi is the communist heart of the country, pumping uncle ho out through its concrete arteries, sai gon is responsible for nearly all the ecomonic circulation that keeps this country on its feet.
for you numbers people, here are some stats courtesy of wikipedia: greater ha noi has an area 356 square miles, a population of 3.4 million (as of 2007), and a population density of over 8,500 people per square mile. now, this is nothing to sneeze at - particularly the population density! (dallas, for example, is looking at just over 3,500 per square mile.) sai gon has an area of 809 square miles and a population of at least 7 million, so it's BIG, but fortunately, the density is not as bad here (for all you proud new yorkers out there, you'll be happy (or horrified) to know that you still take the prize with 27,000 people per square mile.)
for those of you who could care less about the numbers, a word on the food: sad to report that so far i'm totally unimpressed. not a damn thing worth reporting yet, except maybe the hue style soup i had for lunch today, which was spicy with thick noodles and slices of tender beef (great big bowl of it for just under a buck!), but that's a popular dish from the central region... really, i'm at a total loss here! it's so bad that i've agreed to go out for malaysian food tonight. what??
for you numbers people, here are some stats courtesy of wikipedia: greater ha noi has an area 356 square miles, a population of 3.4 million (as of 2007), and a population density of over 8,500 people per square mile. now, this is nothing to sneeze at - particularly the population density! (dallas, for example, is looking at just over 3,500 per square mile.) sai gon has an area of 809 square miles and a population of at least 7 million, so it's BIG, but fortunately, the density is not as bad here (for all you proud new yorkers out there, you'll be happy (or horrified) to know that you still take the prize with 27,000 people per square mile.)
for those of you who could care less about the numbers, a word on the food: sad to report that so far i'm totally unimpressed. not a damn thing worth reporting yet, except maybe the hue style soup i had for lunch today, which was spicy with thick noodles and slices of tender beef (great big bowl of it for just under a buck!), but that's a popular dish from the central region... really, i'm at a total loss here! it's so bad that i've agreed to go out for malaysian food tonight. what??
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