We've spent the last week exploring Hanoi, the cultural center of Vietnam. It's not a city, like Bangkok is a city. It feels more like a small town with a couple odd high rises. The city is built around multiple lakes, the central one being Hoan Kiem Lake...a tree lined lake, popular with the locals for a shady break or stroll.
Hanoi has no mass transportation system except buses, but walking is easy enough, provided you're comfortable getting lost in the narrow alley ways of the Old Quarter and crossing the street. Motobikes rule the road here and they seem to come in hoards. Lee and I have watched multiple foreigners wait in frustration for a break...something that almost never happens. From my experience, the best strategy is to wade confidently through the traffic...with exception of the buses, the motorbikes will swerve around you.
Admittedly, we have taken a couple of taxis, although we generally avoid them; 1 because you don't really need them and 2 because the meters are often rigged. We were ripped off by a jumping meter on our way to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum.
But it was all worth it. Except for the Disney-humored water puppet show, seeing Ho Chi Minh was one of my favorite things we did.
Ho Chi Minh, aka Uncle Ho, is a loved Vietnamese revolutionary who led Vietnam to Independence and is now on display in his own Mausoleum. It's a grand granite structure, protected by multiple white dressed soldiers and once inside, you follow a red carpeted path along his tomb, where he lays embalmed. It's surreal. And get this, it has to close for 2 months in the fall to do "work" on him. Ewww.
Also interesting was his museum, clearly a communist/soviet style building full of "information," something I've only seen in books.
Food. Admittedly, it took us a couple of days to feel comfortable eating at the local stool stalls on squat stools. But since then, we've tried a variety of dishes, some I don't even know the name of. Vietnamese comes in far less spicy than Thai food, although there's always more chillies on the tables. Oh, and they really do eat Pho, primarily for breakfast and lunch...but they do. Which is unbelievable considering the current heat. The last thing I want when I'm dripping in the humid heat is a hot bowl of soup. We've also spent a couple nights drinking the local brew (only 3,000 VND or 18 cents) on a street corner filled with gringos (Lee calls this place the future Khao San Road).
For the past 8 nights we've stayed in a small windowless room at Blue Paradise Hotel (C+, clean, good A/C, conniving staff, the place seems to cater to "hourly" customers). Although a good price at 14USD, I will not be staying in a windowless room again for such a long period of time. It got to be a bit depressing.
Separate from the windowless hole, Hanoi has been a struggle for me. The people are quite unfriendly and sometimes almost evil. I'm sure this is not all Vietnamese, but I do often question how much they really want us (westerners) here. This combined with our visa issues has lead us to change our original plans. We've decided to stay in Vietnam for only 1 month (per our visa), and spend the remaining 4 weeks in southern Thailand. Yipppee!
Hanoi has no mass transportation system except buses, but walking is easy enough, provided you're comfortable getting lost in the narrow alley ways of the Old Quarter and crossing the street. Motobikes rule the road here and they seem to come in hoards. Lee and I have watched multiple foreigners wait in frustration for a break...something that almost never happens. From my experience, the best strategy is to wade confidently through the traffic...with exception of the buses, the motorbikes will swerve around you.
Admittedly, we have taken a couple of taxis, although we generally avoid them; 1 because you don't really need them and 2 because the meters are often rigged. We were ripped off by a jumping meter on our way to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum.
But it was all worth it. Except for the Disney-humored water puppet show, seeing Ho Chi Minh was one of my favorite things we did.
Ho Chi Minh, aka Uncle Ho, is a loved Vietnamese revolutionary who led Vietnam to Independence and is now on display in his own Mausoleum. It's a grand granite structure, protected by multiple white dressed soldiers and once inside, you follow a red carpeted path along his tomb, where he lays embalmed. It's surreal. And get this, it has to close for 2 months in the fall to do "work" on him. Ewww.
Also interesting was his museum, clearly a communist/soviet style building full of "information," something I've only seen in books.
Food. Admittedly, it took us a couple of days to feel comfortable eating at the local stool stalls on squat stools. But since then, we've tried a variety of dishes, some I don't even know the name of. Vietnamese comes in far less spicy than Thai food, although there's always more chillies on the tables. Oh, and they really do eat Pho, primarily for breakfast and lunch...but they do. Which is unbelievable considering the current heat. The last thing I want when I'm dripping in the humid heat is a hot bowl of soup. We've also spent a couple nights drinking the local brew (only 3,000 VND or 18 cents) on a street corner filled with gringos (Lee calls this place the future Khao San Road).
For the past 8 nights we've stayed in a small windowless room at Blue Paradise Hotel (C+, clean, good A/C, conniving staff, the place seems to cater to "hourly" customers). Although a good price at 14USD, I will not be staying in a windowless room again for such a long period of time. It got to be a bit depressing.
Separate from the windowless hole, Hanoi has been a struggle for me. The people are quite unfriendly and sometimes almost evil. I'm sure this is not all Vietnamese, but I do often question how much they really want us (westerners) here. This combined with our visa issues has lead us to change our original plans. We've decided to stay in Vietnam for only 1 month (per our visa), and spend the remaining 4 weeks in southern Thailand. Yipppee!
2 comments:
It's interesting to hear your experience there. The one month visa is now a blessing in disguise. I hope knowing you are leaving in a month makes it easier to enjoy the time you are spending there. Enjoy southern Thailand!
Angele,
Yeah, I think it will.
Post a Comment