This is our first trip to Southeast Asia, and our first flight further west than Hawaii. Twelve hours and three movies into our flight from L.A. we were passing over Japan, with Taipei still over two hours away. From Taipei, a three hour flight to Hanoi.
We arrived in Hanoi at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday (8:30 p.m. Tuesday MST), and are now ensconced at the Golden Lotus Hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. After a shower, Mary and I were refreshed enough to wander out in search of bottled water and Vietnamese coffee. We found a whole street of coffee houses, then a street of shoes, a street of engraving, a street of sunglasses, etc. Sidewalks are crowded with street food and produce vendors, plus parked (and occasionally moving) motor scooters, which are the primary means of transportation in Hanoi. As we had been warned, crossing streets is an adventure. You step out into the endless stream of scooters, bikes and cars, and walk across at a slow and deliberate pace. So far, so good.
Our morning routine has us out at 6 to pass through the sidewalk markets and walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, where every few yards, a different club is doing morning exercise- from tai-chi to aerobics to badminton and Latin dance. Every club has it's own music coming from boom boxes. This morning, the big aerobics groups is still moving to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Our favorite club is laughing yoga- ho, ho, ha, ha, ha (seriously!). Believe it or not, scripted belly laughs and smiles leave you feeling exhilarated.
Wednesday morning , we had beef noodle soup (pho bo) for breakfast, then a cyclo-rickshaw ride through the Old Quarter and the French Quarter. This turned out to be a surprisingly satisfying way to see the hectic activity of the Old Quarter, without having to negotiate crowded sidewalks and rush hour street crossings. We passed through streets of Santa Claus outfits, bamboo, tarps, hardware, welding, and more. Although each street is named for the wares historically sold there (like silk), the current product may be something else entirely (like funeral banners).
The cyclo-rickshaw ride finished at the Ho Chi MInh Mausoleum, a place of reverence for Vietnamese, for whom Ho Chi Minh is, as Mary put it, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln rolled into one. No cameras and no talking as you file by the embalmed body of Uncle Ho, newly returned from its' annual refresh visit to Moscow. Later, as Hank told us the story of Ho Chi Minh and the liberation of Viet Nam from the Chinese and the U.S., we saw a group of decorated veterans posing for a photo in front of the mausoleum.
Two digressions here-
(1) The Vietnam War- Half the population of Viet Nam was born after the end of the American War, as it is called here. This includes our 30-year-old guide Nguyen Duc Hanh (call me Hank). Not only is the war in the past, it is not their first or last war. Just before us, the French. Just after, the Cambodians, followed by the Chinese. Although men are age fought in the American War, whether in the Viet Minh or the Viet Cong, they seem to have forgiven, if not forgotten.
(2) Christmas- Big deal here, but more like New Year's revelries with lots of Santa Claus costumes (even little boys and girls), reindeer head gear, and the like. Although Christmas Day is not a holiday, Christmas Eve is a huge party. All Hanoi, paricularly young Hanoi, is out and about, and streaming in to the area where we are staying, often with the whole family on one 100cc motor scooter.
So much more to tell, as in I've barely begun, and it's time to head off for Bat Trang village, a ceramic-making village near Hanoi.
Love, Toni
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