Hanoi, Vietnam: 2006

---

I'm on my first vacation since coming overseas and I've decided to spend it in Vietnam. Being American, I've always been curious about this country...hell, I feel like I know exactly what it looks like - rice paddy fields flanked by overgrown palm trees, slow winding rivers and peasant with those cone-shaped hats. So you can imagine my surprise when I landed in Hanoi, a bustling city, teeming with motorbikes and people too busy to say hello to you, unless they're trying to sell you something.

I spent the first 24 hours checking out the tourist sights where I learned that the Viet people have struggled for autonomy for the past 1,000 years. Chinese dynasties ruled here for centuries, then the French came, then the Japanese. Since the end of the American War (as they call it), it has been the country's first true peace in history.

Ho Chi Minh's body is embalmed in the Great Mausoleum and I went through the whole creepy, communist regiment to get in and see him. It was kind of strange to see HO CHI MINH in front of me. Even dead, he seemed kind of imposing. But maybe that had more to do with the 20-meter hammer & sickle stone engraving behind his head.

Then I went on to see numerous temples, pagodas and buildings built by the Chinese like a zillion years ago. And around the French Quarter on a motorbike to see the french colonial buildings. Didn't the Vietnamese build anything in Vietnam other than Ho's Mausoleum? If they did, they didn't do it in Hanoi. But they DID paint. Boy, did they paint! Every building in town is that goulden's mustard-yellow color...like the star in the middle of their flag. It ain't ugly...but it ain't pretty either.

Other good stuff? Well, the food is delicously fresh and the girls are very pretty and stylish. This city is a shopper's paradise as well and it's organized by street - so you have Silk Street, Bra Street, Incense Street, Kitchen Appliance Street, etc. It's also refreshing that no one speaks english, in fact they don't even try, though I have a hunch that's a educational decision based on politics.

I will meet up with my friends, Deb and Dena from New York, and head by plane to Hoi An, in the middle of the country.

---

Photos

Hanoi
The traditional shoulder stick/basket is used to sell modern goods, while motorbikes whiz by.

Lunch - Create your own Omlette
You point to what you want in it and she pretends to listen. Then she adds what should be in it and it tastes great.

Yuk!
I didn't realize that it's been years since I've traveled alone. Suddenly I began to see couples everywhere. Alex...!!

Ho
Here's that yellow I was talking about. This isn't where Ho actually lived because he found it too ostentatious.

Inspiration for Dr. Suess?
Somebody verify for me that I have seen this creature before. This 11' statue guards the entrance to the 3rd level of achievement at the ancient university.

Comments

[guest]

buildings
HEY. Did someone tell you those buildings in Hanoi was built by the Chinese or you made assumption of it? Well, either way, you are deadly wrong. They were built by the Vietnamese ancestors, all by Vietnamese. QuÑc Tñ Giám, Hoàng Thành, Vn Mi¿u...those are ancient buildings of Vietnamese.

[egipsey]

response
hi guest, thanks for writing. i was not referring to the mustard buildings but to the pagoda and temple that i visited which were definitely built by the chinese. granted i only had a short time there so sadly did not get to see much.

[guest]

hi
yes, I was talking about the pagodas and temples. They were all built by Vietnamese. The architecture is somewhat similar to Chinese but it's not Chinese, and you may see Chinese characters upthere but it is because Vietnamese used to use Chinese character to write until they were introduced to the Roman Alphabet. Feeling that it takes only a few months to master writing using the Roman Alphabet while it takes year to memorize all characters, they adopted the Roman alphabet as the official writing.