They Carry Pigs on Bicycles

After roughly 30 hours in transit, Sasha and I were glad to finally arrive in Hanoi. Our first glimpses of the city were through a cab window to the tune of the crappy 80's Beatles covers that the driver forced us to endure. He liked it though, and apparently so did his dashbord companions (below)We saw many a strange sight, the oddest of which was a man biking with several large, live pigs strapped to his back. We failed to get a picture, as we watched him go by in stunned silence, but hopefully the chickens make up for it (see top). Surviving the ride, we dragged our luggage through the wonderful glass doors of Hoa Linh Hotel, where we are to stay for 6 nights. We upgraded to a deluxe room, doubling the size and adding a window and balcony for only $25 a night..we were ripped off. We decided that we might splurge somewhere after Hanoi and spend maybe $50 one night for a 5-star, where we can finally get some laundry done.

Immediately after departing from our hotel, Sahsa was assaulted by a woman selling bananas and pineapples. Being the unforceful and kind person that he is (note: similar to when he gave a gypsy 20 euros by accident in France), the woman placed her pole thing and hat on Sashie, allowing for this wonderful picture to be taken. To be fair, there is one of myself also, but it's not as fun to look at. We were off in the Old District of Hanoi, the most congested area of the city. According to our little guide book, this square kilometer used to be barricaded in by walls, but nowadays the walls are down and there's only one gate left standing to remind people of how things used to be. Nonetheless, the place is a maze. The streets follow follow no distinguishable pattern, and street signs are lacking. Couple that with our tendancy to be harassed by every single pettler within a three block radius of our current position (due to both our clothing, skin tone, and the fact that I'm at least a foot taller than everyone else here), we easily lost track of where we were. So, every time we wandered out, we ultimately were forced to return by cyclo, where we were charged an absurd two dollars per ride (the nerve). The food offered on the streets sometimes confused us, like the picture above (is it dog, pig, or a huge rat?). We didn't really eat a real meal until later that night when we visited Little Hanoi, a sit-down restaurant down the street from our hotel.

Sasha's meal
Lotus Salad

Made with lotus, celery root, coriander, chillies, fish sauce, lime, shrimp, peanuts, and some great herb, like lemon verbena (dan mot? is what she called it).







Oliver's meal
"Little Hanoi" simmered chicken

Much less interesting, chicken, green and red peppers, and tomatoes were all simmered together in a vinegary hot and sour sauce and served with white rice.





Yum.

After dinner, we set out into the Old District again. The area had apparently undergone a complete makeover during the hour we were inside, as merchant stands and car blockades took up at least 10 blocks and people crowded the streets (even more than they had during the day). Sasha and I added to our DVD collection from earlier in the day by purchasing some 100% silk ties for 3 dollars a pop. Besides that, though, we just wandered around taking in the sights. It's an incredibly fun city, especially the Old District, and there's always so much to do - especially if you have american dollars on you.

Traffic in Vietnam is freakin' insane. What appear to be lanes apparently mean nothing to the motorcycle-dominated traffic of the Old District (the rules seem to be more closely followed elsewhere). Sasha and I were initially fearful of crossing roads, but we soon realized that the best way to cross is just to suck it up and walk in a straight line from one side to the other, no matter the traffic - everyone either stops or veers away from you, often passing inches from your face. We're now pros at crossing, and I think I'll probably die once I go back to DC and try to J-Walk Wisconsin in heavy traffic. So, with all of this crazy traffic, of course I proceeded to walk into the middle of a busy intersection at night to play hooky with some drivers to try and get some good pictures. They came out okay, I guess.

What Sasha saw
















What I saw












I'll be back later once the second day is good and done. Enjoy.


~Oliver

Midday Snacks

Mangosteen - slam the hard purple fruit against the wall and pull out the sour-sweet opalescent pulp. For a while, I'd tried to barter with everyone selling these. The first man I ran into offered mangosteens for 30,000 dong a kilo (pretty close to a dollar a pound,) but, since I was under the impression that that was actually 20 dollars, I got ticked off and tried to barter him to half price. He chased me off, and I never got as good a price anywhere else.

A steamy pork-tomato broth with lime, chilli, with vermicelli and ground pork. I added some nearby chilli paste, at what I thought was someone's suggestion, only to be laughed at by a group of surrounding women who'd clearly approached just to laugh. (It was damn good with the chilli paste, though.)




The Night Market
filled with all sorts of ten year-olds who don't hesitate for a second to shove you forcibly out of the way, and, in some cases, into the repulsive gutters (Oliver had bad luck and got his flip-flop submerged in a dark black gunk that probably included ten different types of soup and just as many of human excrement) - was quite nice. Nice shirts and wares there.

~Sasha


So I lied, we actually had a picture of the pigs. Enjoy.