in Hanoi. We arrived pretty late, but when we saw our room an the private balcony overlooking the old quarter, glass bathroom shower, and comfy bed and aircon, we were at peace. After we tucked ourselves into bed, we got a phone call from the reception around 2 am telling us they had make a mistake and given us the suite by accident and the other guest had just arrived and wanted our room. We kindly asked if we could wait until morning and they agreed. That's the second accidental suite we've had in a week. This one came without bed bugs.
Our first day in Hanoi, our hotel arranged a free waking tour with one of the college students studying English. Before the tour, we explored the blocks near our hotel looking for a local lunch spot. We joined the locals streetside and took a seat on the plastic stools. Jacob's immediately broke in half, and, despite the language barrier, it was universally understood that he was embarrassed and everyone was laughing together:). There is no menu. We tried to explain that we were vegetarian and ended up with fried pork. Jacob took a bite and tried to vomit the rest of the afternoon. Although, he admitted it tasted good. The rice noodles and fried tofu were tasty too.
The student, hien, gave us a tour around the city (see pic of us with her). We started in Silk road finding ourselves lost in Vietnamese art. We then walked to the temple on the lake which is one of the city's main attractions. There is an old legend of the turtle and the sword. Legend has it that the first king of Vietnam became king after pushing out the Chinese around 1000 ad. He finally did this with a magical sword that was given to him by divine intervention. The day after the battle was won, a huge turtle came out of the lake and took the sword back, returning it to the earth. The massive turtle's descendants are still alive in the lake today, and the many hundred pound 1000 year old turtle was fished out and bronzed and is on display in the temple to this day (see pic).
Val paid for us to enter the temple and had accidentally left a zipper of her purse open. About 30 seconds later, she noticed a poor Vietnamese young woman waking very close behind her. She turned around and saw her taking a 100,000 dong note (5 US dollars) from her purse. She said out loud, "she just took my money". Jacob snatched the money out of her hand as she tried to say it was hers. Thankfully, two Vietnamese women behind us immediately said they saw the whole thing and started speaking fast and pointing at the girl. Before we knew it, three guards surrounded the woman, grabbing her tightly while her young child watched, crying, not understanding what was happening. Val said she felt distraught because on one hand she saw this poor Vietnamese lady being held with her child watching over $5, and, on the other hand, she had just been pick-pocketed! We thanked the ladies and hien, our guide walked us into the temple.
The story wasn't over though. A few minutes later, a guard asked Val to follow him. He led us into a small room on the side, where he asked us to sit at a table, right across from the lady! It was serious and quiet, with four guards behind the lady. They were very focused on hospitality for us, it seemed, and so they served both us and the pick-pocketer tea and fruit. (we didn't drink, the lady did). They made Val confirm that the lady stole something, confirmed that she didn't take anything else, and then profusely apologized for the experience. They spoke to our guide who shared that they all wanted to make clear to us that this was not the image they promoted for Vietnam, as this is not something they accept, and they want to make sure it does not happen to other tourists. They really seem to put a lot of pride and emphasis on making their country tourist friendly.
Except for the scary room and serious tone, which brought weird images and fears to our Hollywood imprinted minds, the whole experience left us impressed with how seriously they handled the situation. We do feel bad about the girl and her daughter and wonder what happened to her.
Our trip coincides with a Vietnamese national holiday celebrating the reunification of north and south Vietnam after the war. (note: fascinating how histories are taught differently. The Vietnam children are taught that the war began in 1955 when the Americans arrived and lasted until the north won the war in 1975). As we were walking the streets with hien, we heard megaphones saying lots of things in vietnamese and asked her what it meant. She explained it was a government announcement that all citizens must hang Vietnamese flags outside their home on the upcoming holiday. We asked hien what happened if someone did not hang a flag. She said no one doesn't.
Another main attraction is the water puppet show which Val insisted we buy tickets to. We both fell asleep, but hien loved it:)
After amazing, cheap massages and a vegetarian rooftop dinner at our hotel, we boarded an overnight train to sapa.
What great stories, although I also wonder how harsh they were with the poor lady with the child. You guys are having quite the experience! Just don't break too much furniture or they may kick you out of the country. Lol.
ReplyDeletePS - I forgot to tell you about Agoda. We used it to book the islands but then had to cancel, so I forgot about it. Glad you found it on your own!