Hanoi, Vietnam

We ended up spending longer in Hanoi than anticipated, because we enjoyed it so much! 

I'm not going to deceive you. The first day in Hanoi (before we left to Sapa) was overwhelming. The traffic is unlike anything we'd experienced so far. There are about 6 million people living in Hanoi and 3 million of them own motorbikes. This means that there is a constant stream of motorbikes coming at youfrom every  which way you can imagine. (I'm glad we stayed clear of Ho Chi Minh city after learning that it had a population of 13 million with 10 million people owning motorbikes!) Although occasionally there were street lights, it only seemed to hinder our progress more because as far as I could tell green meant go, yellow meant go and red meant go. The first day we really struggled. After standing on the corner looking scared and helplessly waiting for even a small break in the traffic, one local woman from across the street called out "it's okay. Come now!" 

So many motorbikes!

The problem with jay walking (or crossing at a legitimate intersection) was that all the rules ran counter to what we're used to in Toronto. The goal in Toronto is to not get in the way of traffic. Aka cross when there is a gap in the cars. If need be, wait on the centre line for a new gap to emerge. There are NO gaps in Hanoi. None. The key to crossing is to just step out (in front of many scooters coming at you) and walk at a slow and steady pass to the other side. Miraculously the traffic parts as if we were Moses crossing the Red Sea. It actually is less safe to stop (even if you desperately want to) as they expect you to keep walking. Jasmine handled herself much better than I (so I pretty much closed my eyes, held her hand, and hoped for the best!) 

Also, after having coconut milk in pretty much every meal when in Thailand and Laos, the food of Vietnam was a nice change if pace. We pretty much had soup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was great! Here are some of our favourites:

The translation from Vietnamese into English was: "US had candidly." I still have no idea what I ate, but hey I survived!

Meat lovers soup. Normally it comes with pork hoove (aka everyone around us was joyfully munching on hooves). Thank god they took one look at us and removed that ingredient. It ended up just being meatball with a side of meat soup.

Pho! I could happily subsist on pho. It was phenomenal.

Some sort of sweet pork meatball soup? Again the ingredients can be unclear...

Vietnam is famous for its coffee. It is very strong and thick. I think they make a batch first thing in the morning and have no way to keep it warm. So if you want hot coffee, they will bring it out in a bath of hot water to warm it up. It's always served with condensed milk to counter the thickness of the coffee. It really is best over ice (aka diluted...) 

We spent a lot of time exploring museums in Hanoi. Some of the highlights were the women's museum, which described the traditions around marriage and children in the various ethnic groups in Vietnam. My personal favourite tradition was when a bride's older brother had to carry her around on his back for all the ceremonies at the wedding. Is it wrong to adopt one? I think Sam would make a great mule... ;)

Another interesting museum was the ethnology museum which recreated the living structures of various tribes.

The anthropologist in jasmine needed out at the ethnology museum!

I have become much more competent at climbing steep stairs (see Bangkok post for comparison).

Spaces inside the museum was used much differently than museums I had been to before. Aka the ethnology museum replicated peoples homes. And there were students (clearly not employees) in every room using the space like it was their home. Doing homework in some rooms, eating around the kitchen table in others. I guess it added to the ambience? 

Jasmine was in paradise at the ethnology museum because a family of goats were running and bleating all over the place. I thought they looked a little evil, but jazzy was convinced it was adorable.

We also paid our dues at the Temple of literature

Entrance to the Temple of Literature

Inside the temple.

Awesome old tree inside the temple complex.

I truly loved the wiring system of Hanoi. On our first day, we met some guys who were telling us about the various sights they had seen. When they went to the prison museum all the lights were out. I had trouble believing this story until I saw this:

And this isn't even the craziest wiring system we saw! Living with frequent blackouts makes much more sense now.

Finally, one of the most important details of why we enjoyed Hanoi so much is that we stayed with two McGill alums, Arthur and Natalie, who are mutual friends of Jasmine's. They are working and living in Hanoi and graciously opened their three storey beautiful home to us! It was great to have  someone guide us to the best street food and regale us with tales of living in Hanoi. On our final night, we had an epic BBQ. We enjoyed potatoes for the first time in weeks! It was a real highlight for our whole trip this far.

Making kebabs for the BBQ. 

On Sunday, we flew to Pnhom Penh,

Cambodia for our final country in the Southeast Asian roster, but more on that later!