Hey there...hope everyone is having a great week! Greetings from Ha Noi (as it is written in Vietnamese), which is the capitol city of Vietnam and which is located in the northern part of Vietnam.
It is a very cosmopolitan city, full of bustle and busyness, but because it is the seat of government for the country, it is the city in which the governmental presence is most felt. More guards and 'officials' are seen on the streets and there is a conservativeness of this city when compared to the south of Vietnam. The infrastructure is much better here in Hanoi, compared to HCMC/Saigon ~ sidewalks are wider, nicer and in better states of repair and there are more traffic lights with walk/don't walk signs than we see in HCMC/Saigon. There is definitely the feeling that the money in Vietnam is here in Hanoi and is being spent on the up-keep of this part of the country, although Amy and I were discussing whether or not the economy of HCMC/Saigon (very free-market) might be driving the economic engine of this country at this point?.? Who knows...but an interesting question.
Some of our Vietnamese friends have told us that the infrastructure monies mostly go to northern Vietnam, as the government is still subtly 'punishing' the south for their resistance many years ago. Not sure myself, but there are noticeably extreme differences from the south to the north.
Hanoi is a very fun place to be ~ less crowded than Saigon and not as large and sprawling. The people are friendly, but not too friendly ~ a coolness is noted, but that's ok with me. It's a great city to walk about as well.
We arrived from Hue yesterday morning and got settled into our hotel room at the Zephyr Hotel, at the base of the Hoa Kiem Lake. This is a very nice hotel and quite an upgrade in price when compared to where we stayed last time we were here in 2007.
When we checked-in, we discovered they had 'upgraded' us to the family suite which had 2 large queen-sized beds. Seemed like a great deal at the time...not so much later...when we returned from walking around and doing a little shopping (details to come), we discovered little bugs all over the room! Icky...icky...icky! So, we got the housekeeping and maintenance staff to come up and take a peek and then requested a new room immediately!!
As they were scrambling to get us another room, Amy and I were literally shaking out our clothes to make sure we didn't take any of the little creatures with us. We think we are all good, but tomorrow when we are packing for our return, we will certainly be shaking things out again!
We arrived in our new room where they were putting new mattresses on the beds and new linens that were freshly laundered. Phew! We did a thorough inspection of the room and no critters were found, so we feel quite ok about our surroundings.
We seem to have a history of 1st night 'issues' here in Hanoi...hopefully next time we'll break our streak! All is well now...at least we think so! ;)
On to more fun topics...
When we arrived yesterday we ate at a lovely French bistro/patisserie, as we were both starving. And we were both badly in need of some good baguette. The influence of the French in Vietnam's history is most felt in the production of amazing baguettes. In Hue (as we found in Nha Trang in 2007) this 'skill' does not seem to be passed down, so the baguette is very heavy and dense. But in the south and in Hanoi, eating baguette is like eating it in France ~ super-delish. So we found some baguette and it was great.
A little history ~ in 2007, we happened upon a shoppe selling the photography of a Vietnamese photographer and I fell in love with a black and white photograph of a young girl sitting in a chair, holding a grapefruit. She resides in the very north of Vietnam, amongst the ethnic minority tribes of Vietnam and she is the daughter of a leader of one of these tribes. So, at the time, David and I were living in Chicago and I knew we didn't have room to put up a really large photograph of this little girl, and so I purchased a small photograph and had it framed and it is now in my house just outside what was David's office in the entryway.
So, Amy and I decided to see if we could find the shoppe again, although I, for some odd reason, couldn't remember the name of the photographer or where the shoppe was located exactly. We both had a general idea, but that was it. So we strolled up/down a few streets and as we were walking I started remembering what street it was on, so we walked back to that street. We were walking a bit and Amy, brilliantly, decided to ask a woman working in one of the galleries if she knew of this photography shoppe. She did and directed us to it.
