Vietnam - Hanoi

One day in May, my good friend Tilde asked me if I wanted to come with her to Vietnam to visit her relatives.

Five months later we were on the plane from London Heathrow to Hong Kong, and then continuing to Hanoi.

I've never been to Asia. Except for one trip to California with my parents, I've only been in Europe. That added an extra thrill to this trip, as I was going to experience something completely different, far from European ways of living, eating, talking, working and social norms.

It appeared that Vietnam is much more than a terrible war. It is a big country with 90.3 million inhabitants (number 13 on, varied geography and great cultural diversity. It borders to China, Laos and Cambodia, and is the Easternmost country on the Indochina peninsula. The country has a long history of colonisation; first under Chinese Empire, and from 1887 to 1940 under France. Under the new communist leader Ho Chi Minh, the French were expelled from the country in the first Indochina war from 1945 to 1954. Thereafter a civil war between the North and the South started, with a communistic republic under Ho Chi Minh in the North, and the state of Vietnam under emperor Bao Dai in the South. The US joined the fights in 1964, and eventually the Vietnam war turned into a nightmare that lasted until 1973.
The result is that the cities are quite Young and unorganised - houses have been rebuilt in a hurry and not been kept very well since the 1970's. There are veterans out in the street, wearing their old uniforms and helmets, and once in a while you see people with horrible war injuries.
And most obviously, the war generation is really small physically- presumably from the hunger during the war.

Apart from that, Vietnam today is a peaceful country, and Things are actually going well; last year Vietnam proceeded from being a poor country to a middle class country, thanks to the Paradox of having free market under a communistic regime.

Oh, and the climate is also somewhat different from the Scandinavian. We had 35 degrees celsius every day, and added to a high air humidity it resulted in constant sweating.

A very dominating aspect of our trip was the mere fact of being white. I have never felt so white my Whole life. Nor as rich. It wouldn't help explaining them that we are in fact very poor students who've been saving for months to go there. We were treated like we were Hollywood stars, and/or walking bags full of money.

The result of a 10 hour flight; bloated ancles.

We landed Hanoi after some 20 hours of travel. In the arrival hall we tried to see if we could spot our hosts. Suddenly a Vietnamese man approached us with a sign with our names on it - it turned out he was their private driver who was sent out to pick us up.

M & J, Tildes relatives, work for the UN and live (for now) in Hanoi with their two children. In Scandinavia they would be as any Family. In Hanoi, the foreign workers live in a sort of rich ghetto Next to Tay Ho (West Lake).

The rest of Hanoi is noisy, packed, dirty, confusing and overwhelming. There are scooters everywhere, beeping the horns constantly, more people than I knew existed, things for sale, kids running around, people cooking and eating out in the streets and garbage just lying around.

 

Quiet street.

Remains of the Chinese Empire.

White tourists getting a ride.

Pagode in the middle of Hoan Kiem lake in the center of Hanoi.


Taking a break from the trafficked streets.

 

 

 



Fruit

No one seemed to mind that there was constant heavy traffic Next to the food.

Classic Hanoi.

Oh, did I mention that the Vietnamese have NO SENSE for security whatsoever?

 

Typical Vietnamese city house. Tax is based on ground area, resulting in peculiar Buildings.

 

 



Vietnamese cock.

 

Man fishing in West Lake...

...ten metres away from this one.

Scooters.

Ho Chi Minh is adored and praised to an extent that's hard to get one's head around - knowing he died in 1969. Here a golden statue at a restaurant. 

Evening view from the "rich ghetto" by West Lake.

Hanoi skyline.

Bicycles are used for everything. Being shops as well.

 

 

 

Hanoi is overwhelming and different. There isn't as much cultural attractions as in European cities - here it's more about walking around, just letting all the impressions in.
As a western tourist, it can be exhausting to be so different. Vietnamese STARE at you. And shout after you, turn around to look, and grab you, trying to sell you EVERYTHING in their shops.
After a few days, we became rather grumpy and impolite, just wanting to protect our very large, Scandinavian personal sphere.