Travelogue :  Kyvan's Southeast Asia Adventure

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Nov 27, 2005
Ha Noi: The Lakes and other Provinces
 

OK, I expected Ha Noi to be a shining city worthy to be called Vietnam's capital city, but it turned out to be a pit. Why did I have this impression? Number 1: Ha Noi is the major city of northern Vietnam, where Communist philosophies incubated. And now that they have controlled the government for so long, I thought they would have taken better care of their city. Number 2: The northern Vietnamese dialect has always sounded so educated and proper to me, so I assumed they were a sophisticated crowd up there. My preconceived impressions of the city were completely wrong.

To begin with, we found ourselves in one of the worst hotels yet: hair still in tub, dustiness, hanging towels that had already been used, crusty mirrors that hadn't been wiped, soapy lip prints on a glass. Apparently, every VN hotel labels glasses and toilets as having been "cleaned and disinfected" but I find it appalling that they would not even look at a glass before they wrap it up with the disinfected bag. Ngoc Mai is the name of this hotel. Avoid it.

We were in the happening section of Ha Noi where the lakes are located. The special aspect of Ha Noi are these lakes. And what are lakes good for if you don't take strolls around them? In the morning, we bought some "o mai" on Hang Duong street. This street is known for their dried plums that have been salted and sweetened. Walked to Ho Hoan Kiem (return sword lake), where legend has it that a turtle stole a king's sword and took it to the bottom of this lake. When sights of turtles are seen, people pray to it and claim this offers good fortune. The sightings seem rare. There was a photo of one surfacing for air that almost looked as mythological as a Loch Ness sighting. But there was a taxodermied one. And I was sure to get a shot of that.

Ho Tay is the largest lake in Ha Noi and looks like a great sea. As expected, loving couples bordered the perimeter. Ho Truc Bach (white bamboo lake) is a smaller and equally romantic lake adjacent to Ho Tay. We ate a lakeside dinner here, beneath a tree with aerial roots suspended from branches. We had Banh Tom (fried battered shrimp), a Ha Noi specialty. This is one of my favorite VN dishes and I was looking forward to eating the authentic dish from the actual city. How was it? It turned out to be a horribly greasy dish with more oily fried batter than shrimp. And I was just dumbfounded. This place was called "Banh Tom Ho Tay." Located in Ha Noi so I thought they would know their banh tom. But they didn't. So if you want to enjoy the restaurant for it's romantic lakeside scenery, enjoy a drink and soak in the sight. Get Banh Tom somewhere else.

At night, we strolled around Ha Noi and decided to get some vendor banh cuon (ground pork wrapped around thin flat noodles.) THIS WAS THE BEST BANH CUON EVER!!! They were created fresh on the spot in front of our eyes. White, liquid batter was cooked by a steam heated plate, very similar to how a crepe is cooked. Within seconds, it was cooked and used to wrap seasoned ground pork, cut up in pieces, stored in a styrofoam box, served with 2 wedges of lime and a bag of nuoc mam (fish sauce). It was great! Doughy noodles, juicy ground pork, splash of lime juice zing. We ate this while sipping on sinh to xoai and sinh to du du (mango and papaya shakes) on the street at a cafe next to our hotel. Children were playing around us and two boys peed in a gutter while a little girl watched curious as to how they were doing it. Oh yes, there's nothing like eating vendor food on the street.

 
Nov 29, 2006
Ha Noi to Ha Tay province
 

 
Ha Tay is a province outside of Ha Noi that contains a temple called Chua Huong. We took an hour long rowboat ride down Suoi Yen to our destination. We then had to take an aerial tram that was created by Austrians and was the most advanced machinery we have traveled in VN. It went up mountains and above jungle. The mountains were so massive and the jungles so green and thick. And even though we were surrounded by such immense biomass, the silence was deafening.

At night we ate cha ca (sizzling fish with vermicelli noodles), mam tom (shrimp paste) dilution with lime juice, and various herbs. Cha ca is another northern Vietnam specialty.
 

 
Nov 30, 2006
Ha Noi to Ninh Binh province
 

 
Paddling! Yes, we worked that upper body today: biceps, deltoids, latissumus dorsi, you name it, we worked it. We went through a system of three caves called Tam Coc. We passed riverside homes, people crabbing, women in conical straw hats washing clothes, and pink snail eggs on river grass.

On our way back to Ha Noi we saw something that would cause an uproar in the US - the sale of dogmeat. "Cay to" or "thit cho" was being sold like crispy roasted pork in a Chinese BBQ. This was my first dose of dogmeat reality since coming to Vietnam. It is a meat that is prevalently sold in northern Vietnam. Dogs were fried to a browny crisp. Pelvises were butchered off with tails still attached, fried and firm. Even whole bodies of fried toy dogs or puppies were on display. Butchers with aprons were slicing it up as Chinese butchers on a block of wood. This was all seen from the bus so those are the only details I can provide. My stance? Although I would never go out of my way to buy it, I am not against them eating dogmeat. Vietnam is impoverished. They do not have the luxury of having dairies with thousands of cows as we do. In addition, dogs are very prevalent. It's not like they're decimating populations of endangered species in the rainforests. These people are poor and need food.

At night we walked around the entire perimeter of Ho Truc Bach. We saw people eating by the lake but I would never. Here's why: there is a rat infestation here. Oh it's a nice stroll during the day, but at night, these nocturnal creatures emerge and run along the banks. No they wont run up your leg or anything, but just don't eat there. It's not appetizing.