C & C globetrotting around the world…

We are finally millionaires! Unfortunately, it’s not by winning the Lotto-Quebec, but by withdrawing some Vietnamese dong from the ATM (20,000 dong to $1, so just $50 makes you rich!).

On the way from the border to Hanoi, we saw women selling baguette on the side of the highway, a sign the French had been here. We arrived in Hanoi, a city of 3.7 million people and scorching hot. We checked in at our hostel and were offered a coffee right away. We guess you need it to bring your pulse in line with the city. We then ventured into the Old Quarter (just outside our hostel) to get a feel for the city and look around. The country’s capital is steeped in history, but is also pulsating with life. You feel this right away. Luckily we had been in China, where we got to practice with the buzzing traffic because Hanoi is the real thing. There are mainly motor bikes that zoom by in an interesting weave of people, cars and motor bikes. We had been told about it, but crossing the street is quite the experience indeed. The trick is to keep walking at a steady pace and the motor bikes will avoid you. It sounds pretty crazy when you see them coming at you, but it works. We are always happy once we cross the street. If you look up, you see many colonial buildings and funny “tunnel houses” called so because they are narrow and long, many of them very colourful. Back in the day they used to pay taxes on street-front space, so the architecture adapted to that reality. If you look down, you see lots of small street eateries with delightful food enjoyed by people sitting on tiny stool on the sidewalks. We had dinner at a small restaurant suggested by our hostel staff and it was delicious. After lots of fried food in China, it’s refreshing to have soups and lots of fresh herbs.

Unlike in China, there are loads of travel agencies everywhere and everyone is trying to sell you a tour. The commissions for booking train and bus tickets are very high, so we wanted to try on our own, as we had in China, so we set out into the bustling city. We were rewarded by paying only half of what they were charging us at the hostel, but had to go to the train station by ourselves. To get there, we followed the train tracks. People live right next to them and we saw dishes, children playing and daily life as we walked. After buying the train tickets, we walked through a neighbourhood and the local market and saw many colourful herbs, spices, vegetables and also dog meat for sale. Not for sensitive stomachs. Accidentally we stumbled upon the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first university and a jewel of traditional Vietnamese architecture in 11^th century style. There are five courtyards, as well as a statue of Confucius. It’s interesting to see this scholar’s influence also on other cultures, after having visited his hometown Qufu in China. There were also lots of girls who had graduated university and who were dressed in beautiful and vividly coloured traditional clothes. We then passed though the embassy quarter, a very nice area with mature trees and pompous villas. We also saw the German and Romanian consulates and residences, not bad places to live or work. Too bad it was Sunday, otherwise we could have paid them a visit. We also saw the Luxembourgian flag hanging from poles and assumed there was something going on, but didn’t know what exactly.

We also went to a bus station to buy bus tickets for our trip to Cat Ba, again on our own, defying the organized groups. The guy there hardly spoke English, but used Google translate to communicate with us. An ingenious idea! In the evening we went to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. It is a fascinating art that started here in Northern Vietnam and that Christoph’s dad had seen many years ago. The show started off by a musical performance and then the water puppets emerged. It was interesting and fun to watch and the music was very pleasant. There were different scenes, depicting the life of the peasants, such as the water buffalo fighting, farm work and coconut picking. The final scene is related to the legend of Emperor Ly Thai To, who transferred the royal capital from Ning Binh to Hanoi 1000 years. The legend has it that upon his arrival in Hanoi, the Emperor saw a golden dragon among the clouds so he named this area “Thang Long” meaning “a soaring dragon”.  On the way back, we walked through the Night Market where it was loads of people buy clothes, jewelry and anything else imaginable.

People in Vietnam are a lot more open than in China and more speak English. At the hostel, in the stores and on the street people are generally very friendly and more considerate of others than in China, we feel. On the other hand, everybody tries to sell you something (in Vietnamese “rip you off”) and one starts mistrusting everyone. It’s funny that we compare everything to China now, but probably because it’s the most recent experience. We even convert prices to Chinese yuan (RMB) to see if it’s cheap or not (many times we get quoted in USD or dong, but converting it to yuan gives us a better feel for the prices we should be paying. We heard South-East Asia (SEA) is cheaper than China, so now we try to buy everything at Chinese prices or lower. Funny how our reference point has become China now.

We found out that the Grand Duke Henri de Luxembourg (Christoph’s uncle) is in town, so after breakfast we hurried to the Luxembourgian embassy. We arrived at the address and saw it was a hotel. We asked and they said the embassy was inside indeed. We also told them we came from Luxembourg and we wanted to see Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. They told us he’s in a meeting and they don’t know when he’ll be out and if we even get to see him because of security, etc. We couldn’t be talked out of it and decided to stick around since he would eventually have to come by. Our patience (or stubbornness?) was rewarded about 20 minutes later. The staff was getting agitated and winked at us, telling us that he might be coming. We got up and stood right there. And then we saw Him! Christoph cried out “Letzebuerg” and he immediately came over to us, shook our hands and started speaking Luxembourgian. Christoph answered in French, saying we came from Luxembourg, live in Montreal, that we are on a world trip and found out he was here so we wanted to meet him. He asked about our trip and then we took a picture together. He was accompanied by Mme Marie-Anne Jacobs, the minister of Family Affairs and minister of Cooperation. We chatted with them, telling them we were good Luxembourgians celebrating Luxembourg Day with our friends in Montreal (Stimmung! Party!) and watching the parade every year. He was very pleased to hear that and we shook hands again before they left. We were so excited our knees were shaking and we couldn’t believe that we actually got to meet him! He was very nice and our trip to Vietnam was already worth it! We left the embassy-hotel and still couldn’t believe our luck. The whole day we just kept saying “Wow”!

From there we walked towards Hoan Kiem Lake. The lake, epicentre of Old Hanoi, has a legend according to which Heaven sent Emperor Le Thai a magical sword he used to drive out the Chinese. These were our first 3 days in Hanoi and from here we headed to Sapa, a hill station in the Tonkin Alps 300km Northwest of Hanoi. From there we went to the Bay of Halong, East of Hanoi in the Gulf of Tonkin.

After Sapa and the Halong Bay, we went back to Hanoi for 3 more days. We walked through the narrow lanes of the Old Quarter again, sat in small street-side restaurants, people-watching. It is really fascinating to see what people carry on their bikes and scooters: 3 more passengers, 10 large boxes, pigs, chickens, you name it. And in the whole craziness that traffic is, nothing falls down and there are no accidents. Food in Hanoi was really good: fresh spring rolls (nem), noodle soup (pho), noodles with grilled beef (bun bo) and meatballs (bun cha). It’s really great because everything is made on the spot and served with lots of fresh herbs such as coriander, sage and mint. For dessert we went to Cafe de Paris to have some French desserts: mousse au chocolat and plum liqueur.

We also went to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, where he lies embalmed. He is a national hero for the Northern Vietnamese who won the war over the Americans and founded the Communist Party of Vietnam. In the same complex we visited “Uncle Ho’s” former house and saw the Presidential Palace, as well as the One-Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi’s landmark.

We had planned to go to Hue and Hoi An on the coast in Central Vietnam for some history, but unfortunately the area is flooded. Therefore, we’re flying to Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City – HCMC) and leave those for our next trip to Asia. We heard North and South Vietnam are very different due to their long split history, so we are excited to find out for ourselves.