Back to Hanoi

updated on December 3rd...sorry there are repeats in this blog posts of things I already shared. Better twice than not at all.
No, we aren't actually back in the Hanoi but I have other bits and pieces to share about our time in Hanoi.
First...getting lost. VERY EASY TO DO! There are so many little streets and very few of them are on the standard tourist map...so even at a walking pace...it is more than easy to know where you are but have no idea how to get to where you are going. Even the taxi and cyclo drivers aren't always on the ball...i think they come from outside of Hanoi and only have a rudimentary knowledge of Hanoi. We spent almost 45 minutes walking and in a taxi trying to find the Press Club restaurant which was literally 2 short blocks from our Hotel. We even had the address written on a piece of paper and the taxi driver got lost. However, sometimes pleasant surprises come out of getting lost. One day we were trying to find a small street that has culinary school where they serve lunch and dinner. It was midday. It was hot. We were hungry. We could NOT figure out where the heck the street was. Apparently very few people in Hanoi know how to read a map because we were sent off in the wrong direction at least once. So finally we were dragging our sorry behinds down a street and I saw a very pretty colonial French style building. Trying to interject a pleasant comment amonst the grumbling ones I said "look at the pretty building (clever conversation had wilted in the heat)". Jerry said, "is it a restaurant?". hmm. IT WAS. The "Au Lac" serving wonderful vietnamese cuisine in a beautiful, graceful, historic setting. lovely. we ate there twice in two days. And not just because it was so good...but because Jerry left his camera there at the end of our first lunch. We didn't figure that out until the morning of the next day. We had the hotel call and wonderfully it was there and we could come and get it. so lunch again! happy with the food, happy with our camera, and impressed by the quality of people in Vietnam (even if they can't read maps...then again my friend Peg can't either and I love her too!). The food at Au Lac was varied and excellent and although not cheap it was reasonably priced and a very good value for quality and quantity.

Turtles. The turtle is one of 4 divine animals in the Vietnamese traditions. He represents longevity and wisdom. The tradition of the founding of Hanoi has to do with a magical turtle in the center of Hanoi (Hoan Kien Lake) who returns a sword to its rightful owner and brings peace to the city. Turtles are often brought to pagodas that reside on lakes or ponds as its considered lucky to release a turtle at a temple. so many pagoda ponds have MANY turtles. And when young men studying to be mandarins in Vietnamese would pass what would essentially be their "doctorate exam " their name would be engraved on large steles that rode on the back of carved turtles at the Temple of Literature. There used to be hundreds of the turtles...now there are about 80, I think, massed together at the temple of literature. All the turtles are unique and their heads are rubbed smoothe where students would (and still do) rub the head for good luck (Jerry said "their time would be better spent studying harder! ever the professor).

When it rains it pours! yes, indeed. Although we are at the end of monsoon season for the north we had one heck of a rain/thunderstorm one afternoon. Streets flooded (for once I was happy to be riding in the great big bus). Ponchos, plastic tarps, and umbrellas came out from no where. We were just exiting the Water Puppet theatre (described in a later post) to the deluge. I had to remove my shoes because we had to walk through nearly a foot of water to the bus (with the bus driver ferrying us under an umbrella). Motorcycle engines flooded (when they went into too deep of water) and riders were forced to push their motorbikes to higher ground. Hard to imagine what happens when it rains for days here...

Time to go watch the Rays beat the Bosox (sorry Peg...but the score WAS 8 -1 when I came downstairs...its just a statement of fact for the day). And then we are off for a full day excursion to temples, the Perfume River, and the home of a local famous historian. Until next post~

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(revised December 3rd)
The sounds of Ha Noi...the varoom of the motorbikes, the honk of the taxis, the beepwhirr of the cyclos and more varrooms of the motorbikes. Amazing there are so few "splats" of pedestrians crossing the street (there IS a system...walk confidantly, moderate pace (to give them a chance to zigzap around you...stare them in the eye, and don't flinch...no kidding).

Arrived yesterday morning to a hazy sky. Crossed the meadering Red River (aptly named for its red color courtesy of upstream soils) into Ha Noi. People are friendly. Tourists are few (I'm not sure I have ever felt so conspicuous). Motorbikes are everywhere. Few dogs (no jokes please).

This morning we rose early (clearly in some other time zone than here). Decided to go to Hoan Kiem Lake for a walk at 6am. why? because EVERYONE is there...it was delightful. All of Ha Noi doing tai chi, graceful calisthentics, group fan dances (no not burlesque dances...graceful exercise with bright red hand held fans), something using a paddle and a ball moving to Que Sera, Sera. Many individuals stretching on benches and the lakeshore. Even a group back massage line that look like a conga line (maybe 40 women in a line)...And let's not forget the street where they were playing badminton (with and without nets) along the sidewalks and in plazas...maybe 30 games or more? Badminton? 6AM? on the sidewalks? Great!

We crossed over the red picturesque Bridge of the Rising Sun (or "where the rays of the morning sun touch" or "Flood of Morning Sunlights"...you get the idea. ) to explore the tiny island where the Ngoc Son pagoda resides. The temple supposedly dates back to the fourteenth century, although the current buildings were probably built in the eighteenth century. The temple is dedicated to the hero Tran Hung Dao, who defeated a force of 300,000 sent to invade Vietnam by the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. There are also altars dedicated to the scholars Van Xuong and La To, the patron saint of physicians!

We took a short break at the north end of the lake and had a vietnamese coffee at the Thuyta Cafe (locate at No 1 Lo Thai To). It had a lovely view across the lake and we sat outside in the early morning haze watching a birds on the lake.

As we continued our early morning walk around the Old Quarter we saw everyone eating their breakfast pho (a noodle soup) on the small squatty chair and stools made out of either red or blue plastic (occassionally green) right on the sidewalks. One bowl and then its time to go...to work...to school. The vienamese are very communal people, they exercise together, eat together, talk and chat together. I know its partly because their is so little space per person...but none the less they seem to happily social, like its out of choice not circumstance or geography.

More tomorrow about our walking tour of the market, the Hilton, squeezing into a two person cyclo, the 1000year anniversary of Ha Noi, and roaming the streets. But for now...jet lag is setting in...time for bed.

Oh...and here is your vietanmese lesson for the day: Dang Nhop "sign in"...had to figure that out to get into blogspot!