At Long Last Hà Nội

Having Wedding Pictures Taken

Ever since my scheduling snafu last Tết, I have been anxious to go to Hà Nội, the capitol of Việt Nam. Since my friend Patrica was getting ready to depart this land, it was agreed we would meet in Hà Nội for a farewell weekend. So, it was with mixed feelings I headed off to the airport from RMIT last Thursday afternoon.
Almost every time I have travelled by plane within Việt Nam I have had some sort of difficulty, and my flight on Thursday was no different ... delayed by an hour or so. So, a quick call to Patricia to let her know and notify the airport pickup. Once we were in the air, it was a relatively smooth trip, except for the poor little baby who hollered for the whole two hours. Poor dear, how could she not have exhausted herself and fallen asleep? Once in Hà Nội, however, I quickly deduced that the sign reading “Patricia Ryan” was likely for me. This, too, had happened before and was good for a chuckle.

Festival Flag

The ride into the city from the airport is quite long ... almost an hour. It was evening by the time I arrived and so my impressions were somewhat limited, but Hà Nội does not seem to be nearly as large or as populous as Hồ Chí Minh City. In fact I was surprised to learn the population is purported to be over 6 million. It didn’t seem that large to me. I think they have annexed some territory, so that may be why the population is so great.

Souvenir Stand

Hồ Hoàn Kiếm

Our hotel, the Jasmine 2, is a small hotel near the old quarter and very close to Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, or Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the heart of the old city. And old it is indeed ... everywhere we looked we could see evidence of the upcoming celebrations to mark Hà Nội’s 1,000th anniversary in October. It really does seem older and more historic than Hồ Chí Minh City. What else ... a bit tougher ... I saw so many tattooed people that first night ... some quite garish and this was something I hadn’t seen a lot of in Sài Gòn. And people don’t obey helmet laws particularly ... I would guess about a third of the people I saw that first night were not wearing motorbike helmets. I was a bit (well, ok, a LOT) disheartened to know that I was staying in a room on the 5th floor, as there was no elevator. Patricia had negotiated a room on the 2nd floor and I was ever so envious, but first come, first serve. I went up to the 5th as little as possible. as it was soooo hot and the climb was soooo long. The staff at the hotel were certainly lovely and their kindness (and breakfasts) more than made up for the long walks up and down stairs.

Street in Old Quarter

Once I had checked in, Patricia and I went to Fanny’s for ice cream. People may be surprised to know how popular old fashioned ice cream parlours are in Vietnam ... they serve some very special desserts and all the flavours are freshly made on site, so it really is a treat. We had crepes the first time, Patricia’s with green rice ice cream and mine with raspberry sorbet. Afterwards, we strolled by the lake and watched people do fast-walking around the lake. Very pleasant.

Government Building

The next day we went to mail a parcel to the States for Patricia. I believe the contents had to be inspected and the box it was in was a bit flimsy, so Patricia was amazed by the service that she got, especially when compared with how people had been in the Post Office in Hải Phòng. The clerk wrapped everything and bubble-wrapped it and taped it and ooh la la ... was it ever pricey! After that we strolled down the street window-shopping. There are some wonderful art galleries and shops in Hà Nội – moreso than in Hồ Chí Minh City, I would say. We ended up near the Opera House and decided to take a xich lo, a sort of three-wheeled rickshaw back to the lake area to buy tickets for the water puppet theatre. The xich lo drivers were very friendly and mine pointed out lots of embassies and important government buildings as we went. There is something about those old ochre French-colonial buildings that is so evocative of the romantic aspects of a former time. Quite lovely. The drive ended all too soon and while our drivers wanted to take us on a two-hour tour, we had lunch in mind, so we declined. In fact, both of us felt quite funny taking the xich los ... pretentious? touristy? weird? In fact that first ride was fun! And we did lots of touristy things ... visiting a little pagoda on an island in the lake among others.

Ngoc Son Temple (Jade Mountain Temple)

We wandered around the Old Quarter after getting tickets for an afternoon performance of the water puppet performance. The Old Quarter is often called 36 Streets, as it has been an area where craftsmen and artisans have been practicing their arts and selling their ware on specific craft-focused streets for almost 2,000 years. Click here for a link to an informative article. The Old Quarter is easy to get lost in and somewhat frustrating when it is hot and the traffic is heavy. A little scary as well, as the streets are so narrow and getting taxis, xich los, motorbikes, mini-buses, and pedestrians all together is a bit of a jam. But extremely interesting... so many tourists wandering here and there and eating at relatively fancy and expensive restaurants then the locals just living their lives and eating at street side places and catching up on the news with friends and neighbours. And trying to make a living.

