A feast for the senses. Harmonious Hanoi.

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Wow! What a city!

The impact of this new culture has been incredible. Everywhere there is something to see. We went for a walk on the first day around the lake. I couldn't walk straight because I would see something new and walk towards it, get distracted with something else and walk in that direction. Dave had to walk behind me so that he wouldn't get bumped.

Hanoi is exciting, colourful, noisy, beautiful. We have now been here for eight days. We have roamed the streets; seen the sights; and experience some of the best food. Everything they say about the food is right on. We have not had any problems. We have tried the street food, restaurant food and even the puff balls from a lady who carries them in 2 baskets from a bamboo pole. The french influence shows in all the bakery items. The crepes are fantastic too for breakfast. The street stalls have the cheapest food and of course there are some expensive restaurants too. The highest we have paid for a meal with drinks is about 180,000 VN dong, which is about $16 aussie. The lowest price for lunch was $4 for both of us and this was from a street stall. We just sit down at the table (everything in miniature) and we are served whatever is on the go for the day.

We have seen attractions from the Water Puppet Theatre which was so different and well done to some of the battle forts. The body of Ho Chi Minh was away on a makeover holiday in Russia so nothing much to see at the Mausoleum. Visited the Ho Chi Minh Museum instead. We visited the Temple of Literature which was built to honour Confucius and to be a place of study. There are many small temples around the city which don't appear in the guide books but still have a special quality to them. We visited the Military History Museum today. Saw plenty of US souvenirs that Vietnam wanted as a symbol of their victory. There is more reference to the war with the French which ended in 1954 than there is with what we call the Vietnam War. They are both referred to as the 2 resistance wars with the French and the Americans.

The people here are very friendly and calm. They are mostly Buddhists and have a small shrine in every stall. They come out in the mornings, very early, and practice Tai Chi and traditional dances. People of all ages come here to exercise or meditate before they start their day. There are some in their 90's that sit on the bench and wave their arms about, anything to keep their blood flowing. What impressed me the most is the community of it. There were thousands around the main lake. Who can say how many there are every morning, everywhere else. We got up early and decided to walk around the lake with them...all in one direction...together. (we would have been bowled over if we decided to go against the flow). Something about the atmosphere touched me. It's hard to say why or what it was but the feeling of being part of something bigger struck a chord.

We have also had many people, mostly students, approach us just to learn a little more English. They are so keen to learn. One of these students we have hired to teach us the sounds and how to construct a sentence. It is a tonal language to learning the different sounds is the hardest. The rest is easy because we have the vocab dictionaries to help us.

Vietnam, apparently, is the largest supplier of coffee in the world (don't quote me, just heard it somewhere). The Vietnamese coffee is very strong. It has a sweet smell but a bitter aftertaste. It is served in a drip filter over the cup at the table. (pic attached). Believe it or not, there is a Gloria Jeans here and the cappucino tastes just like home. The price is about 4 times that of the local brew but I don't care. It's great to drink a coffee that we are familiar with. We meet our language tutor here each day.

We are heading out to Sa Pa tomorrow night. The train takes about 10 hours to make it up the mountains. We will stay there for 3 nights and then go off the beaten track and head west towards the border of Laos. We will brave the local buses and travel in a loop back to Hanoi. Then in another loop north to Ba Be National Park follow the road to the east and the coast, head south to Halong, scoot around there for a few days and then back to Hanoi again. Will try to catch up with emails and blogs as often as possible.

Hope you enjoy the pics

Love Lynne and David

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Photos

The colour and mystery of Vietnam
This is my favourite photo

These things are heavy.
View from our window.

The scooters park on the footpath
Leaves us to walk on the street