Hanoi, one of the few cities that has a direct flight from Vientiane (via Lao Airlines), is practically the opposite of Vientiane.
Where Vientiane is quiet and calm, Hanoi is loud and crazy. Where Vientiane takes 15 minutes to drive from the airport, through the city center, and to the other side of the city limits, Hanoi stretches out for miles and miles.
While I loved the colors and all the different shops and restaurants, the traffic and car craziness definitely lived up to its name. Someone told me that when in Vientam, the best way to cross the street is to "close your eyes and just start walking". Usually I just took my queues from Nick, who seemed to have the pedestrian-in-Vietnam style down, but when I was out walking by myself, I found myself cupping my hands around my eyes and humming at a loud volume just to block out all the sensations and potentially fatal distractions (not unlike an autistic person). At one point I noticed that an older Vietnamese woman had crossed the street next to me and was a little worried at the tall white girl who was humming loudly to herself.
I didn't take any pictures of myself, or of the group, just random things I saw around. We were in Hanoi only Thursday night and Sunday night, having spent the rest of the weekend on a cruise in Ha Long Bay.
Having gotten in late Thursday evening, we went straight to the hotel, where we then passed out. (We stayed at the Tirant Hotel, which had a great location and incredibly welcoming staff.)
Friday morning the van from the Bhaya Cruise line picked us up at 8am.
(See other blog entries for Ha Long Bay cruise info)
Sunday afternoon we got dropped off. Nick and I wandered around the Old Quarter, including a walk around the lake and an exploration to the luxury area of Hanoi.
Reindeer with flowers at the lake in the Old Quarter.
Woman gardening in the park.
This building was designed around the tree. It's awesome.
This is the statue near the park. A bit intimidating.
Saw this on our walk: A man doing work on the front of a building. Pretty sure his ladder is perched on an inch-wide ledge. He was tied to the top of the building with a rope that circled his waist.
We met with Nick's cousin and her friend to go to the Orchid Restaurant, which has a cooking class during the day but had really good food at night. Easily my favorite dish of the night was "Steamed fish in a clay pot". What they don't tell you is that the fish is served in caramel sauce. I will eat anything served in caramel sauce.
After the dinner we went to the Green Mango, which had expensive drinks. And "Fresh Squeezed Cow Juices". And a chocolate martini that was really just vodka and vermouth in a martini glass, with chocolate around the rim.
Until you order Bailey's and Kahlua and a cup of chocolate syrup and make it taste delicious.
Chocolate martini : before
From there we found a taxi to "take us to karaoke, please". What he did: drove us around the outside of the quarter for 10 minutes, charged us $15, and dropped us off four blocks from where he picked us up. No karaoke in sight. So we went to a bar, drank some beers, and had them play the Eagles, Gnarles Barkley, and Marvin Gaye at a loud volume so we could sing along.
We then moved to an expat bar with a pool table and hookahs and spent a bit of time there. As the Old Quarter shuts down at midnight, we got "locked in", where the bar closed down from the front, with all of us on the inside, and when we left a half hour later, we had to go out the side door.
The next day I went on a walk around the Old Quarter, and then Nick, Elaine and I searching for a museum. Unfortunately, the Vietnam National History Museum is closed on Mondays, along with most of the museums. Luckily we walked by the Women's Museum, and that one was actually open. It was really cool, and gave a ton of information about the roles of women in marriage, family, war (particularly the American-Vietnam war) and in rural villages. It was particularly interesting because there are so many ethnic groups in Vietnam, both matrilineal and patrilineal.
Women in Vietnam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Vietnam
After a lunch at the Aubergine Restaurant, we went across the street to an art vendor. The paintings (both originals and reproductions) were all ridiculously cheap!
Nick and I bought this one for $20 :)
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