Che Vendor

Traditional Musicians

Opening Procession

I really enjoyed the water puppet (or Múa rối nước) performance. The translation is "puppets that dance on water". We were smack dab in the middle of the theatre. the Thăng Long Puppet Company. Too bad a man with the biggest head in the world was sitting right in front of me. In fact, I complain because his big bald interfered with my photography. The performance was accompanied by live music played on traditional instruments and singing. The show is given in a theatre with a large pool where the stage would be. Puppets attached to long wooden sticks come out from behind a curtain or screen and appear to float on the water ... although some go in and out of the water. It must take tremendous arm strength to control the puppets, due to the length of the sticks and the weight of the puppets. It is a uniquely Vietnamese art form, and I assume they depict legends and folk tales from Vietnamese history.. At the end of the performance the puppeteers came out and the work in waist deep water ... several of them are women. So interesting!

Water Fairy Dancing

Puppeteers Greeting Audience

The next day we went to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum or Lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh. I was a bit incredulous when I saw the lines. There were thousands of people waiting to see where Uncle Ho stays dead, as one young person Patricia met phrased it. We were both affected by the patience of the Vietnamese people who make the long trek to visit the mausoleum and how important it is for them. The security was very tight and we had to hand in our cameras. We saw some Westerners turned away because they were not dressed appropriately; it is a place where respect is expected, so shorts and tank tops are not acceptable.  Despite the large number of people, the lines moved relatively quickly if not always in an orderly fashion. I was surprised at the Russian-ness the monument itself and at Hồ Chí Minh’s appearance. Once out, it seemed as though we didn’t have to be on our best behaviour anymore, that we could relax and take pictures and didn’t have to walk in a line. Well, there were lots of school tours, so sometimes it seemed we should be walking in line. We sauntered around the grounds, which had some lovely stands of bamboo, but after a while decided we would go to the Temple of Literature.

Lining Up at the Mausoleum

One of Many School Trips

Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House

As we drove the wrong way up the street, Patricia said many prayers

As we were leaving, we were approached by a xich lo driver who said he would take us to the temple for 100,000 VND. When we arrived, he wanted more money ... because he had had to work so hard. In fact, the price we had agreed to was highway robbery ... and he drove the wrong way up a street and almost scared us to death ... and so that really put us off xich los, as taxis are much cheaper and they almost always drive in the right direction on a street. Too bad, because people like that do not realize how they are hurting their industry.

Walkway into the Temple of Literature

Steles at the Temple of Literature

The temple, or Văn Miếu, is a temple to Confucius. Việt Nam’s first university was founded there sometime around 1076 or so and functioned for 700 years. The names of the doctor laureate graduates were carved on stone steles that were placed on the back of carved stone tortoises. I am not exactly sure of the significance of the tortoises, but I read, "In Taoist legend it was said that Xuánwǔ was the prince of a Chinese Emperor. However, he was not interested in taking the throne, but decided to study in Tao's way. At age 16, he left his parents to search for enlightenment in Tao's way. It was said that he eventually achieved god status and was worshipped as a god of northern sky. (http://ecumenicalbuddhism.blogspot.com) " It was a very interesting place and if it hadn’t been so hot and so crowded, we might have lingered longer. It is amazing to think of such scholarly activity going on a thousand years ago.

Retired Water Puppets at the Temple of Literature

After dealing with some very persistent vendors, we escaped to the relative tranquility of KOTO (Know One Teach One), which is a place where street kids are taught to run a restaurant ... and they do a great job. We finished our sightseeing for the day by going to the One-Pillar Pagoda, in the vicinity of the mausoleum and didn’t the same xich lo driver come and approach us and offer to take us here there and everywhere ... he didn’t recognize us. I finally let him know he had already ripped us off and we wouldn’t be going on his xich lo ... he drifted away without any argument. Our taxi ride home was utterly ethical ....^_^....

One Pillar Pagoda

St Joseph's Cathedral

The next day we went to mass at the cathedral, just a few blocks from the hotel and as masses in Việt Nam tend to be, it was jammed and very hot. Every service seems to be full and most times there are lots of people outside. After packing and checking out, we did some shopping and eating and ended up where we started the weekend, at Fanny’s. Patricia had a cone and I had a dish and they were delish. We got back to the hotel (where we had left our luggage) in time to meet our taxi driver to take us to the airport ... Patricia flew off to Luang Prabang for 4 days before flying back to North America, whereas I headed back to Hồ Chí Minh City. While very sad to see my friend leave, how incredible is it that we were able to spend this time together half a world away from our home countries?

I hope this trip to Hà Nội is not my only one; I know there was not enough time or energy to see everything. Next time I will go when it is not so hot. Or so apt to rain, which I did not talk about ... yes, a little mystery is a good thing.

More photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick/. 

Altar Offerings