Hanoi

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Hanoi, 14th - 16th May 2010

We had originally planned to use the border crossing in the north of Vietnam as it was the most direct route to Sapa, another small town even further north in Vietnam that a few people had recommended to us. However, our plans had now changed as we were running out of time and we had to give Sapa a miss and head straight to Hanoi instead. On arrival in Dien Bien Phu we decided we hadn’t had quite enough of buses just yet so why not book ourselves another 14 hour one to Hanoi for that very same evening. We located the bus station and Doddy went off to withdraw some Vietnamese money (Dong) so we could pay for the ticket. Meanwhile I became the locals ‘new toy’ as they dressed me up in a variety of different hats and took photos stood next to me. I guess they don’t see many westerners up here.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and stretching our legs before the next bus onslaught, we also found an internet cafe so I could Skype my brother and wish him a happy birthday. It was a very strange internet cafe full of teenage boys all furiously clicking the mouse whilst playing computer games. The afternoon soon passed and at 6 pm we found ourselves back on a bus, albeit a little more comfortable this time as it was a sleeper bus with the luxury of reclining seats. At about 8.30 pm we pulled into a service station and as dinner was included in our ticket we tucked into communal plates of food, giving the locals some entertainment as they watched us eat. Back on the bus we managed to get some sleep in between the almost constant beeping of horns. We had noticed that in Laos hardly anyone beeps their horn whereas in Vietnam it was completely different, everyone does!

At around 4.30 am we were lifted slightly from our slumber as quite a few people were getting off the bus, must be a popular stop we thought as we rolled over to try and get some more sleep only to be prodded by someone moments later shouting “Hanoi, Hanoi!” What? This was Hanoi? No, we weren’t supposed to be there for another 3.5 hours. A bit more asking around and a look out the window showed that yep, sure enough this was Hanoi! We gathered our things together and stepped off the bus where it was still dark outside, the air smelt of urine and there were at least 5 men around us all eagerly asking if we wanted a taxi. Welcome to Hanoi! We managed to push our way through the taxi men and ignore the crazy man who was obsessed with Doddy’s arm hair and eventually found a small street side cafe where we could sit on stools no more than a foot high, drink orange juice and try to formulate a plan.

Doddy writing now...

We sat for 10 minutes or so whilst being intensely watched by the people at the cafe and came up with the plan which consisted of bartering with taxi drivers to get a lift to the hostel area of Hanoi city. We asked the going rate and were told it was 100,000 Dong (£3.50), so we said we’d pay 50,000. No chance was the first reply, but after a bit of a search we found a driver who was willing to take us and off we set proud of our achievement (only to find out two days later that in fact it is only 30,000 Dong to the bus station, ah well!) As we crossed town we passed a busy local market with swarms of mopeds and bikes and with people busy buying their produce for the day, there must have easily been a couple of hundred people and it was only 5.30 am, we made the quick assumption that they must be early risers. Passing through more busy traffic and beeping horns we passed another unusual sighting, a man driving a moped with 4 dead whole pigs tied on the back, it seemed crackers, but in fact it was a mere insight into what was to come of the true achievements of oversized loads and variety of goods the Vietnamese could carry on the back of a moped.

We finally arrived in the old quarter of Hanoi, climbed out of the taxi and made our way to the nearest hostel in hope that it would be open and more so that we would be able to check in. Luckily Hanoi backpackers was both open and allowed us to check in so we went straight to our room, quite literally dumped our bags and climbed back into bed to enjoy a precious couple of hours of extra sleep, which were somewhat joyous to say the least.

We awoke four hours later at 10 am and feeling refreshed after a shower we headed to see some of Hanoi. First stop was breakfast where I enjoyed my first Vietnamese coffee (thicker and richer) whilst we sat on a balcony looking at the busy street below. Onwards we headed walking through the Old Quarter with its bustling streets before reaching the Hoan Kiem Lake, a beautiful lake set with trees and a path running all the way round and although surrounded by busy roads with hundreds beeping mopeds it looked a pleasant walk so we decided to walk the perimeter. Having strolled around taking in Hanoi park life we headed into the Old Quarter to see some street and market goings on. We must have stood for several minutes waiting to cross a road with the persistent carpet of beeping mopeds flying by with little to no opportunity of crossing, but having watched a couple of locals techniques we soon realised that in fact you don’t wait, instead you just set off walking across the road at any time and just maintain a consistent walking speed and the onslaught of mopeds and scooters just readjust their speed/direction and ride around you, with the statutory beep of the horn of course! So that was exactly what we did from then on and it worked a treat.

