Hanoi

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Hanoi



We had an uneventful trip to Hanoi, arriving in the early evening in the dark. It was a fairly fast drive into the city in the evening traffic. This all changed once we turned into the Old Quarter with its narrow lanes, barely wide enough for a car. It looked like we had arrived at one big street party with the street lined with bars complete with low stools, beer and people. A few shops were open. Our hotel and a few shops nearby stood out since they did not have an bar set up into front. Last time I was in Hanoi, the city shut down at 9-10 and there was no night life. Well, things have changed in that regard.



I walked around for a while after checking into the hotel. I was not really sure what type of area we were in. The surrounding streets were full on people, music and beer.



Our stop in Hanoi was planned as a bit of a rest after +2 weeks of heavy going touring Cambodia and Laos. We had no real plans for Hanoi other than to get some clothes made and shopping. Hence our first stop after breakfast was to a tailor. We walked.



Hanoi has taken the multi-use of sidewalks to an art form, even for SE Asia. I'd say all our walking in SE Asia to date was simply training for Hanoi. The streets are narrow, barely wide enough for a car and a motor bike to pass. Add in motor bikes, cyclos (like a rickshaw except with a bike at the back), people, peddlers and informal (to us anyways) cafes on the sidewalk and this is what our walk was like: leave the hotel with the doorman holding the door open, step out to the street past the cyclo drivers asking "cyclo?", walk across the sidewalk past the parked motor bikes, dodge motor bikes, get out of the way of the lady selling bananas from two baskets balanced on the pole, walk down the street, get out of the way of the taxi, stop while a motor bikes cuts in front of you and parks on the side walk, dodge the card seller. Wow, we made it to the corner (about 150 feet!). now to cross the road: watch the traffic and move slowly, waiting for cars, and taxis, watch out for that motor bike on the wrong side of the road, made it to the side walk. OMG we can walk on the side walk: can we walk through this little cafe selling god knows what, but people are eating it. Oh time to get back on the road, the side walk is now a motor cycle parking lot. Check map...looks like we are going the right way. The streets in the Old Quarter are well signed but lots of the small streets are not on the map. OMG its a big road. Look, there are traffic lights, we can wait for the walk light. MMmmm...does the walk light work? Who stops for the red lights? Cars and buses only? Maybe. Motor bikes never really stop especially if they are on the wrong side of the road. Hong Kong is a walk in the park compared to this noise and chaos.



But we never say a single accident of any sort in our travels: not one. Yes, miracles do happen.



Made it to the tailor, picked out fabric and ordered shirts and jacket. all to be done in 48 hours. And they were and were perfect with not alterations needed.



We took a cab back to the hotel!!!!



We had 3 days of low cloud with the odd bit of drizzle in Hanoi. we decided not to go Halong Bay given the weather and the fact it would be a 12 hour days. There was more than enough to keep us busy in Hanoi.



We had an interesting visit to the Temple of Learning. It is one of the oldest universities in the world, over 1000 years old (way older than Oxford). It is a beautiful site with lovely courtyards and temples. It was full of university students having their graduation pictures taken. The women were wearing au dai's, a very attractive long tunic and trouser combination, the men were in suits. It brightened up a cloudy, grey day.



We also visited the Hanoi Hilton, an old , French prison that housed American pilots captured during the Vietnamese War (also known as the American War by the Vietnamese). It was a pretty grim place, brooding grey concrete. According to the Vietnamese displays, the American had it pretty good. However, I'm sure that the reality did not necessarily conform to the holiday camp portrayed by the Vietnamese.



The Water Puppet Theatre was as noisy as I remembered it. It is worth seeing even though you won't understand a word of the dialog or the songs. The puppets are very colorful and they do a good job.

The scene where they are planting rice was my favorite, followed by the scenes with the fire breathing dragon and the water spouting dragons.



We took a cyclo tour through the Old Quarter. Amazingly, our driver spoke pretty good English (which is a major change). He was from a village outside of Hanoi and came to work in the city since there was no work in the village. This is the best way to see the Old Quarter. We were right in the middle of everything but not responsible for keeping ourselves alive and dodging cars, motor bikes and pedestrians. The cyclo is slow enough to take pictures and enjoy the street life. The Old Quarter has what they refer to as the 36 streets or areas specializing in a certain product: sliver, coffins, paper products (shopping bags), coffee, paint etc. It makes it easy to shop once you find the right street.



That was Hanoi: busy, people, a type of life totally foreign to North America, noise and amazing food. The hotel had the top rated restaurant in Hanoi. The food was amazing. We forced ourselves to eat at a different restaurant one night: it was a in a sister hotel to the one we stayed at. We walked back to the hotel after dinner.





My final thought when we walked in the door of our hotel on our last night was, "OMG, we made it back again!"

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