We were bracing ourselves to be disappointed after leaving Saigon, but found Hanoi, Vietnam's capital city, to be very similar, (even though we'd heard reports otherwise). Our hostel in the Old Quarter was our favorite so far. The staff is SO friendly, and the rooms rival any hotel we've stayed in. Our first day we slept until 11am, (in our defense our flight didn't get in until 2am and we were behind on sleep), and the front desk called to tell us breakfast was ending so we should hurry down and they would extend it because it was our first day. We're obsessed with the breakfast here, mainly because it's the only time we've had fried eggs, toast, cheese and jelly prepared exactly how we make it at home. After breakfast, we were in our room reading the news and slowly getting ready when one of the hostel employees knocked. "Fruit of the day!" she said, handing us a plate of what we discovered was longan fruit. (The night we arrived we had pears). Any place that drops off food daily is great with us.
We spent our first afternoon strolling around Hoan Kiem Lake, a peaceful area made more interesting by the Ngoc Son Temple. The colorful temple is dedicated to Tran Hung Dao, a Vietnamese hero who defeated a force of 300,000 Mongol invaders. It is incredibly hot and humid here, with heat indexes in the low 100s, so we went in search of the famous Water Puppet Show. Promising Brianna that puppets can be fun, and selling her on the air conditioned theater, we bought tickets and were rushed into the already beginning performance. The puppet show was fascinating, fun and strange...something my mom would have gone crazy for. A small group of performers sing Vietnamese folk tales and play instruments, while wooden puppets act them out in a pool of water. The puppets are amazing–brightly painted animals, men and women–and the puppeteers are great at what they do. I couldn't figure out how they were making the puppets dance, jump through hoops of fire and fight from behind a screen far from the water. The puppets were on some kind of cord/stick, but it seemed hard! Leaving with me happy and Brianna looking disturbed, we saw that it was downpouring. Masses of people swarmed under the awning of the cafe attached to the theater, so we grabbed a seat while we could and got coffee.
When it became obvious the rain wasn't letting up anytime soon, we ventured out to a cab and went to the nearest movie theater. Fellow Americans: We are getting ripped off! I don't know if I can ever go to a movie again in the US without feeling pain when I take out my wallet. Tickets for Just Friends were $3, and popcorn AND soda was $3.50. That's like 1/4 of the cost of a nighttime movie experience in Madison. (Also, we were happier than we should have been that the movie was in English).
In search of dinner, we stopped at a restaurant near our hostel and made a huge mistake...we ordered off the "western" portion of the menu. Caprese salad was a bowl of mushy tomatoes with some cheese on top and a thick balsamic-like dressing. When we didn't eat it, our waiter questioned us incessantly. "Was it not good?" "Why still left?" We stammered an excuse, but he didn't stop. Finally he turned the conversation to traveling and how much he hates and wants to leave Vietnam, which was interesting. He was about our age and so far the only person we've met who doesn't like it here. When he started asking for Canadian coins, (Brianna and I are Canadian, by the way), even we couldn't make up any more excuses and we hurriedly paid the bill and left.
Friday we took a day trip with a small tour bus to Halong Bay, or "Descending Dragon Bay." A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the bay is famous for it's limestone caves and islands. We took a bus for four hours to reach it, then a boat. The bay is gorgeous, and we sailed by many monolithic islands and several fishing villages. "See those kids? That's the school," our guide said pointing to a small hut floating in the bay, anchored somehow and tied to surrounding houses. This was so interesting! About 1600 people live in Halong Bay on floating villages, surviving on marine agriculture and fishing. What a different life than ours, we thought. How do they meet new people? Don't they get bored without being able to walk around a city or do new things? What about when it storms?!
We had a fantastic seafood feast on the boat, then jumped into a kayak ready to explore caves and inlets. Once away from the boat Brianna mentioned she had never kayaked before...and I'm no expert...perfect. We did pretty well for ourselves though and covered a substantial amount of water in the half hour allotted us, then our group took a trip through "Heaven Cave," named for the crack at the top opening up to the sky. There are huge stalactites and stalagmites throughout the cave, each looking like different mythical creatures, at least in our guide's mind. Back at our hostel later that night we were determined to not repeat our dinner from the night before. The man at the front desk recommended a nice authentic restaurant where we ordered fried fish, spring rolls and a corn dish. Our server handed us rice paper, and seeing our confused looks demonstrated. You take the greens, carrots and dill served with the fish and place in in the paper, then add a piece of fish, roll it up and dip it in the sauce. The fish was fresh and delicious, but the vegetables and everything else had a hint of wasabi on them, which isn't my favorite.
Today, our last day in Hanoi, we went on a long walk through the city to find lunch, commenting on how much we like Vietnam and hope we like everywhere else just as much. After lunch we thought it was necessary we try mooncake, a huge hit here. Kinh doh, the biggest brand, is everywhere here and we wanted to know what all the crowds were about. Well, we still don't get it, because after two bites we threw ours out. A center ball of lotus seed paste, (also containing yolk from salted duck eggs), symbolizes the full moon, tastes like acidic powder, and is surrounded by a bad fruit cake. I normally love pastries of any kind, so this was shocking.
Entering an art gallery to recover, we found some nice paintings for only $6...and then our shopping spree began. Silk scarves and wallets, new tank tops, shorts, even underwear...but can you really call it a shopping spree when you're at an outdoor night market and nothing is more than $5? The night market is crazy, like a giant carnival. Men walk through the masses with cotton candy and huge balls of balloons, women dress up and wear various animal ears and masks, and children ride above it all on their parents shoulders in amazement.
