We took a flight mid-morning to Hanoi, so all of our morning was taken up by travel.
Once we arrived, Robin was joyful. Hanoi is his hometown and his eyes were alight.
”I have crazy honeymoon tonight!”
He’s had this running joke about how when he is away working, the postman looks after his wife.
Vietnam is a thin country. So are the houses.
Unfortunately, it is raining today. Not two seconds after I took this photo of the street where our restaurant was for lunch, a car clipped Peter, one of the guys in our group and knocked him onto a couple of bikes.
He was livid. He got up, thumped the car and abused the driver. But being an English gentleman, he then apologised to us for using foul language.
Despite this, I really like Hanoi.
Before 1888, Hanoi was only 1 km square. Then the French came…
Now it’s 3,326 square kms. Two times bigger than London.
Before1954, men could have many wives, then the communists came in and banned it. Robin’s grandfathers both had 2 wives. It was very common.
Robin was born in 1975. He said that there were many bunkers in Hanoi during the war, and people would have maybe 20 minutes warning to get to a bunker before the B52s would arrive. His parents met in one of those bunkers.
Our lunch was delicious. In Saigon the food has a Chinese influence and is sweeter than here.
then after lunch we went to taste a Hanoi delicacy – Egg Coffee.
Egg coffee dates from 1954. Hanoi was so poor that there was little milk available for everyone. A coffee shop owner decided to try whisking up egg yolks and putting it in coffee in place of milk.
They drink it with ice in summer, but warm in winter. I was dubious as to whether I’d like it, because I don’t have milk in my coffee, but it was delicious.
Everywhere you go in Vietnam, there are people sitting outside of shops and chilling.
Here’s me with slightly scary eyes in another rickshaw. We went for a slow trot around the old section of town.
Echoes of North Korea and the Kim family, but of course this is Ho Chi Minh.
Everyone is glued to their phones… it doesn’t matter where you come from.
KFC in Hanoi. As Robin said, “ He look like Ho Chi Minh!”
All of a sudden, louder than the beeping traffic, was a huge sound of squealing and shouting. Schools sound the same the world over.
If the temperature goes below 6C then schools close for the day. The kids arrive by motorbike and it’s too cold for them. In Hanoi, for every 100 people, 6 own a car.
When we got to the hotel, we had a couple of hours to chill. Robin said, “ If I am a few minutes late, please wish me luck. I might have to chase away the postman!
Here’s the view from my hotel window.
Now, I know I posted about a woman called Jen and how I wasn’t exactly warming to her abrasive personality. I haven’t posted anything more about her because I felt like maybe I was the only one who felt that way. Everyone else seemed to chat away with her quite happily, so I began to wonder if I was just being a bit of a bitch.
Imagine my relief when today, over lunch, Jen left the table to go to the bathroom and people let loose. It’s NOT just me! She’s driving everyone crazy. I think we were all glad that we are all on the same page. We were all wondering if we were the awful ones.
Dad Joke of the Day:
My fear of moving steps is escalating.
What a colorful and interesting country your pictures and words present. I may never get to SE Asia so I’m glad to tag along on your blog. I was wondering how you were dealing with Jen. I always feel bad at first, when I have a visceral dislike of someone I meet, and it’s rare. But there is usually a reason which makes itself clear to others as well. I’ve learned to trust my intuition!