After the stifling heat of Cambodia the prospect of heading to the cooler climate of northern Vietnam was a good one. With short flights from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City and then on to Hanoi we arrived late at night. The roads were deserted, it was pitch black, drizzling with rain and we saw little during the transfer to our hostel.
The next morning we were woken up at seven o’clock with very loud public speakers outside our window sounding messages in Vietnamese, interspersed with songs being played. I’ve never heard anything like it. The noise forced us from our beds and down to breakfast where there was no window to the street and our world was quiet again.
We discovered that the speakers were used years ago to keep the public informed during the war, letting them know when to head into bunkers for example. Now however, it seems that they are used to update people with local government messages and for playing songs that inspire people to get up, go to work, keep their houses clean and for children to go to school!
“It wouldn’t have been out of place amongst the independent cafes on Burton Road in West Didsbury.”
We only had one day to explore Hanoi before we went on a trip to Halong Bay so we headed out to explore our new surroundings. We stayed in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, a bustling place filled with narrow streets, tiny shops, pavements lined with scooters, street cafes, crazy telephone wires, people wearing vietnamese pointy hats and lots of noise from traffic, loud speakers and the street sellers.
After a lot of practise crossing the crazy roads of Cambodia, the narrower streets of Hanoi were traversed with ease as we got lost in a rabbit warren of tiny streets. With a cloudy sky overhead and a light sprinkling of rain we needed to wear our hoodies for the first time in weeks. The damp, cooler weather was welcome and refreshing following weeks of humid sticky heat in Thailand and Cambodia.
After a busy morning we enjoyed a spot of lunch in a cute little cafe round the corner from our hostel. It wouldn’t have been out of place amongst the independent cafes on Burton Road in West Didsbury!
After lunch we headed to Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre of Hanoi and enjoyed a lakeside stroll, taking in the sights of the beautiful flower beds and the picturesque Huc Bridge.
Our afternoon entertainment was provided by the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre group and a delightful forty five minute show which depicts traditional Vietnamese stories using wooden puppets dancing across water. Professional musicians and singers accompany the puppets story telling, however, with everything being sung in Vietnamese Rich and I had little idea what was going on and just sat and enjoyed the puppets at play!
We actually found the water puppet show very entertaining and enjoyed listening to the traditional Vietnamese music. What we didn’t enjoy (especially Rich) was the legroom in the theatre. How people six foot and taller manage to sit still for forty five minutes when their knees are rammed up against the back of the seat in front I do not know. The old theatre was built for local people, not a western audience!
“Instead we bought a huge oil painting!”
As we walked back to our hostel we passed the street cafes selling boiled snails, deep fried insects and mounds of noodles to the locals sitting on tiny stools next to tiny tables on the pavements. With only Vietnamese menu’s available we didn’t fancy taking our chances with the food, especially when the next three days were going to be spent on a boat in Halong Bay!
Instead we enjoyed a tasty meal from a menu written in English whilst sitting on a balcony and looking down at the quietening street below as darkness fell. On our way home we decided to buy a travelling souvenir, not one that we could carry with us in our small backpacks though, instead we bought a huge oil painting! Thankfully our hostel were able to arrange delivery of it back to the UK for us.
We only had one day in Hanoi but what we saw we loved. It had a real sense of identity and we were never made to feel like tourists. Not once were we hassled to enter a shop, a restaurant or a tuk tuk, the people in Hanoi just let us be and watch them in their daily routines. Despite the noise and the hustle and bustle, we found Hanoi to be a rather peaceful, loveable place in the end!
Lambs on the loose 