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Published: March 12th 2011
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Hanoi is an experience.
It’s almost indescribable. The last couple of days have been spent solely at the hotel, so I haven’t had the chance to really experience the city. But all of that changed this afternoon.
We headed out for lunch at the Green Tangerine – to get there, we took a very short coach ride (truly we could have walked if it wasn’t so darn treacherous), and then walked a bit to get to the restaurant.
Walking in Hanoi is an adventure, one I’d had a bit of a warning about. The driving here is what our guide calls “controlled chaos.” There’s really no such thing as right of way. It’s more like, just go and people will get out of your way. They alert you to coming up behind you by beeping their horns - everyone does it.
Apparently, that’s true for walking too. Our guide said that when you cross the street, you just have to do it. Of course, you look both ways first, but don’t be too hesitant.
But with all this craziness, there are very few accidents here. And we got around very quickly despite the amazing amount of
cars, scooters, bikes and people everywhere.
Oh, and that’s the other thing – the sidewalks are really for parking your scooter and socializing, not for walking. Our guide said that the Vietnamese are a very social people – and if you just drive along the streets, you can absolutely see that.
People do pretty much everything outside – eat, cook, sell, shop, even work. It seems everyone is either crouched on the ground, or sitting on a small stool, talking to their neighbors. Our guide later told us that people don't even drink tea at home unless they have friends over - tea drinking is a social event too.
Interestingly though, some of our lawyers last night were describing the feeling here as “cold.” It’s not that the Vietnamese aren’t a nice people, it’s just that unlike in Thailand (the land of smiles), they’re very distrustful of everyone (including each other). So they seem less warm and welcoming at first glance.
At any rate, lunch was in a lovely little Vietnamese place, with French influences. There is an open air courtyard as you enter, with a small winding staircase. We went inside the restaurant and up
well-worn dark stairs to the second floor, where we enjoyed our meal.
I’m definitely having trouble finding food I like and eat here in Hanoi – I’m so picky, unfortunately! We started with an amuse bouche that seemed to be a savory type of profiterole – it was quite good, though I’m still not sure what was in it.
The first course was then a type of yogurt in a pastry, along with some kind of root. I had a little of it, but the cold yogurt was a bit overpowering for the other flavors and it didn’t seem to do much for anyone else at my table either.
For the main course, we had a choice. I went with the pork, which was done in a roll with spinach. There was also a mixed vegetable kind of lasagna almost, and a cracker in the form of a basket. I actually liked the vegetables and the cracker basket the best!
Dessert was a small crème brulee and raspberry frozen yogurt. Crème brulee is not high on my list, but the raspberry yogurt was delicious and refreshing.
After lunch, we headed to the water puppet theater.
We’d been told that this is a must-see here in Hanoi, so we were looking forward to it. There had been a bit of a hiccup with the events planners changing the time of the show without letting me know, but we made a quick change to have an earlier show, which worked out well.
My reaction to the show is that it’s very interesting, and you probably should see it once if you’re in Hanoi…but only once. I won’t tell you more so that you’ll still go to see it if you’re ever here!
Afterwards, we hopped back on the coach and headed to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It’s apparently similar to Lenin’s tomb in Moscow, but it’s not open in the afternoon so we weren’t able to go inside (fine by me!).
Instead, we walked around the grounds which were quite peaceful. We saw a number of Vietnamese people getting some exercise in front of the mausoleum, along with the usual horde of tourists, and guards everywhere.
After about 45 minutes, we hopped back on the coach and toured around some of the city a little, including the temple of literature. I would
have loved to get out and take some photos there, but with our limited time frame, it wasn’t possible. Instead, we went to Hoa Lo prison – also known as the Hanoi Hilton by the American POWs who were kept there during the war.
It was a grim place, with torture devices on display and photos and clothes from the political prisoners and the POWs. We saw John McCain’s flight suit and a photo of the soldiers pulling him from the water when he was captured. We saw tiny, tiny cells where they kept 20 female prisoners at the same time. And with the dark, gloomy weather today, it was a fitting mood for this place.
This afternoon, we also learned that there had been an 8.9 earthquake in Japan, which we’ve subsequently learned had quite serious results and may lead to devastating tsunamis. Prayers go out to the Japanese people and to anyone who may be affected. Fortunately, our Japanese lawyer was able to be in touch with his family by email and found out that they were okay.
Tonight, we are off to Wild Lotus restaurant, which is supposed to be quite good. Although I’m
sure it will be enjoyable, I’m most looking forward to the end of dinner – because this jet lag has really caught up to me now. I went for a run early the last two mornings, but tomorrow is definitely a sleep in until absolutely necessary kind of day!
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