Hanoi – The Paris of the Orient

My journey continues ever northbound to Hanoi — and to meet up with meet Lynsey Seminary. She and I have worked together at Simpson for the past 4+ years and became great friends along the way.  We began conspiring to leave our jobs and travel the world, and agreed to meet in Vietnam at some point. Lynsey started her journey in January in northern Thailand and then headed over to Laos. We figured we’d both be near Hanoi right about the same time so we stayed in touch to make it happen.

i arrived in Hanoi on Valentine’s Day,  a few days before Lynsey was expected via bus with John whom I’d traveled with in Phong Nha and Ninh Binh and who was going that way as well, and I had booked a hostel called The Advisor for a few nights.  After he walked me to my hostel to make sure I got there safely, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways and I set out to discover this teeming city of 7.7 million people, second in size only to Ho Chi Minh City in the south with 8.4 million.  Hoàn Kiếm Lake, shown below, is in the center of Hanoi and is a focal point for visitors and locals to gather.

Set along the banks of the Red River, this ancient city has been around since Imperial times.  I learned that the city was centered on the Old Quarter and celebrated its 1000th birthday as a city in 2010. This place is ancient and saturated with history.

The interesting thing about the streets of Old Quarter is the avenues were dedicated to one specific trade. Back in the day, craftsmen from villages around the city would gather together in the same section of town to sell their wares. Because of this, the streets took on the name of the items sold there. For example, there is Copper Wares Street, called Hang Dong (“Hang” meaning shop or wares) and  Hàng Tre street (“bamboo wares street”) as well as streets for wooden bowls, hemp, combs, sweet potatoes, and clam worms, whatever those are!  And…Hang Quat, street of flags…wait.  Flags? Like those colorful vibrant square flags I’d seen in Ninh Binh and had begun to covet? I felt a mission coming on…

My hostel was just off the street of sweets- how appropriate! 😍

And the food!! The street food here is legendary.  Bun bo nam bo.  Egg coffee. Bahn mi. Pho bo or pho ga. Fried bananas with coconut milk. Vietnamese coffee. O. M. G.

BUN BO NAM BO  was recommended to me by my friend Katie Stone. I had tried it once and was underwhelmed so I gave it another shot at the restaurant bearing its name. Hurray! Muuuuuch better. Simple white rice noodles, marinated beef, peanuts, cilantro, and a killer sauce. For a price of maybe $1.75 you can’t go wrong!

EGG COFFEE  – had my first in Hoi An, although this is a Hanoi thing. Rich black hot Vietnamese coffee topped with a thick creamy layer of egg yolk whipped with condensed milk and who knows what else.  I’ve heard cheese. I’ve heard butter.  This drink is amazing. So good – think mousse or a whipped meringue or creme brûlée-ish on top of steaming strong coffee. Just try it. Trust me. You will love it.

PHO BO  Pho (“fuh”) is a beef broth soup made with star anise and cinnamon, garlic and onions and full of rice vermicelli noodles and slices of beef.  It varies, but you usually get a plate of bean sprouts, limes, thai basil and possibly cilantro to add as you’d like to your soup.  Incidentally, this is often served for breakfast. And pho ga is the chicken based variety… either soup can be had for around $1.25 to $1.75 or so.

BAO. Little pillows of delight. Soft puffy dough filled with minced pork and a bbq-like sauce and maybe onions and cilantro, these can be purchased from little carts around town.

FRIED BANANAS.  Actually they are grilled – after being coated in some type of crunchy goodness. Then they are smothered in coconut milk and topped with crushed peanuts and shredded coconut.  Found these on my first foray into the Old Quarter and went back for more the next day. 20,000 dong will buy you this bit of heaven (87 cents or so).

I had headed to Hanoi because of Tet – Vietnamese New Year. It’s a very important holiday in this country, and lasts about a week. Most shops, stores and restaurants close, as their owners and employees head home, wherever that may be, to celebrate with family. I hoped that, unlike small towns and villages such as Ninh Binh, Hanoi would have enough businesses open for me to find food and coffee.

