Hanoi

No,No, I did not go to the infamous Hanoi Hilton, or to any of the other American War tourist sites!   ( It  is a huge tourist industry in Vietnam) Thought i  did find out that John McCain crashed into a lakes, pretty much smack in the middle of Hanoi. 

I did find a geat small hotel in the old french quarter, perfectly located.  I  have always wanted to get a feel for Hanoi? the food, architecture, the people.

One of the best reasons for living in Singapore is the ability to fly out for a weekend to discover fantastic  places that you might have heard about but never could justify a 24 hour  flight . What better time to go to Hanoi, than for Thanksgiving weekend?  No one could or wanted to go, so this was an Ivan solo trip.

This was Sat morning, and as you can  see the place is really revving up.

 Smog is a huge issue here, as well as every other city in Asia. After a couple of days i could definitely feel it in my lungs.  Wonder what the lung cancer rate is going to be in 20 years??

This is one of the prevalent sites , through out  Vietnam, street vendor with double baskets, i did not expect to see this in the city. Their is no product that is exempt from this means of transport, could be bananas , french bread, sewing services, shoe repair, every type of fruit available. The other constant, is that all of these folks are predominantly women. No smog with this means of transportation.

Than there is the whole issue with crossing  streets through traffic.  ( at least her alignment is right) Boy, are we lucky!

 

  This is the view of  Jade Island with the “Morning Sun light bridge” connecting it to the mainland.  Jade Island on which the Ngoc Son Temple (Jade Mountain Temple) stands. The temple was erected in the 18th century. It honors the 13-century military leader Tran Hung Dao who distinguished himself in the fight against the Yuan Dynasty, Van Xuong, a scholar, and Nguyen Van Sieu, a Confucian master and famous writer in charge of repairs made to the temple in 1864. Jade Island is connected to the shore by the wooden red-painted Huc Bridge (The Huc, meaning Morning Sunlight Bridge).

A picture of a couple of Bonsai trees on Jade Island looking south over the lake

Here is OM in Jade Mountain temple, Hey look ,long sleeved shirt!!!!  Must have been about 70 deg. perfect weather.

  Hoan Kiem Lake is to Hanoi what the Common is to Boston. It is a focal point for people to meet and what makes the city so vibrant. Early morning is  the best time to to visit and see all of the locals practicing Tai Chi,  or just stretching. The name of the lake means lake of the Restored Sword and comes from the legend about such a magical instrument given to the  local Emperor to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam. After the war, a giant golden tortoise snatched the sword from him while he was fishing and took it to the bottom of the lake. The Rus or the Tortoise Tower  is off to the left,on a center island of the lake.

Folks my age starting the day.

Good picture of the bridge, with another person practicing Tai Chi

                                                                                                                                                        

The boulevard /walkways around Hoan Kien had a contemplative feel to it. As opposed to everywhere else in Hanoi, which felt like NY on Speed.

After visiting Hoan Kiem lake I wanted to visit  Uncle Ho’s museum,  really the George Washington of modern Vietnam.  My feel, is that it is time to move on but i feel the same about most dead leaders.

This is were they keep Uncle Ho (under glass) I did not go in. But their was a long line of folks , just wanted to see how he’s doing. I  am sure he is pretty happy with all of this attention.

I don’t know about you,but their is nothing like a mausoleum  to get my appetite  bell ringing, so off to the market and  ultimately a street cafe  serving Pho Ca , with my limited knowledge of local food, seems like Pho is a national treasure! the heck with Uncle Ho, man this is were its at!

One of the many markets

In Asia, this is how you keep your fish fresh, keep it alive.

Fresh shrimp and other unknown living creatures.

I read an article last year that said that Vietnam was the largest exporter of Rice in the world? how can a country this small do that?!

Oh, I recognize this!  No matter where i looked , everything i saw was fresh.

In fact I found a street  cafe ( 5 chairs on the sidewalk, not to fancy) where they served beer that they made the previous day in their basement? tasted like Miller Lite.

 Now where to eat, hmmmm what are the options?not matter where one goes in the world, there always seems to be American  fast food outlets around. I should have taken a picture of the menu.

Some folks travel the world and only eat  McDonald’s or Subway, what a waste. Oh well, more  for me.

Now we are talking! some spinach? egg something Pork roll, rice , and the Pho is coming. Plus bottled beer. Now , that’s the good life )))

As you can see, most of the places are out side venue. You get the whole experience, traffic, folks walking by, talking ,arguing, laughing. This was the most alive place I have been at in awhile!!

After lunch I wandered through shops and traffic. Because of the smog many people wear face  smog mask, what was fun was that folks have turned the boring white dust masks in to a fashion statement! you got to love humans for that attribute. The other discovery i made was that you can not cross traffic  in Vietnam like like  in the western, you know, look for an opening than make a dash. The problem is that on one way streets their are a number of motor bikes driven the wrong way. So as you make your dash, you could get nailed from the other direction. I did notice that locals were getting across, in fact, some  bikes were pulling u turns  in the middle of the maelstrom, how did they do it? Well , they walked slow and purposely so all motor scooters and cars could see their  intent, and  move around  them! As Rex said” walk like and Egyptian”.

To put this to a test, I slowly walked out into the middle of a busy intersection and stood their taking pictures of all of the folks with colorful dust mask. Folks just drove around me, I felt like Moses. , probably looked like a an escaped insaneact.

I wonder what is going through this little guys head? Looks like he can’t breath.

So , the following is a collection of dust masks,  and Hanoisions,  in a busy intersection i!

This is probably my favorite, i think she has a strawberry.

It definitely seems like the women are driving the fashion bubble here, just like NH.

And, I did not create any accidents.

 The next few picture have to do with how big a load  or what you can carry on your motor scooter.

55 gal.  barrels, at least their empty.

And than their is always the  dining-room set.  

So, if my old company was operating in Hanoi this would be Mike Whittemore Delivering pipe from the shop? hope they have the paperwork with that pipe.

One of the first things I learned from Lee H. was that his preferred method for moving material in a vertical manner was  with  a tugger, and here I am in Hanoi watching  the same type of operation . I wonder what would happen if the bags on that shaft were moved? Note the PPE.

This was pretty interesting , a couple of kids practicing ” break dancing” spinning on their head, in front of this ancient Vietnam Hero

And of course , I guess their is no escaping it? Christmas? after all it is Thanksgiving weekend and the real start of  Christmas shopping . Just because I am in Vietnam i should expect to be able to escape ! no their is no escape. Their were a couple of streets dedicated to nothing but selling Christmas decorations, trees, bulbs, lights, tinsel and on and on.  Hum bug!

Well, that is pretty much it.! Regarding the American War,  seemed like Vietnam is no longer interested , unless it could be turned into a  money  making business model.

My intent in coming here, was just to hang out,  try not to walk like a tourist, talk to as many locals as i could, and eat and drink everything local. One of my takeaways was  to note how industrious these folks are? every one is trying to make a buck, whether it is grandmother coming down  stairs and sell Pho on the side walk,  #  1 son is renting motor bikes , daughters have opened a stall selling clothes. Everyone is  trying to make it.

I will come back, and  probably travel north to SaPa, their is a night train from Hanoi every evening. Sapa is  in the mountains where a few ethnic  mountain tribes live.

Thank You , and hope you enjoyed this.

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