We both need a stiff drink!
It’s been a terrifying day...but I’ll come to that later!
Breakfast Assortment
We then headed to the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, or Uncle Ho as people call him in Hanoi. He is the founding father of Vietnam and is certainly much revered in the North; he brought communism to Vietnam and became the first president of the Democratic Republic before presenting the Bill of Independence on the spot where he is now lying in state.
After visiting the mausoleum, we drove to the Temple of Literature & National University, constructed in 1070; it is a Temple of Confucius and was built by Emporer Ly Thanh Tong. It is a beautiful construction, originally built for the royal children. The temple is featured on the back of the 100,000 Vietnamese Dong note and is the symbol of Hanoi. As we were walking in, two eight year old boys asked if they could ask us questions in English; we were waiting for the guide to buy our ticket to the temple so we obliged. They asked, in pretty perfect English, our names, where we were from, age, what we did, how long we were staying in Vietnam, very impressive; they will probably be Confucius scholars at some point in the future!
After lunch, we got back in the car to do a walking tour of Hanoi’s Old Quarter and visit, what is now called, Hanoi’s Train Street. So, back to why it has been a terrifying day....
It’s a chicken
And this chicken is for a gift!
We were both shattered again, I think its the beeping of horns more than the touring though. Tomorrow is another 9am start so earlyish night before we drive to Ha long Bay; you might know it from Tomorrow Never Dies or Kong:Skull Island......
We had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel as we weren’t meeting our guide until 9am in the hotel lobby. Our first port of call would be the Ethnology Museum; it was only a 20 minute journey and the traffic wasn’t too bad. We found out about the 54 different peoples of Vietnam, in which 86% are Viet. The museum was a collaboration between the Vietnamese and French and is well worth a visit; Iain particularly liked the replica of a community house of one of the tribes. The best part of the museum was finding out about burials; apparently, people will keep coffins in their homes for as long as is needed, sometimes up to a week, then bury the body. After around 5 years, they will dig up the coffin and clean the bones before cremating. Luan explained that sometimes the bones have flesh still on them which either needs to be cut off or the body reburied until a later date; the family do this!
Breakfast Assortment
We then headed to the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, or Uncle Ho as people call him in Hanoi. He is the founding father of Vietnam and is certainly much revered in the North; he brought communism to Vietnam and became the first president of the Democratic Republic before presenting the Bill of Independence on the spot where he is now lying in state.
After visiting the mausoleum, we drove to the Temple of Literature & National University, constructed in 1070; it is a Temple of Confucius and was built by Emporer Ly Thanh Tong. It is a beautiful construction, originally built for the royal children. The temple is featured on the back of the 100,000 Vietnamese Dong note and is the symbol of Hanoi. As we were walking in, two eight year old boys asked if they could ask us questions in English; we were waiting for the guide to buy our ticket to the temple so we obliged. They asked, in pretty perfect English, our names, where we were from, age, what we did, how long we were staying in Vietnam, very impressive; they will probably be Confucius scholars at some point in the future!
It was now after midday and time for lunch; Luan took us to a little side street so we could have Bún Cha, a speciality of Hanoi and made more popular by President Obama eating it on a visit here. It is a soup, made of fish sauce (not as we know it!), vegetables and barbecued pork with noodles on the side which you dunk in then eat! We also had crab and mushroom spring rolls which were delicious, shame Iain doesn’t eat either.
After lunch, we got back in the car to do a walking tour of Hanoi’s Old Quarter and visit, what is now called, Hanoi’s Train Street. So, back to why it has been a terrifying day....
Guest Editor Iain Contributing Here
After lunch we went to the old quarter. Sounds a fun relaxing side street from ye olden times right? WRONG! It’s a carnage infused hot mess of a place. Firstly, imagine a kind of farmers market in the streets of a dense Asian city. Secondly, imagine the roads are narrow, without markings, and split off into tight twisting side streets every 20 yards. Thirdly, imagine ten thousand scooters driven by mad folk, 3 abreast, each direction, honking their horns and going faster than Usain Bolt avoiding a drugs test. It was pretty much that all afternoon. Luckily, we had our ever-dependable guide holding back traffic like Moses as we crossed roads and navigated alleyways; he was our own personal Jesus. We mainly survived. It was even fun once you got the hang of it. The trick was that they don’t want to hit you more than you want to be hit. So, you just brave it out and wander into the road like you are drunk looking for a nearby wall to hang onto. It works! Sometimes traffic did slow down though, just through sheer volume of things competing for space, and at one point we got caught in a bit of jam and we were in the road with the bikes and trying to get by, it was elbows out for everyone! Anyway, it was an experience, and even now I can hear horns in 3D all around me recalling the scene. I have never been closer to being batman. Footage below. Anyway, back to Angela!
It’s a chicken
And this chicken is for a gift!
After an hour of walking about, accompanied by sheer anxiety, we got to the street railway line. Of course it makes sense to have a railway line going between shops and cafes in the middle of the city......we WALKED along the street railway before finding a coffee shop to try “egg coffee” and watch the train go by; totally normal, or not? Firstly, egg coffee; its delicious! It is served in a cup which is steeping in a bowl of hot water, there is condensed milk in the bottom, followed by a layer of coffee then a layer of beaten egg white on top! You stir it and drink as fast as you can; I know it sounds horrible, but its not! The cafe had an upper level so we sat looking out onto the tracks; I know what your thinking, the street must be super wide and there must be railings? No! About 5 minutes before the train comes, everyone on the side of the track needs to move to a specific side and the tables and chairs packed away on the other. A security person, then stops traffic and all the cafe owners move the foreigners to the correct bit to stand. You hear the horn first, followed by the rumble; then this huge train comes into view, taking up almost all the space between the buildings! The train isn’t going fast, but its not going slow either. All very strange!
Video here!
Once the train had left, we continue along the tracks for another 100 metres. Our driver had gone for the day so we hopped in a taxi back to the hotel before saying our goodbyes to Luan for the day. It was now 4pm and we were exhausted! We decided to go for a relaxing drink in the rooftop bar just beside our hotel. As the hotel lift doors opened, a very welcoming monk said hello. He asked where we were from; it turns out there is a Buddhism conference on in our hotel and monks from all over the world are here. First time I have spoken to a monk, and certainly the first time I have met a monk from Australia. Anyway, back to the bar, it’s on the 19th floor and has cracking views of the city; somehow we managed to find the service elevator to it by mistake, but we made it thanks to a very kind person! I had a “Hanoi Summer” cocktail with vodka, lychee syrup, raspberry purée, fresh raspberries and thyme leaves; it was much needed. We only had one drink before heading back to the hotel, a 30 second walk away.
We went for another drink and found out it was chocolate happy hour; they apparently have this every day and its all inclusive for guests! We had a couple of beers and some chocolate cakes, pastry and chocolate desserts and chocolate buttons; lovely combination. We thought we would stay a bit longer and share something light to eat; this strange young guy came up to us and asked Iain if he could sit with us. Iain looked at him after shaking his hand and said “No”. Then he wandered off. He had already taken some bread from someone else in the before getting to us. Thankfully security ushered him out, but apparently he was hungry and was trying to blag his way around the hotel!
We were both shattered again, I think its the beeping of horns more than the touring though. Tomorrow is another 9am start so earlyish night before we drive to Ha long Bay; you might know it from Tomorrow Never Dies or Kong:Skull Island......
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Comments
Post a Comment