The photo above would completely and aptly describe Hanoi (and urban Vietnam), if there was also a few cell phones tucked in the photo, and speeding motorbikes! But the old world charm of the French is still apparent (Les and Angie, this little gem made me wish you were here!), as is the influence of the agricultural backbone of the economy, add the chaotic mess of the buildings, and the desire of Vietnamese for nature to be part of their every day aesthetics.
On first impression, Hanoi is a crazy bustle. People everywhere, motorbikes tooting, taxis horns blaring, people rushing. We only really saw a tiny section of the entire city. We stayed in the Old Quarter, near Hoan Kiem lake.
Like all big cities, it seems that everyone needs to sell you something, and perhaps humanity is a little lost because for the most part, people are viewed through dollar-sign filtered lenses. The form that this takes in Hanoi is curious ... it would be easy to people-watch all day long here! Everything you could imagine is sold off the back of a bicycle. Normally we'd say bike, but the word bicycle is more fitting as they are old fashioned things. Little old men roll by on bicycles with a million varieties of dong la (conical Vietnamese hats). Young ladies with artificial flowers so high and wide that you'd practically need to indicate to overtake them. Orange baskets on the back of bikes. Bananas. Mango, guava, unidentifiable crimson coloured bulbous spiky fruit. Mountains of toilet paper on the rack of a moped, another motorbike sky high with boxes of biscuits. Another with as many chip packets as you could possibly balance on a bike with one bungee cord (it's surprisingly a lot!). When you are finished with the bicycles, there are sellers on foot ... Tired faces walking along with basketfuls of doughnuts tucked under one arm, tired mostly because they spend so much time trying to find the needle in the haystack person who actually wants a doughnut. 30 something year old men toting tray-tables laden with lighters, wallets and other miscellaneous items you don't need to buy. Motorbike taxi men. Ladies offering hotels. People loitering outside their restaurants, popping menus in your hands, enticing you to eat at any hour of the day.
It seems like all the activity is tiring for the locals too! I love this scene below, with its group of coffee drinkers, the dumpster that constantly rolls by, the fully-masked motorbike riders, and the sleepy rickshaw guy waiting for his next ride.
Eating places are all over. In the evening, someone will turn up with a motorbike full of tables and chairs, and a portable oven, and little bags of market produce. Within twenty minutes a fully operating eatery is running, and sometimes nice smells even overpower the wet newspaper smell that is Asia. Com means cooked rice, and all over Vietnam there are signs saying either com or pho (broth soup).
With sensory overload we went down to Lake Hoan Kiem. It's an oasis in the bustle. Brides wearing brightly coloured traditional Vietnamese costumes have their wedding photos shot at the lake. The pagoda in the middle is entirely picturesque, and lit up at night too.
Everything is full volume, even the powerlines!
We enjoyed the Women's Museum, which depicted domestic life for Vietnamese women, as well as profiling some women who have played important roles through history.
The photo below is quite typical of Vietnam's big cities. Hectic and chaotic, but somehow functional.
After a really happy month in Vietnam, we headed to the airport for our flight to Bangkok, an overnight in the airport, and our flight to Kathmandu, Nepal.
And that, our friends, was that! Thanks for sharing this leg of our journey with us. (We hope that unlimited free wifi is as widespread in Nepal as in Vietnam).
I hope it is too!
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