Today we were left to our own devices in Hanoi. After being here a couple of days the shock of the chaos has subsided and we were finally confident to hit the shops, do some bargaining and spend some Dong.
Dong is like playing with Monopoly money… 5000 VND for a bottle of water and 20 000 VND for a 500ml Tiger beer sounds expensive until you realise that it’s 25c and $1 respectively – insanely cheap! Most museums have been $1 – 1.50 entry and a taxi from one end of town to the other was $3. The 11 million VND we brought with us will last a looong time!!! Andrew is definitely enjoying the $ beers 🙂
The girls have started to work thorough their 1.800.000 VND – Emma searched out a pair of Vans Shoes and Alex a pair of Ray-Bans. Add a couple of souvenirs, and our holiday collection is growing…
Walking the streets is fascinating. The locals fit their whole family on their bike (cycle or motor) if it isn’t loaded with pots & pans, fruit and veg, flowers, dead animals or whatever their family wares happen to be. And yes, that is a dead pig.
Propaganda continues to be alive and well. There are many stores devoted to ‘Propaganda Art’ from wartime Vietnam, and they’re currently celebrating the 12 days during Christmas 1972 when Vietnam shot down 100 American B-52 bombers over Hanoi. A good demonstration that history and your position in the world is all a matter of perspective…
We visited the Museum of National History and the Vietnamese Women’s Museum this morning. The latter was a really interesting view of the role of women in Vietnamese society. They’ve had a more significant role in building and defending the country than I ever understood. The photo below is of some of the volunteer women during the war, who created a human bridge to allow the sick and wounded to be evacuated. Tough women!
There was also a section devoted to the worship of the ‘Mother Goddess’. I like their thinking, but Andrew doesn’t think he’d look good in that red silk number 🙂
Our final tourist stop was the Tran Quoc Pagoda on the West Lake. The Lake is an enormous body of water in the North East of Hanoi – unfortunately hidden by fog this afternoon. The Pagoda was a nice hour of peace after a day in the busy streets.
We’re now on the train to Sapa. Thank goodness for having gone through a tour company… Like most train stations, it’s at the dodgy end of town, with plenty of questionable characters around. As we chased our driver and luggage across the tracks into the foggy night it felt like some kind of creepy scene from a movie. Good job our girls are pretty adaptable!
As we leave the lights of Hanoi behind I think we’re all hoping for smooth tracks, quiet neighbours and a decent night’s sleep :))
Love M & the Bunch xx
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