Good Morning Vietnam!!
Rice paddies!! Rice paddies everywhere!!
As we descend through the clouds on our flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi International Airport, below lie meandering muddy rivers and rice paddies. Rice paddies everywhere. I think somewhere in the Lonely Planet, it said over 70% of the Vietnam population is somehow engaged in the rice production business. Well, it didn’t surprise me as we flew into Hanoi.
Na Boi International Airport was a piece of cake. The airport was a little old school. After landing, buses took us from the tarmac into the terminal; customs was simple and our backpack was all ready to go on the luggage carousal waiting for us. But one thing was pretty evident right off the bat was how humid Vietnam is going to be! I don’t think it was more than 80 degrees, but it was HOT!!
Of course, as we got out of the airport, the driver that I was expecting from our hotel wasn’t there. Before we left for Vietnam, I had book a reservation via the internet to a nice little guesthouse/hotel called Camellia II. There was another driver waiting from the hotel, but it wasn’t for us. I had hoped that the guy had a little mini-van, but alas he drove compact Toyota. I guess we could have just hopped aboard and squeezed a little, but I wanted to ride into town with a little more comfort.
Instead, we hailed the next Taxi into town. I had read a handful of stories about taxi drivers trying to screw passangers, but our driver was a very pleasant. Granted he spoke absolutely ZERO English. The $10 set fare into town was simple enough, but we couldn’t communicate to him which hotel we wanted to go to. Thinking that everything was nearby the backpacker section of town, I decided that we should just wing it.
We had read that the driving situation in Vietnam was a tad crazy, but I didn’t find it that bad. Certainly nothing like China or India. I doubt Amy felt the same, though. Bottomline, no one yields here. People just drive straight forward. It’s like a big game of chicken. I don’t think we ever drove faster than 60 kph even though the 4 lane highway was probably the best road in Northern Vietnam. Certainly, there were more two wheeled vehichles than 4; solo riders, double, some triple. I was looking forward to seeing my first Vietnamese family on the motobike, but that didn’t happen until later in Hanoi city.
Our driver eventually dropped us off at a random backpacker hotel. We checked it out and it was more than adequate for $15 a night. But I think was a little dead set on staying at Camellia II, so we walked out in search of Camellia II. Of course, a nice tout was outside waiting for us to take us to another hotel. Since I’m always really skeptical when I arrive in a new country as I'm not yet acclimatized to prices and customs, I didn’t believe a word he was telling us; not that we understood anything. Amazingly enough, we guided us to Camellia II, still hoping that his kind gesture would lead to a visit to the hotel he was touting. Camellia II had a nice clean lobby, but unfortunately, their $15 double rooms were all booked up. But what do you know, Camellia II had a cousin, Camellia IV right down the street for $17 a night. It even had an elevator. Someone came for us a few minutes later, took my pack, and lead us to our final destination. Our room was pretty Spartan, but most importantly, it had A/C. We both took a nice cold shower and we were off to explore the Old Quarter.
Central Hanoi is more quaint than most developing 3rd world cities. It kind of reminded me of a small Chinese city. It wasn’t crowded like Shanghai or New Delphi and traffic actually flowed. Sure, there was a ton of people on the road, but it wasn't the 405. None of the local buildings were taller than 3 or 4 stories high. Like most Asian cities, the storefront was on the street level and people probably lived on the upper levels. The driving was similar in that it everything was like some sort of organized chaos. I don’t think any real damage can be down on these road unless one runs into a bus. People just don’t move fast enough. I’d be shocked if the top speed ever went above 25 mph.
The Old Quarter is a part of Central Hanoi where small streets line the sidewalks and the architecture retains some of its French colonial roots. Many of the 2nd levels have a small balcony attached to it. At first I wasn't all that impressed, but I think the city soon grew on me. Many of the streets are named after the type of things sold there. For example, one street only sold herbs, another shoes, etc. The foreigner backpacker influence was quickly evident in that there were travel agents every three shops and they were all called Sinh Café. Apparently Sinh Travel was a very successful travel agency a few years back. Next thing you know, there are 50 Sinh cafes in a .5 km radius. This is important because we wanted to book a little boat cruise to Halong Bay on Wednesday morning. Since we didn’t know which Sinh Café was the original and “true” Sinh Café, we decided to avoid them all together. Hard to build a brand consciousness when trademark rules are pretty non-existent. The Lonely Planet Forums just raved about Handspan’s tours, but they were literally twice or three times as expensive as anybody else’.
Just as it is at home, deciding on what we are going to eat for lunch was the big decision of the day. We wanted something different from the usually backpacker international fare, so we ventured out to the edge of the Old Quarter for some grilled fish. We paid a little more than I thought meals were going to be, but I was more than satisified. I think its hard to evaluate Vietnamese restaurants as many of them look like run down eateries. Surprisingly, the food wasn't all THAT much different from the Viet food in L.A. Gotta love fish sauce. Nice and tasty (and smelly) whichever hemisphere one is on.
