Hanoi - yowza!

Mass chaos on the streets of Hanoi
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We now begin our journey through Vietnam, starting with Hanoi in the north. What a culture shock as we arrived in Hanoi. Now we are back to the constant honking of the cars and motorbikes --- and oh soooo many motorbikes. As we walked through the old quarter, we stopped and just sat in awe wondering how we would ever cross the street. The drivers don’t pay attention to any lanes or and in many cases, they even ignore the stop lights. We’re not sure why they have crosswalks at all as they are virtually meaningless. Our guide gave us advice and basically it was that you walk very slow and consistently across the street and the bikes will weave around you – and they do. Very funny though to watch them all come to a head at a busy intersection – it’s mass chaos. The density of people in the old quarter is very high and obviously the number of motorbikes is too.

He could get a few more boxes on there, don't you think?
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Now that we have the initial culture shock out of the way, let’s touch on the second impression of Hanoi. It’s not the cleanest city let’s just say as there is litter all along the streets. You’ll also see the street vendors putting food on the sidewalk as they clean it. We first witnessed this as the ladies at the stall next to our hotel cleaned the chicken feet for the upcoming dinner rush. The place was packed later with people just eating a pile of feet, so it’s just one of those cultural differences.

Ho Chi Minh - an icon in Vietnam
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As for sightseeing, we went to a water puppet show, the famed Hanoi Hilton prison from the Vietnam war (which really focused on the French prison back when the Vietnamese were imprisoned here when they fought for independence from the French prior to the Vietnam war), the Ho Chi Minh museum, the Temple of Literature and walked through various great shops in the quarter. The silk shops were fantastic as were many of the other boutiques. We remained disciplined however and didn’t make any purchases. My big splurge was on a $9 pedicure which I desperately needed and it was fantastic. What a bargain too.

Haircut anyone????
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On the food front, we had to have the Pho which is the classic Vietnamese dish of soup broth with rice noodles and beef. We went to Pho 24 which is the McDonalds of Vietnam when it comes to Pho. It was quite yummy. There are also a number of other cuisines available in Hanoi and many with the French influence due to their rule here in the early 1900s. We also enjoyed some of the local beers and one of those experiences included a stop in a local sidewalk pub of sorts where you can get a glass of draught beer for 2500 Vietnamese Dong (or $0.16 !!!). Granted the beer wasn’t quite as good as the bottled beers, but hey, it’s what the locals have so we had to try it. The best part is that everyone sits on these miniature plastic seats that are child size.

Old quarter at night
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Sadly, eating dog is commonplace here as well and we did see a fully cooked dog in the market as we walked through. Our tour guide tells us that pet dogs that are not brought in at night might be stolen as they can fetch around $25 if sold to a restaurant. Apparently, finding a good vet can also be a problem as dogs have been known to go “missing” while at a visit to the vet. I know we won’t be trying that while we are here.

Our guide is local and is very good about explaining differences that still exist between those in north Vietnam and south Vietnam. We certainly understand more about the history of Vietnam knowing now that they’ve always been occupied and ruled by some other country (China, France) and explains why they’ve fought so fiercely for independence over the last century.

Sales on wheels - toys to shoes, you name it!
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One other funny observation, there is a street for everything here – meaning for instance, that if you need mushrooms, you head to this specific street and most all stalls sell mushrooms. We found this with everything – housewares, spices, Christmas goods, shoes, hardware, you name it. Too funny.

Off now to see the beautiful limstone karsts in Halong Bay…..

Tidbit of the day: The nice thing here is that most everyone celebrates Christmas – even the Buddhists. Catholics make up only maybe 10% of the population, but everyone loves Christmas regardless of their religion. We see Christmas decorations at many businesses and hotels everywhere we go. We even saw someone carrying their Christmas tree home on the back of the their motorbike. A missed photo opportunity there!