I haven’t entirely abandoned this blog, but since Roz and Sarah arrived late Friday it has been a bit harder to find the time to reflect on what I am seeing. We also tock a two day trip to Halong Bay, which is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites and is certainly beautiful.
But today it is back to Hanoi Impressions. Since it is impossible to capture the entirety of this city, I thought I might simply try to record what I see unfolding on the street outside our hotel. We are staying at the Bao Khanh Hotel (at 22 Bao Khanh St.) This is a very short street that runs from Le Thai To street, which borders the beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake, to Hang Trong Street at the other end. Both Le Thai To and Hang Trong are busy streets, but ours is relatively (for Hanoi) quiet. Next to us is another hotel that has been gutted and is currently being renovated. Next to that is the famous Kangaroo Café (worth checking out their web site), which, in addition to decent food, also does tour bookings to Sapa in the north and Halong Bay. The food and service are very nice but this is clearly an establishment that caters to Western tourists who need something a little less foreign. Two doors to our right is a small storefront store that sells European chocolates, various whiskies, bottled water and cosmetics along with a variety of other essentials. At a diagonal across from our hotel is the crowded Bia Van Bao Khanh, a beer establishment that sets up low plastic tables and stools along the sidewalk and sells a very light local brew of beer for about 30 cents a glass.
The day begins quite early here. By 6:30 AM the street is filled with women crouched on the sidewalk wearing the traditional non la’s (conical bamboo hats), their shoulder pole with its two baskets resting on the ground, selling various greens and fruits that they purchased at the farmers wholesale market during the night. Down the street a few dead and plucked chickens adorn a low plastic table, their feet projecting skyward in what I imagine is a supplication to some avian deity who, it appears, has failed them. Vietnamese insist on fresh meat and vegetables and shop twice a day, so those chickens were happily pecking at their breakfast a few hours ago. Around the corner on an alleyway vendors are selling freshly butchered meat and fish. I wondered how fresh the fish could be until I saw the supplier stop by with his bicycle on the back of which was a metal tank full of swimming fish. One escaped from his grasp as he handed it down to a vendor and there ensued something of a scramble as the two of them tried to grab the wildly jumping fish.
A walk down Bao Khanh to the Lake at 6:30 AM reveals many groups of people doing varied morning exercises, each with its own group leader. A bit down the way, middle aged and young men are weight lifting. By 8 AM, the early morning market on Bao Khanh has largely disappeared and now the tiny storefront food vendors are serving out hot bowls of pho – the traditional Vietnamese breakfast. By 9:30 AM, the breakfast eaters are largely gone from the sidewalks, but the stools in front of the coffeehouse near the end of street are filled with people taking a cup of iced Vietnamese coffee (strong and sweeted with condensed milk). The “non la” women have largely abandoned their places on the sidewalks (I understand they actually make up an “illegal” market since they do not pay taxes the way the permanent markets do and thus can’t set up permanent shop anywhere). For the rest of the day these women will walk the neighborhood hawking bananas, dragon fruits, limes, oranges, and whatever else is fresh and in season. As the day wears on, the guy pushing the bicycle laden with wicker baskets, conical hats, etc shows up, as do the women who are aggressively hawking T-shirts.
By noon the Bia Van Bao Khanh beer establishment has begun to fill up its sidewalk with drinkers chatting with one another. Vendors continually walk by, men offering shoe shines insist your shoes are scuffed beyond being presentable and offer clogs for you to put on while they carefully polish your shoes (they do a good job!). The din of taxis, scooters and cars makes a continual background music. A microcosm of Hanoi, all on this short street is commerce: buying and selling. Although people work incredibly long hours here, they still seem to have a smile of acknowledgment for the traveler.
Finally, it is 5 PM and dusk is beginning to soften the outlines of the hundreds of scooters parked along the sidewalks. Across the street, four 5-foot long fluorescent bulbs tied to the railing of the building flicker on in a glaring white light. Bia Van Bao Khanh is now fully busy with small red plastic tables spread out along 50 feet or so, each with four blue stools arrayed around them. Almost all the stools are occupied and have been for some time. Virtually every person there is male, but they are happy to welcome the occasional female or anyone else who has the 3000 Dongs for a glass of beer. Only one? But they are so cheap! Time to throw caution to the wind once again and search out just the right street vendor for tonight’s dinner.
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