Alone in Hanoi

This felt strange after three months of spending every night and most days together but I have to confess quite a treat.  I had two days to do whatever I wanted, no schedule, no commitments, no plans, no packing, no future trip research.  Just me, a hotel room and a big exciting city out there to explore.

I had a lie-in.  Bliss.  The Light Hotel has not compromised on its quality of bed linen and I was enjoying the crisp white sheets.  Then a very leisurely breakfast. Over an hour sipping at least three coffees.  Then an internet browse of what I could do today.  I decided on the Hanoi Women’s Museum.  http://www.baotangphunu.org.vn/.  Three people recommended it to me this morning.  Plus one of them told me about the best Patisserie in Hanoi which was located opposite it.  The museum was created to preserve the history and culture of Vietnamese women.  More on that later.

Before crossing the city I first walked to Train street, which was five minutes from our hotel, famous for the trains running through it only a few feet either side from the houses and cafes that line its tracks.  One of the café owners (the same one who recommended the Patisserie) told me the trains only run at the weekend which was ‘annoying as we want to rest at the weekend without the noise’. 

Walking around Hanoi is a joy.  It’s an ocular feast.  There is so much going on.  Stall after stall spilling out onto the pavements.  Big groups of locals eagerly chatting at the many cafes.   And the traffic is the busiest I think I have ever seen.  There are so many people on mopeds, similar to Cambodia but many, many more and like Cambodia not many rules or adherence to safety.  Kids on the handlebars, men smoking, turning their heads away from the road to chat with their passenger, women adjusting their make-up in the mirror or checking their mobiles, traffic lights ignored.  Crossing the road is extremely hazardous here and full focus and bravery is required.   We learned from our Food Tour guide Daisy that it is easier to cross if you form a group like ‘sticky rice’.  Safety in numbers and then the traffic has to stop so I now look for other people crossing and use them as my sticky rice protection.

At the Women’s Museum I read about the women who you see everywhere here in Conical hats with produce in big baskets on their bikes or balanced on their shoulders.  Most of them are from the rural villages and come to Hanoi to make money, leaving their children and families behind.  They work long and hard days bringing in as little as maybe $10 a week staying in cheap lodgings.  In these streets they seem to represent the old Vietnam alongside the modern slick city folk who are buying their flowers or fruit.  There is a very noticeable mix of old and new here, East and West, rich and poor.

I also visited a pop up exhibition set up by two English girls who are part of Fashion Revolution https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/.  They told me that approximately 75 million work to make our clothes and 80% of them are women who are aged between 18 and 35.  Most of these women live in poverty.  Fashion Revolution wants to make people more aware of what they are wearing and where they came from.  Their main aim is to radically change how clothes are sourced, made and consumed so that clothing is produced in a safe, clean and fair way – and a way that is better for our planet.  I looked at my Zara trousers and Gap t-shirt and felt guilty.

From there (after the best pain au chocolat in Hanoi) I walked to the old Prison which was dark, sad and disturbing.  http://hoalo.vn/  I wasn’t sure whether it was propaganda but it explained the intense cruelty of the French to the indigenous Vietnamese and then later on the kindness and respect the Vietnamese shown to the American prisoners of war.   Two completely different incarceration experiences although neither desirable the earlier inmates here had an unimaginably torturous time including many of the female revolutionaries.  But it was believable that this was how it happened.  We watched the recently made documentary series The Vietnam War, which underlined this treatment of those fighting to regain their country’s independence again and again.

Enough of museums and now for some art.  I found Manzi Art Space https://www.facebook.com/manzihanoi/ in a restored French Villa, part cool art gallery, part chic café with an eclectic mix of pictures and art works on display.  I particularly liked this one below which was part of a series of photographs hung in the outside crumbling wall as if these people were really there at the windows.

Wandering home I was inspired to take some photos of Hanoi life.  One, rather shockingly, was of a display of dogs ready cooked for lunchtime consumption.

On the way back to the hotel I passed a lady offering foot massages.  Something I would never usually do but she looked very smiley and I had been walking a long way.  So I found myself striking a deal and saying yes and my feet couldn’t have been happier with this decision.  I called Kelty to say he should come here tomorrow.