Open Jaw :: On The Town ::

with B.A
21JAN09

Luxury tourist boats on Halong Bay

Street vendors amidst the heavy pedestrian and motor traffic

The slightly less crowded traffic scene at night

Sleepless In Hanoi

Bikes, bikes and more bikes! Yikes! I have never seen so many motorcycles on the roads all at the same time. Welcome to Hanoi, where there are 4.5 million motorbikes in a population of 6 million.

I was in town to attend the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF). ATF is the largest annual travel trade conference for the region and each ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) country take turns hosting it. This is the first time Vietnam has hosted the event. Delegates were a little taken aback by some of the restrictions in place, however. Journalists were subjected to extra scrutiny and had their freedom of access to some websites on the conference’s Media Centre computers, despite clearly not being political journalists.

To generate more interest in the region, tourism ministers of the ASEAN countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - have decided to stop marketing the group as ASEAN and to use the more familiar term, “South-east Asia”. (Let’s face it, not many people you ask will know what ASEAN stands for.) The new “Visit South-east Asia” campaign will be launched by the middle of this year.

Back on the streets of Hanoi, amid the seemingly chaotic ruckus, I didn’t witness a single accident. There must be a system to the madness, I reckon. As for crossing the roads, that does require special skilll. For reprieve, I headed to the UNESCO world heritage site, Halong Bay. The Bay is as majestic as what I’ve seen in photos, although there was a different type of congestion in the form of boats. Many offer day trips of the area but there are several proffering luxury sailings topped with fine dining and very comfortable accommodations that range from one to two nights.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s ATF conference, themed “Heart of Green”, to be held in Brunei – which is referred to officially as the State of Brunei, Abode of Peace. If that is indeed the case, it will present quite a contrast to Hanoi, and I just love saying Bandar Seri Begawan over and over again.