Hanoi

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Hanoi

We landed safely (7th August) on time and cleared the immigration check fine. Strangely we had to fill out this health questionnaire which asked us whether we had a cough, headache etc in the past 10 days or so - obviously rach and I answered no to all, but what was the point? what would they do if you said no and you were lying or if you answered yes, would they not allow you into the country?! Rachel and I felt relieved that we had already prebooked our hotel and airport transfer as there were more warnings at the airport about taxi and guesthouse scams in Hanoi. We met with our taxi driver who was carrying the exact print out that we had been sent via email by our guesthouse. Nothing however, prepared us for the way the Vietnamese drive!! In Thailand and Laos they just overtake one another and switch lanes, but in Vietnam they bib their horn continuously to warn that they're overtaking or to bib people out of their way. The entire 45 minute journey consisted of us driving close to people, bibbing and flashing until they either sped up or moved out of our way.

When we, finally and much relieved, reached our destination, we couldn't believe the noise of all of these hundreds of motorbikes bibbing each other. As we were staying in the Old Quarter it was quite overwhelming at first as we walked from our hotel to find a restaurant. The streets are very narrow and are filled with motorbikes and it is impossible to walk on the pavements as they're filled up by people sitting on little stools eating or by parked motorbikes (it is illegal to park on the street in the Old Quarter). We quickly found out that the only way to cross the road in Vietnam is to just keep walking and let them dodge you (one hopes) otherwise you'll be standing there for hours. We had a fairly decent meal for quite a reasonable price and then headed back. On our way back we noticed that there was a night market, unable to resist we had a look. Luckily I finally managed to find a pair of sunglasses that weren't encrusted with fake diamonds (fake ray ban aviators) and managed to barter them down to 40,000 vietnamese dong, about 1.50. Very pleased with ourselves we headed back to the hotel and decided to make the most of our cable tv and watched half of a film (which we have since seen the rest of when staying in Hue) and a film called 'Freedom Fighters' which was actually really good. Our guesthouse was really really nice in Hanoi, the best room that we had stayed in so far at that point, it was very clean, we had A/C, a fridge, satellite TV and a bathroom that was free of mildew! The staff at the guesthouse were really friendly and attentive, we even had breakfast for free which saved a few pennies.

The next day we booked our trip leaving the following day for Halong Bay and managed to get tickets for an evening performance of the water puppet show, which Hanoi is apparently infamous for. We spent the rest of the day seeing the Old Quarter, the French Quarter and took a couple of cabs to see the One Pillar Pagoda and Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. The mausoleum is only open in the morning so we just wanted to see the building and to get a feel for the place. Outside there are a few shops selling funeral wreaths so that people can lay them for Ho Chi Minh, whose body has been embalmed and available to view at the mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh is seen as a hero and his picture is all over Hanoi and Hue. He is the great unifier who overrun Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City, HCMC) and reunited South and North Vietnam. We're looking forward to going to HCMC to see whether he is pictured as much as he is in Hanoi, as Hanoi is the capital and was the capital of north Vietnam during his reign. Apparently, in the South HCMC is still referred to as Saigon by the Vietnamese. The French Quarter is beautiful and the streets are wider and more open making it a more pleasant experience to walk through. We also, after searching for a while, found the Opera house, now the National theatre, that was built during the french occupation. It was a beautiful building - very french - quite astounding it existed in the Vietnamese capital! We also saw St. Joseph's Cathedral which from the front looked very much like the Notre Dame in Paris. Apparently a version of the Notre Dame cathedral exists in HCMC.

In the evening we made our way to the water puppet theatre and whilst we were in the foyer waiting to be seated we bumped in Michael, the french Canadian who we had met on our journey to the Thai-Lao border. We had last bumped into him in Luang Prabang and joked that we would probably meet again. After catching up with him we went in and saw the show. The stage was a lot smaller than I had imagined. Basically it consisted of a pool of murky green water (so the audience can't see the poles) with a backdrop of a Vietnamese looking palace. The show started with the musicians, who sat at the side of the stage, performing Vietnamese folk songs on typical Vietnamese instruments. It was good to sample Vietnamese folk music and to actually see their instruments as a lot of the music we hear are Asian versions of western songs, or western songs played by Xylophones. The show consisted of several short songs that were performed live by the musicians and sung by two Vietnamese girls, in very high pitched voices. The puppets depicted different parts of Vietnamese life and folk tales such as sowing rice paddies, fishing, children playing and then stories surrounding the four sacred animals from Vietnamese folklore (dragon, tortoise, phoenix and unicorn). Mostly, I enjoyed hearing the music and wondering how they managed to orchestrate some of the puppetry. We were pleased that at the end they lifted the curtain at the back of the set and showed the puppeteers. I was told later by someone, for the life of me I cannot remember, that the puppeteers now wear waders as before they use to suffer from all sorts of infections as a result of being submerged in the water for long periods of time.

After the performance we made a beeline for some food at a vegetarian restaurant, Tamarind Cafe, that we had checked out earlier in the day. It was a bit more expensive that we would usually opt for but the food was really good and made a huge change from the usual vegetarian fayre. Rachel had a vegetable and tofu 'hotpot', nothing like what Betty makes in Coronation street, and I had a 'Malaysian quesadilla', consisting of vegetables, satay sauce, cheese within two spicy flat pancakes. It was interesting and quite tasty, but was a little bit bizarre. I also tried Papaya juice, definitely wouldn't go for the Papaya again, wasn't great, but I made myself drink it, felt like I was on one of those detox camps. Blurgh.

Satellite tv random film of the evening was the last 40 mins or so of Stardust - that was a really weird film. Very strange.

Although Hanoi gets a bad press because of the bussyness of the roads, especially in the Old Quarter, Rach and I quite liked it as it had a lot of character for a city, especially a capital city.

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