Back in the Old Quarter we wandered and watched the busy market and street goings on, with women in the traditional coned wicker hats carrying a pole on their shoulder with baskets of produce hanging at either end, men in the Vietnamese helmets playing a game that looked like chequers, sat in the squat you see many of the Asians resting in. We saw the market with a whole array of different types of food, some looking really tasty others I wouldn’t have touched with a barge pole. Furthermore, it was the first market I had been at where I had not only seen a person skinning frogs with such efficiency but also people driving their scooters down the different market aisles shopping literally from their scooter seats, amazing!

Bowks writing now...

On the way back from the market we stopped in at St Joseph’s Cathedral. It was a beautiful big white building with some lovely stained glass windows and it provided a welcome escape from all the hustle and bustle (and beeping) of the outside world. That evening we ate at an Italian restaurant and learnt some Vietnamese phrases from the friendly waitress who seemed happy to teach us.

On Sunday (16th) morning we decided to visit the Hoh Chi Minh mausoleum complex. The mausoleum was apparently built contrary to Minh’s last will to be cremated and since being constructed in 1975 it has been a massive holy tourist destination for the Vietnamese ever since. As the complex was only open until 11 am we decided to head there early, but not early enough it seemed as when we arrived we were greeted by huge queues stretching right round the building. To get there from our hostel we had decided to take the speedy route, taking two motor bike taxis through the city. It was crazy to be amongst all the traffic, hanging on for dear life at all times! After about 20 minutes of walking we found the back of the queue and began to doubt our chances of getting in, especially as the Vietnamese don’t have the greatest idea of queuing and there were people pushing in from all directions. One of the so called queue guards must have sensed our despair as he signalled for us to go to him and then escorted us further down the queue. From here the queue started moving more quickly although we took on a whole different approach, dropping our Britishness and walking with our elbows out and stopping people pushing straight in front. Our effort paid off as within an hour we were entering the building in one massive scrum. The queue had gone down to double file and was much more orderly but as soon as we got in the building it was each to your own again and people were pushing and shoving to get upstairs.

Once in the mausoleum it was down to double file again but anyone who took too long looking at Hoh Chi Minh was literally dragged by their arm round and out. It was then only at the exit that you were told by the guards to be quiet whereas the guards in the mausoleum itself were quite happy to let people chat as they filed through. All in all it was a very bizarre experience, but a good one, especially as we got to see such a great variety of people.

In need of some refreshment we went in search of bia hoi and found some for just 21p a glass. Bia hoi is Vietnamese draught beer and is some of the cheapest in the world. It is normally served at outdoor pavement cafes and the rule usually is that the smaller the plastic stall the cheaper beer. The place we found was a real local’s haunt and we did receive quite a number of stares (but all in a friendly way). Lunch was at another pavement cafe where we enjoyed pho bo, a traditional noodle soup. From there we decided to wander back to the Old Quarter, getting lost down lots of alleyways and perfecting our crossing the road technique!

Our plan for the next few days was to visit Halong Bay, we had already booked our boat trip but had heard they massively overcharge for drinks on the boat so as budget savvy travellers we decided to head to the local supermarket to stock up. And stock up we did, purchasing 8 1.5 litre bottles of water along with a few other supplies. After carting them back to the room we’d worked up quite the sweat so decided to open a bottle then and much to our disappointment the water tasted horrible, pretty similar to water that has a paracetamol dissolved in it! Great, we now had 12 litres of disgusting water. So before dinner we went back to the supermarket and purchased a packet of Tang, and orange flavoured powder that we could add to the water to turn it into cordial.

After dinner we decided to treat ourselves to some ice-cream fondue which was amazing. Fourteen different flavours of ice-cream served with fresh fruit and melted chocolate, mmm, I’m drooling just thinking about it.

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Photos

Welcome to Vietnam
The border control

Enjoying some pho bo
Noodle soup

Money saving!
Our bag packed ready for the Halong bay

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