Vietnam 2008 (Part I) - Hanoi
What a trip! In June 2008 I took two weeks to join a friend (Tom V.) in Vietnam for my limited vacation. He had been traveling for a number of weeks throughout Asia, but we synchronized our schedules, met in Hanoi, and booked flights out of Saigon for two weeks later - the rest was up to us. As expected, it was a great experience and Vietnam is undoubtedly a gem worth visiting (soon!) It may be crowded but it’s never overwhelming, the people are friendly, the land is beautiful, the food is amazing, and it’s cheap. You really can’t go wrong.
So the challenge is thus: I’ve returned from a fantastic trip with stories to tell and hundreds of pictures to go along with. For fear of simply posting the photos and forgetting the story I’ve endeavored to intertwine the two and produce a lasting (and hopefully entertaining) record of my experience, as much for my sake as anyone else’s. While this will necessitate a lengthy post and significant culling of my many photos, I expect the result will be better for it. Enough intro and babbling, let’s begin.
Friday – June 14
So the trip starts on Friday, frantic packing and a late night. As is often my tendency before long flights I didn’t go to bed that night, instead choosing to watch TV reruns until the cab picked me up in the early morn. Gory details of cancelled flights and additional legs can be ignored, suffice to say I flew Boston to Chicago to San Francisco to Seoul to Hanoi, Vietnam. Flights went well for the most part. My attempts at food and sleep regulation were semi successful. Journal comments touch on constant sleep deprivation, movies (The Other Boleyn Girl was a pleasant surprise) and weather (at what temp is F = C, answer -40 degrees).
In Hanoi at midnight, easy baggage collection, easy ATM, easy cab ride, Tom was waiting in the lobby. Had a Bia Ha Noi (beer) and a shower, feeling good! To bed @ 12:40am, and so the trip begins for real!
Monday - June 16, The First Day
So my first day in Vietnam, what do we do? Watch American TV of course. Start off the day by grabbing a couple of beers and Xoi Xeo (sticky rice with fatty pork and egg), then back to the hotel to watch the Celtics lose 103-98 to the Lakers (ed - for posterity, this was the 2008 NBA finals, game 4 I think? Celts end up winning it all a few days later). Delicious breakfast, crappy game, time to explore the city.
Not much to report except we ate our first Pho Ga at a small street stand (first of many). Tom ate a coconut, a fresh coconut? Gelatinous innards with liquid, served cold. Tried to eat some papaya business but turned away. That afternoon saw a Water Puppet show. A little ridiculous but fun, some highlights include “On a Buffalo with a Flute” and “Unicorns Play with Ball.”
Enough fluff, onto real substance, food. Tom had heard a positive restaurant review of “Highway 4″ from a friend, so we endeavored to stop there while in Hanoi. This place had an interesting variety of dishes including some more unusual items (fried locusts) and came across as pretty legit and not just a tourist destination. They also brew their own liquors. I’m just going to quote this whole section from my journal.
Highway 4 – Dinner
Only customers when we arrived, bad sign?
Dishes consumed:
Bo Kho Vat Chanah – Spicy dried beef jerky with lemon juice. Delicious, shredded beef, pretty sweet, lime juice, KICK at the end! Spicy.
Nem Ca Xa 104 – Catfish Spring Rolls. Fried catfish w/mayo and dill wrapped in rice wrapper, delicious, but how could it not be?
Thit Cho Hun Khoi – Smoked Dog Meat. The infamous dog! Tastes just like smoked ham, but chewier.
Ngon Su Su Xao – Chayote stalks and leaves sauteed. Good, finally some greenery
and to follow:
Lin Chi Mushroom Liquor – described as “profoundly bitter taste of Lin Chi mushrooms with the earthy sweetness of precious Korean white ginger”. Profoundly bitter indeed, my tasting notes “that’s f***ing bitter!” Tom says “Yup, that’s bitter”, a minor understatement. Wow that is awful stuff.
Apricot Liquor – described as “Thick, tartly sweet liquor with taste of ripe apricots” My tasting notes “anythings better than Lin Chi”.
Total cost of dinner 340000 Dong, or just over $20 for 4 dishes, two beers each, and two cups of liquor – not bad! Back to hotel for brief break, I immediately fall asleep, jetlag kicking in? But Tom wakes me up to rally again, out for Bia Hoi (draft beer). Sat on the street and drank a few fresh beers, poured from a huge stainless steel pot. Pretty cold too. Beers were 6000 each, 40 cents each! Then to bed for real, not a bad first day in Hanoi!
Tuesday - June 17
Every time I step outside my camera lens fogs up. Pain in the ass.
Busy day of wandering. Took off for Hoa La Prison (the ol’ Hanoi Hilton) and arrived at 11:30am, right as they closed for a 2 hour lunch break. Ate some snacks at a classy french deli, Vietnamese coffee packs a punch! Check out the History Museum (also closed, but good architecture outside), then a Xe Om (motorbike) ride back to the prison. Hard bargaining and threats of walking away to establish price of 10000 dong. Thrilling, quick ride – this is the way to travel!
Prison museum was good, saw the John McCain uniform hanging up. Stopped for a bit of Pho, then on to Army museum (eh, decent I suppose) and then Ho Chi Min Masoleum just in time for a changing of the guard. A walk around the grounds ended with another thrilling motorbike ride (this time in rush hour traffic) back to the hotel.
That night it’s off to another street vendor that was recommended on a blog. At first we couldn’t find it, but then peeked down a sketchy alley and saw the tell-tale plastic stools along the wall under a bare bulb, bingo. We were given a pan with a sterno heater and cooked various veggies and meats, fun and tasty. Stopped for a dynamite rice pancake wrapped dumpling on the way home (ed – called Banh Cuon, rice pancaked rolled around minced sausage and mushroom. Served w/shredded, salted shrimp and dried onion flakes and sweet dipping sauce). Delicious, lady making them was a whiz at creating see-through thin pancakes without breaking them. That night jumped onto our “balcony”, really the roof outside our roof, to watch a lighting storm and mess around with cameras. Some time later we have torrential downpours but I was in bed. First sign of this so called “rainy season” that I’ve heard so much about.
(Continued in Part II)