After lunch, we attempted to start a walking tour of the Old Quarter. I also wanted to buy a pair of sandals and I could use and abuse. We didn’t get very far as we were soon dehydrated from all the humidity. Plus, I don’t think our legs are very used to walking around for long stretches at a time. I’m glad that this part of town wasn’t completed dominated by the tourist trade. There were plenty of tourists milling around, but I think most of the Old Quarter still primarily existed for the locals. Hopefully, it stays this way for a while. But after a couple of hours walking around, we were down. Our bodies were drenched in sweat and we just wanted some A/C. We didn’t even want to walk back. We bargained with a couple of cyclos (bicycle rickshaws) and were able to get a fare of 10,000 dong ($.60) back to our hotel.
After a nice little 6 hour nap, we were once again in search for food. I guess our bodies were just getting out of the jet lag. Hanoi was still very festive at 10PM on a Sunday night. I was intent to find a nice diversified night market that’s so prevalent in most of Asia. But after walking around for an hour, most of the food stands that we could find were pho stalls or hot pot meals. We just weren’t interested in downing large bowls of hot soup in 80 degrees and 90% humidity. With our dining options quickly fading, we settled on a decent backpacker joint.
Dinner was decent. Not all that much different from the Chinese food from home. The beef was a little tough. I was hoping for some of the tender beef from the lunch special place in Rowland Heights, but I guess this would do nicely.
With our first day in Vietnam over, what are our first impressions? First of all, no mosquitoes nor crazy bugs - this is a huge plus. The unnatural combination of the new and the old was everywhere. Old ladies lugging around fruit baskets while a few BMWs and Mercedes roamed the streets. Just kind of hard reconciling all of it. Haven’t been all that impressed with the dining options. Though food is everywhere, we haven’t figured out what’s good or bad. Hopefully, this will be solved shortly. Eating great Vietnamese food on the cheap is on the top of the list for things to do.
Our itinerary tomorrow? Who knows? I think we're just going to rent a little scooter and drive around the city. Hopefully, we don’t crash and get run over by scores of little Asian people.
Sorry for the long blog. Haven’t written a journal in a while. I’ll try to condense the content to more poignant observations rather than just a rehashing of our itinerary.
As we descend through the clouds on our flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi International Airport, below lie meandering muddy rivers and rice paddies. Rice paddies everywhere. I think somewhere in the Lonely Planet, it said over 70% of the Vietnam population is somehow engaged in the rice production business. Well, it didn’t surprise me as we flew into Hanoi.
Na Boi International Airport was a piece of cake. The airport was a little old school. After landing, buses took us from the tarmac into the terminal; customs was simple and our backpack was all ready to go on the luggage carousal waiting for us. But one thing was pretty evident right off the bat was how humid Vietnam is going to be! I don’t think it was more than 80 degrees, but it was HOT!!
Of course, as we got out of the airport, the driver that I was expecting from our hotel wasn’t there. Before we left for Vietnam, I had book a reservation via the internet to a nice little guesthouse/hotel called Camellia II. There was another driver waiting from the hotel, but it wasn’t for us. I had hoped that the guy had a little mini-van, but alas he drove compact Toyota. I guess we could have just hopped aboard and squeezed a little, but I wanted to ride into town with a little more comfort.
Instead, we hailed the next Taxi into town. I had read a handful of stories about taxi drivers trying to screw passangers, but our driver was a very pleasant. Granted he spoke absolutely ZERO English. The $10 set fare into town was simple enough, but we couldn’t communicate to him which hotel we wanted to go to. Thinking that everything was nearby the backpacker section of town, I decided that we should just wing it.
We had read that the driving situation in Vietnam was a tad crazy, but I didn’t find it that bad. Certainly nothing like China or India. I doubt Amy felt the same, though. Bottomline, no one yields here. People just drive straight forward. It’s like a big game of chicken. I don’t think we ever drove faster than 60 kph even though the 4 lane highway was probably the best road in Northern Vietnam. Certainly, there were more two wheeled vehichles than 4; solo riders, double, some triple. I was looking forward to seeing my first Vietnamese family on the motobike, but that didn’t happen until later in Hanoi city.
