Nguyen We Meet Again

July 12 - 13, 2016

We barely had time to readjust to being back from Taiwan, when Tim learned he would need to go to Vietnam on business.  Plans changed several times - I would go with him, then his bosses were going, so I would stay home, then his boss's wife was going, so I was going again!  They were going Tuesday morning, then they were going Tuesday evening... by the time I finally felt confident enough to buy a ticket, I'd confused the times and bought for the wrong flight.  Luckily, I realized the error soon after.  When I called, they said no seats were available for Tim's flight, and I would have to go on the waiting list.  My heart sank, thinking I would have to go to Vietnam before Tim and spend the day on my own, making our driver do double the airport duty.  Major kudos to Thai Airways for getting back to me within 24 hours with a seat on Tim's flight - phew!!!

I practiced a couple of essential Vietnamese phrases before we left.  Vietnamese is a tonal language like Thai, but it has an additional sixth tone that Thai doesn't have.  The differences were extremely subtle to my ear.  Anyway, we learned Xin Chao (Seen Chow) for "hello," and Cam Ohn (Kahm Own) for "thank-you."  (If you say this the wrong way, it means "shut up!")  "Nguyen," roughly pronounced as "When," is the most common surname in Vietnam; over forty percent of the population have this name!

Tuesday afternoon, Tim and I went together to the airport for the short hour-and-a-half flight to Hanoi.  I had to submit an application online for a visa-on-arrival, and carried my documents and my $25 USD to the easy-to-find counter at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam.  Comments online had warned it could take an hour or so for processing, but it was a painless ten minutes of waiting.  We changed a bit of Thai money to Vietnamese Dong, which is drastically undervalued:  around $57 USD = 2000 THB = 1,260,000 VND - we were millionaires!

Thai Airways jet engine - flying in style!

The hotel driver was waiting for us outside immigration, and the steamy Vietnamese climate blasted us as we stepped outside.  The hour drive to the hotel, on the right side of the road, was rife with interesting sights - rice paddies alongside clean, modern highways; an artistic, colorful, tiled wall that stretched for miles leading into the city; beautiful, old colonial-style buildings; and everywhere groups of locals sitting in circles on low, molded plastic stools - they even gathered at the side of the highways.  I was struck by the peaceful nature of these groups, the traffic, and the city as a whole.

That peaceful nature was broken when we pulled up to our hotel - a very loud, bass-thumping party was happening just next door.  The clerk at the desk said it was a work party of some kind.  Some pretty iffy karaoke offended the ears.  Thankfully, our room was not near the noise, and we caught a little bit of the All-Star Home Run Derby on TV as we settled in for the night.

The lobby of the
Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel

The party upstairs next door

Only rooms available had twin beds - it's been a long while
since I slept in one of these

Wednesday morning Tim and Co. left for the plant, and I met his boss's wife for a walking food tour of the Old Quarter with Hanoi Street Food Tours.  Anita and I knew each other from many years ago when our boys played T-ball together at Wish Egan Playfield in east Detroit.  Now that they were living in China, this was a nice opportunity to reconnect.

An Aussie couple made up the other half of our tour group, led by the very capable Miss Moon.  She was a bit difficult to understand at times, but she made it clear she wanted us to be "sticky rice - always stay together!"  Our first stop was Hanoi Bun Cha Ta, a nice little indoor eatery where we sampled the Hanoi specialty, Bun Cha.  This is grilled barbecue pork with rice noodles in a broth.  We plucked leaves from a huge plate of fresh herbs that was brought to the table, and cautiously added a few red chili peppers as well.  So far, so good!

Hanoi Opera House outside our hotel

the busy streets of Hanoi - notice the woman covered up from the sun, only her eyes showing

Next we stopped at a small stand for fresh papaya salad.  I liked this version a bit more than the Thai version - less heavy on the fish sauce.  From there it was "pancakes," actually paper-thin rice sheets wrapped around meat and mushrooms and served with tasty dipping sauces.  We watched the women out front skillfully create the "pancakes," then went into a dimly-lit inner room to taste them.  We squeezed our western-sized bodies into the Vietnamese-size spaces and perched on little stools.

making "pancakes"

Miss Moon told us we were lucky to happen across the next food vendor, a deaf man with a food cart serving sweet, crunchy squares of sugar cane and fresh coconut in a tasty wrap.  She said he was one of only two vendors in the city who use freshly-shredded coconut - we watched him shred it just before he added it to the wrap.  A line had formed by the time we finished.