The excitement was contagious, and soon Brianna and I were trying on our own masks and pushing through the crowds. I can't believe this happens every night! It seems like at some point it would get less crowded or people would get bored of getting stepped on and shouting every weekend...but I guess we never get bored of yelling and dancing at the same bars every weekend in Madison. (Or we do get bored, so we leave to travel for months).
Breathless after fighting our way to a side street, a mini photo shoot with giggling teenagers, (I really might need to dye my hair), and eyes burning from so many bright colors, we made our way back to our hostel for our flight back to Saigon the next day.
We spent our first afternoon strolling around Hoan Kiem Lake, a peaceful area made more interesting by the Ngoc Son Temple. The colorful temple is dedicated to Tran Hung Dao, a Vietnamese hero who defeated a force of 300,000 Mongol invaders. It is incredibly hot and humid here, with heat indexes in the low 100s, so we went in search of the famous Water Puppet Show. Promising Brianna that puppets can be fun, and selling her on the air conditioned theater, we bought tickets and were rushed into the already beginning performance. The puppet show was fascinating, fun and strange...something my mom would have gone crazy for. A small group of performers sing Vietnamese folk tales and play instruments, while wooden puppets act them out in a pool of water. The puppets are amazing–brightly painted animals, men and women–and the puppeteers are great at what they do. I couldn't figure out how they were making the puppets dance, jump through hoops of fire and fight from behind a screen far from the water. The puppets were on some kind of cord/stick, but it seemed hard! Leaving with me happy and Brianna looking disturbed, we saw that it was downpouring. Masses of people swarmed under the awning of the cafe attached to the theater, so we grabbed a seat while we could and got coffee.
When it became obvious the rain wasn't letting up anytime soon, we ventured out to a cab and went to the nearest movie theater. Fellow Americans: We are getting ripped off! I don't know if I can ever go to a movie again in the US without feeling pain when I take out my wallet. Tickets for Just Friends were $3, and popcorn AND soda was $3.50. That's like 1/4 of the cost of a nighttime movie experience in Madison. (Also, we were happier than we should have been that the movie was in English).
In search of dinner, we stopped at a restaurant near our hostel and made a huge mistake...we ordered off the "western" portion of the menu. Caprese salad was a bowl of mushy tomatoes with some cheese on top and a thick balsamic-like dressing. When we didn't eat it, our waiter questioned us incessantly. "Was it not good?" "Why still left?" We stammered an excuse, but he didn't stop. Finally he turned the conversation to traveling and how much he hates and wants to leave Vietnam, which was interesting. He was about our age and so far the only person we've met who doesn't like it here. When he started asking for Canadian coins, (Brianna and I are Canadian, by the way), even we couldn't make up any more excuses and we hurriedly paid the bill and left.
Friday we took a day trip with a small tour bus to Halong Bay, or "Descending Dragon Bay." A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the bay is famous for it's limestone caves and islands. We took a bus for four hours to reach it, then a boat. The bay is gorgeous, and we sailed by many monolithic islands and several fishing villages. "See those kids? That's the school," our guide said pointing to a small hut floating in the bay, anchored somehow and tied to surrounding houses. This was so interesting! About 1600 people live in Halong Bay on floating villages, surviving on marine agriculture and fishing. What a different life than ours, we thought. How do they meet new people? Don't they get bored without being able to walk around a city or do new things? What about when it storms?!
We had a fantastic seafood feast on the boat, then jumped into a kayak ready to explore caves and inlets. Once away from the boat Brianna mentioned she had never kayaked before...and I'm no expert...perfect. We did pretty well for ourselves though and covered a substantial amount of water in the half hour allotted us, then our group took a trip through "Heaven Cave," named for the crack at the top opening up to the sky. There are huge stalactites and stalagmites throughout the cave, each looking like different mythical creatures, at least in our guide's mind. Back at our hostel later that night we were determined to not repeat our dinner from the night before. The man at the front desk recommended a nice authentic restaurant where we ordered fried fish, spring rolls and a corn dish. Our server handed us rice paper, and seeing our confused looks demonstrated. You take the greens, carrots and dill served with the fish and place in in the paper, then add a piece of fish, roll it up and dip it in the sauce. The fish was fresh and delicious, but the vegetables and everything else had a hint of wasabi on them, which isn't my favorite.
Today, our last day in Hanoi, we went on a long walk through the city to find lunch, commenting on how much we like Vietnam and hope we like everywhere else just as much. After lunch we thought it was necessary we try mooncake, a huge hit here. Kinh doh, the biggest brand, is everywhere here and we wanted to know what all the crowds were about. Well, we still don't get it, because after two bites we threw ours out. A center ball of lotus seed paste, (also containing yolk from salted duck eggs), symbolizes the full moon, tastes like acidic powder, and is surrounded by a bad fruit cake. I normally love pastries of any kind, so this was shocking.
Entering an art gallery to recover, we found some nice paintings for only $6...and then our shopping spree began. Silk scarves and wallets, new tank tops, shorts, even underwear...but can you really call it a shopping spree when you're at an outdoor night market and nothing is more than $5? The night market is crazy, like a giant carnival. Men walk through the masses with cotton candy and huge balls of balloons, women dress up and wear various animal ears and masks, and children ride above it all on their parents shoulders in amazement.
Breathless after fighting our way to a side street, a mini photo shoot with giggling teenagers, (I really might need to dye my hair), and eyes burning from so many bright colors, we made our way back to our hostel for our flight back to Saigon the next day.
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