The
first impressions of Hanoi in the taxi were that of a French city. It
was after all the colonial capital of French Indochina so it
shouldn't have been too surprising to be passing through wide tree
lined boulevards past pretty lakes surrounded by buildings built in
that distinctive 5 storey Parisian style. Once we got to the hotel in
the old quarter that all ended and Hanoi became Vietnamese again –
narrow one way streets filled with mopeds zooming in both directions,
pavements filled with people selling everything from noodle soup to
snake wine to snakeskin wallets.
The
guesthouse only had 3 rooms and we were in the one above reception
with the blaring music. It didn't matter we were shattered and got
about 80 winks before heading out for brunch. Hanoi, especially the
old quarter seems to not have enough resources of any kind to meet
the demand. The shops are tiny so they spill out onto the path.
There's no parking anywhere so the mopeds park on the path too.
Pedestrians can't walk on the path because of all the mopeds and
shops so they walk on the road. The people cooking food on the street
have no room on the path for the reasons above, so they move out onto
the road, pushing the pedestrians further out on the streets, which
are busy anyway, more so because no-one pays any attention to the one
way system. So it's carnage. You have to look four ways before you
cross every street. But you trust in the “system” and you get
across. Most of the time.
There
were 3 objectives for the day – one was to meet up with Joanne, a
friend of mine from college who had been living in Hanoi for some
time, the others to book a tour to Halong Bay and meet up with Nick
of casino heist fame – he was thinking of joining us on the tour.
After
arranging for Joanne to come over to the hotel in the evening Claire
and I were free to look into the tour side of things. We had asked a
few people who had been before for recommendations and their message
was simple – get the cheapest tour you can because you will go on
the same tour no matter how much you pay. The receptionist took out a
shiny brochure and offered 3 days 2 nights for $45. It seemed fair
enough but we wanted to play the market a bit.
We
met up with Nick at his backpacker hostel and found out what he'd
been up to. He had decided to make a go of it in Hanoi as a teacher
but was sorely tempted to take up an offer to help open up a
members-only club in HCMC. Good old Nick – a great man for the
crazy offers. He wasn't going to come with us to Halong Bay but as we
were chatting a local approached us offering a “special
accommodation opportunity”. A competitor to Nick's Aussie style
backpackers was opening nearby and they wanted to poach their
clientele by offering one free night, opening night in exchange for
feedback. I swear the scams just follow this guy around. He
didn't seem to want to talk to us, only to Nick – they shook on
meeting up later and left it at that.
Nick's
hotel were offering a Halong Bay 3d/2n trip for $90. It seemed to
have good reviews but at twice the price would it be twice as good?
The Rough Guide (which had quite a big warning about broken promises
on the trips) suggested a place called the Kangaroo Cafe as one of
the few places which kept their promises. We went and asked if
someone could talk to us about the tours. We were given a massive
folder to flick through. $100 this one, Seemed fine too. Keen to
compare apples with apples we went to one of the little tour agencies
that are everywhere in Hanoi. We chose one near the hotel, Sinh Cafe
which took out exactly the same brochure (AZ Queen Cafe) as the
guesthouse receptionist had and quoted $40 for the same tour.
We
deliberated about what to do – which tour to choose – there are
literally thousands of offices – are they all selling the same
tour? I went down to reception and lied that we had found a tour
around the corner for $38 – would he match it? As is the custom in
Vietnam made a call to a faceless superior to check. Yes he could do
it. We booked for the next morning – it was a risk and we knew it
but it would have been a bigger risk to pay twice as much for the
same tour. Only one way to find out.
Joanne
and Mike called over in the evening. They took us to a nearby Bia
Hoi - a Vietnamese street drinking emporium with cheap beer. We caught up
and downed a few beers. They had been working for the UN and
other NGOs as consultants and gave us the lowdown on Hanoi life.
Great to catch up properly after so long. We carried on to a
restaurant which was reached by climbing a long set of stairs. We sat
down on the floor at the low table, Japanese style and let the guys
do the ordering. It was such a pleasure – we didn't need to
navigate either the streets or the menu – all we had to do was
concentrate on the good company and the excellent catfish
springrolls.
Vietnamese
is not an easy language – there are 7 tones so one word can have
seven different ways of saying it and even more meanings based on
context. Joanne was going great guns ordering all sorts of stuff. At
one point the waitress came over with a lemon juice – we all looked
blankly as no-one had ordered one. But the squid was missing. The
words for squid and lemon are identical to the outsider. We all knew
where it was going when Mike ordered a bottle of plum rice wine to
accompany the beers. A mulberry wine joined the plum and we moved on
to a bar. The manager was keen to practice his English in exchange
for free drinks and we were happy to oblige. He explained the
significance of all our Chinese zodiac signs – Claire's a snake and
I'm a horse but we can't for the life of us remember the
significance. Too many free shots – great night all round.
When
we got back to the guesthouse it was shut up like it had never
existed and Joanne's moped had disappeared. Lacking an alternative I
banged at the shutter hoping for a solution to all our problems. We
were not disappointed – the shutter was rolled up by a sleepy but
smiliing receptionist (many Vietnamese seem to sleep where they
work). He had rolled the moped in to the hotel when he locked up,
fearing its theft. What a thoughtful guy. We promised to meet up with
the guys on our return from Halong and stumbled upstairs to pack for
the trip.