At the next stop, Miss Moon pointed out a vendor whose business had been on that street corner for many, many years.  But she said we would go to a different place where we could sit.  We entered a little alley of sorts and found a little nook with a fan, a couple of tables and more Lilliputian stools.  We enjoyed four different kinds of spring rolls, including "pillow cakes."  All were served again with slices of ginger and a mountain of fresh herbs on a plate.  So fresh, in fact, that I discovered an insect still hanging out on one leaf of basil.  This didn't sway my enjoyment; I merely asked the little fellow to move aside.

the old, established business

tiny chairs

restaurant decor

Heading to our next destination, we passed through an alley of stalls selling, ahem, fake butts.  Miss Moon said the Vietnamese women want white skin, "big noses," and big bottoms like westerners. Miss Moon was covered from head to toe on this very hot day, because she wanted to maintain her whitened skin.  She said many Vietnamese women go to Thailand (!) to have their skin lightened regularly, and protect their investment carefully once they are back.  We saw women on motorbike after motorbike with long wraps around their legs, faces covered with scarves, and hand covers, not unlike oven mitts, attached to the motorbike handles.  I'm sure I wouldn't last long wrapped up like that on such a hot day - I was already glistening!

Carrying on, we stopped for a bowl of fresh fruit in sweetened milk.  The fruits included watermelon, dragon fruit and papaya, among others.  Miss Moon pointed out a sign she said guaranteed this establishment was licensed by the government.  After the Hoa Qua Dam, we stopped for "fresh beer," or Bia Hoi.  This 3% alcohol beer is very popular with tourists and the locals, and "Beer Corner" in the Old Quarter is a popular place to indulge.  Miss Moon gave us each a plastic cup of beer, and we drank it as we walked on to our next stop.  Apparently, it is perfectly legal to drink alcohol on the street here.  She tried to teach us how the locals say, "Cheers!"

fruit shop - prices are in thousands

everyone sits on the tiny stools

We were all quite full at this point, but we carried on to the vendor selling baked rice bread.  We were each given half a sandwich here, but no one could finish their half.  The bread was interesting - quite crunchy on the outside, but a bit bland.  Our final stop was for egg coffee - a whipped egg yolk adorning the top of a black coffee in lovely patterns.  I deferred, and was given an egg chocolate instead - so sweet!

At the completion of our tour, we said our goodbyes.  Eventually we found our way back by heading for Hoan Kiem Lake in the historical center of Hanoi.  A lovely city park encircles the lake, and it is always bustling with activity.  From there it was an easy few blocks back to the hotel for a shower and a quick break.

sights on the walk back...

General and Emperor Ly Thai To,
who relocated the capital to
Hanoi in 1010 A.D.

We met back up in the lobby and grabbed a taxi to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.  The 4 p.m. show was sold out when we arrived, so we bought tickets for the 5:20 p.m. show for a whopping 100,000 VND  (about $4.50 USD!)  We killed time by visiting some of the many art galleries in the area.  Hanoi has a vibrant art community, with many impressionist oils, lacquered wood, and watercolors on rice paper.  We saw some really stunning art work.

At 5:10 p.m. we queued up with the crowd and waited as the previous audience poured down the steps.  Assigned seats avoided jostling for front and center, and we squeezed into our tiny seats with very little leg room.  Not really knowing what to expect, I was surprised to find that the stage was actually a big, sunken pool of water with a musicians' platform on one side. (Thanks to Anita for the following puppet show photos!)

First, traditional Vietnamese music was presented, featuring the pleasantly-haunting sound of an instrument we later learned is called a Dan Bau (pronounced "Don Bo.")  The Dan Bau sits horizontally with one string across its length, with a rod attached perpendicular to the body.  The rod is manipulated with one hand to change the tone of the string, which is plucked with a small, flat tool held in the opposite hand.  The effect was sometimes reminiscent of the wah-wah on an electric guitar.  Mesmerizing to watch and to hear.

the woman in front is playing the dan bao

Puppets came out from behind bamboo curtains as musicians and singers accompanied them.  Each presentation told a little story.  At first I didn't quite get the puppets moving around in the water, but the water became more and more a part of the stories as they went on.  In addition to puppets of people, they also had dragons, lions, turtles, and some very realistic and colorful fish that leaped from the water.  Some stories included Vietnamese dialog, but even without translation, the stories were delightful and unique.

The many puppeteers came out at the end of the performance, waist deep in the water.  They had been controlling the puppets with very long bamboo poles under the surface of the water.  Water puppetry originated over 1000 years ago, when the low-lying Red River plains would flood during the rainy seasons each year.  This uniquely-Vietnamese entertainment was created by the farmers looking for a way to entertain the people in their village during that time when no farming could be done.  Each village's puppet troupe would act out mythological stories about Vietnam and its history.  One famous story tells of a golden tortoise god in Hoan Kiem Lake that emerged to give King Ly a sword to fight off Chinese invaders.  After his victory, the tortoise reclaimed the sword.  "Hoan Kiem" means "returned sword."

the talented puppeteers

We took our time walking back to the hotel after the show, stopping to browse in more art galleries along the way.  Still sated from our food tour, we had a quick refreshment.  The guys were having a team dinner elsewhere, so we called it a night.