Strolling about in Hanoi

 Coffee, Books, and well, Coffee

P. Hang Ngang roundabout

We spent our final days in Hanoi doing slow travel through the alleyways and markets around the Old Quarter. I was grateful to have the time to enjoy the people and the food and the personality of place. I thought a lot about other places I have lived or visited that prepared me to see and understand the vibrant ways of life that I was experiencing here. There are Vietnamese versions of being, eating and living that connect me to my travels. 

We visited a few temples in town, the most famous the Temple of Literature, a humble walled off garden with stone gates honoring the site of the first university in Vietnam. A butterfly with indigo spots, perched on the edge of a koi pond, held our attention during our visit there.

🦋

We wondered along the street beside St. Joseph’s cathedral while a choir was singing inside - it was enough to temporarily forget that the French colonizers built it, in the likeness of Notre Dame, when they brought Catholicism to this largely Buddhist nation. 

We stopped at a coffee shop, @FiFi, across from the cathedral that drew us in with the cacophony of color spilling out onto the street while a black and white dog beckoned from the entryway. Inside I sipped strong cinnamon coffee with condensed milk while two friendly musicians practiced a new composition on the piano. The color, the singers, the lacquer red piano, the sign that read “appy birthday”, Norah’s mango smoothie, the dog in the doorway…it was too much. I was enthralled.

🥭

During the last hours of the last day, we walked through the old quarter to a neighborhood just north of it to seek out a bookstore with English language books called the Bookworm. After a very long walk through streets dense with motorbikes and sidewalk commerce we reached this beautiful quirky quietude of a bookstore crammed with new and used books. What an oasis from the noisy street! We stayed for hours looking at books. The first floor had a small coffee bar where Norah and I sipped on a freshly made iced peach tea. While it was hard to say no to another cup of Vietnamese coffee (I had already had two on the way to the bookstore), this whole situation made me very happy.

Iced peach tea with peaches

🍑

Meandering through alleyways, eating street food, meeting people and learning from my time here is another chance to inform my way in the world. 

Thich Nhat Hanh said that life is only available in the present moment. I appreciate my chance to be present in Hanoi this week - Norah and I will have this place in our mind’s eye forever.

🇻🇳

Ninh Binh

  A Day in the Countryside

Our intrepid tour guide Tran

On our second day in Vietnam, we met Tran and his driver outside of our hotel for an adventure to Ninh Binh Province, a cultural heritage site with, limestone hills and rice fields that line the Ngo Dong River near Tam Coc. It was really a fabulous drive through the countryside while Tran told us the entire history of Vietnam. I listened intently while thinking about the Sampan boat we would be taking down the river - wondering if I had the arm power to be a viable worker on the boat…

 my one photo from the temple 

We stopped on the way to visit the Dinh King temple from the 10th century near where the original capital of Vietnam was located. It was after this stop that things started to go south. Tran took us to a very touristed spot, Tam Coc, to walk up 500 large and irregular limestone steps to look out over the valley and the river where we would soon be boating. 

 photo from the internet 

I was game, of course, but I have no photos from this event due to the fact that I was in full pray mode that I would somehow get out of there without having legit heart failure or from tumbling down hundreds of limestone steps on my face. It was hell. 

Norah did snap this from the top

After we did make it back down (I was practically crawling), Tran drove us to lunch at a restaurant teaming with foreigners and bland food. I was okay with that while in my recovery, however, Norah came down with a case of severe nausea. We hung around for awhile hoping things would improve but in the end turned back without finishing the tour.

I was actually relieved - I don’t think this tour was my vibe. Tran was a little sad, though both he and the driver were terrified that Norah might puke in the car. They gave us about 15 plastic bags from the restaurant as a precaution and then put the pedal to the metal for two hours back to our hotel. We made it and I was so happy to be back in busy crazy Hanoi.

 our very welcoming hotel front door 

Hello Hanoi

 Mopeds and Bun cha!

We arrived in Hanoi at midnight to a city very awake and thriving. Late night eateries lined the boulevard on our taxi drive from the airport to the old quarter of central Hanoi. 

At the airport, we had a brief panic at our taxi meeting spot as we could not find my name. After staring at this make shift sign by pillar 9 at arrivals I realized that my name was written in Hiragana above Niamh Gleason (Liam Neeson?). Our driver was patiently waiting for us there and he whisked us off towards downtown.

After a thorough night’s rest and a slow morning walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, Norah and I met Mai and Hang, our foodie tour guides on mopeds, for an afternoon eating our way through the old quarter. We stopped for five authentic Vietnamese/Hanoi dishes along the way-- from bun cha, to Vietnamese coffee, pho cuon, mango pudding, and (snails!!).

( Norah and Hang)

( preparing Banh quon)

(enjoying Bun cha)

The moped rides between stops was super fun even though I had a death grip on my seat as Mai drove deftly through a sea of honking, crisscrossing, speeding mopeds! I was having the time of my life!! 

(the time of my life!)

Midway through the afternoon we stopped for Vietnamese coffee, a rich dark coffee that is slow brewed and fused with condensed milk. We stepped from a narrow alley to a quiet cafe to be greeted by a tiny dog wearing a dress; my new best friend.

(the entrance to Circle coffee bar)

(my new friend)

Mai and Hang drove us around the city, past Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, through a street market and along the West Lake where John McCain was captured during the Vietnam war. It was a lot to think about.

