Hanoi rocks and Saigon rolls
Hanoi, a city of shaded boulevards, public parks, lakes and the capital of Vietnam
by Lisa Maxwell
Having been subjected to the worst airplane food I've ever had (spam - need I say more?), and the worst wine (Vin De Pays D'Oc - rotgut special) on an AIR FRANCE flight (and they're supposed to be gourmets!!), we arrived in Hanoi in Northern Vietnam.
Confronted by an unfinished new airport to our right (started 5 years ago, then money ran out), and several mould-covered Vietnam Airlines planes to our left, we entered into this communist regime with some trepidation.
However, whizzing, with a horn-honking kamikaze cabbie, past acre upon acre of paddy field, watching rattan-hatted workers stopping to do their mid-afternoon Tai Chi, our minds relaxed.
We relaxed even further when my Aunt took us for a grand tour round the block. Never have I seen so much life, vibrancy, and joy in such a small area. Children running around playing in the puddles, old men squatting on the kerb, smoking from pipes watching the world go by, grey stained sheets hanging like flags across the street, women carrying babies and baskets of fruit, animatedly chatting and laughing as they make their way home, and, occasionally, the most startlingly beautiful young girl, wearing the traditional starched white Vietnam dress, smiling sweetly under her hat. We walked down a tiny street opposite my Aunt’s house, and came across an anonymous looking scarlet coloured Buddhist/Daoist building. It was being renovated, so we stepped over setting concrete into a huge hall where we discovered gold and silk-adorned figurines of 'the ancestors' - beautifully detailed and surrounded by incense and lotus flowers. Next door we took a peek at a 20 foot dark bronze Buddha, with a Swastika emblazoned on his chest (strange combination!).
After having a traditional Hanoi meal (no, luckily for us, it didn't include the speciality of diced pig's penis), we stepped out into the rain and rode pillion on the back of two 1950s Minsk motorbikes. My Aunt's one is black and white, striped, like a Zebra.
Hanoi traffic does not have any rules. You can drive where you want, when you want. There are two things you must do - keep going, even if you're lost, and honk your horn at everything that moves to tell them you're about to run them over. Thus, when we arrived at 'Le Maquis' Bar, a tiny wee place in someone's front room, we were both shaken and stirred.
Le Maquis, a typical Hanoi establishment, was playing Doors music when we went in, while American War (it's not called the Vietnam War here) photos hung side by side with pictures of everyday Vietnamese life.We had green tea, chatted with some locals in Frenglamese (French, English and Vietnamese) and left for our equally exhilirating ride home.
Hanoi is a time-warped city. Stuck in the twenty years between the 1930s and the 1950s.
There are very few tall buildings, in the skyscraper sense, and everyone rides a bicycle. People actually stop in the street and talk to each other. And, as communication between members of the opposite sex is frowned upon until marriage, and the Vietnamese are an incredibly affectionate people, it is common to see members of the same sex walking along holding hands or hugging each other. People pull their kids' trousers down and lift them over the gutter to have a pee. They eat, sleep, work and do Tai Chi in the middle of the road (literally); you can leave your car, unlocked and with the keys in the ignition in the street, and no-one will touch it, complete strangers will look after your belongings/children/animals/bike while you're away/shopping/whatever, and may return them in better shape than when you left them. It seems to be a city on the cusp of change, not afraid of its turbulent past, when it was occupied variously by China and France, enjoying the present, and looking optimistically at the future, but not willing it to come too quickly.
The architecture is tumbledown, French colonial elegant; the city abounds with rivers and lakes; the food is exquisite and sooooo cheap, the people always smiling and willing to share everything they own with you. Hanoi is extraordinarily beautiful. In so many ways. If and when you go there, enjoy it, admire it, but be sure to leave it exactly as you found it.
