As the aircraft descended towards Hanoi it scythed it’s way through the murky mist gradually revealing a grey landscape below. I suspect that the murky mist is a combination of normal atmospherics and pollution. Time would tell.
The flight had gone so smoothly it was a disappointment that we then faced a two-hour delay while our visas were sorted. Despite the fact that we had all completed the forms correctly, they seemed to be more concerned as to who was actually meeting us on the other side of passport control. After a lengthy phone call to the Asia Aventura office they began to process our passports and eventually let us proceed to passport control and to our luggage waiting on the other side where we were also met by our guide, Thanh, better known as “T”. It was now plain sailing to the hotel, although the closer we got to the town centre the more congested the traffic became, particularly with motorcycles, of which there were thousands. The population of Hanoi is 8 million and there are reportedly 7 million motorbikes. As the Tet Festival (Vietnamese New Year) was approaching some motorcyclists were precariously carrying large branches of cherry blossom or potted orange trees.
Having settled into the Hanoi Emotion Hotel, a very narrow, eleven floor hotel, we went into the old quarter for dinner. It was a fascinating walk through narrow streets alive with activity; so many interesting sights, sounds and smells. Groups sat on children’s plastic stools eating noodles produced by pavement cafes. There were some stunning displays of flowers, all ready for the Tet Festival.
Octopus?
There were also some interesting items of food for sale, including some very lurid, orange octopus and some weird and wonderful fruit. Where there was not a colourful stall of some description blocking the pavement, motorcycles were parked, forcing us all the time to walk in the road. Remarkably, we did not come into contact with any traffic. Similarly, if we needed to cross a wider road we simply walked at a steady and regular pace, confident that the traffic would work its way around us. If we tried to run or to change our pace we would be introducing unpredictability into the operation and an accident would be much more likely.
After the first of many good multi-course meals we headed back to the hotel, through the same streets that were still very much alive with activity.
You would have thought that when staying in the heart of the capital city you would be woken by the hum of early morning traffic. That was not the case. It was preceded by cockerels crowing across the city to each other.
After breakfast Mr T met us for the start of our Hanoi city tour. The streets surrounding our hotel were too narrow for the bus to pick us up, so we walked a short distance to a main thoroughfare. Now, in full light of day, we could see the true impact that the motorbike has on the roads of Hanoi. At every traffic light there was a sea of motorbikes of all shapes and sizes. Some were carrying impossibly large loads, piled high and wide behind the driver. Others carried long items that jutted out in front by several feet and trailed behind by even more. It made the journey interesting looking for the most bizarre load or the bike with the most riders. Five was a maximum, but it did not stop us looking for six!
The entrance gate to the Temple of Literature
Dragging ourselves away from motorbike watching we visited the Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucious. Built in 1070 it is the site of Vietnam’s first university. There is a lake in the grounds beautifully described as the ‘Well of Heavenly Clarity’. It is a site of traditional architecture, stone carvings, Buddhist temples, bonsai trees and tat. Many of the stalls were selling really tatty items aimed at the Tet Festival. We made a point of trying to find the most grotesque, cheap and nasty Tet tat.
Heading back into the traffic, we next visited the mausoleum to Ho Chi Minh, a huge marble pillared edifice surrounded by old colonial French architecture and a modern parliament building. This is a place of huge significance for the Vietnamese as “Uncle Ho”, as he is affectionately known, was the founder of modern Vietnam, unifying the north and south after some bitter and bloody wars.
The Vietnam War was really the first war to be shown daily on television news bulletins and I remember, as a teenager, feeling bitter towards him, only because of the way he was portrayed by the media in the west. My reading leading up to this trip, and what I was learning as the trip unfolded gave me a very different perspective of Ho Chi Minh.
Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum
A long, circuitous walk past guards in white uniforms, eventually brought us to the steps leading into the mausoleum. Respectful behaviour was expected at all times with no talking, no hands in pockets, no inappropriate dress and no photos. The steps eventually led into the heart of the mausoleum where Ho’s body lay like a wax dummy. Having given due respect, we emerged into the hazy sunshine to a huge parade ground in front of the building. We were not allowed to stand directly in front of the building; there was an invisible line beyond which we could not go beyond. As we stood there listening to T, people would regularly wander into the ‘no-go’ area, to be ushered back, without ceremony, by the guards on duty.
Ho Chi Minh, was a simple man, who probably would not appreciate all the fuss. He preferred not to live in the Presidential Palace, a huge ochre coloured French colonial building, preferring the simple stilt house with the bare minimum of furniture.
A traditional tribal house at the Museum of Ethnology
Lunch was taken in a parkland restaurant adjacent to the Museum of Ethnology. It was a very special restaurant where those working there were all pupils of Hoa Sua School, run by retired Vietnamese teachers. The school is a none profit organisation that takes young people from difficult circumstances and gives them vocational training in catering and hospitality. So far 7000 young people have benefited from the training and have been able to secure work in restaurants and hotels, an opportunity that otherwise would not have been available to them. The meal was excellent.
After lunch we went into the museum to try to get to grips with the tribal history of the Muong, the White Thai, the Black Thai, the Khmer and the other minority tribes of Vietnam. It was fascinating but, also, confusing as there was too much information to absorb.
Outside, and probably far more impressive were, reconstructions of tribal houses. These were large and provided homes for extended families. While there were two very impressive traditional stilt buildings, a long house and a very tall house, the building that took most of our attention was the burial chamber with its collection of sexually explicit wooden statues all around it. They left nothing to the imagination!
Time was getting on and we were due to watch a water puppet show at 5.00pm. Unfortunately, we hit the road at the wrong time as it became gridlocked with thousands of motorbikes. We arrived at the theatre on the edge of the old town fifteen minutes late, so we had to creep in. For many in the group it was a welcome relief to sit down in a darkened room after such a full-on day, and it was not long before eyelids began to droop.
Our introduction to Hanoi had been quite short but packed with as much as we could cope with in the time. The following morning we were due to leave. A shame, really, as I think Hanoi deserves a little more time, to enjoy its traffic chaos, the atmosphere of the Old Town, the colours, the tastes, the smells and the forever cheerful faces that greeted us. I have seen enough of Hanoi for me to want to return to absorb all that it has to offer.
