let's be off: Hanoi 02/08

We arrived in Hanoi early in the morning, exhausted after waking at 4 am for our “budget” flight out of Singapore. We had no idea where our hotel was, forgot to exchange or take money out at the airport, but knew to take the $2 minibus into the Old Quarter so that is where we ended up in a sleepy daze. The minivan was packed and the man behind us sniffled and snorted the whole way and it was really, really gross. We had to pay with US money and were pleasantly surprised that we were given the correct change in Vietnamese dong. After reading travel guides, we were expecting to be ripped off and attacked by touts. Vietnam isn't as horrible as the guides make it out to be. Yes, there are some not too persistent touts, but they are few and far between. It is, however, true that prices are higher for tourists than for locals and even though everything is still super cheap, that part is pretty annoying.

Peter buys fruit amongst the chaos of motorbike traffic.

Old Quarter market street.

There are motorbikes everywhere. They drive super slow but
are constantly beeping. To cross the street you have to walk
very slowly so that oncoming bike traffic can swerve around you.

Our first day we took it easy and explored the Old Quarter. We ended up getting some local Bia Hoi, freshly brewed local beer, which costs about $0.25 a glass, and hung out drinking and people watching on a popular corner. We copied a local man buying soup from a lady. Everywhere in Hanoi there are women walking around with baskets ready to produce a tasty meal – soup, omelettes, fried meat on a stick, etc – they have their own tiny stools, utensils, cooking supplies, and ovens. The soup we got was full of noodles, green vegetables, and tiny snails which was both kind of gross and very tasty. Everyone here seems to be eating tiny snails. We noticed that when the locals paid for their soup the lady would hide the payment process behind her traditional Vietnamese so that we wouldn't see how much the soup actually cost. Ours was definitely more expensive.

Peter is happy with his Bia Hoi.

Grumpy local man with the soup lady.

Snail soup on a tiny stool. All streetside restaurants and cafes
have tiny chairs and stools.... its like eating in kindergarten.

Because we were lazy and didn't want to get out of bed early, we missed seeing Ho Chi Minh's preserved body. The mausoleum is open only in the mornings. But, we did explore most of the other sights. Hanoi seems quite small coming from Singapore and everything is within walking distance so we covered most of the central city in one day. Other than that, we ate a bunch of delicious food. One time I ordered some spring rolls from a street vendor and got the most delicious fried squid I have ever tasted. We also had cha ca and bun cha which I had never heard of before. Apparently, these are two traditional and very delicious Vietnamese dishes.

I love the graceful roofs on traditional Vietnamese architecture.

More graceful roofs.

A homeless person in front of the mausoleum.

Cha Ca at Cha Ca La Vong. Cha Ca is fish fried
tableside in greasy oil. You add it, along with
greens and peanuts to noodles. Cha Ca La Vong is
a famous Hanoi restaurant that only serves this one dish.

Bun Cha - different types of fried pork which you also add to
noodles along with greens and other unrecognizable vegetables.

Omelette lady.

Vietnamese coffee tastes like dark chocolate.

Two things really stood out for me about Hanoi. One is that although you can really see the communist presence in the city, you really don't feel it. There are oppressive looking monuments, dour officials, and red flags everywhere. But, the mood of the city is lively. The locals seem to spend a lot of time hanging out at restaurants eating, drinking and smoking. Also, although it may be a poor country, everything, from basic provisions to iphones, is readily available and the cost of living seems very low. The other is that the people are very loud and quite cheeky. They yell instead of talking. Also, one time when Peter was paying for some fruit he gave the woman a 10,000 dong bill instead of a 100,000 dong. She seemed to get upset, started yelling and ranting. But, then she smiled and went on her way. It seems that this is just their way and once you figure this out about the locals, they can be very fun to converse with.