hectic hanoi

welcome to hanoi and the lake

another flight (apparently ground transportation in most place is slow/unreliable at best) and we found ourselves in yet another country. from hanoi we got our new currency, booked a taxi and were on our way toward the old city. it was evening, the sun was down and lights were just coming on throughout the city. my first impression was that most of the buildings were quite narrow and about 3-5 stories. our hotel was no exception. just a stone's throw from the lake in the old town, the location was ideal and the staff couldn't be friendlier. (also, only time i've ever seen complimentary items - besides water - in a minibar. oxymoron?)

we stepped out to get some dinner, anxious for vietnamese cuisine. we figured we'd save pho for lunch the following day and instead tried to find some other local specialties. that we did - just around the corner we found a place that had a few of the dishes we'd been hoping to try. bun cha and bun bo nam bo (beef/pork respectively with noodles), both were delicious and left us excited about upcoming days of vietnamese food.

yellow yellow

the next morning we set out to see the city, stopping first, luckily, at the water puppet theater to buy tickets. those things get snapped up fast! we had to opt for the 9.30 show and we barely even got tickets for that. we continued on, walking towards the center of the old town, passing all kinds of shops bursting with shoes, backpacks and stationery. looking up, we'd generally see a tangle of wires, sometimes with birdcages hanging from them. sidewalks that were covered with little food stalls (all with tiny plastic tables and chairs - think playskool size) and motorbikes! motorbikes are everywhere. they seem to be buzzing all over the city, and the drivers are particularly aggressive. it almost seems as though they're trying to run you down. we continued walking, along the busy streets past slightly crumbling yellow buildings (i swear, they were all yellow) with rusting iron terraces or peeling green shutters.

quintessential lunch

we made it to the opera house - also yellow - and stopped along the way at a park with a grimy fountain where no fewer than six brides were having their wedding portraits taken. we wondered at this and grimaced as we saw the white dresses dragging onto the street. we continued on, walking in search of pho. we walked farther than expected, since my mom was hoping for a place that didn't have tiny tables. we eventually found one, luckily just before the lunch hour started wrapping up. quite literally - the tables and chairs were stacked and put away just after we left. the pho, of course, was delicious but we missed the chilli sauce we usually get with it the states.

from there we hopped a taxi to the ho chi minh mausoleum. man. i'm not sure i've ever seen such an ugly monument. it's not even worth including a picture of - google it if you must. we just missed its opening hours, though i'm not sure i really want to see the man's remains anyway. from there we.. well, we got lost for a while. but eventually we found our way to the one-pillar pagoda. it was rather small - sort of like a treehouse - but impressive in that it was built in the mid-11th century. today it looks rather unremarkable, a stocky pillar coming out of a smallish koi pond surrounded by tourists. from there we went towards the temple of literature. but not before being verbally assaulted by a disgruntled and very vulgar rickshaw driver. lovely. that, combined with the long walk around 3/4 of the temple of literature's giant walls left us rather cranky. i'm not sure what i had expected, but this wasn't quite it. it was very.. chinese. to be expected, since they built it. everything was very red and gold. by the time we had made it through we were ready for a rest. another taxi back to the hotel and it was naptime. (or in my case, watch bad tv movies until dinnertime.)

around 7 we ventured out again, this time in search of a fish. we walked down a few streets and made it to the place. hard to miss, since it had no fewer than three neon signs boasting its name: cha ca la vong (also the name of the fish). this particular one has apparently appeared on lists of foods to eat before you die. i suppose because it's only available in a particular region of vietnam. despite its fame the place was rather quiet downstairs and the owner and other employees all seemed to pounce on us. we literally had ingredients being delivered to our table before we had finished making our drink orders (side note: passion fruit smoothie, delicious). the preparation of the fish contributes the experience - various herbs and oils are thrown into a pan and then the fish is cooked right at your table. it was tough to get a decent picture with all the steam pouring up. the fish itself was pretty good. could i have happily died without eating it? probably. but still a worthwhile experience.

fire and water

from there we walked to the water puppet theater. once inside we realized why the shows fill up so quickly. the place is tiny! and cramped. i can't imagine how anyone taller would have managed - and i'm only 5'5". the show itself was quite good. a nice mix of traditional music (the musicians and singers were on stage to the left of the water) and skits that revealed a bit about aspects of life in rural vietnam - fishing, water buffalo, rice paddies. we never did quite figure out the logistics of the puppeteering.. sometimes the puppets stayed close to the curtain at back, but other times they came out quite far into the water... still not sure where the puppeteers were. they ended, naturally, with a dragon and fire to make it a big finish.

it was a long day in hanoi.. one that seemed all the more hectic because of motorbikes constantly whipping by, giant intersections with difficult traffic patterns, and sidewalks filled with all sorts of obstacles - some stationary, others less so.