Hanoi

24/03
The night went rather quickly despite the worry of getting kicked out everytime the train pulled in a station...
We have also made some plans with the british guys for the arrival at the station. It is 4.10am when we arrive and there are not many options to get a hotel opened at this time. So the 6 of us decide to share a taxi to get better chances and limit the risk of getting ripped off by one of the famous city scams. Soooo we find a taxi for the 6 of us and tell the driver to take us to one of the recommended hotel...but, bingo!!! the hotel we've picked up is 'closed' but he knows different places we can go to...We end up in a hotel which looks nice at first. The first thing we do is check the reputation of the hotel...We end up staying there for only three hours until the nice places open and we go somewhere else after a bit more sleep.
We check in a guesthouse tucked in a typical and authentic Hanoian alleyway in the Old Quarter. The Thu Giang is held by a lovely family, keen to help, fun and charming...We get our room and shortly after we're in the common room (that is the reception area) making friends with the clients. A french couple is a regular client, a Vietnamese guy, Ji, is a long term resident of the guesthouse, Mark and Kim, two Americans, one living in Beijing who have been here before, and the other one on vacation...This feels good and make us feel home-ey!!!
We go for lunch in a fantastic little corner shop eating a delicious Bunh Bo...This is the starts of a delicious palatable journey in Hanoi! We then go for a walk around the old quarter, visiting some of the city highlights, like the lake Ho Hoan Kiem and different historical streets. Each street is named after the trade or corporation that use to share the old quarter. One is the silk road, another the tin box road, the next the altar street or another one the stone carver...Ater spending some time there, we book some tickets for the Water Puppets show which has been created in the 11th century by farmers. The show is divided in 12 scenes relating either agricultural activities or re-enacting ancient legends. The music is being played live and is absolutely sublime. The puppets are beautifully and skilfully moved on the top of the water, sailing like little swans and ducklings, playing with the element. We're having a fantastic time and sad when the lights ending the show come. But the puppeteers present themselves, dressed up in traditional costumes...and waist-deep in the water. I find this gives even more beauty to the show. We get told that they will be presenting the show in Beaubourg in Paris next month...keep your eyes opened!!!
After the show we finish the walk and go back to the guesthouse. We meet up with the guys and go for dinner. We have quite a few drinks and come back very late...

25/03
This is an active morning. We book our tickets for the Halong Bay tour tomorrow. We made some plans yesterday to go and visit the Ho Chi Minh Mosoleum and complex. Very interesting, not necessarily the man himself but more for the experience around it. The progression within the mosoleum is very strict, people from all over the country and more line up very well dressed (there are some restriction regarding the dress code) to pay their respect to Uncle Ho. We cannot talk or even whisper, cross arms, or put our hands in our pockets. Most importantly it is forbidden to take pictures or stop in front of the glass box. It is a very strange, and quite amazing to see the devotion of the people for their ancient leader. i am also amazed by the entire complex itself and the size of it. It is nealry pharaonic! It is also rahter ironic when you know that Ho Chi Minh wanted a cremation!! We also visit the Presidential Palace that used to be the palace of the general governor under the french occupation, the humble house on stilts where Ho Chi Minh stayed instead of the colossl colonial building. We then manage to visit the Ho Chi Minh Museum. The building hosts an important collection of personal effects of the president, and retracing his life, from a simple man who went to France to write as a journalist, to the founder and thinker in the history of communism. Strangely enough and depite an understandable political bias, the propaganda is kept to a minimum. When we end the visit rain is pouring down on the way back. We then go for lunch, we have nems and Bunh Cha, a delectable speciality based on pork in a soup with noodles and vegetables. We love it. Ji knows all the best places to go to. Ines, a Swedish girl, joins us and we exchange on trips and countries.
In the afternoon, we take some time to nap, read an write. We go for dinner with the gang to have another great dish, the Cha Ca, a secret fish based reciepe served in only one restaurant which gave its name to the street around 150 years ago...Wow...We pack. Tomorrow we'll check if the Halong Bay is really the 7th marvel of the world!

