One foot in the first world, one foot in the third
Sean and I were in the Hanoi University of Foreign Studies library this afternoon when it started raining. Rain in Hanoi is real business. There's none of that sissy 'drizzle' that you guys in the States are used to. It's either pissing like a race horse or dry as Mormon country on Sunday. It's actually pretty humid even when its not raining - but anyway. We quickly trudged back to our dorm but we were blocked by ankle deep water with no easy way around. We read the writing on the wall and knew we were beat. We took our socks and shoes off to wade through the last 100 meters to our dorm. Mind you, this water is gross and warm, almost kiddy pool-esque. I was reminded of our first day of class, which was three weeks ago. It started raining heavily at about 5 in the morning. By the time we left for class at about 8:30 am the streets were flooded. We waded about two kilometers down Nguyen Trai Street to get to class that day. Can you imagine the look on the locals' faces? Here I am, two meters tall, 200 pounds, white as a sheet, with my pants held up around my thighs as I walk down a busy street in an area of Hanoi that sees very few Westerners.
This makes me wonder - what is Hanoi like during rainy season? Does it flood every day? Wouldn't that be one of the top priorities of a municipal and federal government - make sure your capital doesn't flood on rainy days?
Another anecdote. On one our first evenings here we visited a restaurant in the center of Hanoi, right across the street from Ho Hoan Kiem. The restaurant sits atop one of the largest buildings around the lake and it is called, appropriately, Cityview. The meal was typically Hanoian: nothing too special, although it was kind of expensive because of the location. At the close of our meal, as we were eating ice cream in the evening heat of Hanoi, the lights blinked out. At first it was the block we were on, then the whole city blinked off, block by block, until the whole grid was down. "Don't worry," said chi Ngan, our guide / friend / administrative assistant, "this happens all the time." Apparently, Hanoi derives all of its energy needs from one power plant. Occasionally, when that plant is overwhelmed, it shuts down for minutes or hours at a time. We were looking at a helpless metropolis of four million people without any power. We had stepped back in time 70, 80, 90 years in an instant. I felt as though we were in the middle of a WWII air raid in London. This must be what it felt like a couple of years back when the Eastern Seaboard had that catastrophic cascading power outage - except this happens all the time. Within 30 minutes the lights blinked back on and Hanoi rejoined the flow of global development. This is a country that is in serious negotiations for accession to the WTO and they can't keep the lights on in their own capital city for chrissakes?
These two anecdotes illustrate a larger point that I think I and many people are making about Vietnam and other developing nations. These states have one foot in the third world and one foot in the first world. The staggering poverty is shoved right in with the opulent wealth. People pedal and motorscoot alongside Mercedes CLEs and Hummers. Its one big mixed up opera with a thousand tragedies and two thousand comedies every day.
In Adventure Capitalist by Jim Rogers, Rogers describes his impressions of Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital city. He has just driven across the steppes of Central Asia and enters a city of neon lights and cold steel. Ullaanbaatar is one of the most high-tech, wired cities in the world. I think he said that there is more fiber optic cable per capita running through the veins of the city than any other city in the world. I guess Mongolia knew what to do with all the development aid that so many other countries and NGOs have been pissing away for the last few decades. It's a good book and a quick read.
This makes me wonder - what is Hanoi like during rainy season? Does it flood every day? Wouldn't that be one of the top priorities of a municipal and federal government - make sure your capital doesn't flood on rainy days?
Another anecdote. On one our first evenings here we visited a restaurant in the center of Hanoi, right across the street from Ho Hoan Kiem. The restaurant sits atop one of the largest buildings around the lake and it is called, appropriately, Cityview. The meal was typically Hanoian: nothing too special, although it was kind of expensive because of the location. At the close of our meal, as we were eating ice cream in the evening heat of Hanoi, the lights blinked out. At first it was the block we were on, then the whole city blinked off, block by block, until the whole grid was down. "Don't worry," said chi Ngan, our guide / friend / administrative assistant, "this happens all the time." Apparently, Hanoi derives all of its energy needs from one power plant. Occasionally, when that plant is overwhelmed, it shuts down for minutes or hours at a time. We were looking at a helpless metropolis of four million people without any power. We had stepped back in time 70, 80, 90 years in an instant. I felt as though we were in the middle of a WWII air raid in London. This must be what it felt like a couple of years back when the Eastern Seaboard had that catastrophic cascading power outage - except this happens all the time. Within 30 minutes the lights blinked back on and Hanoi rejoined the flow of global development. This is a country that is in serious negotiations for accession to the WTO and they can't keep the lights on in their own capital city for chrissakes?
These two anecdotes illustrate a larger point that I think I and many people are making about Vietnam and other developing nations. These states have one foot in the third world and one foot in the first world. The staggering poverty is shoved right in with the opulent wealth. People pedal and motorscoot alongside Mercedes CLEs and Hummers. Its one big mixed up opera with a thousand tragedies and two thousand comedies every day.
In Adventure Capitalist by Jim Rogers, Rogers describes his impressions of Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital city. He has just driven across the steppes of Central Asia and enters a city of neon lights and cold steel. Ullaanbaatar is one of the most high-tech, wired cities in the world. I think he said that there is more fiber optic cable per capita running through the veins of the city than any other city in the world. I guess Mongolia knew what to do with all the development aid that so many other countries and NGOs have been pissing away for the last few decades. It's a good book and a quick read.
posted by S D at 2:39 PM
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