here, there, everywhere

One last day of frantic errand-running in Hanoi before I take the night train to Sapa and the northern mountains, where I'll be for at least a few days, maybe more. I'm still a bit exhausted from the last stretch of the CELTA course and then a fairly busy-but-fun weekend. On Saturday I went to the Perfume Pagoda, along with everybody else in Vietnam. I was warned it might be a bit crowded after the lunar new year, but had no idea how crowded that would actually be. In the two hours we were given to explore, it took me one about forty five minutes just to get to the base of these stairs from the cable car point, all the while sandwiched in to a massive, slowly-moving sea of fruit-and-fake-flower-bearing families, and then it was so crowded that I didn't have time to really explore the equally packed cave. It was a bit like being on the 6 train leaving work at rush hour, except everyone seemed to be in a good mood, and people were smiling and laughing as they pushed past you.

I don't think I've ever been in a crowd quite like that, and so it was a cool experience, though I think I'll have to go back to the Pagoda this summer when it'll be less crowded and I can actually see some pagodas.

Leaving the crowds; we got to and from the Pagoda via a deceptively small metal boat, in which the rowers managed to cram all sixteen or so people from our bus.

Anyway, I need to make some travel plans, see if I can get some visas for Laos and Cambodia, find a place in Hanoi where I can buy a new nose ring, figure out how to send mail home and clear out of my hotel room, among other things; there seems to be internet access in Sapa, but possibly not as much beyond there, so I will try and post more from the road as soon as I can.