We awoke this morning to the ubiquitous sounds of car, bus, and scooter horns as early as 600AM, and as we half dreamt from bed, we were soon tantalized by what appears to be a morning ritual in Hanoi: at 730AM daily, a gorgeous song with a woman's voice is played over public address systems throughout the city, perhaps a national anthem or maybe a popular song? It is followed with what seemed to be some announcements by a man's voice... And so our first day in Vietnam begins!
As with anywhere, there are rules on appropriate and inappropriate behavior, and we make note to abide by all of the hotel regulations, posted in our room.
We start things off with breakfast in the hotel lobby, which includes your choice of Western items and Rain Man playing on the TV with Vietnamese subtitles in the background.
The peach juice was our favorite (two glasses each), and we both ate an egg-based dish, which we found to be cooked up well, even if it's not the traditional Vietnamese breakfast. From the staff that checked us in last night to the breakfast crew this morning, everyone is so helpful and accommodating.
Even though there usually exists a bit of a language barrier, a smile and a few hand gestures can get us what we need, or they will get someone to help translate. We snapped a pic of the kitchen staff on our way out, and thanked them for the meal.
After this, we spoke with the hotel concierge (Manh is the man!), and he arranged our travel and accommodations for Halong Bay, and we scheduled our departure for two days later. Manh also hired Chung for us, a bicycle tuk tuk driver, to give a proper introduction to the neighborhood.
We witnessed motorbike, bicycle and auto traffic moving in what simultaneously seemed like chaos and harmony, as every moment was filled with what seemed like at least five potential accidents.
We were later told this rule in Vietnam: "Just go and don't stop." If you stop, they will hit you, but if you close your eyes and just walk across the street, you will reach the other unscathed. As we people watched, Dasha pointed out several Vietnamese families along the way, and we noticed the youngest generation seems to hang out with mom, dad, or grandma during the work day if they're not yet of school age.
Following our hour long tour of the Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake, the cultural heart of Hanoi, we ate a quick lunch across from the hotel at Tamarind, a vegetarian restaurant serving Vietnamese fare and all day breakfast. The pumpkin soup was outstanding, but Dasha's two color soup was just okay. We also ate summer rolls and spring rolls (we couldn't choose) that featured fresh veggies and deliciously thin rice paper.
This was also our first authentic Vietnamese iced coffee. Yum! Energized, we then took to the streets for an exciting afternoon of shopping and people watching on Hang Gai & Hang Bong streets.
There is beautiful silk clothing everywhere; Dasha found a few pieces to her liking, and even got one altered in just two hours.
Joel found a cool hoodie, and was astonished at how affordable everything seemed to be. Continuing our journey through the Old Quarter, we walked by a street full of scooter repair shops and the St. Joseph Cathedral, completed in 1886.
As we wrapped up our shopping, we saw hundreds of locals and foreigners alike sitting on small stools along the sidewalks, dining, drinking, and cooking together in what was a daily ritual for many.
It's a casual yet cosmopolitan culture here in Hanoi, which is celebrating 1000 years of existence in 2010, marked by the Vietnamese phrase "Thanh Long."
We finished our day with massages at $7/hour upstairs from Tamarind, where we couldn't resist more fruit juice and smoothies.
Relaxed from our thai-style massages, we felt jet lag setting in, and were off to bed by 730PM, looking forward to another exciting day in Hanoi!
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