Hanoi, Vietnam

This is a photo heavy post - be prepared!

Sailing into Ha Long Bay ("Descending Dragon" Bay) which is a World Heritage Site due to the phenomenal rock formations.

The first question to be answered is do we take a tour into Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam? It is 2 ½ hours
one-way from our port at Ha Long Bay. Have we ever been to Hanoi? Will we be back again? Should we see what life is like in the capital city? Two no’s and a yes got us on a 10.5-hour (closer to 12 in the end) tour into Hanoi. First came a spectacular expressway with minimal traffic showing the flat terrain with numerous fish farms and ever-present water. Slowly the rural gave way to suburban and on the horizon we see quite a few high rises but not nearly as packed together as our recent stops.

"On our way inland to Hanoi with agriculture everywhere. People working in rice paddies, growing vegies, banana trees, and in waterways, traps and nets for shrimp, mussels, you name it. We saw and smelled it all at the open markets in fresh and dried form. Our chef on board was delighted to land here and get restocked. (We shared a mini shuttle bus with him and he said that Shanghai had the 6 different kinds of tomatoes he needed along with crates of foodstuffs for us...but we didn't get to land there.)"

The scooter chaos and general driving chaos became more obvious the further we moved into the city.

There were surprises to be experienced. Our bus pulled up (we are back to driving on the right side of
the road) to the right curb leaving a couple of feet from the doorway to the sidewalk. The shock as we
exited was that scooters were suddenly using this narrow space as a car-free zone and coming from
BOTH!!! directions. The cross street was one-way so scooters were turning just at the corner. I have
never had to look both ways to exit a bus safely.

Part of the allure of this trip was going into back alley Hanoi where an eco-art project was started during Covid. The idea is to reclaim and enhance an area that has become a dumping ground. A group of artists banded together and repurposed refuse along a river area. Fascinating. Innovative. With a good statement.

Getting there reminded us of walking streets in China back in the day except that motorized scooters have now taken the place of bicycles. It is hard to explain the closeness, and sense of claustrophobia you get when too many conveyances moving at too many different speeds try to fit into too small a space. We needed to watch our heads as we walked under a bridge designed by Eiffel (yes, Eiffel tower Eiffel) and built in 1908. The narrow passage we started up barely had enough room for two people to walk side by side, but we still had to make space for numerous scooters passing by. Note the rats nests of wirings; in one photo there are loudspeakers above the wire rats nest—"twice a day, the government uses those loudspeakers to convey the news of the day to the poor people there,” our guide shared.

"Wondering if next Chinese New Year is the year of the horse due to the number of horses we are seeing."

Our second stop was a silk shop where artists were weaving with silk on one level, selling silk scarves or Vietnamese “ao dai” on two other floors (“custom-fit in three hours!” but luckily I found one that fit), then bulk coffee and chocolate products on the 5th floor. I learned that Vietnam is the second largest producer of coffee in the world after Brazil. Whodathunk? It is grown in the highlands.

Third stop on this tour was to a Confucian Temple dating back about a thousand years, introduced by
the Chinese during one of their occupations. Our guide said, “Shrines are for worshiping. Temples are
for praying.” Our group took obligatory photos and are already getting a bit tired of temples and
shrines… We walked a couple blocks (and across traffic with no traffic signals) to our place for lunch: a culinary school whose motto is on a photo: Know one. Teach one.

The four-course meal was plenteous and fresh and delicious. It was helpful that we needed to climb four stories to get to our seating area. Used up lots of calories to make room for more food. (But this was actually totally representative of Vietnam: real estate is so expensive that they build up rather than out. According to our guide, “folks have their shop on street level and park their scooter there, middle levels are for 3-4 family units living together, and the fifth floor is for ancestor worship.”) Private homes can be a maximum of five stories high.

Then we were swept to a 3-story art museum that highlighted a lacquer-style of artwork that is uniquely
Vietnamese. We were enthralled with the wall hangings and sculptures. Sadly, a number of them used
wartime images in the Vietnamese jungle as the topic. But there’s more to do yet in Hanoi today! Hanoi has a famous area called the French Quarter dating back to the late 1800s when France was the occupier. The buildings and architecture remain and due to the high rent of the area, are filled with consulates, embassies, and rich people. But it’s a beautiful area. Also, it’s a humungous and popular shopping district lined with shop after shop of just about anything you can think of to be sold. In order for us to get the best experience, though, we loaded into open- sided oversize electric golf carts that had two rows behind the driver and we joined the chaos of motorcycles, scooters, people trying to cross streets, buses, cars, a wedding party, and you guess it. Some of our photos may convey our open-mouthed delight but it is unlikely to give the remotest feeling of the craziness going on.

French Quarter Embassy

Ho Chi Min Mausoleum

a note from the editor: "Is anyone else over-stimulated by the day in Hanoi yet?"

But we weren’t yet finished with this tour!!! Called the “Hidden Gem” we walked into yet another

narrow hall, went around several corners, then started up the stairs. Never would have found this place
without guidance. We revisited the recycled art theme at the coffee shop on the 3 rd level where
everything but the menu was recycled: we sat on stools made of padded motorcycle wheels with a
bucket underneath, the aquarium was encircled with a scooter tire, the light bulbs were decorated with
painted bottles, etc. A specialty at coffee shops in Hanoi is “egg coffee” which is a whipped-almost-to-
meringue-texture egg yolk added to coffee. Why? Because once upon a time there was no sugar for the
coffee and they found the yolk added just the right sweetness. Yup, I tried it. Nope, I didn’t finish it.
Then we loaded into our bus and napped for the 2+ hour trip back to the ship.