Hanoi

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I arrived in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, late on the Sunday and boy what a contrast to Hong Kong. There are scooters everywhere, thousands and thousands of them, together with the constant sound of horns beeping. It initially seems quite an intimidating and overbearing place but once you adjust the sights and sounds it just becomes second nature. My first adventure was crossing the road. They don't stop here, not even for red lights. You literally have to just run the gauntlet and brave it. One tip once you start to cross the worst thing you can do is stop. The cars and bikes will avoid you but you have to keep moving. Once you have mastered this only then can you move around Hanoi. They cannot drive particularly fast so it is not as bad as it seems. The slate grey skies of Hong Kong seemed to have followed me as well but apparently Hanoi is famous for them.

The best way to move around Hanoi is on the scooter and you are constantly being asked whether you would like to take a 'motorbike' to where ever you want to go on the back of one. If you do, you need to be brave and close you eyes as they weave in and out of the traffic. It is quite exhilarating but also very scary. The older Vietnamese guys are alot nicer here and less likely to rip you off so when I have used them I always look for the older guys who speak little english but you just show them a 10,000 VD note and they either agree or ask for more. It cost about 30p to go 1 mile!

Again I was lucky and have a really nice hotel. I also have a Vietnamese facebook friend now, the receptionist from my hotel! She has been really helpful in telling me what to go and see etc. Think she was taken by my rosy cheeks haha!

My hotel is literally right on Hoan Kiem Lake which is pretty much central to everything in Hanoi. I spent my first afternoon taking a walk around here. It happened to be 'woman's day' which is the Vietnamese version of valentines day, so the western culture is even hitting these communist parts more and more. You can see from some of my photos there were alot of couples around. Located here on a small island is Ngoc Son Temple founded in the 14th century which inside contains the preserved remains' of a giant turtle said to have been captured in the lake. Turtles feature prominently in local lore here and seem to be following me around. There is also a really nice restaurant here which does some really nice Vietnamese food.

The next day I took a walk around what seemed to be like most of Hanoi and took some pictures, there are very limited road signs so it is easy to get lost even with a map. One thing you will notice is that everyone sits outside even people who work in the shops. They all huddle around sitting on little stools or crouching down chatting away which makes the pavements very cramped but it shows they are obviously very sociable people. They also love to drink 'bia hoi' which is the local 'beer' but brewed daily! Everything in the evening seems to shut down by 10 although the noise doesn't seem to!

The Old Quarter, near Hoan Kiem lake, has the original street layout and architecture of old Hanoi. At the beginning of the 20th century the city consisted of only about 36 streets, most of which are now part of the old quarter. Each street then had merchants and households specialized in a particular trade, such as silk traders, jewelery, etc. The street names nowadays still reflect these specializations and to an extent still follow this pattern. For example on one street I walked down every shop sold scooter helmets and the same helmets in each one, the demand is obviously there however.

In the evening I went to see the Thang Long water puppets. Water puppetry is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam. The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are normally hidden behind a screen, to control them. Thus the puppets appear to be moving over the water. When the rice fields would flood, the villagers would entertain each other using this form of puppet play. The theme of the skits is rural and has a strong reference to Vietnamese folklore. It is something you are unlikely to see anywhere else in the world so I'd recommend to go and see it.

One last thing, everything is super cheap here so you can live and eat like kings for next to nothing. I had booked a trip to Halong Bay the next day which meant getting up super early so an early night was in order.

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