Hanoi
Hanoi is a beautiful town where old world culture and history and architecture abound and the air is forever filled with the hum and rumblings of the billions of motorbikes — two per every resident, regardless of age, or so it seems. We met up again with Laura, who teaches English in this Northern capital, at the infamous Bia Hoi corner where the tap flows with the world’s cheapest beer at 17 cents a glass and patrons sit on short stools on the sidewalks and spill into the gutters. A few drinks later and after a stopover at Mao’s Red Lounge, we headed to an after hours haunt with it’s characteristic ABM (Asian Blaring Music). For all the tonal differences, variances and nuances in many Southeast Asian languages there isn’t one for tone-the-hell-down! Not just in bars or clubs but anywhere and everywhere there is music playing, a turned on television, a person on a cell, the decibel level is off the charts. And these are cultures that don’t subscribe to raising your voice in speech. Em Oi !!
That’s how you get someone’s immediate attention through the madness. Em Oi is genius. And proved a more effective means of communication — better than the customary arm grabbing that was so off-putting.
By Day:
By Night:
