Hello Hanoi

After having walked down the Champs de L’Eysée and visited the Arc de Triumphe (I swear to God that’s what they call it in Vientiane) we headed for the airport to catch our 55 minute Lao Airlines flight to Hanoi, Viet Nam. I reflected for a few minutes on how we were leaving a country which was the most heavily bombed ever in the history of mankind, for the country which was at the root of the cause of the Viet Nam War. I consider myself lucky that I never had to endure a conflict so brutally senseless and unforgiving.

Hanoi!! What can I say? Absolutely insane!! The traffic here is the most unbelievable mishmash of scooters, taxis, bicycle rickshaws and bicycles. Honking, cutting and crossing anyone and everyone who gets in the way of the general direction they are headed. It’s everyone for oneself. When you cross the street don’t stop once you mentally prepare yourself to walk blindly and faithfully entering into no man’s land. (See my accompanying video for a play by play enactment) Dinner that night was in a family run authentic theme setting off a side street. The room was narrow and the furnishing were basic.  It gave me the feeling that I could have been sitting in an opium den with lights dimmed, antique bird cages swinging, and the ceiling fans turning slowly.

The following morning after having been awoken by loudspeakers playing Vietnamese music and the morning propaganda speeches, we spent going to visit Uncle Ho in his mausoleum at the People’s Republic Square, where the palace is situated as well as Ho Chi Minh’s residence. It was very eerie lining up in single file and watched over by the Viet Nam army guard. No talking, no photographs, no hats as we filed passed the pale corpse of Ho with a scruffy chin beard, the face highlighted by a spot light, lying enclosed in a glass case. Just the thought of stepping out of line made my skin crawl thinking I could end up in the now closed Hanoi Hilton where captured US Air force personnel were kept in prison and tortured during the war.

The French quarter of Hanoi is an eclectic quagmire of a market with everything available from live chickens in cages, fish in plastic pales, fresh meat of every description lying out in the open air and any other bizarre edible you could imagine. Beautiful fresh flowers, textiles, pots, pans and numerous salesmen chasing after you trying to sell you a Zippo lighter. I even saw a man smoking opium discreetly with his long wooden pipe. The lake in the center of town brought on a festive mood with large balloons and streamers flying over head. We could have spent a few more days there just soaking up the unique atmosphere. Harsh and unnerving at first encounter but exciting and alive with the more contact you experienced.