This title was my own creation, and has nothing to do with
the Good Morning, Vietnam soundtrack
that I am still listening to.
So! My adventures in Ho Chi Minh City ended with a slight
mishap in determining which terminal I belonged in. And the beginning of my adventures in Hanoi
began with a silent taxi ride (my driver didn’t speak much English and seemed to
enjoy the silence) through the night.
The hostile I booked in Hanoi, Central Backpackers Hostel, does airport
pickup service, so for the first time I got to feel like one of those special people
who have to look for their names on a piece of paper.
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| See how far away Hanoi is from Ho Chi Minh City! |
My first impression of Hanoi…well, by this point, I was
tired of the city because I usually dislike cities anyway. To make matters worse, Hanoi is much busier
and crowded than Ho Chi Minh. I stayed
in the Old District where there is a lack of tall architecture, the streets are
narrower, and there is no end to the amount of clothing and shoe shops in
sight. Hanoi is incredibly busy, and has
some of the craziest traffic I’ve ever seen.
During my stay in Hanoi, one of my friends, Elias, walked out in front
of a car so that we could cross a sea of traffic that never stops.
So, Central Backpackers Hostel is amazing. It’s cheap, has awesome people, free bia hoi
(the fresh brew that costs 4000 dong, approximately 5 cents) from 7-8 pm, free
breakfast (consists of banana, bread, jelly, butter, and tea or coffee),
provides lots of different kinds of trips.
The best part was the people I met there. More on that throughout this
post.
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| This dorm was super great and full of bed friends! |
First order= dinner.
After free beer hour, I went to dinner with my newfound friend and
dormmate, Elias from France. We ate at
Quan An Ngon Restaurant. It was okay-
too pricey for so little, but this is working in the mindset of a poor college
student/traveler and a backpacker. Make
sure you ask about the sizes of the dishes because what you would think would
be a served in a large proportion, could be the size of your fist. The restaurant is cool though- it has the
same community as street food on the sidewalk with a classy flavor and decor, distance
from the traffic, and way more options.
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| Lotus seed "dessert". Way too sweet, but yummers |
That night, I just took it easy talking to different
backpackers at the hostel. Beyond where
people have travelled, it’s amazing to get a glimpse into what occupations they
left behind, some of their hobbies, what their friends are like, etc. Everyone is so different, yet everyone is
tied in this cycle of wanting to experience the world and going on pretty much
the same route to do it. In terms of
future travel, I also discovered through these people social networking
websites geared towards helping backpackers such as Couch Surfing and Be
Welcome.
Next day, I made Elias my exploration companion to explore
the west end of the district. We passed
the large statue of Vladimir Lenin, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, and the One-Pillar Pagoda. The
sights were rather boring, and we didn’t spend long in any location. The palace should have been more exciting,
but it was basically a bunch of sparsely decorated rooms and old cars that you
viewed through glass.
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| Ze mausoleum, where I got yelled at for stepping over the yellow line |
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| Presidential Palace, the most obnoxiously yellow building in Hanoi |
I went to the Temple of Literature, where Confucius taught a
bunch of students, afterwards. It was an
interesting mixture of modern topiaries and old buildings. I find Chinese architecture and idols really
beautiful and interesting, but I was so tired of looking at religious art,
statues, and buildings, that I felt pooped.
Despite this feeling, I definitely like the temple a lot.
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| Turtle stelae at the temple |
That night, Maia arrived in Hanoi, but she was exhausted from
her journey in Luang Prabang in Laos, so I went out with some people at the
hostel. During free beer hour, I sat with some people that I knew, and met some
more people. After a few beers, a group
of us went to get dinner two shops away, and thus the party group was
formed. We ended up at a dance club
where I discovered that I am an amazing dancer according to the reactions of
the surrounding folk. Here’s some advice
for you other young ladies who love to dance: in Hanoi, there are plenty of
gross foreign older men who like to try to watch young ladies dance and try to
dance with them or more. So, if you can’t
take it, don’t shake it.
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| My dance partners |
Next day, I spent the day exploring the area around Hoan
Kiem Lake with Maia. Most of it was just walking around and getting a feel for
the city, which I won’t explain, but here’s a quick and dirty list of what we
did.
1) The
Hoa Loa Prison where the French displaced a village to build their own
institutions. Many Vietnamese prisoners
were tortured here, and later, American soldiers were held captive. This was a very depressing place, and the
creepy factor was heightened by the sounds of fearful music. My only problem with the museum was the
Communist propaganda. While John McCain
says that he was tortured in this prison, the museum posts descriptions of the
Vietnamese treating the Americans as best they could. They were provided with basic comforts, were
allowed to play basketball, and colored pictures for Christmas. I find this hard to believe, but whatever. If anyone has anything to say in support of
the museum’s statements, please tell me.
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| The scariest room in the building |
2) The
shrine on Hoan Kiem Lake. This was a
cute little place with the largest imitation of a turtle I’ve ever seen, and
the tiniest bathroom stalls. I’m a
rather small person, yet my face was an inch away from the door- I would not
call that one a happy room. I urge everyone to click on the above link to read
the legend about the Restored Sword; this is how the lake got its name, and it was
the inspiration for one of the plots that I watched at the water puppet theatre
show.
3) TrangTien ice cream parlor. Soft serve ice
cream for 10,000 dong (50 cents)? Heck yes! It was “so damn hot I saw one them
little men in those orange robes burst into flames” (Adrian Cronauer- I didn’t
really see that), so the ice cream was a welcome treat.
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| It is grey and magnificent |
5) Lotteria
for a water and air conditioning break.
Lotteria is a fast food chain in Vietnam.
6) We
bought water puppet tickets to see a show later that night (it’s necessary to
buy your tickets earlier in the day so that you can see the show at the time
you want), but we ended up not going because we were so exhausted by the end of
the day that the thought walking through the overwhelmingly crowded streets any
more was about as appealing as juggling my brother’s smelly athletic shoes.
7) We
walked through the large Night Market along the streets of Hang Ngang and Hang
Dao. It’s like Walking Market in Thailand, but with copious amounts of traffic
and crowding within the stalls. At the
end of the street is the Dong Xuan Market.
I was so overwhelmed by the crowds that I didn’t have the energy or
desire to look inside. Besides, not all
the shops were open by this point, and I hate shopping.
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| This picture doesn't even capture the busy-ness of this street. |
8) We
ate street food and experienced the tiny chair culture. It was awesome, and the food that we ate on
the street was my favorite meal that I’d had in Hanoi. I’m not sure what it was- I think it was
green papaya salad with beef, peanuts, and herbs dumped in some sweet juice. It seems to be similar to Bun bo Nam Bo, but
it could be Nom Du Du. (Other recipe-
Pho Bo, another food to try- there are sandwich kebab vendors everywhere and oh
my god they are so tasty)
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| Table for two! |
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| I'm really hungry right now. For real. I can't wait until my Mexican food gets here. |
So that pretty much concludes my adventures in Hanoi! Hanoi
is a very crowded city, and I didn’t do a lot of the things that one could do
there. The city offers a bunch of different museums for people depending on one’s
interests (Fine Arts Museum, Museum of Ethnology, Vietnamese History, Women’s
Museum, etc.), trips to Sapa, etc. The buildings are amazing because you can
see a wide variety of buildings within one block- Chinese architecture, French
architecture, modern buildings, run-down buildings, fancy and clean buildings,
and more…all stuck together in a weird combination. It’s quite fascinating. Hanoi was okay, but I was ready for HALONG
BAY!
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| Admire the diversity. |
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