Christmas in Hanoi

For Christmas we headed to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay, to check out some of northern Viet Nam. After visiting Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta in the South this past summer, we knew Viet Nam was beautiful, and we wanted to see more of it. We traveled with our friends from SF, Marija and Louise, who were in Asia celebrating the first anniversary of Marija’s 39th birthday.

Hanoi, those of you who follow America’s wars will recall, was once the capital of our arch-enemy, North Viet Nam. Originally named Thang Long or "City of the Ascending Dragon," the city was first the capital of Vietnam in A.D. 1010 and has had many names until its current incarnation. The name Hanoi, in fact, means "bend in the river" and denotes the city's strategic location along the vital waterway. Modern Hanoi, home to roughly 3 million people, is a bustling and strikingly lovely city. The French colonial influence is still clear in the architecture, the café culture, the pastries, and even many of the street signs; we stayed next to the Hanoi Opera House, which would have been at home in the 9th Arrondissement of Paris (though it does have an unfortunate similarity to the “Hanoi Hilton” what the POWs dubbed the torture chambers of the Viet Cong). We spent most of our time exploring the Old Quarter, the French Quarter, and the area around Hoan Kiem Lake(the traditional heart of Hanoi).

Hoan Kiem means "returned sword", and the name comes from a legend in which King Le Loi was given a magical sword by the gods, which he used to drive out the invading Chinese (the French and Americans weren’t the first meddlers). Later, while boating on the lake, he encountered a giant turtle, which grabbed the sword and carried it down to the depths, returning it to the gods from whom it had come. We saw the legend recreated at the Water Puppet Theater later that day (see below). The giant turtles reportedly still inhabit the lake. In the center of the lake is the Tortoise Pagoda; on the northern part is Ngoc Son pagoda, reachable only by the Bridge of the Rising Sun, a long, red arch typical of Chinese temple compounds. It’s lovely to walk around and we did almost every day.

We took a fun walking tour in the rain (the Vietnamese hats worked great to keep us dry) that included banyan trees, communal houses, tube houses, the old wall, markets, communist commemorative plaques, bamboo, yummy Bun Bo Nam Bo ( a noodle dish specialty) and Vietnamese coffee. Shopping was great too – we bought lacquer ware, silk, chopsticks, shell purses…. the list continued as our luggage grew! Christmas decorations abounded – but we just missed getting photos of the Catherdral all lit in its glory!

Our first day David was able to realize a long time dream (he conjured up after watching a PBS special) of seeing the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre(video). He was so excited and it was worth the visit. If you don’t know about it, mui roi nuoc (literally “puppets that dance on water”) is a unique Vietnamese art form that depicts legends and scenes from rural life in a giant onstage pool designed to resemble the banks of the Red River. The performers, also in the water, are concealed behind screens, and they work the puppets on long poles. It’s entertaining replete with underwater fireworks and a wide array of puppets fishing, fighting, dancing and twirling. After the show, David purchased two water puppets to commemorate the realization of his dream and continues to glow and brag: “I own water puppets!”

A popular stop for dinner is Cha Ca La Vong(video), where everyone but David enjoyed the only dish on the menu, fried fish cooked at your table. The restaurant has been around since the 1860s and has the street named after it. David’s not in this video because he spent that night back at the hotel room, “indisposed.” Free travel tip from David: “When the Viet Nam Airlines flight attendant asks you what you want for dinner, just say ‘Coca-Cola, please!’ Except for that one bad airline meal, though, all the Vietnamese food we had was spectacular. We were told to try two other local delicacies: dog meat (thịt chó) and ca cuong, an extract from the belostomatid, or giant water bug. However, we passed.

We also took a day trip up the real Red River Delta, to a Buddhist shrine called the Perfume Pagoda. This is one of the most sacred spots in the country, but no road goes all the way to it – instead, you travel the last few kilometers by canoe, rowed by women who are all about 4’ 10”, maybe 90 pounds. David tried rowing after our rower had taken us there and back (about an hour trip each way) and could barely coordinate getting the oars in the water!

We walked up the steps to the Pagoda, then rode a cable car to the spectacular grotto shrine, a large cave (50 meters high) where monks journey daily on foot to meditate. There are three small images of Buddha inside with trippy, psychedelic electric lights behind them, which look like something that would be used to hypnotize a cartoon character – possibly Fred Flintstone. The rest of the cave, though, has a genuinely spiritual energy. There are two stones Vietnamese go to pray to have a baby girl or boy (so we put in a request for each!) There was also another stone called the mother’s breast due to the shape and water dropping onto it from the ceiling that it supposed to bring the mother good luck when the water drops in her hand – I made sure to get my good luck!


Ha Long has this been goin' on?
Our next stop was a two-day visit, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, to Ha Long Bay– a scenic inlet of the Gulf of Tonkin dotted with 1,969 islands of varying sizes and sometimes bizarre shapes, made by natural limestone formations. We sailed on a nice old junk (it’s a small ship, not a piece of junk) called the Santa Maria and drifted among the islands, playing that game you play with clouds – “doesn’t that one look like a schnauzer carrying an umbrella?”

On Christmas Eve we visited the eerie, lovely Hang Sung Sot Cave (actually three interconnected, echoing caves) with strange stalactite and stalagmite formations. It was as big as three football fields – amazing!

That night the crew threw a party for us, with a yummy dinner. At one point they turned off all the lights without warning and we were plunged into pitch-black darkness. For about four seconds we thought the junk was about to be boarded by pirates, but then the kitchen crew came in with flaming, hollowed-out pineapples with spring rolls sticking out of them; I think there was a recipe for that in Good Housekeeping in roughly 1967. After the dinner, the crew turned on the obligatory karaoke machine, we “forced” David to perform “I’m Too Sexy” (scary video). His stage presence was a little rusty – we appreciated him taking one for the team.

On Christmas morning we all got into kayaks to explore the bay on our own for a bit. We asked where to go, and the guide said, “anywhere.” So, David and I headed off to some cool-looking islands, and didn’t hear the crew yelling at us to turn around. We were apparently on our way into the heavy current of the shipping lanes, the open sea, and next stop Japan. Fortunately, we got it turned around, but after some serious effort… after that, we stayed near the little water village, then climbed back aboard the Santa Maria. No sign of the Nina or the Pinta…

For reasons obvious to me the crew loved David, and they invited him to eat partially developed duck embryos and do shots with them. David is considering this as a new Christmas morning family tradition. Any takers?

Back in Hanoi we had an amazing dinner at a French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant called Green Tangerine – two great cuisines that taste great together. After a little shopping on the 26th, we flew back home to Hong Kong, celebrated the first anniversary of Marija’s 39th Birthday (with fortunes told, spas and yummy dinner) and then New Year’s at a shi shi Japanese restaurant where the food never came and then never stopped coming.

I hope this finds you all well – we send you best wishes for a terrific 2008, and we hope to see you, or at least hear from you, soon!