Crossing the street in Hanoi is an extreme sport

Hanoi is a bustling capital city - population 4 million - and we're staying in the charming Old Quarter which is a tangle of winding streets, whizzing motorbikes, shops and restaurants. Not many places have air conditioning (thankfully our hotel room does) so when it's too hot to be inside (i.e. all the time) people spill out of the shops and homes onto the sidewalks where they eat, play cards, and sell their wares. People also park their bikes on every sidewalk so you end up spending a lot of time walking through the streets trying not get flattened by the constant stream of traffic. We read that the best way to cross the street is to walk out slowly, make eye contact with the drivers, keep moving, and have faith that they will go around you. So far so good.

On our first full day we walked to Hoan Kiem Lake in the middle of the Old Quarter and over the bridge to the Ngoc Son (Jade Mountain) Temple. We wanted to go to the Temple of Literature next but it looked pretty far on the map and we were already drenched with sweat so we gave in to one of the many pedi-cab drivers who was begging to take us to our next destination. The little seat-basket on the front of his bike was barely big enough for one of us, let alone two, but we crammed in there and off we went. I felt terrible because our driver was a frail looking past-middle aged man and pedaling the two of us around in this heat must have been brutal. Once, on an up hill grade he had to get off his bicycle seat and push us. Pretty mortifying. He didn’t speak much English but he was determined once he had us as customers to keep us as long as possible so he took us from the Temple of Literature to the Ho Chi Minh Museum (which was really interesting with very well done exhibits about his life and beliefs) and then led us past the Mausoleum where Ho’s embalmed body lies in a glass sarcophagus (which was closed on Sundays so we didn’t go in) and to the Presidential Palace and Stilt House where Ho lived at various times. Pointing out the buildings and saying their names tested the limits of our guide’s English, but he certainly made an effort.

The next day we began a two day trip to Halong Bay, about a 3 hour bus ride outside of Hanoi. There were about 15 people on the boat, plus the crew, and we all had our own cabins with bathrooms. All meals were included and for the two days and one night the total cost was $35 per person. Halong Bay itself, with its 3000 islands (like large grass-covered rocks plopped into the water) is very beautiful and we spent a good part of the afternoon on the upper deck of the junk enjoying the scenery and sunning. We stopped at a little beach for swimming and the water was so warm it was like bathwater. We also walked through one of the famous caves discovered deep inside one of the islands. The trouble started after dinner when both Garron and I were feeling a little unwell. We must have picked up something from one of the bottles of water we bought on the beach (they say Aquafina and are sealed but with all the fake designer merchandise I’m sure they can fake a bottle of water too) because we ate all the same food on the boat as everyone else and we were the only ones who got sick. And boy were we sick. The rest of the time on the boat was not pleasant and it’s a miracle we made it through the bumpy 3 hour bus ride home without puking all over our fellow passengers. We also had to cancel our trip to Sapa where we planned to do a 15 km trek through the hill country. The trip was leaving the night we got back from Halong Bay and our poor empty dehydrated bodies were in no condition to do it. Thankfully we’re getting better now. We’re taking it slow, sticking to simple foods and resting a lot in our comfortable air conditioned Hanoi hotel.

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Part of trip: Summer Travels 2006

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