After our time on Halong Bay, we headed back to spend a few days in Hanoi. With no rain since the day we arrived, we found it hazier and smoggier than we had left it. We had chosen the La Siesta Hotel in the Old Quarter. Despite its strangely Mexican name, it is an impeccable Vietnamese boutique hotel.Part of its charm is the stark contrast between its cool, quiet, stately interior and the colorful riot of sensorial chaos just outside the door. Of all the cities we’ve spent time in, Hanoi’s Old Quarter with its street life is our favorite. Like all Vietnamese cities, the streets are surprisingly clean, which is good, since everything happens on them. Sidewalks, well, aren’t. They’re mostly consumed by non-walking activities, like selling, parking, cooking, and eating (above and below).This restaurant is a big one. Most have only a couple of preschool stools, or none. The Old Quarter’s Hoan Kiem Lake is at the center of historic Hanoi.And both day and night, it’s at the center of public life. The nearby streets are closed to traffic every weekend, creating a large walking mall for strolling and enjoying the lake (below).In the surrounding old city, between the cost of land and taxes based on street frontage, there’s incentive to build narrow and tall.This has created a layered city, with storefronts under offices under living quarters under who knows what. When I got my haircut, I checked in on the ground floor and ascended five flights of stairs, through curtained living quarters, storage rooms, and offices, to the posh top floor, where the actual business of cutting hair is done. We could spend a month here just taking pictures of people on two wheels, like this simple shot of a woman on her bike. Or catching a ninja in traffic. Ninjas are women so called by locals for their full-body, heliophobic attire.Or the simply courageous. The food in the north is quite a bit different from the south. It is more savory but less flavorful. It is just as spicy, though not as nuanced as in Saigon. But it is no less delicious. Here we’re eating at Hungry Hanoi. The photographer is having Gà nướng mật ong sốt ô mai gừng. I’m having noodles and buns. Good friends recommended the Green Tangerine, a French restaurant, or as French as a restaurant in Hanoi can be. The blogger (that’s me) ordered lamb shank. Can you see the puzzled look on my face? Breakfasts are excellent. Fresh fruits …and phở … and the photographer’s daily starter: watermelon juice. Then there are our Hanoi favorites. Bún bò nam bộ, literally rice noodles in southern style. And bún chả, pork and rice noodles.Late one afternoon we watched a water puppet show. A thousand year old tradition originally performed in village ponds, it uses well-established characters, like the man who pokes fun at government corruption, and tells well-known stories that portray everyday life, like boys catching frogs. Accompanied by song and instruments, you don’t need to understand the language to enjoy the slapstick humor. The effort does require a good number of waterlogged puppet masters.One day we stood in line at Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. His wish was to be cremated and have his ashes scattered across Vietnam, north and south. Instead his remains were sent off to Russia to be Lenin-ized. He now lies in state attended by honor guards and can be viewed by the public a few hours each day.The Presidential Palace and grounds are adjacent to the mausoleum. Time spent wandering the shady gardens helped us reacclimate to the heat after our time in the icebox that is the mausoleum. We also visited Hanoi’s Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The original enclosure was laid down over 1,000 years ago. All that’s left now is its north gate (above and below) built much later. The grounds have alternately held the seat of government, wartime prison, administration buildings, and the national court. Excavations have started to reveal its long history. Here the blogger takes a picture of the photographer, looking through a gate-top hallway as though through the wrong end of a telescope. One of our most interesting stops was at the Museum of Ethnology. It details the histories and cultures of the over 50 different ethnic groups in Vietnam. From fish traps (above) to boat styles and crafts (below).Otherwise, we just walked around the old quarter, tripping over motorbikes, and taking pictures of tourists and touristy stuff, like this entrance to the grounds of the Temple of Literature. On our last night, the staff set up a table for us outside on their sky deck, where we could imagine the sun setting somewhere behind the overcast in the west. Before we were done, though, we did get to watch the full moon rise from the east, albeit through very heavy hazy.The two waitresses who took care of us for dinner, and other meals, too, brought us a special dessert that they decorated themselves and took pictures with us. We were only there four nights, but they bonded with the photographer. I know this because they’d ask her if she was allergic to anything when she’d order and check back to see if she needed anything. They never asked about my allergies. Next time I’m bringing an epipen.The next morning we ran the gauntlet of souvenir shops at the airport and and headed back to India. Ciao, ciao Vietnam.
