Here we are, in Vietnam! We flew in late (okay, we arrived at 9:00) to the second largest city in the country (we see a theme…). Our last new country of this trip!
There are always lists of “must-do” things when you visit a place. Museums, tours, monuments. Historical sites. Famous restaurants. And we do some of those. Like train street. Where you pay $2 for a beer (at the store, you can get 5 for the same price) and sit under the florescent signs and lanterns and flags. And an hour later, a train passes with not much more than a foot clearance on either side. Your hair gets whooshed, your toes curl under, and your heart speeds up. We did pay the tourist price for drinks and have a local snap a picture of us on the tracks. And we happened to sit down only minutes before a train (45 minutes late according to the schedule) barreled past. It was thrilling and silly and we’re glad we listened to the “must” for that one.
We also hit some sites like the Temple of Literature. It’s an ancient university, basically, where Confucius built a shrine to his parents and where centuries of students have taken examinations (in little bamboo huts to prevent cheating). If you’re one of the select few to pass (some years, only one person did), you get your name carved in stone and mounted on the back of a turtle statue. It’s a beautiful place. But our experience there was mostly memorable due to the thunderstorm that rolled in. Close. Super close. Like not even be able to count to one between lightning and thunder. So we hunkered down in a corner to do the Collins thing and sketch our surroundings. Which turned us into a tourist attraction ourselves. Within minutes, the entire Angolan national football team and various other families were squatting around us, looming over us, alternately whispering and exclaiming about us, with cameras clicking and videos rolling. It was…intimidating. But memorable! (And crazily, we saw the Angolans across the street at a different time in a different place, and they recognized us! Ha!)
We also took a few tours. Of the Old Quarter, where we learned some cultural facts (like why Vietnamese eat everything, even dogs and all the internal organs and congealed blood–millions of people died in a famine and people ate whatever they could to keep themselves alive, and then habits persisted) and historical facts (like the language is written with Latin-based characters because of the French colonialists). And a tour of street food vendors where we tried food we never would have been brave enough to do on our own (like oysters and green mango sushi and bahn xeo–the best). And multiple Grab rides, which I think basically amount to traffic tours (seeing golden retrievers crouched on scooters and trying to figure out right-of-way at a signless and lightless intersection and dodging cart-pushing grannies crossing straight across and that one time our driver waited for us smack dab in the middle of a four-way intersection).
But then we ignored most everything else. We took advantage of a big city. Went to game cafes and gaming cafes. Walked around a lake on the weekend when vehicles are banned. Replaced items that have become damaged on our travels and indulged in a nail salon. Went to a water park where we were the only non-Asian people and saw a few movies with sometimes no one else in the theater.
Travel is an adventure and there’s millions of things to see everywhere! And sometimes to see those millions of things in the next place, you need to chill out someplace else first. So that’s what Hanoi was for us. It was walking and fresh beer and crossing the street fearlessly and eating lots of things that begin with banh (which simply means cake) and learning to use Vietnamese dong. And learning to ignore car horns (they never stop) and lane markers (they are rarely considered) and even direction of travel (you can use opposing traffic as a merge lane, no problem!). And now getting to the train station (no plane!) to head south a few hours. For more adventures!
Next up, Ninh Binh!
Magrilless 