More Hanoi and then Danang to Hue

Well it may seem crazy but we are going to do a third post that is devoted to the wild city of Hanoi -- this one will take us through the last few days in Hanoi. We actually made a journey down to Central Vietnam early this morning by going back to the Hanoi airport and then heading 900 kms south to Danang (infamous for it's involvement in Vietnam war years). Then we came from Danang on a very scenic 4 hour train ride to Hue which is an old Imperial fortified city. We will pick up on the train journey in our next entry.

First though, let's finish our Hanoi tales. The whole experience was a huge mixed bag. On the one hand, the place is fantastic in a very romantic, dilapidated kind of a way, with beautiful dingy alleyways and crazy streets to explore in every direction. On the other hand it is a very over-whelming and tiring place in that it gives one serious stimulus overload. Every resident in Hanoi seems to sit on their horn 24-7 with the net result being that it is a huge cacophony of sound blasting into your ears all the time -- and it is indicating that you are within a milli-second of being flattened by some kind of vehicle (barrelling towards you at break neck speed.) Add to that, the fact that we have our children who are used to living "behind the tweed curtain" in South Oak Bay -- it can all be a little stressful.

Of course I say it with a bit of a pinch of salt because I do fundamentally know how good it is for all of us to leave the comforts and relative dullness of our home in Victoria. In fact, today we hit the jackpot with Kai -- after another crazy, intense Vietnamese market (harassed by 10 people at any given time, all trying to take you for at least quadruple what you are worth) when he turned to me and said, " Wow, I am so lucky I was not born here!" It cost a few thousand dollars for him to reach (to experience) the realization that he is incredibly lucky -- but, let me tell you, it was worth every penny! He is so compassionate for all the people here and wants to constantly help people out who are clearly struggling to survive. This is an experience our children will never forget. Life is hard in Vietnam, and it is very evident by how industrious people have to be to eek out a living. It also explains, at some level, why people are quite hardened here. At times it can be hard as a traveller, but one needs to keep it in context.

One of the things that can happen in terms of one's interaction style with the locals, is that one gets hassled and hassled with one sales pitch after the next, and then after a while it is easy to start getting quite rude to hold off the seemingly endless droves of requests (which can sometimes begin to seem somewhat rude themselves.) I had to catch myself a few times today in this mode, realizing that the person I was starting to vent on was not the real source of my frustration -- it was the 100 people leading up to them. The moral of the tale is that one needs to keep one's sense of humour and . . . like I said before: put the whole thing in context. People have to work extremely hard here to make a living. We "fat cat" tourists have dollar signs all over us. Who can blame them.

The first two images that I have included in this blog show what can be so appealing about Hanoi. The many artsy cafes (Kai is seen here sitting below one of the paintings in one of those many interesting places). The many lovely stores (Skye is busy showing off one of the many lovely art stores that adorn every corner of the old quarter.) The art tends to show tons of talent, but much of it tends to be reproductions of original art. Not sure why those same artists don't just make their own original art - they could make a killing.

This next image was taken yesterday when we went on a "Cyclo" ride through the city to the Temple of Literature (the oldest temple complex in Hanoi dating back almost 1000 years.) Our cyclo rider was a very friendly man who smiled all the time -- that was once we had gone through the very tiring and aggressive process of jostling for a reasonable price for the ride. Negotiating the traffic in one of these is a heart-thumping experience, especially because the passengers are on the front end facing all the oncoming traffic.

Here are Kai and Skye looking remarkably relaxed given the nature of the ride. Note the warm clothing -- we forgot to mention in previous posts that it has been quite cool in Hanoi and very rainy. This was a real shock to the system after all those weeks of warm weather in Thailand.

Here is Skye modelling one of the beautiful structures leading into the temple complex. It was a magical place filled with a sense that it had been around for a really long time. The kids enjoyed taking in all the age worn stone, the ancient inscriptions and the amazing Bonsai trees.

While we were at the temple, a huge group of school kids came through the place. They were very curious about Kai and Pippin which created a lovely dynamic. Of course children are always so spontaneous and they were quick to visit and chat with us . . . as opposed to trying to make a sell. It was a good change.

Pippin, in particular, gets lots of verbal attention, constant hugs, and even cheek pinching. She generally plays along but at times it can get a little overwhelming for her. Here is a picture showing a group of women sweeping Pippin up with lots of laughter and playfulness.


I am realizing that if I am not careful this is going to be another super long blog. After the visit to the Temple of Literature we trekked across town for what seemed like quite a few kilometers and went to a Water Puppet Theatre show. Vietnam is well known for this kind of theatre. It turned out to be an experience both kids loved. The theatre itself involved traditional Vietnamese instrumentation (music and singing) with water puppets depicting various central themes in Vietnamese folklore. It was a great cultural afternoon! I am including a picture of the type of puppets used in the show.


That pretty much wraps up our Hanoi experience for now. We will be returning again twice and I am personally looking forward to it despite the work that is sometimes involved. Keep looking on because we will have another installment very soon to share the journey down to Hue via Danang.

Until next time . . .

Ronato, Skye, Kai & Pippin