We arrive at Hanoi airport late in the evening. Armed with instructions from Vu, our CouchSurfing host, we avoid the normal exit for arrivals and head up to the departures area, as these cabs supposedly offer better rates into town. However, we appear to have made an error as we wait and wait. During this time a 'gang' of Vietnamese youth on mopeds pulls up and proceeds to pump us for information. They are really good-natured and are led by the Hanoi version of the Fonz, from 'Happy Days'; you can tell he's the leader of this particular pack. There's some music, cross-cultural communication and lots of laughter before they all re-mount and zoom off, wishing us a good stay in their country. While we eventually get a cab and head towards Vu's house.
We cruise into the suburbs of Hanoi, out toward Tay Ho lake, and everything starts to get less well-lit. We peer out of the taxi windows and it's clear the driver doesn't know where the address we've given him is either. However, we have since learned that this is not a bad reflection of taxi drivers but an intrinsic quality of the urban addresses in many eastern Asian towns: even locals end up asking directions as naming and numbering of dwellings is very much an art and not a science. Having said that, the fellow then tried to overcharge us. Welcome, tourists!
Vu is a friendly young man who welcomes us into his family's home. It's in a gated courtyard off the main street, along with a number of other houses. It reminds us of a town house in that each floor is not large but the house is quite tall. We get our own room on the top floor (Vu's sister's room, free while she's at college) and an electric fan to help cut down the tropical heat.
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| Living large on the sleeper bus |
The next morning we aim to get an early start to Halong Bay. Vu gives us a ride to the bus stop at the top of his street – three people on a moped, Hanoi-style. He then sticks around to make sure we get on the right bus, which stops at a random, unmarked place that only locals know! As we embark we discover that this is a sleeper bus. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, this bus is decadently furnished with rows of beds instead of seats. Each bed has a little place to stow your bag and a TV screen. While this seems like a good idea for overnight journeys, it feels a little odd to be reclining so much on a coach in broad daylight like some kind of rock star. The experience is somewhat dimmed when (again) the driver overcharges us. Even our hand-written maths fail to break through his entrepreneurial nonchalance as he pretends to fail to understand both English, hand gestures and all forms of arithmetic. It doesn't break the bank but it's the principle of the thing – harumph!
We are dropped off near the harbour, now even more determined not to over-pay for the boat tour. We're soon hailed by a fellow offering a tour for around $59. However lunch included and a few other things we aren't interested in so we play hard to get, eventually coming away with a $35 trip on which we plan to eat our own packed lunch.
The bay has an unusual beauty that you may have seen on some designs on ceramics. It has tall, thin rock pinnacles and sudden spires rising out of the calm waters, including a formation that is held to look like two birds kissing and another that looks like a gorillas head (this second one takes a little more imagination to see).
After a smooth voyage and a brief explanation of local history and economy, we arrive at one of the famous floating villages. Lisa and Chris have already decided that they would like to take a kayak and tootle around the village. It has everything from a post office, school, bank to cafes, all built on stilts in a sheltered part of the bay. After this, the boat heads for a mountainous island that we can walk through from end to end, using an underground system of natural tunnels in the limestone. Some of the light effects were a bit overdone but the organic shapes of the rock were duly impressive, including one particular place where there was a crack leading up to the surface that channelled some very picturesque rays of sunlight down to us.
We are dropped off near the harbour, now even more determined not to over-pay for the boat tour. We're soon hailed by a fellow offering a tour for around $59. However lunch included and a few other things we aren't interested in so we play hard to get, eventually coming away with a $35 trip on which we plan to eat our own packed lunch.
The bay has an unusual beauty that you may have seen on some designs on ceramics. It has tall, thin rock pinnacles and sudden spires rising out of the calm waters, including a formation that is held to look like two birds kissing and another that looks like a gorillas head (this second one takes a little more imagination to see).
After a smooth voyage and a brief explanation of local history and economy, we arrive at one of the famous floating villages. Lisa and Chris have already decided that they would like to take a kayak and tootle around the village. It has everything from a post office, school, bank to cafes, all built on stilts in a sheltered part of the bay. After this, the boat heads for a mountainous island that we can walk through from end to end, using an underground system of natural tunnels in the limestone. Some of the light effects were a bit overdone but the organic shapes of the rock were duly impressive, including one particular place where there was a crack leading up to the surface that channelled some very picturesque rays of sunlight down to us.
