i am in hanoi for three days to cover a microsoft-sponsored meeting for asia-pacific teachers. philippine star sent me here. since it is super difficult to find internet here, i could post only today.
we flew by pal from manila to saigon, aka, ho chi minh. no problem. the pal pilots are always good and the stewardesses are kind and gracious. but we had to wait for almost eight hours for our vietnam air lines connecting flight to hanoi.
what to do? the domestic airport in ho chi minh had no public pay phones. it had no internet. it had no karaoke. and so we walked, walked, walked around. then ate. then drank. then tried to sleep. then walked again...
i also reviewed for the spanish language exams i will take in up diliman this monday, one of the final requirements for my phd in english.
finally we left at almost eleven at night. to make amends, vietnam airlines dispatched a big airbus. so big that we filled only one-fourths of it. that, plus excellent food. kam an (sounds like come on, thank you, we said).
we are staying in sheraton hanoi, which is something like P7,000 per night. the three filipino teachers are very good -- two public high school teachers and one elementary school. they give a good name for our country. and being pinoys, we smiled and laughed through the conference, but our teachers gave great presentations. i am proud and happy for them.
and hanoi? like manila many 40 years ago. lots of bikes and motorcycles on the road. they almost run us over when we went out yesterday. they do not stop. they swerve, they go, they fly. we saw two accidents yesterday, one motorbike almost hitting our cab.
i saw the ho chi minh mausoleum but could not enter. the queue is miles long, and it is open only in the morning. i cannot skip this conference, not yet. when the teachers asked who is uncle ho, i said he was the vietnamese poet who became a revolutionary who became a president. he freed vietnam from the americans.
and it must be all for the better. for when you go around here, the local culture is strong. consumerism is just on the rise. and the people are proud. beneath that smile and cheer, there is pride, even fiercenes. remember, the chemicals and the bombs of the americans were nothing compared to the grit of the vietnamese people.
and now, the socialist republic of vietnam does not have many gleaming malls, but they have enough rice for their people, enough land and small houses for them, a patch of sky filled with hope.
i wish we could say the same about our country.
we flew by pal from manila to saigon, aka, ho chi minh. no problem. the pal pilots are always good and the stewardesses are kind and gracious. but we had to wait for almost eight hours for our vietnam air lines connecting flight to hanoi.
what to do? the domestic airport in ho chi minh had no public pay phones. it had no internet. it had no karaoke. and so we walked, walked, walked around. then ate. then drank. then tried to sleep. then walked again...
i also reviewed for the spanish language exams i will take in up diliman this monday, one of the final requirements for my phd in english.
finally we left at almost eleven at night. to make amends, vietnam airlines dispatched a big airbus. so big that we filled only one-fourths of it. that, plus excellent food. kam an (sounds like come on, thank you, we said).
we are staying in sheraton hanoi, which is something like P7,000 per night. the three filipino teachers are very good -- two public high school teachers and one elementary school. they give a good name for our country. and being pinoys, we smiled and laughed through the conference, but our teachers gave great presentations. i am proud and happy for them.
and hanoi? like manila many 40 years ago. lots of bikes and motorcycles on the road. they almost run us over when we went out yesterday. they do not stop. they swerve, they go, they fly. we saw two accidents yesterday, one motorbike almost hitting our cab.
i saw the ho chi minh mausoleum but could not enter. the queue is miles long, and it is open only in the morning. i cannot skip this conference, not yet. when the teachers asked who is uncle ho, i said he was the vietnamese poet who became a revolutionary who became a president. he freed vietnam from the americans.
and it must be all for the better. for when you go around here, the local culture is strong. consumerism is just on the rise. and the people are proud. beneath that smile and cheer, there is pride, even fiercenes. remember, the chemicals and the bombs of the americans were nothing compared to the grit of the vietnamese people.
and now, the socialist republic of vietnam does not have many gleaming malls, but they have enough rice for their people, enough land and small houses for them, a patch of sky filled with hope.
i wish we could say the same about our country.
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