There were no surprises for me this morning in the hotel foyer; everyone was up and awake and I had to convince myself that what I saw yesterday did indeed happen.
Even though we are right in one of the busiest sections of Hanoi, the area is extremely quiet at night; not even the noise of delivery trucks or garbage trucks, which are often the destroyers of a good night’s sleep in a city.
Those little piles of rubbish have been placed there deliberately, all along the streets.
From our balcony, Mick has observed a little lady each morning around 7am while he waits for me to get back from my morning walk, and sipping his cup of tea.
The little lady collects these bags of rubbish and places them in a little skip she pushes up the street. Any cardboard is carefully folded and separated, but sadly, the plastic goes into the rubbish.
Walking around the streets before 6.30am is like being in a totally different place. It is easy to lose one’s bearings because the goods that are for sale are not on display.
At this point I must say thank you to a good friend of mine (Bel) who reminded me about an app for my phone that allows you to use Maps without WIFI. Mick and I put it to good use both yesterday and today.
Yesterday as I walked around our area in the afternoon, I spotted a fire up ahead, on the side of the road. It was being supervised by a woman and I immediately thought she was getting her coals ready for her BBQ street stall.
But, I realised this was not an area for street food.
As I got closer, I saw that the woman was putting on what looked like new possessions, made from cardboard and paper, into the fire.
No one gave her or her companions a second look.
I later Googled what this might mean.
The ritual burning of “joss paper” is a part of the Vietnamese religion known as “ancestor worship”: the ritual offering of gifts for the sake of deceased relatives, to earn their blessings and to take care of them in the after-life.
Vietnam Daily
And today, Mick and I saw another one.
But not in the same league.
The smoke and ash from this fire was blowing back into her shop.
Mick spotted her burning ‘fake’ money – which again is something we read was done.
I have seen businesses near here that sell the paper goods to people wanting to make this sacrifice to their ancestors. I did not realise at the time that the goods were for burning until I read about this.
Today, after dropping some laundry to a woman living in a small alleyway near the seamstress making my ‘outfit’, Mick and I walked about 1km to the Dong Xuan Market which was originally built by the French administration in 1889. I had spotted some solar powered (stretch) golf carts advertising tours of the city.
There was an English commentary played as we travelled the small streets, but we could not hear it. Our driver would yell out important pieces of information like “Lantern Making”, “City Gate” and “Temple”. He’d then slow down so I could take a photo. For 245,000 VND (~$16.50 AUD) for 30 minutes / cart – it was a great way to get a close-up look. In one spot he pointed out the Ho Chi Minh Museum, which Mick and I later visited.
This Museum certainly promoted Ho Chi Minh, or ‘Uncle Ho’ as a great man – and Father of the Nation. They revere him as a person who devoted his entire life to the liberation of the Vietnamese people.
He led Vietnam’s communist revolution against the French colonial rule and then took on the United States.
Here in the Northern part of Vietnam, there is strong evidence for the support of Communism; lots of flag flying and posters, like the one yesterday promoting exercise, are evident here.
Of course, not everyone views him this way. Particularly many of the Vietnamese living in the South, who had fought with the US against the spread of Communism.
He served as Prime Minister of Vietnam from 1945 to 1955 and as President from 1945 until his death in 1969. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist, he served as Chairman and First Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Vietnam.
Wikipedia
The museum was located in the building where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked.
This is his bed near the “Reception Room’ where visitors would wait to meet with him.
Some people might say that Mick and I are unadventurous, but we like to think of ourselves as ‘loyal’ customers. If we find a spot we like, we return when we can, again and again. In Nha Trang, it was the Japanese Restaurant next door to our hotel where we ate 4 out of 5 nights. Here in Hanoi we have found three businesses we have repeatedly patronised.
The first place is a cute-looking, modern French patisserie where the baguettes are more like the French than the Vietnamese style; both are delicious, but we prefer the French. We ate lunch here a few times.
Then we found the New Gentry just around the corner, that sells craft beer and snacks, and eventually we realised that it also sold wine. I say eventually because there was no mention of wine on their menu. The staff were at pains to tell us that they only sold wine by the bottle, but with two of us, we assured them that would be fine.
The wine we chose (on two nights) was an Italian wine that was decanted into this personalised glassware. We also tried a cheese platter – and while it doesn’t look like how we would present a platter (< $10 AUD), the cheeses and pâté were very good.
And after pre-dinner drinks, we walked closer to our hotel, next door in fact, to a small local restaurant selling chicken dishes. We ate here every night.
Each chicken dish comes with a bowl of delicious clear chicken soup, and the rice is nice and sticky so using chop sticks is not too embarrassing.
Each meal costs 40,000 VND (~ $2.65 AUD), and a can of beer costs 20,000 VND. (~ $1.30 AUD)
NEXT PART OF OUR ITINERARY
Mick and I are heading off tomorrow morning on a 3 day – 2 night cruise on Halong Bay. There will be no internet on the cruise, and I had only joked to Mick this morning that I also hoped there was no COVID. I thought we would be OK given that the boat is only small – 24 cabins.
I had been a little worried about this idea of a cruise, given all the issues with COVID, and my fears were warranted as late today I received advice that the ship we were booked on (Dragon Legend 1) has been ordered into dock for disinfecting as all crew members have tested positive for COVID. YIKES!
The company offered us an alternative, which Mick and I accepted.
We will depart tomorrow as planned and spend the first day on a different boat, called “Dragon Legend 2” – but only spend one night on it, staying overnight at Bai Tu Long Bay. On our second day we return to port and will be transferred to a different port (about 20 minutes drive apparently) and onto a second boat with a different company – ASPIRA. And their boat looks much bigger.
We will spend the second night in Lan Ha Bay. According to our booking agent – she said one advantage of this change is that we would experience two different bays and two different luxury boats. We will see. I am sure all this change over will be time consuming and repetitive (in safety instructions and checking in and out of cabins).
So, you will get a reprieve from my posts for at least three days – and I am sure there will be a lot to share when we return to Hanoi.
Mick and I are fully vaccinated (4 shots each) and we will wear masks when we can’t avoid crowds.
On a positive note – the weather looks perfect.
POSTSCRIPT
Looks like tonight is garbage night – perhaps it will be a little noisier tonight.
Jane and Mick's Holiday Adventures 