Fortunate Son

Hanoi, Vietnam

 

So after Borneo I spent a few more days in Peninsular Malaysia before flying into Vietnam yesterday.  As for Malaysia, Melaka (Molocca/Melacca) is an interesting place, a former Dutch/Portuguese settlement on the straits (near Indonesia) with a large Baba-Nonya (old school straits Chinese mixed w/Malay/Indonesian) populace dating back to the Melacca Sultanate and before.  Not a lot to do there, but it's got character stemming from cool architecture.  Interestingly, if somewhat predictably, the chinese parts of Melaka are better preserved and more interesting in many ways than the stuff in the mainland, simply because 1. the communists didn't destroy it, and 2. being expats they cling a bit mmore to the old ways.  Also interesting, and not as predictable, is that giant, ferocious looking 6 foot long or longer monitor lizards patrol the riverbank in the middle of the city.

 

Not as interesting was Singapore, which essentially a string of offices and shopping malls with a few old colonial buildings sandwiched in between.  Singapore as we know is an Admonishocracy, where visitors and residents alike are frequently chided about their list of "dont's" such as gum chewing, peeing in public, and even worse, peeing in a public elevator.  Of course, the whole place was loaded with hookers openly plying their trade under no threat of caning (at least not without paying) so it's kind of paradoxical.

 

Yesterday I flew into Hanoi and don't have much an impression yet, other than that it seems nice enough.  Future visitors to Vietnam be forewarned, the importation of toys that contribute negative influences on children (Barbie?) is strictly prohibited by Vietnam customs.

Oh yeah, and I just edited the settings to try to minimize those spammy bitches. Let's see if work.