In the morning I headed out to check out the town. It was a few days before Tet and the place was a kaleidoscope of red, gold and crimson. Everyone was out in the streets doing their last-minute shopping for paper goods, balloons, decorations, greeting cards, dried fruits, holiday outfits for babies, and candy.  It was a madhouse!

In America at Christmastime we buy poinsettia flowers and Christmas trees — here they purchase kumquat trees and peach trees. The peach trees are actually stripped of their foliage and tiny silk blossoms are wired onto the branches to sit alongside the natural blossoms. And like everything else here, transport is often by motorbike.

The streets were a riot of color, sounds, smells and sights as everyone bustled about. All of the public places like parks, plazas and squares had been decorated with the kumquat trees and bright yellow chrysanthemums, many of them grown in Dalat where I had been just a few weeks ago.

I walked out of the crazy busy Old Quarter to see what else this city had in store.  A fellow traveler had told me about a set of railroad tracks that ran right down the middle of a narrow city block that was a quirky, worth-the-walk kind of thing to see, so I headed out in search of it.  He was correct.  Narrow street.  Tracks running smack dab down the middle.  Other westerners wandering around marveling and taking pix.  I loved spotting this old green chair along the tracks, with the number “12”stenciled on its side.  The locals went about their business, cooking, cutting hair and generally ignoring us tourists as we marveled and Instagrammed.

I moseyed into some cool little side streets and alleyways, finding very interesting photo ops.

 

But by the next morning, the streets had grown eerily quiet. After the level of noise experienced earlier it was strange. The city was beginning to shut down and empty out as the people of Hanoi left the city to reunite with friends and family to celebrate Tet.

On New Years Eve, Thursday February 15, I was in my bed at midnight when the fireworks began. I ran down the four flights of stairs in my bare feet to see if I could see the display – there were so many explosions, I knew it had to be beautiful. However, the fireworks were just out of sight and I couldn’t see them at all.  I sadly went back into the hostel, and the shy owner motioned for me to sit down with him in front of the tv which was televising the national display, and opened a bottle of Dalat red wine and a package of cookies for us to share.

HAPPY NEW YEAR – THE YEAR OF THE DOG !!  Welcome 2018…An khang thịnh vượng (security, good health, and prosperity)

(And in case you were dying to know, I found the Street of Flags and a charming shop selling the flags I was obsessed about.  Turns out from my research that this style of square flag with the curly-ques are displayed to indicate the location of temples and pagodas.  I bought a few, and am looking forward to having them flutter in the breeze from my porch at my apartment in Denver!)

Lynsey arrived in Hanoi and we met at the JW Marriott for a well deserved and anticipated treat – I had booked a room for us for a couple of nights at the ridiculous price of 15,000 points per night.  Any of you that have Marriott points know that a crappy Fairfield Inn in Durango or Omaha is usually 25-30,000 points per night, so we totally scored on this!  And what a place…totally swanky.  Upscale.  Full of rich, fat Asian foreigners, probably here to celebrate Tet as well.  I was upgraded to a suite and because I’m a Gold member from all my business travel, we were able to use the Concierge Floor and have free breakfast, afternoon tea, free full on dinners with all drinks included, the use of the jacuzzi, steam room and sauna as well!  Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE traveling “low to the ground” as Theresa calls it – staying in hostels for $6-10/night, eating street food, drinking local beer for 60 cents…but c’mon.  Who doesn’t love a bit of luxury!!!  High thread-count sheets.  Fluffy pillows.  Hot, long showers with amazing products to use/take.  We had a blast relaxing, napping, jacuzzi-ing and eating things we hadn’t had for weeks like cheese and non-Vietnamese red wine! We.  Did. Not. Leave. The hotel.  The entire time.  Granted, it was in the convention center area of town and we could see that the streets and sidewalks below were empty and silent, so there was really nowhere to go.  We enjoyed being lazy and catching up on Simpson gossip, our future travel plans and drinking lots of free wine.

We enjoyed our time at the JW, but looked forward to heading to the beautiful and iconic Halong Bay and Cat Ba, just a few hours from Hanoi.  We planned to explore, kayak and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

We live but a fraction of our life.  Why do we not let in the flood, raise the gates, and set all our wheels in motion?       Emily Dickinson