New Year's Weekend in Hanoi

Long weekends are not to be "wasted" in Hong Kong, and New Year's weekend was no exception.  Hanoi is an easy hop from here - the flight is less than two hours.   Our friends, Chloe and Eric, had a bad experience a while back when they visited Saigon.  Instead of proceeding to the official taxi line, they negotiated a fare with an "entrepreneur".  Their driver stopped about 15 minutes past the airport and demanded more money!  Eric told him they would sit there all day and would not give him a penny (dong) more, so the driver drove them back to the airport!  After hearing that story, Jeff and I always opt for the "legal" taxis with fixed fares.  The ride to the city takes at least an hour, so we had time to relax and gaze at the countryside.  It's always a shock to drive through flat land with low-rise buildings.  Hong Kong is so vertical that we forget that this is not the norm in the rest of Asia.

After checking into the Hanoi Hilton (the REAL Hilton, not the prison), we dressed warmly (11C) and, armed with our Frommer's walking tour, set out to explore the Old Quarter.  The first building we noticed on our walk was the Hanoi Stock Exchange!  Jeff commented that Uncle Ho must be turning over in his grave.  One more step towards modern capitalism.  About five minutes later, we arrived at Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi's answer to Montreal's Beaver Lake.  The lake is right in the centre of town, within easy walking distance from anywhere in the Old Quarter.  The water is calm and the setting is serene: there are large banyan trees shading benches for those who like to sit and rest.

There's an interesting pavilion in the middle of the lake.  It's called the Turtle Tower, and it commemorates the myth upon which the lake was founded.  Rumour has it that giant turtles still inhabit the lake, but we didn't notice any relatives of Lonesome George lurking about.

We spent the next few hours walking through the Old Quarter, admiring the colonial architecture.  Most of the buildings have seen better days - crumbling facades, lopsided balconies, peeling paint, signs of mould.  In spite of the poverty, there's a real beauty to the neighbourhood.  And, although it was cold outside, life still happens on the street.  Most of the sidewalks serve as parking lots for the motorbikes, so pedestrians have to walk on the roads, taking care to avoid bikes whizzing by.

Hanoi gives new meaning to "street food".  In the photo, the man is cleaning chickens right in the middle of the sidewalk.  Food is then cooked on burners that are also at street level, and "diners" sit on very low stools to eat.  We decided to play it safe and eat at Lonely Planet recommended restaurants only!

Lunch was a terrific introduction to the delicious Vietnamese cuisine.  We had Bun Bo, a very popular noodle soup.  Salty, sweet, spicy, and sour all mixed together, with lemongrass dominating the dish.  Fresh local ingredients only!

As we followed our walking route, we noticed many beautiful Chinese temples, clan houses, schools and residences.  Remnants of the wealthy Chinese silk merchants who lived there for centuries until their expulsion from Vietnam at the end of the 1970s.  In the entrance to one of the defunct temples, a beautician had set up her business - pedicures on the spot!

Much of the commerce in this developing city goes on as in centuries past.  Women on bicycles laden with food or clothing, peddling their wares door-to-door.  The iconic cone-shaped hats are worn by many of the pedlars.

Jeff says Manulife is doing very well in Vietnam!

The Catholic Church is not faring as well.  St. Joseph Cathedral was built in 1886, but it looks like a medieval ruin.  Amusing to note that our tourist map called it Joseph Church - no mention of "Saint"!

We splurged on pre-dinner drinks at the classy Sofitel Metropole Hotel (decked out in its Christmas finery) - straight out of a Somerset Maugham novel.  Classic French architecture, beautifully restored (will stay there when our ship comes in).  The bar is covered, but not enclosed, so blankets are provided on the sofas and chairs.  Then on to dinner at the Paris Deli, which serves both Western and Vietnamese cuisines.  We opted for Vietnamese (of course), and were rewarded with a very good meal.

The next morning, we went to an early performance of Hanoi's famous water puppets.  We bought the more expensive tickets, but didn't realize that there was absolutely zero leg room in the theatre.  I stayed in my mid-row seat, while Jeff opted for the aisle, behind another tall Western tourist.  Speaking of tourists, the rest of our row was filled with Aussies who were all dressed in shorts and flip flops, even though the temperatures were cold.  The woman next to me explained they were all from Perth where it's never cold, and none of them own any warm clothing!  Enough said.  The show was boring and repetitious, even though the puppets were quite beautiful.

Armed with our map and a severely out-of-date Lonely Planet guide (2008), we tried to find Fanny's, the well-known ice cream shop.  Many of the restaurants listed in the book are now defunct, and Fanny's had moved.  Luckily, we happened upon it by accident, and enjoyed a delicious mid-winter treat!  (At the end of our trip, we tossed LP in the bin, and vowed to buy a new one for our next trip to Vietnam)

Next on our agenda was the infamous Hoa Lo Prison, aka the Hanoi Hilton, where the Viet Cong housed, tortured, and interrogated American prisoners of war (mainly pilots who had been shot down).  Most of the prison was demolished in the 1990s, but the remaining gatehouse is now a museum.  According to the signs in the museum, the prisoners were treated to the "best living conditions", and they had a "stable life" during their detainment.  History as written by the victors.  John McCain's flight suit and parachute are prominently on display, as are photos of his capture.  We were rather sickened by the propaganda, but had to laugh when we beheld the Souvenir Shop!  No, they didn't sell items of torture, just the usual shlock souvenirs.