We return lightly toasted by the sun and happy that we had visited in the off-season, as we are sure it will be much busier in a few months time. A quick taxi ride and then we are Hanoi-bound on a bus without beds. We get back to the city and are treated to a Vu and his mum taking us on the back of their scooters to a very local eatery, located on a street corner on the way to down-town. This allows the Vietnamese to laugh at the visitors who were trying to eat Pho (noddle soup) with chopsticks. It is an acquired skill and uses up most of the calories gained from the soup itself. It was also great to have some real 'street food', at a place we would never have found ourselves.
The next day we sally out and locate a bus going to the centre of town, or at least we hope so. It was one of those bus rides where you are always wondering, “should I have got out at the last stop?” We disembark at roughly the right stop and find a cafe. Unfortunately, in Vietnam, a coffee shop only sells coffee and not the hoped-for breakfast. Luckily, after some alley wandering we located a bakery (bakeries are the traveller's friend ;-) where we noticed vestiges of French influence in the patisserie!
Directions are followed towards the Women's Museum, which sounds like an interesting mix of the history of women in Vietnam combined with a female perspective on the 'North American War'. In familiar fashion however we get side-tracked when Lisa sees a plaque at the mouth of an alleyway announcing some kind of bead and handicraft establishment. We ventured down the alley but all we could see were some houses and workmen. One of these fellows saw us looking and, after we pointed to the plaque, he began knocking at one of the gates on the alley and shouting for the occupant. Luckily, the old gentleman that emerged didn't seem to mind and invited us both in for tea!
It turns out that the plaque actually refers to his daughter, Bong, who has now moved elsewhere in the city. But he turns out to be an intriguing guy. He speaks pretty fluent English and tells us that he used be be a diplomat and travel writer and he's very interested in our own trip.
Taking our leave of Bong's father, we continue on to the Women's Museum. This place is as engaging as it sounded. It contains examples of traditional dress from the many ethnic groups in Vietnam and alongside this is information on historic roles and lives of women, as well as videos of contemporary women working as street vendors and veterans of the war.
Some of our favourite aspects are the floor showing marriage costumes accompanied by explanations of various traditional marriage practices, some of which required years living with the bride's family, a second marriage ceremony and then moving to the groom's family's home. All very complicated and drawn out!
There was also lots of artefacts, documents and visual material covering the 'North American War', as it is called in Vietnam. The role that women played was significant as the whole population of the north was mobilised.
The next day we sally out and locate a bus going to the centre of town, or at least we hope so. It was one of those bus rides where you are always wondering, “should I have got out at the last stop?” We disembark at roughly the right stop and find a cafe. Unfortunately, in Vietnam, a coffee shop only sells coffee and not the hoped-for breakfast. Luckily, after some alley wandering we located a bakery (bakeries are the traveller's friend ;-) where we noticed vestiges of French influence in the patisserie!
Directions are followed towards the Women's Museum, which sounds like an interesting mix of the history of women in Vietnam combined with a female perspective on the 'North American War'. In familiar fashion however we get side-tracked when Lisa sees a plaque at the mouth of an alleyway announcing some kind of bead and handicraft establishment. We ventured down the alley but all we could see were some houses and workmen. One of these fellows saw us looking and, after we pointed to the plaque, he began knocking at one of the gates on the alley and shouting for the occupant. Luckily, the old gentleman that emerged didn't seem to mind and invited us both in for tea!
It turns out that the plaque actually refers to his daughter, Bong, who has now moved elsewhere in the city. But he turns out to be an intriguing guy. He speaks pretty fluent English and tells us that he used be be a diplomat and travel writer and he's very interested in our own trip.
Taking our leave of Bong's father, we continue on to the Women's Museum. This place is as engaging as it sounded. It contains examples of traditional dress from the many ethnic groups in Vietnam and alongside this is information on historic roles and lives of women, as well as videos of contemporary women working as street vendors and veterans of the war.
Some of our favourite aspects are the floor showing marriage costumes accompanied by explanations of various traditional marriage practices, some of which required years living with the bride's family, a second marriage ceremony and then moving to the groom's family's home. All very complicated and drawn out!
There was also lots of artefacts, documents and visual material covering the 'North American War', as it is called in Vietnam. The role that women played was significant as the whole population of the north was mobilised.