26/03
We wake up around 7am this morning and get ready to depart to the Halong Bay. The bus comes and picks us up and we drive for 3 hours to get to Halong Harbour where we catch our boat. It is a little scary when we arrive as thousands of boats wait for their share of the business. Halong is indeed a very busy a successful tourist attraction and all sorts of boat providing all sorts of entertainment for all sorts of natonalities...Our boat is, luckily enough, kind of small and we will be only 16 passengers on board overnight... We sail off. We start exchanging with our fellow passengers and get to hang out with a lovely american couple who live between Portland and Mexico. Throughout the conversation we find many common grounds between us and the conversation flows, like the bay underneath the boat stern...We spend a lovely afternoon between chats, relaxing moements on the deck and I enjoy taking many pictures of this really unique landscape. Our first halt in the bay is to sea some world heritage classified caves, a bit like the Disneyland of the stalagtites and stalagmites, tackily flooded with colour lights. The guide keeps making funny comments, trying to compare the cave formations to in turns a monkey, a jellyfish, an italian ice cream and Romeo and Juliet on her balcony...Back on the boat and moments later,w e stop and embark a little duo kayak for a paddle in the bay, in the middle of a floating village. It is a small town, made of shacks floating on barrels or bamboos or whatever floats...It is interesting...At 6.30pm, dinner is served and we have one of these pre-made dinner which tastes like nothing...We even get french fries...very authentic! Outside allthe junks have gathered in a rather large area. It is a little town on the sea with all the little lights around within the rocks. After more interesting deep conversations, we go to bed. It's 10.30pm, and we are in our little cabin, lovely if not a bit dated but which retains a certain charm from another age. I enjoy myself dreaming of being Captain Franz or Jack Sparrow...or thinking of the famous chinese sea pirates ships which may emerge from any corner or islets...It is quite magical, one of the most famous landscape of Asia, 2000 rocks emerging from the sea in the mist, the view is everchanging, the atmosphere is singular.

27/03
We wake up early around 7am to have breakfast. The night has been ok if not a little cold. We gather on the upper deck of the boat, outside after the morning rain to enjoy the sailing back to the Halong harbour. It is very quiet and even the junk engine seems to respect it. The water is flat and sleek as a mirror. The mist is thicker than last night. The impression is still very peaceful. Few sea eagles glide and duck to grab fish. The Halong bay is beautiful despite 200 boats around us. Really atomspheric due to the dense fog. Off the boat all the different tours and group gather in one of the tourist restaurant (500 hundred of us!) for a terrible meal. We try to go for a walk the time our bus comes back but there is nothing reachable on foot. So we decide to sadly wait there like everyone else. We say good bye to Doug and Judy. who are going west to Haiphong. The bus arrives to take us back to Hanoi but Val starts feeling a bit sick. This is the start of a long painful 3 hour journey for her. The legroom is inexistant and the aircon is not working...and the sun is now shining brightly...on Val's laps. We finally get to Hanoi and meet again with the friendly family and people from the guesthouse. Val is staying in tonight, a bowl of rice and a movie. I go with Mark, Ji and Kim to get a seafood hotpot in one of the local restaurant. It is very good and extremely fresh but I miss my little lady... Back to the room, we chat and go to bed...

28/03
We stay in bed in the morning, we do not really feel like getting up. Val is not great still so we stay in for a bit and have a light breakie in the reception area. We chat to the guesthouse girls here and Mark and Kim are up for a snake lunch. So I hire a motorbike which I am really looking forward to...Vietnam is meant to be one of the craziest place to drive and I am really up to the challenge (I'm 15, right!). I kiss goodbye and (sadly) leave behind my other half for an adventure on the Hanoian streets wearing a mountain bike helmet! We drive throught the busy city, honking at every corner, bikes are cutting the way everywhere and in everyway but it is quite fun...Just need to stay alert really and wait to hear if a horn goes at the back...We take the Long Bien bridge built by Eiffel, bommbed many times by the US army during the war but which has always stood. There is a rail track that runs in the middle and was a main artery for bringing all the amunitions in the country from China through the North. Once on the other side, we quickly stop for a glass of sugar cane juice to refresh ourselves. The road are quite dusty and it is hot today, unlike the previous days where we were a bit cold actually! We finally arrive at the snake village, Le Mat, where we find a restaurant serving what we came for: a King Cobra! We choose the beast in a little cage and once happy with our future meal the guy takes it out and proudly shows us our meal...by holding it by the tail and waving it in front of us!!! This creature is one of the most dangerous snake on the planet and it is just dangling 1 metre from us. I had no choice but step back, rather impressed (and uneasy - I love snakes so much!!) already and then drops it on the floor!!! The snake has its famous cheecks right opened and it is really impressive now...The animal is however really beautiful and majestic. I do feel quite bad to be here and witness this: the guy is now killing the animal to get it prepared for the ritual that is eating it. Drinking the blood, eating the heart whilst still 'beating' etc... We then have lunch around smla but numerous excellent dishes made out of the cobra. The experience is quite unique and I am really happy to have come here...
After lunch we head back to Hanoi and I catch up with Val. She stayed home and chilled out watching a movie and reading. We head out again on the motorbike to visit the West Lake, well-known to the local as the youngster couples go there and seat on a bench and kiss...Vietnam is a busy and crouded country, and privacy is a luxury. It is vey touching and the lake and ride around it is quite nice. We come back to the hotel and start walking to take our dinner with our favourite bunch. This is a fish soup for me and sticky rice with crabcakes for Val. Another succulent meal and, on the way back, we stop to have Banh Cuoc on my request. They are little rice springrolls. I feel hungry of Vietnam tonight!!! We then go for a drink at our local corner vietnamese cafe where we exchange until late at night. It's time for bed afer another rather full but exciting day...

