We awake the next morning to Hanoi in full flow. The old quarter is exactly that, an old maze of narrow streets and alleys lined with tiny shops and food stalls selling all kinds of things, flowing out onto the road making it narrower still. And along these narrow lanes are a sea of mororbikes laden with all sorts of cargo and various numbers of people (so far four on a bike is our maximum) going about their daily business. Probably only four metres of potholed tamac separated us from the other side, but it was still a challenge. Women trying to sell us fans, lighters, doughnuts, hats and t shirts also form part of the melee of obstructions to our crossing, as well as women in their conical hats with their baskets joined by a piece of wood over their shoulders.
It was all too much so we move to the haven of Highland's Coffee, high above the traffic with a view of Hanoi's answer to Piccadilly Circus, the nearest to a Starbuck's you can find here to consult the LP Bible, work out the map and decide on our next move, well that at least for Ant and Gill. In a mistaken moment, we had introduced David to Candy Crush and like crack cocaine, he was instantly hooked. So as David played away to catch up with us both, we worked out a walk around town, mainly focused on eating, shopping, drinking and ice cream. Having lunch in the courtyard of a lovely old building was great until we spotted a rather large rat ambling along... It was a very successful day, and we also managed to fit in a few of the sights, the Hoa Kiem Lake, the "Hanoi Hilton" (a prison...) and paid our Catholic respects at the Cathedral. The evening saw an early bia hoi on the streets, again perched on our little plastic chairs watching assorted locals, tourists and soapdodgers going by.
The next day was set aside for the big "set piece", a visit to see Uncle Ho in his mausoleum. After spending some time in the slowly snaking queue, watching various parades of small children and teachers who had also come to pay their respects, we finally get to see the great man again. The good news is that he is still looking peaceful, although to our eyes slightly more botoxed than before, he must have overdone the spa treatments on his annual visit back to Moscow for his refurb... We followed this with a cultural visit to the Hanoi Art Gallery, surprisingly good, but again, perhaps influenced by the rather good wine bar on site...
For dinner, we return to Quan An Ngon an amazing safe "street food" place and in the taxi back, the Hanoi traffic takes on an even more surreal feel. As it's Saturday, it's manic anyway and then hundreds of inline skaters appear followed closely by Hanoi youth doing "wheelies" in and out of the traffic on their motorbikes. The only way to cope with the stress was yet another bia hoi on a small plastic chair...
On day three we plan yet another day of eating, shopping and drinking before we get the evening overnight train up to Sapa, so have an enjoyable day including going to "Fanny's" - I know, some names don't translate easily - but rather good ice cream despite the name. A return visit is planned.
But we do also make the effort to go to the Military Museum - thinking back, the fact that they have a branch of Highland's Coffee there may have influenced our decision. A fab lunch at Au Lac, another old French colonial building and Ant is still getting his regular fix of pho (pronounced "fer"), David hasn't quite taken to it and has now announced he has a "ferbia"...Ant and I have revisited a few sights here we saw last time, hence David deciding we were flashbacking, not flashpacking... But we have all discovered parts of Hanoi we didn't even know existed last time....
We are coming back to Hanoi but for now we go to the station for the train. Given our Hanoi rat experience, it's strange we are still surprised to see the name of the train company we are travelling with - Ratraco Express....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:QL 4E,,Vietnam