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| Lacquered teeth were a mark of beauty |
Upon leaving we get caught in a heavy rain shower but soldier on toward the old town, a twisty maze of narrow streets in the north east of the centre of the city. Lisa picks up a silk top for the bargain price of $22 and we manage to book a tour for the next day to see the villages outside of Hanoi that make ceramics and wooden furniture. That accomplished, we decided to do something touristy and went to the Water Puppet Theatre. This was a quite peculiar show where the main stage is a tank of water and most of the scenery is at the back and around the sides. All character are puppets that are controlled by rods and pulleys hidden beneath the surface of the water so that they seem to stand on the water and move by themselves. There are human puppets, boats, fish and aquatic dragons that spit water toward the audience. While this is going on there is live music using traditional instruments and a series of singers. Altogether a unique performance!
Afterwards we retire further into the maze, to a restaurant called Little Hanoi where think Chris had Bo Luc Lac (Shaking Beef) and we made friends with a small dog who wandered in and out, acting like the owner of the place. The 'old quarter' really gets going in the evening, to the extent that it becomes hard to navigate between crows on the sidewalks (where these exist), and parked and weaving scooters. However, beware of the universal closing time of around 9:30 – it's like trying to get a taxi to South London at, well, any time I supose.
For day three we have arranged a tour guide to show us some of the craft villages on the outskirts of Hanoi. Our guide, Quan, and his driver are happy to answer all our random questions. At one point we pass a formal looking gathering and Quan fills us in on Vietnamese funeral traditions. All dress in white, except the great-grandchildren, who are dressed in bright colours. Apparently the deceased is buried then, after three years, the bones are exhumed, put in a jar and transferred to a relative's house. Dead ancestors are an important part of daily life and are assumed to attend family events and can be asked for help in day to day living.
The craft villages are interesting too. One specialises in ceramics and we were privileged to see the craftspeople molding, glazing and painting all items by hand – from simple beakers to delicate ornaments and tea pots. Quan tells us that a traditional bridal gift is a complete set of crockery for the wedding meal. We also see huge stacked of pottery being precariously ferried round the village on the back of the ubiquitous mopeds!
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| One of many offerings to the ancestors |
The second village is more of a small town (despite the rice we see drying in the middle of the road) but was a traditional centre of wood crafting. We are introduced to a group of women who are busy smoothing some beautiful furniture. The next stage is lacquering and some of the most detailed mother of pearl in-lay we have ever seen. The tiny size of this work is truly amazing, especially when you are reminded that it's all done manually. The women and Lisa strike up quite a rapport and they are very complimentary about her 'paleness', which in Vietnamese culture is valued much more than being 'sun-kissed'. We also learn, to our amusement, that we are being described as Mr and Mrs 'Tei-tei'; meaning 'foreigner' in the local slang. Our fame precedes us.
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| Intricate hand-inlaid mother of pearl |
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| Making the most beautiful wooden furniture |
This evening our host, Vu, has invited us to dine with his family. In attendance are his mum, his teenage cousin and Vu's sister's friend. We are honoured as Vu's mother has prepared a special dish for us, as well as lost of other soup, noodles and other scrumptious finger food. We have a pleasant chat using hand gestures, facial expressions and Vu and his cousin as translators. A truly hospitable group of people.
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| Vu and family and some fantastic food |
Our final day in Hanoi we spend taking in the sights. We planned leisurely breakfast downtown but, despite the tasty G7 coffee, we find out that in Vietnam coffee shops really only serve coffee. Although, the cafe we are in also comes with a guy stood outside using a 'tennis racquet' bug zapper to individually electrify wasps living in a large hanging plant outside the window. We are also entertained by the use of a particularly broad length of pavement that is being used for a series of badminton matches, with the court markings permanently painted on the ground. However, rumbling stomachs ensue until we stock up at a small bakery where point and smile is the order of the day.
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| Ho closed |
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| Vu, Hien and some vagabonds |
The day is capped by meeting Vu, our host, and his partner, Hien, for a meal at a downtown restaurant serving Vietnamese food buffet-style. Good food and great company was topped off by the couple offering us a parting gift. Lesson in hospitality and how to be a fantastic couch surfing host: check! Feeling sated and sleepy, we are ushered into a taxi by Vu and Hien and, after some hugging, we are off to the airport, bound for South Korea via Laos.
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