29/03
A lazy day today starting with a lie in. After breakfast we go for a walk around the local streets to suck up a bit more of the hanoian atmosphere. We go back to our little kitchen to have Bun Bo, and decide to go and try to find some books. Val has finished hers and wants to find an exchange book store where she can get a new one. It's nearby the lake and makes the walk very nice. But the shop has moved! So we decide to try and find it, but it's at the complete opposite of town. No problem for us, we love walking. After few detours we find the shop and stop on the way back for a drink at the 'Cafe 11', perched at the top of a very interesting house overlooking the lake with an amazing view, the front being a random souvenir shop stall. Inside is a really intersting architecture of recessing platforms and staggered storeys. One of them is entirely dedicated to the family shrine in a pure chinese style. We then meet up again with our fellow guests at the hotel to have dinner and a quick drink in a horrible Irish pub! Time for bed.

30/03
We spend the morning buying some last minute shopping, going to the Insian Embassy to sort out the visa: imnpossible to do it here, it takes too many days, we will have to do it in Vientiane...walking around town again to sort things out, get a parcel box, go to the post office...it is already lunchtime and we meet up with Ines, Mark and Ji to go for lunch, we end up in a lovely place, eating fresh hand made springrolls then go for a lemon juice at Pho Co Cafe (Cafe 11), We then walk to the market to see the bird cages, it is messy down there, many birds, puppies, cats in cage, some turtles too. Ines and Val try to haggle for some lovely wood cages but the guy only wants to seel them used cages, full of bird poo...amusing...We then go for a stroll the two of us, start packing our rucksacks, sort out few things and it is already dinner time!!!
Last dinner for Ines who leave for the Phillipines tonight so we go to have...a pizza and some wine, a change from Vietnamese food!!!
We laugh, chat, talk about destination, more and more we hope to go to Tibet after Nepal...it seems feasible...if the borders reopens....We say goodbye and then have a last drink with Mark on the terrace, then off to bed quite late. We had some nice encounters here, met nice interesting well travelled people, we hope to stay in touch. It felt good being part of a friendly gang and gather together few times a day outside in th alleyway. The streets here are the center of social life. People gather in them, sitting on small plastic chairs and tables, we do the same. Frequently, Vietnamese people cook small meals and share them immediately on the sidewalk. Groups of friends drink beer and play cards and majong (chinese chess) at all times of the day. Life begins and ends early here. Most people are awake by 6am and asleep by 10pm, often we are the last people up in the streets!!! I like the fact that there is a strong sense of community and unity.

31/03
We spend the day getting organised for Laos, going to the post sending parcels back home, our bags keep getting bigger so we ruthlessly sort out things, very few clothes left...the bear minimum really...we walk around the old town, around the lake, it is grey today, we feel a bit sad to leave here, we spend some time in the house, chat to fellow travellers, to Li and Giang. The guesthouse has been like a real home for all those days, a very family-friendly atmosphere, we are going to miss our fellow buddies and the lovely family here....We reflect on this city, we really like it....
Hanoi brims with commerce. The ground floor of almost every building is an open-air shop. Much of the merchandise looks identical in quality and price. The upper floors are presumably the residential property of the store owners. We both wonder how each store can stay in business, especially amongst a sea of similarly stocked venues!! Social relations and familial connections probably dictate where people shop. Even so, the economic viability of this system is a mystery to us. Sticky rice for lunch on bamboo leaves, Val cuddles the dog at the house, and tonight we are going out for our last meal here with Ji and Mark. We have what is called an 'ordinary dinner' which consists of several dishes, meat, fish, fried crabs, different veg. It's very nice and traditional. And the last drink comes, at our local cafe. We talk for a bit and we go to bed not too late as we'll be up early tomorrow for our next adventure: Laos!