Vietnam - Hanoi Orientation

JC has always been keen on Asia and one winter evening randomly suggested we should visit Vietnam.  Next thing I knew was the Rough Guide to Vietnam was bought.  We started reading it and were hooked.  We booked our trip for the end of June/early July to fit around work commitments.  The downside of this was that we visited in the hot, sticky, monsoon season.  The upside was that there were fewer tourists around so we had a lot of the sites to ourselves!  

Friday 24 June/Saturday 25 June 2022

The journey to Vietnam was smooth although we left an hour late as the plane had a power cut.  We were just about to board (in the tunnel) and would have preferred not to see the engineers trot up and down to fix it!

The 11:30 hour flight was fine.  Jc produced a birthday card and present at just past midnight UK time.  No idea where we were but it was fun.  We had a 2:50 transit at Bangkok (shortened to 1:50 due to delayed departure from LHR) and to assist us the aircrew hurried us to the front to stand by the exit doors as the plane taxied.  I've never had that before and suspect that certainly wasn't in their Health and Safety procedures.  I opened two more cards on the next flight.  Birthdays flying east may be shorter than usual but still fun! 

We were staying at a lovely boutique type hotel in the old quarter of Hanoi.  We checked in and headed off to find food.  The streets are full of mopeds, cars and pedestrians and it’s each person for themselves to navigate and weave a safe passage for oneself.  Lots of honking (vehicles not pedestrians).  I had my birthday supper at a busy pavement cafe and managed to successfully order two plates of noodles, with duck for JC and freshly fried vegetables for me.  Even though we’re convinced they upped the price for us (my vegetable dish cost more than JC’s, partly because if was bespoke) the whole meal with two drinks was ~£5 so not a problem!

Sunday 26 June 2022

We explored the old quarter of Hanoi today.  This quarter developed as a trader's area to support the Emperor’s citadel just to the west.  Artisans from the countryside came to the city to provide B&Q like services to the citadel.  The streets are subsequently named to reflect the trade guilds that grew up in them such as tin, jewellery, medicine/herbs, copper, leather etc. so the shops are still grouped similarly.  

Health and safety standards haven’t quite hit the Vietnamese welding business yet.

Birds are everywhere - but sadly only in cages.  [We were later told that wild birds, and indeed a lot of wildlife, has been hunted/captured and tends to only exist in the wild deep inside forests].

And, as expected, the markets were full of fresh produce - in the case of the eels, very fresh!

We visited numerous temples, most with altars full of provisions to the Gods and memories of ancestors.  We were amused by the beer fest altar. 

We also visited an historic old house, built in the late 18th century.  The houses in the old district of Hanoi are narrow but extend a long way back due (called tube houses).  This was to mitigate a local a tax levied on the street width of one’s property.

At one juncture we detoured off to find the longest mosaic in the world.  This is over 4km long and wonderful!

We also found the Long Bien bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel, of you-know-where fame.

The nearby lake, Hoan Kiem, is worth a visit on Sundays as the local roads are shut meaning stress free strolling.

We popped over to Ngoc Son Temple, accessed by a bridge into the lake.

We were melting by now as our British systems weren’t yet used to the 35 deg celsius temperature.  We tried to drink lots but were still thirsty and appreciated a sit down at a lakeside cafe.  We were soon joined by a Vietnamese boy keen to try out his English.  So he and JC chatted about football for a bit.

We ate out in the Hanoi Social club on a balcony watching the lightning flash across the sky.