In our initial planning period, we used Hanoi as a jumping-off point for all the fun adventures to be had in northern Vietnam, including a 2 day cruise of Ha Long Bay, and a 2 day day trek in the northern villages surrounded by terraced rice paddies. Hanoi itself, though, bested our expectations: here again we feasted on delectable food, wandered the streets of the bustling, lovely city, and found night markets and night festivals to our hearts' content. Aashika and I realized we are growing very old when we started saying "I'll get this round" of food instead of drinks. No longer in college, I guess. After all that sampling, our new favorite morning treat is egg coffee, which sounds off-putting until you try it: creamy, smooth, frothy, and altogether delicious. It combines a whipped sort of egg-sweetened condensed milk -spice concoction with coffee.
Below: Hanoi, egg coffee, I try a motorcycle taxi and survive
During one of the nighttime wanderings, we stumbled across a seeming festival by the lake, where somebody (The government?) organized games for youngsters, from building blocks for the babies to Mafia and boccee ball for the teens. These appeared to be free-for-all games where anyone can join in. It seemed so happy and carefree: families strolling around the lake, babies in tow, kids making friends with strangers in the group games. This is a bit of a stretch after only viewing these games for a half hour, I would imagine these activities help forge community between strangers in an otherwise large capital city.
Below: nighttime community games
We also ran across some sort of Japanese festival, a large garden area filled with cherry blossoms and lit up like a psychedelic concert; we thought the lights signified some sort of main act or exhibition to see, but the primary attraction appeared to be the selfies that everyone was taking.
Below: cherry blossoms ripe for selfie pictures
We were picked up in Hanoi for our Ha Long Bay cruise. The bus ride to the port saw our guide tell us stories of his life in Vietnam, some of the saddest I've heard in awhile. Before the borders opened some 30-odd years ago, Vietnamese citizens were almost exclusively impoverished farmers, and often lacked basic necessities like clothes. Back them, the vast majority of Vietnamese were farmers, and even today that number is ~40% agriculture workers. The economic situation has improved somewhat from decades ago, but even still, it's tough going. There is no income tax in Vietnam because of the extreme poverty, so as a result, the government doesn't have the budget to offer basic public services like school or health care. You must pay for school for each child, and if, like many Vietnamese, you are a subsistence farmers - well, no school. Medical costs are beyond the reach of all but the richest. This all compounds to make life very stressful, always worrying about money, food, and your children's future. There's no time to enjoy life, according to our guide. One story drove this home: one man drove a shuttle bus from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay his whole life (until 60), and had never once seem the bay, just the port. Our guide expressed hope that Vietnam economy would continue to grow and be more open, but who knows what the future holds.
Speaking of open economies, I'm not quite sure how Vietnam is communist. You can own land (I'm pretty sure that directly contradicts some fundamental communist philosophy right there), no public services or social programs, and no forced distribution of wealth, as was evident when we passed some lavish homes. Marx would stroke his beard and sigh if he knew.
Anyhow, we made it to Ha Long Bay without incident, and boarded our boat only to be greeted with 7 children under the age of 8. 7 on a boat with 25 people! they were all part of a large Chinese tourist group, and by the end of the cruise I wanted to strangle all of them. They ran screaming all over the boat, tried to get into our room, climbed over me when I was on a lounge chair, and were generally awful monsters. Their parents stared at their smartphones and let them run wild. I'm used to kids, I like them even, but this was truly terrible. It only got worse when we shared the bus back: the kids played tag up and down the aisle, screaming as per usual, and the parents left our poor tour guide to control them all alone. This came to a head when a parent asked for a plastic bag for motion sickness for a kid (that's fine, I get it), but then returned the bag full of....poop. Poop!! She made our tour guide throw away her child's poop. Awful.
Our other tribulation regarded food. The food served was terrible and under-spiced; they filled soups and curries with cornstarch instead of cooking for long enough to reach the right consistency, and Aashika's vegetarian options were a joke. My favorite substitute: instead of grilled chicken, she got empty dumpling buns.
Below: the offending dumplings
Aside from being beset on all sides by child hyenas and terrible food, Ha Long Bay was very nice; we went kayaking through limestone pillars and enjoyed the sights.