We walked in and there is a short wall just as you walk in the sliding front door. So we both walked around the wall and there was the large photograph of the girl that I have loved ever since 2007. We found it!!
So, excitingly, I bought not only the large photograph of the girl, but also another large photograph that is more modern in its context and they will be arriving (apparently) at my doorstep in 3-4 days from now!! So exciting!! My plan is to get them framed and then hang them in the stairwell leading to the downstairs in the house. I am just thrilled and am so happy!!
(these are not great photos of the photos, but you get the idea...)
 |
| The little girl who will grace my wall |
 |
| A more modern view of Vietnam ~ love the 2 little boys! |
Adding additional excitement to my purchase is while we were there looking at the photographs, the photographer himself came in and so we chatted a bit and then he had photos taken of me and Amy with him and the photographs I purchased! Very fun moment!!
These will always remind me of Vietnam and I am so happy to be able to purchase these 2 photos here!! I couldn't be more thrilled!
We had a quiet dinner last night ~ all of Hanoi is fairly low on tourists at this time of year ~ and then we walked back to our hotel. As we were walking around the Lake, we heard some music playing and went to check it out. There was a dance class being held outside on the edge of the lake and there was a great group of people dancing the cha-cha when we were watching. There were young and old alike dancing and off to the side there were 2 little kiddos (a boy and a girl) doing the moves as well. Exercise and fitness are readily apparent here in Vietnam, which is grand.
After a good night of sleep (during which I dreamed of sleeping in my own bed at home...ahhh), we took of to do a walking tour of the markets that Amy found in her Lonely Planet guide. We walked for about 4 hours ~ had lunch too on our favorite, most French, street in Hanoi ~ and decided to drop off our purchases and take a little nap to recharge our batteries.
Here's some sights we saw while walking and shopping today...
 |
| An afternoon nap...on a cyclo! |
 |
| More sewing machines |
 |
| Now those are some funky hi-tops |
 |
| Converse All-Stars, anyone? |
 |
| More electrical ~ still amazes me! |
 |
| Flower delivery |
 |
| A larger flower delivery |
 |
| Birds in cages ~ they were up and down this entire street |
 |
| Hand-carved stamps |
 |
| Amy selecting some stamps with the 'stamp guy' |
 |
| Wanna knit a scarf? |
 |
| Tape...and lots of it |
 |
| Now that's a full bicycle...no wonder she's walking the bike |
 |
| Donkey Donuts ~ A social responsibility company (?) |
 |
| DoCo ~ Donuts and Coffee (I like the logo in the center of the sign) |
 |
| This is 'ghost money,' which is burned in commemoration of the dead to free them from harm and bad spirits |
 |
| This is a seat for a baby that is put onto the front of a cyclo, so that the baby can sit and ride on the cyclo with their family. Amy thought it looked like a re-worked shopping cart. |
 |
| A trike |
 |
| Getting ready for Christmas here in Hanoi. There is a large Catholic population here in Vietnam. |
 |
| The LEGO shop ~ this photo is for Tristan, my nephew...they have LEGO shops here too!! |
Tonight we had dinner with Jonah (one of the docs with IEP) and his fiance, Abby. We had Cha Ca, which is a native dish to the northern part of Vietnam. It's basically sauteed fish, dill, scallions, cilantro with peanuts and fish sauce over vermicelli. It's quite good!! It was fun to hang-out with Jonah and Abby on their last night here in Vietnam.
We are not going to do any of the historical sites this time in Hanoi, as we did all of them in 2007. Tomorrow we will finish up a little shopping and start packing for home. We are planning on having dinner with Theresa and Tina (2 nurses from IEP) here in Hanoi for our final night!!
Finally...for Trevor and all of the other cat lovers...here's another kitty....
 |
| Kitty |
We leave Hanoi on Saturday around 12p and arrive in San Francisco at 230p on Saturday as well. I will then return to Omaha on Sunday, the 5th.
Thanks for reading and I'll post more in the next day or so!!
xoxo
Stacy
