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Published: January 10th 2010
Photo 1
Said divine tortoise emerging from the lakeSo, what do I know about Vietnam? Well, I know about the American/Vietnam War, that Saigon has been renamed Ho Chi Minh City and that the Vietnamese are small people who wear conical, pointy hats. What I didn't know is that Vietnam is clean and friendly, offers some great food and that it's capital city, Hanoi, worships a divine tortoise. But more on that later! I arrived in Hanoi from Kolkata... a flight I was more than happy to board, but the journey was notable only for one thing - my short layover in Bangkok. Having been to Bangkok airport before, I knew there was a Burger King here... and not just any Burger King, one which sold triple and, can you believe it,
quadruple burgers! Having enjoyed one of these feasts on my previous visit, and after months with very little beef or bacon, I opted for a bacon triple-cheeseburger and set about it with no little amount of fervour. To call it divine would be greatly underselling it. But it didn't last long enough for me to take any photos, sorry.
Arriving in Hanoi was exciting for three reasons - I was out of India, it was Christmas
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My first conical hat encounter Eve and I was meeting my mate Jez, who would be travelling with me through Vietnam. We met at the luggage carousel and checked into our hotel, then caught up over a sprite and coke in the room (I was feeling ill, my sickness from Darjeeling and the previous 6 weeks having made a comeback). Our first day in Hanoi, Christmas Day no less, was spent exploring the old town and the city's main sights. Hanoi is a friendly, walkable city, with a maze-like old town and French colonial buildings in abundance. A very different place to India, although you still had to have your wits about you to even think about walking down the street... thousands of mopeds buzz along and parked bikes hog what little pavement there is, so it retains something of the chaos of India's streets (but sadly without the cows). The old town also features some great street names... favourites included Hang Bac, Hang On, Hang Manh, Hang About and Hang Tough (ok, so I made the last few up...).
At the centre of Hanoi is Hoan Kiem Lake - home to the divine tortoise of the blog title. You may well laugh, but
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Inside the Temple of Literature in the 15th century, the lake was the home to a magical tortoise, who rose out of the murky waters to give a sword to General Le Loi, who used it to expell the Chinese from Thang Long (now Hanoi). Actual giant tortoises have been reorded in the lake, and one is on display in the Den Ngoc Son, or Jade Mountain Temple, which sits on a small island at the northern end of the lake. Just beside the temple entrance is the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, which is the most famous venue for the traditional Vietnamese art of water puppetry, so we booked ourselves some tickets for the evening, then headed off the Temple of Literature, a beautiful collection of buildings set around courtyards and small ponds, founded in 1070 in the honour of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Notably, it contains dozens of giant stone tortoise stele, lined up on either side of the complex like some silent (and humurous) honour guard. We found time in between the sightseeing to fit in a roast chicken Christmas lunch, washed down with some Hanoi beer. And as for the theatre... well, what a way to celebrate Christmas! For those who
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Me and Jez on our first (and only!) cyclo ride haven't experienced Vietnamese water puppetry (there can't be many of you!), it's like an aquatic Team America, with such bewildering scene titles as 'boy plays flute on buffalo'. What initially begins as a fairly simple matter of a wooden doll being pushed from side to side on a long pole by people hidden behind a screen, turns into something more complex, with some scenes featuring 6 or more puppets, fire-breathing dragons (yes, really!), tigers chasing birds up trees, mating phoenix and, wait for it... a golden divine tortoise!! Awesome. Christmas will never be the same again without it.
Sadly, Hanoi's other main attraction, the tomb of Ho Chi Minh, was closed when we visited, so we spent the rest of our time wandering round the shops and exploring the markets. We were then beset by a little drama, as Jez decided he missed his girlfriend too much to stay out for the whole two and a half weeks. So, after much deliberation and profuse apologies, he booked a flight home and left on the 27th. So, on my own again after a brief bit of company, I booked a trip out to Halong Bay, but not before visiting the
International SOS on a
xe om (motorbike taxi) and purchasing myself a concoction of drugs that I hoped would cure my ongoing illness for good. The only downside was that I was advised not to eat seafood or inbibe any alcohol... bummer!
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Planit104
Planit104
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Smithy - you take great photos and write a nice blog. Keep it up! Thanks!