Arriving relatively late, we had made reservations for a hotel in Hanoi's Old Quarter, the 'Prince'. Our taxi driver - who required some negotiating with about the price, even though it was fixed at $10 by the Hanoi Airport Authorities- got us there in good time.
By the way, traffic in Vietnam beats Thailand and Laos hands down. Rules do not seem to exist, while drivers (of cars and mopeds alike) honk their horns just to indicate that they are still moving. At the same time, people that want to cross by foot just step in the middle of this, moving forward with (seeming) confidence, the traffic parting like the red Sea around them. Surprisingly, there are very few accidents, but this is mainly due to the relatively low speed at which everything moves.
But back to our taxi driver, who got us there in good time - we thought. Before we could say or do anything, a 'bell-boy' from our hotel jumped into the taxi, ordering the taxi-driver (who was obviously 'in' on the scam) around the block, as the Prince was supposedly full. There he showed us a 'back-up hotel', which was cheap (!!) and offered some great day trips to popular tourist destinations around Hanoi. As it was late and the price was really cheap, we decided to take the room and then make our way to the Prince to check out the real story. The very worst case scenario being that we had to pay twice that night. At that time, our 'bell-boy', probably alarmed by our intentions to go the Prince and our obvious disinterest in his tours, made a miracle phone call to the Prince, where there had become rooms available after all. And making sure we got lost in the labyrinth that is the Old Quarter (probably so that we wouldn't blow his cover) he turned his attention to a fresh bus-load of prospects for cheap rooms and tours.......
All of this did not really contribute to our mood and first impressions of Hanoi. The more so, since Nicola had caught some kind of bug, which caused a case of tiredness and tummy-ache. However, once we made it to the Prince, everything turned for the better - a great and quiet room (quietness is very hard to find in Hanoi) and very friendly staff. So a few minutes later we sat down in a nice little restaurant in Hanoi's Old Quarter for some food (soup for Nicola, more substantial fare for JP, including the best dish of this trip so far - fried aubergine with loads and loads of garlic).
After a good night sleep, we decided to give Hanoi another chance, so we set off for a sight-seeing walk of the town. Combined with running some errands, as travelling means continuously being on the look out for the next thing (be it a ticket, getting cash or booking hotels).
This first day we focused on the Old Quarter, the area of our hotel and as the name suggests, the oldest part of Hanoi - A labyrinth of narrow streets.
Apparently by crossing a the mountains between Laos and Vietnam, we had also crossed a cultural divide - Laos, Thailand , etc. are culturally influenced by India, while Vietnam is under influence of China. This was not only evidenced by the numerous small shops, selling everything, from sweets to fake flowers, but also by the completely different style of temples (pagodas they are called here, which share Buddhist and Confucianist elements). Most compelling evidence, however, was the scene of the markets, where every thinkable animal (from fish to turtles (!) and from chicken to dog (!!)) and every part of these animals (ears, tongues, brains, etc.) were on offer - fresh!!! On a side note, because of Nicola's slight illness, our gourmet experiments were limited to ham and cheese sandwiches (Nic) and noodles (JP).
The second day, we strolled around the French Quarter and the ceremonial centre of Hanoi and Vietnam - the area around Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.
The French Quarter gets its name from the fact that it was designed in Parisian style by the French during their colonial presence. Admittedly, from a well-chosen vantage point one could have the feeling of being in a French city - with a majestic opera building and tree-lined boulevards leading off it. Including the ongoing chaos that is traffic.....
The area around Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum is mainly off limits, but the large square used for military parades and his mausoleum are open to the public. Unfortunately though, he only holds audience early in the morning (which is when we were running our errands), so we did not see the embalmed body, just the colossal yet boring building that holds this.
And then it was time to pack up. Since we had decided to spend some more time in Laos, we had cut short our time in Vietnam. To make sure that we would not only see cities, we had planned a trip to Cat Ba Island (Ha Long Bay), where we could escape the hustle and bustle of Hanoi and apparently see some of the most breath-taking scenery Vietnam has on offer.
And our final vote on Hanoi: after the initial wake-up call, we actually enjoyed the city. Very quickly it became clear that if you are vigilant for scams, they are not too hard to avoid - a quick 'no thank you' with a beaming smile generally gets you an even broader grin in return. The traffic is noisy and chaotic, but at the same time, everybody expects the strangest things to happen, so it is hard to do something really unexpected. As proof of this, on the second day we had an eighty-year old granny hanging on for dear life onto Nicola's little finger, while we ushered her across ten 'lanes' of traffic. But it was good to leave this all behind and make our way to a more relaxing par of the country......
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