Monday, November 3, 2008

Flood Videos: Day 1

On Friday morning I went out at 7:30AM for my usual pho breakfast. As I turned the corner though I noticed something -- the street was flooded. My little alley must be slightly elevated because it was completely dry versus the neighboring street which had about a foot of water. I looked at a girl who happened to turn the corner at the same moment as me and raised my eyebrows to say, "Whoah." She gave me an equally surprised look. I turned around and walked to my second breakfast spot in the opposite direction. When I got the restaurant choice B I was equally surprised to see that only three people were on the street. Why is this so surprising? Well, my second restaurant spot is in the middle of a lake-side market which generally has at least a hundred people buying and selling food. Luckily one of the three people there was my breakfast lady who served me a delicious hot breakfast.

A couple hours later I went back outside and noticed that my street was now flooded. Only about a thirty foot section of my street was still dry -- luckily my house was smack in the middle of that section.

Anyway, my camera has officially dried and is being recognized again by my computer. I put together this little two minute video of the first day of the flood:

6 comments:

Baby Songer said...

great video, hopefully your parents werent there when it all went down. I'm having a hard time sequencing the events with all the back and forth posting. Where's my flux capacitor?

Neal said...

How are things now? Has the flood shut down the tourist sites? I'll be there 11/7

Benjamin said...

Things are basically back to normal, Neal. You'll be able to see everything except HCM's body which is away for repairs this month.

Neal said...

Thank you so much for the update. I hope conditions continue to improve...quickly.

dimittis said...

how bout things around Hanoi? Will it be possible to visit places like Van Phuc, Ha Long and Sapa?

which part of Hanoi to stay which is not that seriously flooded?

Thanks for the review! its good to have some insider news.

Benjamin said...

Dimittis,

You shouldn't have any problems going wherever you want. My cousin is visiting at the moment and just got back from Sapa and is headed to Halong Bay tomorrow. I have a feeling a place like Mai Chau is really flooded since it's in the valley between mountains. To be honest though, I don't know about Van Phuc.

As far as where to stay -- I'd go with the Old Quarter. It's totally dry and generally where most of the action is.