Well OK we did arrive late at night but I eventually got to say the immortal Robin William's line. The shared mini bus from the airport to central Hanoi was very civilised and uneventful apart from of course when we arrived in the heart of Hanoi...moped stampedes is the only description to explain the traffic. Hitting from front, back and sides there is wall to wall mopeds, a rude awakening after the relative peace of Siem Reap. This place is INSANE...but fun so I changed into a new little number and we hit the town:
Our guesthouse was located down this little alley which, dependent upon the time of day/night seems to have new and different stalls popping up. Sometimes you have the butchery delights, a pig being decapitated or fresh fish quietly suffocating on a banana leaf or two. Next could be dumplings, moped repair or tour operators, amazing versatility for such a small alley.
So the plan was to spend two days in Hanoi with a trip to Halong Bay in between which I've added as a separate post. There was so much to see just wandering the streets but to escape the traffic mayhem we take a look at some of the sites. Hoa Lo prison or the 'Hanoi Hilton' as nicknamed by American POWs although much of the museum is focussed on the Vietnamese struggle for independence from the French.
The Vietnamese Women's museum took you through the various stages of life, birth, marriage and family etc. providing some brilliant insight into present and historic ways of life. The strong message is that, really, the women do pretty much everything...I suppose that is why there isn't a Vietnamese Men's museum?
The Municipal Water Puppet Theatre show was bloomin' brilliant, couldn't understand a word of the story but the music and puppetry was superb...great fun!
There are huge parts of the Old Quarter designated to shopping and many of the streets contain sellers of the same type of goods. For example, haberdashery street only sells buttons, cotton, or materials whilst shoe street unsurprisingly sells footwear. Apparently this is to bring the best experience to the consumer ensuring 1) they know where to go for specific goods and 2) don't have to walk far for bargaining and price comparison. On the way back from the puppet show I realised the top of my thigh felt sore so when we got back to the guesthouse I checked and found three deep scratches. Matt reckons someone probably tried to cut my pocket, luckily for me I had my super magic travel trousers on which don't have a mark on...puzzling!
The tip of Hoan Kiem Lake borders the Old Quarter and was lovely to walk around, day or night, for extra hustle and bustle!
Usually we find the desire to escape from the bigger cities after a couple of days but there is something a bit different about Hanoi. Even though we are freezing our butts off, have grey sky and rain, we have enjoyed our time here, a great introduction to Vietnam and looking forward to Hue tomorrow (2nd February).
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