Philippines, Wednesday, 24 September, 2008

How are you doing? Staying busy there? You have a nice place to live; a pool, a nicely furnished house, and all the good things in life that are there for the taking (living in the US). Sometimes, when I tire of the monotonous day-after-day routine here on the equator, I long for a winter and a spring time. Know what I mean? Here, the sun comes up quickly, at more or less the same time all year long, and goes down just as quickly each evening at more or less the same time all year long. I remember sitting with my parents in our house perched on the hills of West Seattle overlooking Lincoln Park, Alki, Puget Sound and the Olympic mountains, for hours and hours, while the sun took forever to set behind the mountains. At midnight there were still vestiges of the sunset. (Seattle is at 48 deg. N latitude. GSC is at 6 deg N.)

Then I get jolted back to reality when I think of the costs I encountered in the Seattle area on my visit in 2007 (when I came to see you). I remember noticing that practically nothing in the food supermarket was priced under $2.50. I expect that figure is close to $3.00 now. Then, I was paying $1.75 for unleaded regular for my Ford Focus. So, I guess that there is no free lunch, after all.

I’m planning a trip to Hanoi in April, after the Tet season, when the weather is closer to what I am used to. I love Vietnam, and miss it a lot after about a year. I was last there in June 2007, and it was so hot that I found myself practically alone on the streets during the day. At night the place was packed curb to curb with young Vietnamese, strolling around oblivious of traffic. I don’t remember it being that hot at that time of year when I was working on the highway in Thanh Hoa, and in Qui Nhon. It must be my age-reduced tolerance.

Hanoi is still a marvelously charming city – Sadly, I expect that will change somewhat for the worse as people, being more affluent, make the switch from motor bikes to small cars, then to larger cars. I watched that happen in Bangkok in the 1960-70s, and as you well know it took the Royal Thai Government 3-4 decades to get traffic under control in Bangkok.

I hope that the VN government gets really serious about preserving the charm of pre-war Hanoi. It will require a strong political will to pull it off. Something Draconian like the Singaporean law limiting motor vehicle registrations to a maximum number, not to be exceeded under any circumstances. You get on a waiting list to get a motor vehicle registration. The Vietnamese must avoid cutting down the trees in town, wrecking the charming old buildings left from the time of the French colonial period, and trashing the many lakes that dot the city. Those buildings are national treasures, like the Opera House in Hanoi.

If you want to know what I mean, take a look at present day Saigon. When I went there in 1962, there were no motor bikes. Just a few old Renault taxicabs, some antique Mercedes Benz cars (always black), and everyone else was on foot, or on bicycles. All the women wore ao-dais. No mini-skirts, or shorts. There is nothing more charming than a young VN woman pedaling her bicycle, ao-dai flowing in the breeze. One could hire pedaled cyclos, and there were a few motorized ones. The passenger sat up front, and was the first casualty in a collision. Old Saigon was the most charming place on earth – the Pearl of the Orient. Now – well, you might as well be in any jam-packed metropolis. (Another thing – in 1962 there were practically no Americans there, either.)

Well, I have rambled long enough. Hope you are doing well. Let me know, OK?

All the best, your friend

Mike