The prison visit didn't dull our appetite at all.  We had a fine lunch at Quan An Ngon, popular with tourists and locals.  Afterwards, we walked and walked, continuously admiring the architecture.   I especially liked the occasional ultra modern renovated house.

We spent the rest of the day at the spectacular Temple of Literature.  This Confucian temple was founded in 1070 (and reconstructed several times over the next thousand years) and was established as the country's first university, the Imperial Academy, six years later.  Each magnificent courtyard leads to the next - classic Chinese architectural design, much like the Forbidden City (but on a smaller scale).  In the third courtyard, there are 82 stele, engraved with the names and birthplaces of the 1307 graduates of the triennial royal exams.  The ancient Chinese engravings on each stele praise the merits of the emperor and cite the reason for holding royal exams.  The Imperial Academy was the largest educational centre in the country.

That night, we enjoyed the best dinner we've had so far in Vietnam at the Green Tangerine, an excellent French restaurant in a renovated colonial building.  Yes, Dale and Jeff will sometimes splurge!!



Our most fun day was waiting for us ...

Hanoi Cooking Centre.  Street Eats Tour!  Our guide was Hung, the chief chef of the Centre.  Hung told us that he had gone to cooking school for two years after high school.  He then worked on a cruise ship for a few years (a ship that ferried models from port to port for their fashion shoots - he prepared very low-cal meals!).  First stop - the local pho shop across the street.  Hung explained the art of slow-cooking pho, the noodle soup that most Vietnamese eat for breakfast.

On to the local market.  Have you ever seen such gorgeous round eggplants?  And did you know that eggs come in many varieties?  We've been to many markets on our travels, and each time we see something new.



Hung took us all over the city, and we ate EVERYTHING!

This woman makes rice crepes all day long.  Watching her was like watching a machine.  Pour the batter.  Smooth it on the grill.  Roll it off.  Flip it onto a plate.  Repeat.

Water bugs anyone?  Look at the happy expression on Hung's face!   Yup, we ate that, too, as well as boiled duck fetus eggs, which Hung claims have more calcium than milk.  For me, this was a one-time experience only - never to be repeated.

Enjoying lunch.  Enjoying Hung's company.

And finishing the eating experience with a cup of Vietnam's famous coffee (note - Starbucks is about to invade Vietnam!).

We asked Hung to recommend a restaurant for our dinner (New Year's Eve!).  What a bizarre experience.  Chim Sao (aka L'oiseau siffleur - yes, there were birdcages) is in a renovated house, like the Green Tangerine, but much more basic.  Local artists' paintings grace the walls.  We were first shown to a room upstairs.  It looked like a modern day version of an opium den.  People were sitting on the floor, eating off a kang table.  Jeff and I can't seem to manage sitting on the floor with our legs crossed (same problem in Japan), so we were shown to a table next to the front door (the only proper table that was empty).  Unfortunately, diners kept going in and out, and the majority of them left the door wide open, letting in the fresh 8C wind in! We fought a losing battle to stay warm.

The menu was extensive, and offered "different" choices (different is my father's term for something that isn't quite to his liking).  e.g. ethnic minorities sausage, salted pork ears, sauteed pumpkin buds, and boiled pigs' trotters with sour shrimp sauce!  Each dish cost the equivalent of $2 or $3CDN, so we decided to play "restaurant critic" and order enough for 6!  We got very strange looks from the wait staff.  The little pigeons in the photo on the right were too much work - not enough meat, too many little bones.  I'll stick with chicken!

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was 10:30, and we faced our annual dilemma - do we stay up until midnight to usher in the new year, or do we get a good night's sleep?  Well, we ate the adorable cupcakes on our bedside tables, and ushered in the new year the next morning!

We've started noticing how Tripadvisor awards and ratings have become a standard, comparable to Michelin stars.  The Ethnology Museum's Tripadvisor rating was prominently displayed next to the entrance.  We loved this museum.  No politics, just ethnic and cultural information.  On the grounds outside the main building, there were replicas of traditional villages.  Instead of noticing unique features, we kept thinking how much overlap there is between the minorities of southern China, northern Vietnam, and northern Thailand.  Makes you wonder once more about the reasoning behind political borders.

We hoped to spend the rest of our day wandering around the Citadel, a UNESCO World Heritage site, but unfortunately it is closed from 11:30-1:30 (crazy rules), so we went for a long walk, passing beautiful embassies located in large, renovated French colonial houses.  We passed a park with a large statue.  I guess we've been in Asia too long - we wondered who Le Nin was until we took a closer look and noticed the Slavic features!

Our last stop was the History Museum.  The historic exhibits weren't political (as in the Saigon history museum), and there were also many natural science displays.  Surprisingly good!  I couldn't resist adding a photo of the buck-toothed dogs on the grounds of the Museum.

We came home to Hong Kong laden with our purchases - a quilt from Mekong Quilts, a water puppet, and a bicycle made out of automotive chain link and many good memories!