Our driver eventually dropped us off at a random backpacker hotel. We checked it out and it was more than adequate for $15 a night. But I think was a little dead set on staying at Camellia II, so we walked out in search of Camellia II. Of course, a nice tout was outside waiting for us to take us to another hotel. Since I’m always really skeptical when I arrive in a new country as I'm not yet acclimatized to prices and customs, I didn’t believe a word he was telling us; not that we understood anything. Amazingly enough, we guided us to Camellia II, still hoping that his kind gesture would lead to a visit to the hotel he was touting. Camellia II had a nice clean lobby, but unfortunately, their $15 double rooms were all booked up. But what do you know, Camellia II had a cousin, Camellia IV right down the street for $17 a night. It even had an elevator. Someone came for us a few minutes later, took my pack, and lead us to our final destination. Our room was pretty Spartan, but most importantly, it had A/C. We both took a nice cold shower and we were off to explore the Old Quarter.
Central Hanoi is more quaint than most developing 3rd world cities. It kind of reminded me of a small Chinese city. It wasn’t crowded like Shanghai or New Delphi and traffic actually flowed. Sure, there was a ton of people on the road, but it wasn't the 405. None of the local buildings were taller than 3 or 4 stories high. Like most Asian cities, the storefront was on the street level and people probably lived on the upper levels. The driving was similar in that it everything was like some sort of organized chaos. I don’t think any real damage can be down on these road unless one runs into a bus. People just don’t move fast enough. I’d be shocked if the top speed ever went above 25 mph.
The Old Quarter is a part of Central Hanoi where small streets line the sidewalks and the architecture retains some of its French colonial roots. Many of the 2nd levels have a small balcony attached to it. At first I wasn't all that impressed, but I think the city soon grew on me. Many of the streets are named after the type of things sold there. For example, one street only sold herbs, another shoes, etc. The foreigner backpacker influence was quickly evident in that there were travel agents every three shops and they were all called Sinh Café. Apparently Sinh Travel was a very successful travel agency a few years back. Next thing you know, there are 50 Sinh cafes in a .5 km radius. This is important because we wanted to book a little boat cruise to Halong Bay on Wednesday morning. Since we didn’t know which Sinh Café was the original and “true” Sinh Café, we decided to avoid them all together. Hard to build a brand consciousness when trademark rules are pretty non-existent. The Lonely Planet Forums just raved about Handspan’s tours, but they were literally twice or three times as expensive as anybody else’.
Just as it is at home, deciding on what we are going to eat for lunch was the big decision of the day. We wanted something different from the usually backpacker international fare, so we ventured out to the edge of the Old Quarter for some grilled fish. We paid a little more than I thought meals were going to be, but I was more than satisified. I think its hard to evaluate Vietnamese restaurants as many of them look like run down eateries. Surprisingly, the food wasn't all THAT much different from the Viet food in L.A. Gotta love fish sauce. Nice and tasty (and smelly) whichever hemisphere one is on.
After lunch, we attempted to start a walking tour of the Old Quarter. I also wanted to buy a pair of sandals and I could use and abuse. We didn’t get very far as we were soon dehydrated from all the humidity. Plus, I don’t think our legs are very used to walking around for long stretches at a time. I’m glad that this part of town wasn’t completed dominated by the tourist trade. There were plenty of tourists milling around, but I think most of the Old Quarter still primarily existed for the locals. Hopefully, it stays this way for a while. But after a couple of hours walking around, we were down. Our bodies were drenched in sweat and we just wanted some A/C. We didn’t even want to walk back. We bargained with a couple of cyclos (bicycle rickshaws) and were able to get a fare of 10,000 dong ($.60) back to our hotel.
After a nice little 6 hour nap, we were once again in search for food. I guess our bodies were just getting out of the jet lag. Hanoi was still very festive at 10PM on a Sunday night. I was intent to find a nice diversified night market that’s so prevalent in most of Asia. But after walking around for an hour, most of the food stands that we could find were pho stalls or hot pot meals. We just weren’t interested in downing large bowls of hot soup in 80 degrees and 90% humidity. With our dining options quickly fading, we settled on a decent backpacker joint.
Dinner was decent. Not all that much different from the Chinese food from home. The beef was a little tough. I was hoping for some of the tender beef from the lunch special place in Rowland Heights, but I guess this would do nicely.
With our first day in Vietnam over, what are our first impressions? First of all, no mosquitoes nor crazy bugs - this is a huge plus. The unnatural combination of the new and the old was everywhere. Old ladies lugging around fruit baskets while a few BMWs and Mercedes roamed the streets. Just kind of hard reconciling all of it. Haven’t been all that impressed with the dining options. Though food is everywhere, we haven’t figured out what’s good or bad. Hopefully, this will be solved shortly. Eating great Vietnamese food on the cheap is on the top of the list for things to do.
Our itinerary tomorrow? Who knows? I think we're just going to rent a little scooter and drive around the city. Hopefully, we don’t crash and get run over by scores of little Asian people.
Sorry for the long blog. Haven’t written a journal in a while. I’ll try to condense the content to more poignant observations rather than just a rehashing of our itinerary.
posted by amy & albert at 10:32 AM
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