Below: kayaking and hanging out :)
We filled out a survey upon leaving the boat, and had highlighted food as a concern; a few hours later, a cruise representative showed up at our hotel, apologizing incessantly, and followed us to dinner until we accepted a gift of embroidered paintings. We of course felt very guilty and were dissuaded from a negative online review, so I suppose it did the trick.
Our next adventure was trekking in Sapa.....
Bonus: my face as I read US news for the first time in a month. Ignorance has been such bliss. I believe I was reading about Trump's proposed steel tariffs...
Below: Hanoi, egg coffee, I try a motorcycle taxi and survive
During one of the nighttime wanderings, we stumbled across a seeming festival by the lake, where somebody (The government?) organized games for youngsters, from building blocks for the babies to Mafia and boccee ball for the teens. These appeared to be free-for-all games where anyone can join in. It seemed so happy and carefree: families strolling around the lake, babies in tow, kids making friends with strangers in the group games. This is a bit of a stretch after only viewing these games for a half hour, I would imagine these activities help forge community between strangers in an otherwise large capital city.
Below: nighttime community games
We also ran across some sort of Japanese festival, a large garden area filled with cherry blossoms and lit up like a psychedelic concert; we thought the lights signified some sort of main act or exhibition to see, but the primary attraction appeared to be the selfies that everyone was taking.
Below: cherry blossoms ripe for selfie pictures
We were picked up in Hanoi for our Ha Long Bay cruise. The bus ride to the port saw our guide tell us stories of his life in Vietnam, some of the saddest I've heard in awhile. Before the borders opened some 30-odd years ago, Vietnamese citizens were almost exclusively impoverished farmers, and often lacked basic necessities like clothes. Back them, the vast majority of Vietnamese were farmers, and even today that number is ~40% agriculture workers. The economic situation has improved somewhat from decades ago, but even still, it's tough going. There is no income tax in Vietnam because of the extreme poverty, so as a result, the government doesn't have the budget to offer basic public services like school or health care. You must pay for school for each child, and if, like many Vietnamese, you are a subsistence farmers - well, no school. Medical costs are beyond the reach of all but the richest. This all compounds to make life very stressful, always worrying about money, food, and your children's future. There's no time to enjoy life, according to our guide. One story drove this home: one man drove a shuttle bus from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay his whole life (until 60), and had never once seem the bay, just the port. Our guide expressed hope that Vietnam economy would continue to grow and be more open, but who knows what the future holds.
Speaking of open economies, I'm not quite sure how Vietnam is communist. You can own land (I'm pretty sure that directly contradicts some fundamental communist philosophy right there), no public services or social programs, and no forced distribution of wealth, as was evident when we passed some lavish homes. Marx would stroke his beard and sigh if he knew.
Anyhow, we made it to Ha Long Bay without incident, and boarded our boat only to be greeted with 7 children under the age of 8. 7 on a boat with 25 people! they were all part of a large Chinese tourist group, and by the end of the cruise I wanted to strangle all of them. They ran screaming all over the boat, tried to get into our room, climbed over me when I was on a lounge chair, and were generally awful monsters. Their parents stared at their smartphones and let them run wild. I'm used to kids, I like them even, but this was truly terrible. It only got worse when we shared the bus back: the kids played tag up and down the aisle, screaming as per usual, and the parents left our poor tour guide to control them all alone. This came to a head when a parent asked for a plastic bag for motion sickness for a kid (that's fine, I get it), but then returned the bag full of....poop. Poop!! She made our tour guide throw away her child's poop. Awful.
Our other tribulation regarded food. The food served was terrible and under-spiced; they filled soups and curries with cornstarch instead of cooking for long enough to reach the right consistency, and Aashika's vegetarian options were a joke. My favorite substitute: instead of grilled chicken, she got empty dumpling buns.
Below: the offending dumplings
Aside from being beset on all sides by child hyenas and terrible food, Ha Long Bay was very nice; we went kayaking through limestone pillars and enjoyed the sights.
Below: kayaking and hanging out :)
We filled out a survey upon leaving the boat, and had highlighted food as a concern; a few hours later, a cruise representative showed up at our hotel, apologizing incessantly, and followed us to dinner until we accepted a gift of embroidered paintings. We of course felt very guilty and were dissuaded from a negative online review, so I suppose it did the trick.
Our next adventure was trekking in Sapa.....
Bonus: my face as I read US news for the first time in a month. Ignorance has been such bliss. I believe I was reading about Trump's proposed steel tariffs...
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