for Christmas calls home. Finding Internet can be very challenging in
a new city, especially one as crazy as Hanoi. It takes a while to
acclimate to the look of shops in a new place. What does an Internet
cafe look like in Hanoi? Our guide book said that Internet cafes were
"ubiquitous" along two streets, Hang Bac and Hang Be. Since we can
read street signs here, it is much easier to find ourselves and
locations from a map. We quickly found the first street, but we didn't
see a single internet cafe. We went to the second street and found
exactly one sign advertising Internet - good job guidebook. The sign
was above a narrow passageway leading into the bowels of a building.
We didn't see any computers, but the woman we asked pointed down the
hall, indicating that we should go on in. Basically, it was a house.
We passed bedrooms, a kitchen, an ancestor shrine. Finally we got to a
stairwell and electrical tape had been used to write the word Internet
on the wall with an arrow pointing up the stairs. As one of our first
experiences in the city, it was a trippy experience. Thankfully, the
second floor was styled like an ordinary Internet cafe. It showed us
that in Hanoi, you have to know what you are looking for if you want
to find it - a lot can be hidden in a city this dense.
Tamarind Cafe
We headed for some long overdue lunch at a vegetarian place called
Tamarind Cafe. It was a strong example of how there are protected
eddies of calm within the bustle of Hanoi. This place was quiet and
still and slow moving. The menu was interesting, including my
favorite-titled dish: veggie coffin. We got the eggplant claypot, a
tabouli, and a pot of jasmine green tea. Later we enjoyed a mango
sticky rice, the best we have had in a long time.
Walking Tour of the Old Quarter
Next we decided to take the self-guided walking tour as described by
our handy dandy guidebook. Thanks to Robert's crack navigating skills
and the roman lettered Vietnamese street signs, we were able to easily
navigate our new city. We started the tour at a restored old Chinese
merchant's house called the Memorial House, which is actually right
across the street from Tamarind Cafe. I was told I could take pictures
and started snapping away, but when I got to the traditional opium
pipes and pottery, a woman appeared and told me in surprisingly good
English that I could take pictures of the structure of the house, but
not the individual pieces. Robert told me they were for sale - oops. I
spent the rest of our visit asking before taking each picture. The
woman practically was rolling her eyes at me by the end, but I didn't
want to be inconsiderate!
The rest of the tour is best shown by pictures. The most striking
things about the city are the amount of traffic and the organization
of the shop locations. There are millions of motorbikes and cars and
taxis and bikes and these things called cyclos, which are the
offspring of wheelchairs and bicycles. The driver sits on a bike seat
and pedals a wheelchair attached to the front. They are popular with
tour groups and sometimes you will see long lines of them all
together. Cyclo drivers are infamous for ripping you off and it seemed
like a poor way to see the city - if you are too scared to walk in the
street, you shouldn't have come to Asia. You can tell the visitors who
just arrived because they are passed out in the middle of the day,
being driven around he city in a cyclo. Seems like a waste, but it is
awfully amusing to see. We also saw a parent-aged couple sitting on a
park bench, heads resting on each other - fast sleep; I'm glad we dont
have to deal with jet lag anymore.
The other striking thing about Hanoi is that the shops are grouped by
type. This was one of my favorite aspects of the tour. The book would
say, "along this street, you will notice several fancy jewelry shops,"
and lo and behold, fancy jewelry shops! We also saw mirror shops,
blacksmith shops, tin box shops (we didn't know what a tin box was
until we got here, but they look a lot like tin boxes!), buddha statue
shops, straw mat shops, silk shops, toy shops...the list goes on and
on. Basically, you can do your shopping easily if you know the street
you are looking for. If you can't find the right street, you won't
find what you are looking for.
Bach Ma Temple
We also went to the Bach Ma Temple, which was supposed to have
white-haired guardians, but alas, that was just a figment of the
guidebook's imagination. In comparison to Thai temples, temples here
typically are organized into a series of rooms, one leading to the
next until you get to the central chamber. Each doorway has an
elevated threshold requiring you to step over and into the next room,
bad spirits are apparently flummoxed by this system and can't move
around the temple. The statues are completely different here, too. The
central statue is usually of Confucius, not Buddha, and there are
always statues of a crane standing on top of a turtle - not sure of
the significance of that one. In addition to the straight incense
sticks, they have clever curly ones that burn forever (sort of like a
mosquito coil). Also notable are the offerings: canned goods, fresh
produce and fake money! There was a wad of $500 US notes at the Bach
Ma Temple. It is called "ghost money" and it is printed just to burn
in ceremonies. I'm glad we went to a few temples here because they are
so different, but I'm sure they will start looking the same here too.
Dong Xuan Market
We went to a great big market on the tour as well, called Dong Xuan
Market. Markets are challenging to photograph because they are full of
people, most of whom scowl when you photo bomb them (reverse photo
bombing, really, for those of you familiar with the term - basically
stealing their picture). This market was three stories tall and huge
inside and out. There was an extensive dried foods section, full of
mushrooms and beans and spices and shrimp, and delineated by narrow
aisles that necessitated backtracking if you met two-way traffic. The
clothing section was vast as well, each stall stuffed more than the
last. Vendors use these hook/grabber tools to hang things high up in
their stalls, basically they are just a broomstick with a U-shaped
metal piece on the end. Some vendors are really skilled with it and
can hang or unhang their hooks with finesse; other vendors just unhang
things and let them drop like coconuts on the passersby. All the
products for sale are shipped in giant, sturdy plastic sacks. I bet
you could fit four or even six people in one sack.
