Tri uttered these words like a kid this morning, after we did our walk around Bao Dinh Square to check out the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, and bought our Vietnamese Impressionist paintings in the Old Quarter. The cabbie taking us back to the hotel got a good laugh about that...not entirely sure why.
Hanoi reminds me a lot of Taipei...just smaller and with less of the Tokyo-esque billboards and lights on the side of buildings. The buildings here, in fact, are a little more reserved and dignified. You see cute little details in their homes, like wood shutters and intricate railings on balconies. It really does show the influence the French had on this country. If you don't see it in the architecture, you'll definitely see it in the cafes...and even the street hawkers selling of all things, baguettes. What this place has in common with Taipei is the crazy traffic, and the ga-zillion scooters bravely navigating through traffic. You really have to be brave here to ride one of these things. On the way home one night, our cabbie sideswiped one. No big deal, it seemed, to the parties involved. In fact he was more pissed than concerned, but the couple on the scooter just shot him a dirty look and then took off. No harm no foul I guess!
The other thing about Hanoi that is similar to Taipei is that you can find cheap food in just about every corner here. The street food costs less than a dollar. You can eat like a king here if you stick with the local food. We weren't brave enough, though, to eat from one of the sidewalk stalls. We have eaten in sidewalk stalls in Taipei but did not feel brave enough in Hanoi. Somehow it seemed a bit dirtier. Or maybe it was Tri's mom gravely warning us not to eat there. Either way, we stuck with the trendier pho and bun cafes. Yummy!
On our second day here, we took a Halong Bay tour. It was cloudy and a bit cold but I can only imagine this place when it's warm. The bay is dotted with thousands of these limestone karsts. The water is absolutely calm...like glass. And so sleeping aboard the boat that night was the best sleep we had in a long time. The boat that we were on, the Santa Maria Cruiser, had these great lounge chairs on their sun deck, so it was great to be able to lay there and watch these amazing karsts go floating by. Some of these look remarkably like animals...some looked like water buffalos, turtles, and even a tea pot (you had to be there).
We also checked out a floating village. There are about 8000 people in these floating villages throughout the bay. So strange that there are people who have grown up always being on water. They know only how to row a boat and wouldn't know the first thing about cars or scooters. It was fascinating being able to kayak around and check these guys out. I felt a bit bad gawking but I was totally facinated by how they live their lives. Most make a living farming fishes. But we did see a few earn their living by catering to the tourists. As soon as we tied up our boat one little boat from the village came out to greet us with an assortment of drinks and snacks. Tri took pity on this lady and bought a beer...for less than a dollar. The beer here in fact is very cheap. About the same for water and sometimes cheaper!
We are now on our way to Hoi An, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Central Vietnam. We will be spending our New Year's Eve here. The resort we are staying at is in a great beach area. Just hope the sun comes out a bit! For tonight, they are suppose to have some traditional dance performances before dinner, then some contemporary band kicks in for some dancing before the big beach bonfire. Should be interesting!Photos are on my picasa web pages..link is here:http://picasaweb.google.com/Sheryl.Huynh/Hanoi_HalongBay
