Hanoi

Oh so sleepy.  We had traveled for 24 hours from Philadelphia to Chicago to Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City.  We slept at a well-ranked hostal & woke early to catch a taxi back to the airport.  We boarded a local flight to Hanoi.  We landed in grey, industrial, drizzle.  Think Moscow with motorbikes.

We drove past rice paddies, water buffaloes, and agricultural strips on highway medians.  This was truly new.  As we approached city center, things became interesting.

Hanoi was to be base camp as we wandered east to Halong Bay, northwest to Sapa, and then back to Hanoi for a flight to Da Nang.  We only had a little time to explore Hanoi.  It was becoming apparent to me that Hanoi's delights yield in their own time.

There's a mystique about Hanoi.  The weather is similar to Seattle or London-- at least in the winter.  The atmosphere is more like an east Asian Paris.  I wanted to rent a room and write a novel.  Hanoi draws out stories.

We immediately booked tickets to see a water puppet performance that night.  We began wandering through the streets of Old Town Hanoi towards Hoan Kiem Lake.

Along the way we sampled taro popsicles and watched families cook their dinners on open braziers on the sidewalk.  Food in Vietnam isn't just delicious, it's interesting.  The food is intricate.  It takes study and preparation.  Also, food is still regional.  The diet in the north is more akin to Chinese food.  It's a bit heavier than food in the south and emphasizes different flavors.  We were able to happily eat vegetarian wherever we found ourselves because all Vietnamese eat vegetarian once a month in reverence for their Buddhist beliefs.  The vegetarian mock-meat was so convincing I often questioned whether or not it was real.  There's an incredible resourcefulness in this part of the world-- anything edible will be prepared.

The following morning we boarded a bus for Halong Bay, a subject for another post.  Upon return to Hanoi from Halong Bay, we visited a few more sights.

From this visit to Hanoi, we boarded an overnight train to Sapa.  Another post for another time.  We made a final visit to Hanoi when we disembarked the return train from Sapa and headed to the airport to fly south to Da Nang.

We encountered visitors who didn't like north Vietnam, especially not after time spent in the sunny and friendly south.  There certainly is a different disposition in northern Vietnamese, different cuisine, and a cooler, wetter climate.  My favorite part of Vietnam was Hoi An, near Da Nang, along the south central coastline.  I do love north Vietnam.  I would also suggest that travelers go here first and make your way steadily south.  All international flights head into the southern most point of Ho Chi Minh City.  Because Vietnam is tall and skinny, many travelers make their way north.  We flew north and progressively moved south into warmer climates & food that suited us better.  Plus, we landed in Hanoi with no expectations nor preconceived notions.  We were ready to delight in this fast, dark, mysterious city.