Today we had one goal: find good pho. We got a late start because of
all our adventures in bia hoi last night, but there was still plenty
of time to sample pho. Robert brought me a steam bun in bed, which was
awfully sweet of him, and it had no meat! It was just the doughy
bready goodness, no filling at all. The best part of a steam bun is
the smooth skin. You can peel it off and it is a delicacy. Maggie and
Amanda, I haven't found a steamed curry bun a la Veggie Heaven, but
that would be my ideal. It's like a veggie samosa and a steam bun had
babies! For now I am pretty satisfied not eating gristly meat and
rubbery eggs, the standard filling.
The first pho we had today was from a place called Pho 24. We chose it
because it was a resraurant, not a street vendor and there were
several people eating there yesterday. When we got there today though,
we almost aborted because Pho 24 is in the guidebook at a different
location. In Hanoi, if there is a restaurant that is getting popular,
the name is stolen and a copycat restaurant is created. We thought
this one must be a copycat since it was in the wrong location, a
telltale sign, but it turns out that Pho 24 is just a huge chain! They
have about 80 places scattered throughout southeast asia. Their food,
however, also resembles McDonalds. The fresh herbs and bean sprouts
were sitting out and super wilted and the broth was practically
flavorless. This is not the pho we came to Hanoi for.
A Temple and a Tethered Tortoise
Next we finished a part of the walking tour that we had skipped the
day before. The Old Quarter, where all the action is, is centered
around Hoam Kiem Lake (Lake of the Restored Sword). The lake is called
such because of a mid-15th century legend. Emperor Le Thai To was sent
a magical sword from Heaven that helped him drive the Chinese out of
Vietnam. After he was successful, a giant golden tortoise appeared and
took the sword, disappearing into the lake and returning the sword to
it's divine owners. Thus, the Lake of the Restored Sword.
In the middle of the lake sits Ngoc Son Temple, which sounded cool,
despite its status as yet another temple. We paid the 10,000 d or .50
cents to go and actually enjoyed it. To get to the island, you cross
the Huc Bridge, which is bright red and quite photogenic, so much so
that we saw two bride-groom couples getting their pictures taken
there. (We have seen innumerable other bridge-groom couples around the
city getting pictures taken, so it might just be the time to get
married.) Next we spied a red breasted, blue backed kingfisher
catching fish, which was quite a treat. Too bad he is but a mere speck
in all my pictures!
In keeping with the legend of the lake, we also saw one of the giant
Sword Lake Tortoises (Rafetus leloii) that bring good luck to those
who see them. We only noticed it because there was practically a wall
of tourists gathered on the far edge of the lake, snapping pictures
aplenty. This alone was enough to make us highly skeptical, but the
tortoise's behavior also made us suspicious. It surfaced so
consistently in a small area of the lake that Robert guessed he was
tethered there and every few weeks he is exchanged for a new giant
tortoise, just to keep the myth alive. Inside the temple, the
taxidermied body of a tortoise that died in 1968 is displayed. The
behemoth weighs in at 250kg and measures a whopping 2.1 m! The main
draw was supposed to be the temple, but it looked a lot like the
temple we saw yesterday, so we enjoyed the bridge, the kingfisher and
the turtle far more.
The Ancient Art of Water Puppetry (roi nuoc)
We had tickets to a traditional water puppet performance in an hour,
so we used the gap time to hunt out a new book for Robert. He chose
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It was a gamble because I have
heard that it is good, but I am not sure about the specifics. We shall
see how it turns out.
Next was the water puppet show. It is an uber touristy thing to do,
but it actually sounded pretty cool, so we gave it a shot. Instead of
a stage, the performance takes place in a big tank of water. The
puppeteers stand behind screens in the tank of water and operate their
lacquered wooden puppets via long poles. Our tickets were two dollars
a piece, so it's okay that the show was not amazing - we didn't pay
for amazing. It was amusing thoughvand I'm glad we got to see it. Now
that i have been, I probably don't need to see it again. The live band
that accompanied the show was nice though - playing traditional
instruments whose names I was told, but could not process enough to
even take a stab at them. This new language is hard! We are babies
again, barely able to say hello and thank you. The puppets danced and
splashed in the water until the finale, where a carp (fish) turned
into a giant glow-in-the-dark dragon that flew through the air (that
part was pretty cool).
Eating and Drinking, what else?
Next we searched out a second bowl of pho, lunch. This time we
required ourselves to patron a "street vendor." We found a little
place nearby that was adequately street vendory and looked good. We
had pho ga and pho no meat. Most places specialize in one type of
meat, with the majority we have found only serving "ga," chicken. This
pho was noteworthy. The broth was excellent, mounds of limes were in
buckets around the tables along with fresh homemade chili sauce and
white vinegar for customizing your broth. The soup had firm noodles
and Robert reports that the chicken was quality. The place also had a
pleasing utilitarian style about it, short stools and stainless steel
tables, trashcans tucked beneath each one. Explanatory Note: the word
"pho" actually refers to a type of noodle, flat rice noodles. "Bun,"
on the other hand, refers to an alternate type of noodle, round rice
noodles. Originally, we had thought that pho was a noodle soup, while
bun was a noodle salad. Wrong! We ordered bun at this place at a later
date and still got soup, but now our noodles were round. What is the
noodle salad called???
Next we moseyed over to bia hoi intersection for some cheap brew. We
met an expat Scotsman, who we exploited for local information. He told
us the fruit we have seen around is jackfruit, not rambutan as we had
guessed; he recommended a different eatery at the end of each cross
street; he explained all the bar food we saw others eating: pork skin
wrapped in bitter leaves dipped in chili sauce (all three together are
supposed to be not bad), French fries and catsup ordered from
somewhere nearby and delivered to your sidewalk stool, peanuts of
course, fermented pork wrapped in banana leaves (also supposed to be
palatable), and my personal favorite bang do/bong da (I cant for the
life of me get the name right) basically it is a big flat puffed rice
cracker topped with sesame seeds and dipped in a spicy chili sauce and
it is a great beer accompanier. This Scotsman gave us the most
comprehensive information about Hanoi and bia hoi drinking and we were
grateful for it. Thank you, sir!
We earned a nap and a spot of pernicious tv watching before dinner. An
hour later it was quite challenging to crawl out of the covers and
gear up to find dinner. We hunted down a few places the Scotsman
recommended, settling on a place called New Day Restaurant in English
and a whole lot of nonsense in Vietnamese. This place is notable
because you can go into the kitchen and point at which vats of food
you want. This, however, is also intimidating, so we opted to order
from the standard menu. We got a stewed pork, fried morning glory,
rice and fried veggie spring rolls. The whole dinner was excellent.
The spring rolls were a new experience, think of small, tightly
wrapped mini-spring rolls dropped in a deep fryer. They aren't
battered and the covering is still the normal rice paper, making them
novel and very tasty. I also liked how the meal was served. Everything
on it's own plate and each person is given a small bowl and chop
sticks. Put what you want in your bowl and eat from that. You get to
make just the right combination of rice, veggies, meat and sauce in
each bite. Delightful!
Maybe not as exciting as our first, action-packed day in Hanoi, but
pleasant all around.
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