Monday, September 20, 2010
Last I wrote I was on the plane to Hong Kong. I ended up having about 45 minutes to relax in the lounge before boarding the flight to Hanoi which ended up being delayed a half an hour. To my surprise, there was a proper business class on the plane, two rows, eight seats, but it was much better than BA business in Europe. Chose the beef for dinner since I knew I wouldn’t be getting into Hanoi until late and chatted with the man sitting next to me who is from the UK but works as a lawyer in Hong Kong.
After clearing passport control and retrieving my bag, I walked outside where a man was standing holding a sign with my name. I said hello and he told me to wait, and once I got some cash he pawned me off on some other driver. Not quite sure how it works here. Once we got close to the city the traffic was horrible, almost as bad as Beijing but narrower streets and tons of motorbikes. The honking was out of control and I was in a river of motorbikes as they squeezed around the sides of the taxi. The driver let me out on the side of the road and showed me the street to walk to the hostel. Made me a little nervous but a few minutes down the road I found the hostel. More confusion as a Western guy told me check in was across the street; I hadn’t realized they had four buildings. I was finally showed to my 8-bed female dorm which turned out to be a 12-bed female dorm. Oh well. I wasn’t in the mood to argue so I put my stuff down and started chatting with one of the girls.
By the time I arrived it was almost 10pm, so I just uploaded more China photos, talked to my mom and went to sleep.
Today I had a slow start. I thought I was going to spend two days in Hanoi so I figured I didn’t need to run around. Met an Argentinean girl in my room and decided I would hang out with her and her friend for the day. After a wonderful breakfast which consisted of a piece of French bread with some butter (can you hear the sarcasm?), and chatting with a bunch of people who gave glowing reviews of the walking tour (also sarcastic), Ina, Bryan and I ventured out into the humid heat on our walking tour of Hanoi, as mapped out in Lonely Planet. There wasn’t much to see in terms of tourist sights, but it gave me a good sense of the old town. Tons of little shops set up along the road selling anything from locks, toys, silk, mirrors, basically anything you could need. In walking around I noticed the incredible number of motorbikes and heard the constant beeping of horns.
Crossing the street is a hazard in itself. Since I am new to Vietnam, I let the other people lead the way and basically stood vertically behind them keeping the same steady pace and trying not to look too much for fear I would be hit by a motorbike.
We stopped in a number of tourist offices to find a well-priced tour to Halong Bay. I was originally going to go for two-days/one-night, but since I didn’t feel like I needed to see much in Hanoi, I decided it would be more relaxing to go for three-days/two-nights. We found some good prices but needed to confer with some others before booking. I stopped in some other offices myself but they were significantly more expensive.
As we walked down the street, an Irish guy bounded up to us exclaiming that he’d just had the best food in all of Vietnam at the restaurant behind us. He was so enthusiastic that we sat down to taste the food. We were each served a bowl of soup and a plate with noodles, greens and some type of chicken or fish or something (I really couldn’t tell what it was) but I mostly ate the noodles. The food was alright, but I certainly wouldn’t go recommending it.
Our self-guided walking tour ended at Ngoc Son Temple, a small temple dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao, La To and Van Xuong which was over the red arched Huc Bridge red on the north end of Hoan Kiem Lake. The highlights included the enormous stuff turtle, a couple gongs and ceramics. Since the Water Puppet theater was on the main road, we ended up getting tickets to the 3:30pm show and spent the 40 minutes before the show looking over the lake with some drinks (mine was the only Diet Coke). Maybe it was the heat, or maybe the performance was boring, but for half of the hour show I was dozing off in my seat, as the various puppets acted out scenes in the water. I’m glad I went as it’s a traditional art form in Vietnam, but you won’t see me rushing back to the show again. Have to give the puppeteers credit though since they squat in the water for six back-to-back shows a day.
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