Hanoi

It was precisely 24 hours sitting on a bus from Laos to Hanoi in Vietnam which made my bum hurt so much, that I am not willing to torture myself in a similar fashion in the closest future. Arriving 5.30 am to a suburban bus station in Hanoi after all does not seem to be the best apetizer to fall in love with the place; 20 motorbike riders and twice as many taxi drivers were more than willing to give us a ride for 10 USD, which was quite a contrast to the peace we enjoyed in Laos an more or less also in Thailand. Our Indian experiences flashed back and made us wake up which was enhanced by a morning rain, too. Miraculously I found the way to the center with a local bus (lately my greatest achievement according to Tomek, but not too flattering). Though we could have enjoyed Hanoi waking up with the street sellers and the group of ladies excercising on the lake side, but our wearyness made us crawl into bed after a shower (these showers after a 20 plus hours travelling are revelative experiences; even the filthiest bathroom makes you feel like in heaven, especially if you know that a clean bed is waiting for you. :)

So after a good 6 hours sleep and a bit of a jet leg we walked around the Old Town and soon found out, that the thing here is more the charm than a great historical or cultural heritage. Unless you get a kick from the Uncle Ho and communist stuff, which is plenty and is not especially our cup of tea. Though it is fascinating to see a place which is happily communist in its ideology and bureaucracy and seemingly comletely capitalist in its economy. There are a few things to visit though, like the Hoan Kiem Lake with a small island and the Ngoc Son Temple on it. You will find a lot of veteran Vietnamese men playing games under the pagoda's shelter, which appears to be quite an exciting competition supported by an audiance giving constant advices for the two players and big aplauses for a good move. Van Mieu, the Temple of Literature is a bit prettier attcation, even if more so due to its historical importance, being the fist royal university in Vietnam from as early as 1070, than its actual shape. However, the Vietnamese Communist Party declares itself open for religion, the shape in which you find temples seem to prove quite the opposite. To be on the fair side I should mention that the French and Americans probably took their part in destroying a lot of Vietnam's architecture during the unnumerable wars this country suffered from. On the contraty the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex is in its full grace and tip top shape with similarly endless que as in front of the Lenin mummy in Moscow. For some strange reason the museum closes at 11 am and we never made it there so eary in the morning :))), so I can narrate only about the exterior, which is competing with the Red Square (but this is grey).

For a change we enrolled to an organized one day trip to the Perfume Pagoda outside Hanoi just to make sure we will not do it again; we started to feel outcasts already on the bus among very neatly dressed senior tourists from the part of the globe, where paying five times the normal price goes without notice. Though the landscape was beautiful with a lovely boatride and a 1 hour climb to the cave, which used to be the center temple of Buddhism in Vietnam, it was more of a disappointment. The trek was full of trash with sellers offering all the same shameful plastic kitch and you'd better be on the watch if you do not want to enter into a bargaining about how much you should tip on top of the "tourist" price.

But not to sound so grim I should mention also the fun part: we treated ourselves with a performance in the Water Puppet Theatre, which is a traditional music and puppet show just on the lakeside, really nice! But the biggest fun for us in Hanoi was roaming the streets on foot or on a bicycle, which is a guarantee to get lost and drifted by the river of traffic made of a constant flow of scooters and bicycles. For culinary delights we had two inspiring experiences: Highway 4, which is famous of its choice of traditional spirits made of all sorts of things alive and its menu listing similarly incredulous specimens, just to mention a few: cricket salad, crocodile filet and smoked dog meat. KOTO is another favorite, being extreme on the other side of the scale: it is not only a gorgeous restaurant and bar, but a fascinating concept how to create future for street kids with an immediate evidence, that it works. Check it out!