I sure am glad I warmed up with Singapore before coming here, at least the heat didn't totally overwhelm me. On our flight in the captain told us the weather in Hanoi was "sunny, humid and 96." That is quite a sentence to hear. On the ride from the airport there were endless rice fields, with a corn patch right in the middle of them from time to time. The humidity and haze combined to magnify the brightness of a sun that was somewhere up there, not to be pinpointed. The airport was about 27 kilometers from the city, so we slowly made our way from countryside to the dense, crawling metropolis. There were people riding motorbikes everywhere, each with various face masks to hide from the sun, pollution and grit. Remarkably, upon reaching the city, things seemes to become greener and shadier, if that makes any sense. We checked into our hotel in the old section of town. Here's a shot from our hotel window.
We unpacked and then hit the streets. The streetscapes here remind me of a mix of Bombay and Bermuda. Bombay because of the busy, honking, endless scooter and human traffic. Bermuda for the lushness of the vegetation and architecture.
Everything is busy here, even the trees look to be doing overtime.
The telephone wires looked like they've been layered on over the decades, more and more.
As you may have guessed, the bicycle is pretty big here in daily life, you see a lot of vendors using them to transport their wares. I don't think they actually ride them more than transport goods with them.
A block away is St. Josephs Cathedral - a vestige of French colonial rule. Another example we noted was the cafe where we had lunch - it used to be a convent. See it here.
After lunch we made our way to Hoan Kiem Lake, the center of the old city. It is deep green and sports a necklace of parkland where many sit to enjoy slightly cooler temperatures. We sat down for an iced coffee in a cafe on top of a nearby building. This is truly a cafe society - they are everywhere.
After coffee we walked along the lake. This bridge joins to an island temple in the middle of the lake. As I took this photo and enterprising young saleslady commented on my photo skills to try to make a guidebook sale. I said thanks and moved on. Where was my girlfriend to shoo her away? Hiding 50 feet back. I teased her "hey, if you are with me they won't bother me since you look Vietnamese." She didn't seem to find that funny. She doesn't think she looks Vietnamese....
At certain corners of the lake, without cover from the shade trees, the sun was overpowering. I cannot imagine who would sit in these seats in the middle of the afternoon.
Another small temple in the lake, this one inaccesible. Thousands of Vietnamese, with a few tourists mixed in, sat lakeside under the trees, fanning themselves and sipping on various drinks. After our hour walk we headed back towards the hotel. We found a nice refuge - a massage spot that was air conditioned and shaded. When we walked in, the proprietor spoke to Puffin, but his accent must have been too strong for her to understand. Then a few of the ladies looked up from their feet massages to try. Still, we couldn't understand. Finally, one of them spoke in English. "Sorry, sorry, it's just that you look so Vietnamese that we thought to speak to you in Vietnamese." She looked over at me sheepishly. That was the best, there is no doubting it now. In Thailand, she gets spoken to in Thai, here in Vietnamese. Maybe we should try Cambodia one day.
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