Finally, as we were leaving the market we happened across the hardware
section. This was much more interesting than clothing: knives and
tools and scissors and who knows what else all the gadgets did, but
the displays were great to gawk at. Some were even selling giant
silver water pipes that are used everywhere around the city. Lots of
cyclo drivers have one stashed by the axle of their buggy, for easy
access between passengers and every little corner store has a communal
pipe sitting out front, where you can smoke your own tobacco if you
dare. It seems like you would have to be quite skilled at and
accustomed to smoking if you were going to survive a hit from one of
these gargantuan pipes, but people here manage. Robert is on the hunt
for someone who will let him take a picture of the pipe in use, so
stay tuned!
Beer Ahoy!
After such a long perambulation, we rewarded ourselves with some bia
hoi. This is not to be confused with Bia Ha Noi, which is bottled and
ordinary, yet still quite tasty. Bia Hoi, on the other hand, is a dirt
cheap local microbrew, distributed daily to lots of little shops
throughout the city. Most real establishments don't sell it, you have
to look for a sign advertising bia hoi and lots of plastic stools on
the sidewalk, but the most important and failsafe indicator is a
silver keg taped out front. If you are in the know, you can go the the
bia hoy intersection, where each corner of the street has a different
bia hoi joint. You go and sit outside and stare at the patrons of
other, lesser bia hoi joints. Clearly the green-signed place is
superior to all other corners. It is also a great place to photo bomb
people passing through the intersection, but I am getting ahead of
myself.
Our first experience with bia hoi was not at the bia hoi intersection;
we went to a very small place down the way. There was a white guy out
front having his picture taken while trying to hawk roasted corn from
the back of a bike powered cart full of the stuff. As we got our
glasses of light-colored brew and arranged stools for us to sit on, we
enjoyed listening to this guy banter with the corn seller. The corn
seller spoke little to no English, so the guy was doing all the
talking, inventing a conversation as he went. He was quite a character
and we befriended him after the corn seller realized he wasn't buying
and moved on, ironically only after forcing the white guy to take an
ear of corn for free.
His name was Jason and he taught us a few bad habits that we now enjoy
dearly. He is traveling alone and is friendly to everyone who passes
by. Case in point, there was a tiny girl, maybe two?, who kept passing
by with her dad. On each pass, she and Jason high-fived. He had given
her a sticker on a previous pass and they had become life-long pals.
Eventually, we too received a shiny Ben-10 sticker and became BFFs!
More amusing than his interactions with two year olds were his
interactions with the million street sellers of donuts and bananas.
Pre-Jason, we would say no once and then ignore the street sellers
until they moved on. Now, we have fallen into the terribly ineffectual
habit of chatting with them. This inevitably prolongs the attack, but
it is so much fun, it is worth it. Jason will get into full-blown
conversations with each one who comes by.
Example: Woman offering day-old, deep fried donuts of death
approaches. Jason says: oh no, I couldn't possibly eat those! They
make me fat. See this belly? If I eat those, I will surely blimp.
Donuts are bad for your health, didn't you know? The whole time the
poor seller, who has no idea what he is saying, gets ever more
hopeful. Once he even tried to charge the seller for a picture she had
taken with him! One picture, one dollar! Oh look, see -we took two
pictures...TWO dollars! You give me. It seems a little cruel, but also
a taste of their own medicine. They are extremely persistent here,
which I guess you have to be if you are ever going to sell even one of
those mealy donuts. (I know they are mealy because I bought two sticks
of them, against Robert's better judgement. Never again.)
We had several rounds of drinks together and eventually decided to
move on to a proper bar - the bia hoy keg was tapped out. As we were
leaving, a banana and pineapple seller approached us. Thanks to
Jason's steady banter, she followed us for three blocks! Jason
eventually negotiated to buy her knife from her, which he managed for
30,000d - $1.50US - far cheaper than our knife! Asking directions from
everyone on the street we eventually found the bar he was looking for,
Temple Bar. Here we had a few more rounds, danced to the terrible rap
that Robert had never heard of and tried to help Jason pick up a girl.
Despite the backpacker spirit of the place, no one else was dressed in
tech fabric and hiking pants; not a big deal if you are a man and
pointedly not-dancing, but mildly annoying if you are a pretty girl
trying to get her dance on in a club. It didn't slow me down for long
though, thanks to all that bia hoi we had already imbibed!
Finally it was time to go, so we said our goodbyes and went out into
the deserted streets, roughly in the direction of home. On the next
street corner, who did we meet? Jason. We were both a little lost
getting home, but took some time out of our busy schedule to say hello
again. The other thing that you are constantly offered on the streets
is motorbikes. I don't know who would buy a motorbike from some guy on
the street, but someone must. (ok, maybe they are selling rides on
their motorbike taxi, but all they say is, "motorbike!" so how are you
to know the difference?) We got offered several motorbikes as we stood
on the street corner chatting. Eventually, we counter-offered,
"opium?" Amazingly, the next motorbike passing us was flagged down and
he was the guy. "he. Opium," we were told. How convenient! First we
were shown some mangy weed, but we weren't suckers - we are too close
to the golden triangle to fall for the low hanging fruit - we wanted
the good stuff. Then girls were discussed, myself being the example.
"Do you have any of these?" I was horrified, but it was all in good
fun. And then, like magic, the next motorbike was carrying girls! It
was a crazy night.
No comments:
Post a Comment