Hanoi, Vietnam
Ah Hanoi... We went there this weekend and it was so much more than I ever would have expected. The first thing for me is the traffic. I mean seriously every time I go somewhere new in Asia I keep thinking wow this is the most extreme example of "x" that I've seen. And I thought Bangkok traffic was bad! The traffic in Hanoi is the most outrageous thing I've ever seen. They don't care about traffic laws basically (except some red lights) they don't care about pedestrians, the motorcycles and scooters are anarchists, and the pedestrians fearless.
They don't really ever stop. Its just a slow stream of people, cars, and two wheeled vehicles going in every direction. They don't like stop, they just constantly merge. Pedestrians adopt a "don't show fear and be predictably straight and steady walking" mentality or they don't make it across the street. They also don't stop for you crossing the street unless you absolutely force them to, if they can swerve in front or behind you they will. It made Bangkok look tame and coming back an intersection that I was previously at awe with here I am no longer even interested in... I couldn't cross the street alone and had to be next to someone...
We stayed in a great little hostel though called Old Quarter View Hostel Hanoi which was really great. It had hot showers, free towels and breakfast, adjustable AC, and the most comfortable beds I think I've been on yet here. It was really great. The price was only $8 USD which was more than I had wanted to pay but oh well still a good price from US view, a bit much from my new Thai perspective but it was still great.
It was in the heart of the old town which was absolutely swamped with people at night. I wish I had gotten a better picture. There were little chairs and tables everywhere and I'm really talking about thousands of people. Shops of all kinds of tourist and fake goods everywhere, restaurants spilling out into the street, just everything. Tons of bars and things to do and just so many people, street performers, specialty foods, and so much more. It was a lot to see, the first night we just walked around for hours before ending up in a lantern filled bar for happy hour. Said bar also had Ginger Creme Brûlée which was AMAZING. I didn't know how ginger would work with Creme Brûlée but it was actually amazingly good and if it wasn't 70,000 dong (yes 70,000 and yes dong) I would have gone back for more. That and I completely lost the bar after that first night.. Here is a photo or two though of that cute little bar with me and Paulina.
We got the really cool ice cream where they make it in front of you with two utensils and a cold plate and then roll it up. I have seen it online and on facebook for ages and been dying to see it myself so that was a real treat, plus it was tasty!
The money here is insane. The exchange rate when we were there was about 1 USD to 22,660 dong. We were millionaires while we were there. Sometimes it was fun and other times you'd think oh 40,000 thats less than two dollars and that kind of mentality really gets you in the end because its a quick 60k here and 20k there and suddenly even though you never spent over $5 you've spent $20 on a bunch of small things.
Its interesting to me because each area has their mass produced tourist trap souvenir items. Bangkok you can get the same dresses and bags pretty much everywhere but I've only seen these fun folding greeting cards at one stand in Bangkok. In Hanoi though they were everywhere. I thought it was amusing to see the way that tourist wares kind of have a home base.
We spent a day being tourists and walking around, this photo of us is on a bridge at a lake and that was nice. It lead to a temple and if you weren't dressed appropriately you had to wear the purple frocks. I didn't pay to go in and neither did my friend Paulina so we didn't have to do that.
We also visited Hoa La Prison which was a French built prison in Vietnam when the French were in Vietnam. They used it to imprison Vietnamese who were rebellious to the French and it looked pretty awful. They highlighted the plight of the Vietnamese prisoners but it was also mentioned that the place was used for POW during the Vietnam war and that Americans were kept there. They even claimed to have John McCain's flight suit from when he was shot down in Vietnam.
The experience was pretty cool, very heavy history, but also a history I felt so far removed from. This photo is from us at the prison before entering a part meant to honor those imprisoned there. We all had to put on the green frocks to go inside. This is the second photo we took because when we took the original there were two phones taking photos so we though two people from our group wanted photos on their phone so some people were looking at the other, turned out it was just a Vietnamese dude taking a photo of us for himself. I think the appropriateness of that is so strange.
Last thoughts on Hanoi besides the traffic and the money is that its nice that they drive on the right side of the road like in the US (I've gotten too used to the Thai way of driving on the left) and the place is generally cleaner than Bangkok. Even in the old quarter, we were walking through at like 3am at some point, and there are literally hundreds if not thousands of people there every night but by the time we got there (everything closes at midnight) it was completely clean. When everyone left, the entire shop keeper and restaurant population must clean the streets immaculately.
One thing we did notice though was a lot more European architecture than in Thailand. Its always interesting to visit countries in SE Asia that have been colonized, occupied, or some how affected by western civilization. Thailand was never colonized and they are very proud to be the only country that wasn't but it does show differences. Beyond western building styles Vietnam still retains baguettes (Banh Mi sandwiches), and weirdly enough toy poodles are like way more abundant in Vietnam than I was expecting. It's so interesting to me how cultures mix like that.