| Hanoi |
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| Hanoi |
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We arrived in Hanoi and our first impression was the traffic:
lots of motorbikes, squeezing themselves through the streets and the few
cars and busses. Crossing the street appeared an adventure in itself: close
your eyes, step on the street and hope the people will find a way around
you.
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Of course, after some time you get used to it and you hardly even notice the noise of the engines and the claxons. And about crossing the streets... we even managed to do so while carrying a load of pine-apple. |
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The Hoan Kiem lake is an important meeting point,
especially on Sundays. The Ngoc Son temple lies on a small island in the
lake. Here you can see the turtle who once gave a sword to the king, so
he could win the war.
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Of course, you can also burn some incense for your forefathers. Or you can play a game that looks a bit like Go (or Wei Qi) with your friends. |
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At the lake we also found a group of children, painting
colourful impressions of the lake. Their teacher gave them some tips in what
they could improve in their paintings.
Interesting, the children in Vietnam paint a tree the same way children do all over the world, whether they're in the Netherlands, Turkey, or Kazachstan. |
Throughout Vietnam you can also see colourful propaganda posters, with happy looking children and the portrait of Ho Chi Minh. The man on the motorbike in front of the poster doesn't like very impressed.
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In the streets around the lake you can find anything for sale.
For instance, hats to put on your motorbike-helmet to keep the sun away when
you are driving through the city. Or festive decorations.
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In Hanoi are lots of temples. Although they are marked on the
map, we found several of them are private. Or closed.
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 Something you should definitely see when visiting Hanoi, is the waterpuppet theatre. Accompanied with traditional music, you see lots of short stories played with puppets, moved by sticks that are covered from the water. Most of the stories are very funny, like the man who want to catch a fish with his basket, but ends up with catching his neighbour. |
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When visiting Hanoi, you can't miss the Ho Chi Minh
mausoleum. Unless of course it is closed, like when we were here. Maybe he
was of to Moscow for restoration? |
 The One-pillar pagoda is another thing you just have to see. Preferably in the weekend, so you can also see Vietnamese people taking pictures of each other. |
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The American war (as it is called here) is not mentioned very much. Of course, it ended decades ago by now. But when you find some-one who is willing to talk about it (like the guides in the Army Museum), you can see the lights in their eyes when they tell about sharpened bamboo sticks in fall-pits. |
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| We took the night train to Lao Cai, to visit Sapa. On the way out we didn't see much because it was very dark, but on the return trip we found out the train goes in Hanoi through narrow streets, with just a small path between the train and the whops and houses. Fortunately for the people living here, there aren't many trains a day. |
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