We ended the afternoon with a bowl of steamed snails and then a variety of sweet desserts. I could not finish the snails! But the mango pudding was delightful. 

(That is a lot of snails!)

I really appreciated this start to our adventures in Vietnam. We learned a little about the food and life in this beautiful city from our new friends Mai and Hang. I am looking forward to tomorrow and our journey to Ninh Binh.

(Mai, Norah, and Hang)

 

Street Food Delights

 

Raohe Street Night Market

[ entrance to some really good food! ]

Norah and I ambitiously started today with the goal of getting ourselves to the north coast of Taipei, about 2 hours away, to see one of the last remaining market streets from the Qing dynasty. We left for Jinshan Old Street by train early this morning and then waited an hour to catch a local bus from the last subway stop in Tamsui. The local bus arrived, a small bus with 20 single seats and about 35 of us piled on. Norah and I did not get seats and we took a standing position toward the back. 

The bus took off at a flying pace, and the driver drove hurky-jerky while shifting gears (it was a manual transmission) through the narrow streets along the coast. After 45 minutes of this, we had only reached the 4th of 14 stops and I looked back at Norah, who was turning a little green. I myself was ignoring signs of nausea as I tried to keep a firm grip on the floor with the exaggeratedly wide stance that I was employing to prevent face-planting with each two-wheeled curve we took. At the next stop Norah whispered “I can’t take this!” and we jumped off. We spent the next two hours getting ourselves back to the hotel where we felt pretty tired and a little defeated. 

So we decided to double down and head back out at dusk to the Raohe Street night market for some street food on our final night and we had a fabulous time.

[first stop - pork and pepper buns ]

[ these guys know what they are doing ]

[ so good! ]

As we strolled through the market, we tried sweet potato puffs, a watermelon smoothie, and spicy scallion pancakes. 

[ frying the pancakes ]

[ someone here knows how to take a selfie ]

A few foods we did not try included…

[ organ meats ]

[ squid ]

[ and durian smoothies ]

A woman was selling peanut roll ice cream, however, and I had to try it. She shaved frozen peanut brittle onto a rice paper wrap, then scooped three ice cream flavors - sour plum, pineapple, and taro - sprinkled fresh cilantro over the top and wrapped the ice cream up like a burrito. She served it up in a paper wrapper.

[ making peanut roll ice cream ]

I have never tasted anything like it. It was not too sweet and sort of savory. It was like an ice cream meal!!

We didn’t stay too long at the market but we left very satisfied and pleased to have such a great ending to our time in Taipei. 

[ a crowded commute back to our hotel ]

The ride back to the hotel on the red line was a little packed but everyone was very friendly and calm. This city has shown us many delights - the art, the food, the people - and I am leaving the city with gratitude for sharing all of this beauty with Norah and me. 

🥬

Checking on Chiang Kai-shek

Historical Sites & Street Life 

[ subway art exhibit from a local school ]

Today we explored art antiquities in the massive National Palace Museum of Taipei. We had to take a subway, bus, and a walk to get there.

[ the navigator determining exactly which bus ]

Chiang Kai-shek brought all of the art in the museum in crates from China and hid it until he built the museum near his Shilin residence in 1965. 

[ the entrance to the museum ]

We got to the museum relatively early and started on the top floor, working our way through jade sculptures to bronze antiquities and ceramic objects to cloisonné jewelry. The Chinese artworks included objects from before the common era through the 19th century end of the Qing dynasty. There was no way to look at everything so we followed a roadmap of 16 pieces suggested by the museum as the Classics tour. We were most excited about seeing a carved jade bok choy from the 1600s and we went straight to the gallery where it was housed. Much to our chagrin, it was traveling to another museum and missing from its case. We cried. Here is a picture of it. There is a locust and katydid alighting on the top leaves, a sign of prospering with many children.

We continued on and by the time we reached the first floor of the museum we were in an art delirium. It really was a spectacular walk through Chinese art history. I saw many things that I loved but for some reason I just took one photo of this beautiful ceramic horse.

[ ceramic horse, Tang dynasty, 900 CE ]

Norah took a photo of a bronze wine vessel in the shape of a very cute, dog?

[ wine vessel, 1000 BCE ]

We left the museum and wondered the streets of the Shilin neighborhood, ventured down an alley and found a wonderful local cafe, the Happiness Cafe, nestled between people’s apartments.

[ approaching the Happiness Cafe ]

[ are you following?? There’s air-conditioning!! ]

[ I was busy taking photos

 of the neighbor’s doorway across the street ]

We were quite hot and sweaty when we arrived and I ordered my daily dose of iced espresso and it was served in a fancy parfait glass!! 

[ an antidote to hot weather! ]

After a lunch respite we set off to find the Chiang Kai-shek memorial. I know there is much to discuss regarding his place in history but he does have a place and I needed to see the memorial.

[ the memorial ]

[ the gate ]

[ beautiful marble stone work ]

[ the man himself ]

[ the gold rotunda ceiling ]

[ the guards out front ]

Norah tried to take a selfie of us but my hair was not cooperating…

[ mother daughter moment ]

By this point in the day we were rather tired and we headed back to our hotel. I saw this lovely shrine in a peace park on our walk back to Ximen. 

[ the symmetry ]

🕊️