Hanoi: Our Final Three Days

     Saturday, May 19, was Ho Chi Minh's birthday. He was the leader of North Vietnam, actually more of a nationalist than a communist, as his fight was against any foreign power wanting to be in control of Vietnam. He fought the French, then the Japanese, then the Americans. I expected some kind of celebration to commemorate his birthday, so when we saw a stage being set up near Hoan Kiem Lake on Saturday, we decided to check it out in the evening. Not at all what I expected.

stage next to Hoan Kiem Lake

It was a music stage with a DJ. Around the lake, street vendors sold their toys and food, cartoon characters entertained children, and people played games in the closed streets.

a communist minion?

     It reminded me of how we celebrate George Washington's birthday with sales on TVs and washing machines. Apparently, May 19 was also some type of environmental event day as well, accounting for some of the celebration. After walking around the lake, Phillip and I headed into the walking streets. North of the lake, on weekend evenings, streets are closed to traffic and vendors set up stalls to sell their goods. Food vendors are on every corner. Literally every corner! The interections fill with carts: pork skewer vendors, fruit on a stick vendors, pho vendors, and Phillip's favorite, ice cream vendors.

ice cream rolls

     The next day, Sunday, we started our day with a stroll around the lake, but the thirty minute walk turned into about three hours! Kids, kids, and more kids! All wanting to practice their English. We loved it! During the morning stroll, we were stopped at least eight times. The younger children, 8 and 9 year olds, were always accompanied by a teacher or parent.

     This group of six boys split into two groups and Phillip and I fielded questions from three each. "What is your name? Where are you from? What is your favorite color? Do you have children?"

our favorite Hanoi coffee shop

     After our three hour stroll, we arrived back at the north end of the lake, where a young lady with a big smile was handing out coupons for a nearby coffee shop. We are always ready for iced Vietnamese coffee. This coffee shop, called "The Note Coffee," used sticky notes for its decorating theme. The staff also tied a note to each coffee order. Our first note said "You can't buy happiness, but you can buy a cup of coffee and it's all the same."

Sign amid the notes: "Don't judge me, I was born to be awesome, not perfect"

    After coffee, we returned to our hotel for foot massages. Not as inexpensive as in Hoi An ($5 there), but well worth the $10 for thirty minutes. Phillip had an hour foot massage ($15) and a head/shoulder/back massage and I also had a facial for under $23. After our pampering, we walked to dinner where Phillip tried to order duck for the second time during our trip. And for the second time, he heard the same words: "No duck." Apparently it isn't duck season.
     The streets around Hoan Kiem Lake closed again during the evening, so we again headed that way to see the street games and vendors. And again, as we walked around the lake, another half a dozen kids or groups of kids stopped us to speak English! As Phillip and I sat on a bench to rest, we were approached by another student, accompanied by her little brother and her parents. We never tire of speaking with the kids, so we were happy to talk with her. Her name was Chi, a 12 year old who spoke the best English of all the kids with whom we conversed. When we asked her little brother what his name was, he said "Superman!" Chi said that "Superman," whose real name was Minh, watches a lot of American Youtube videos and movies. Minh was six and could answer questions as well as the older kids, but being a six year old boy, he wasn't really interested in a conversation. Chi, however, was very interested in talking with us. We made space on the bench and had a great conversation with her. Her father, Tuong, is a lecturer in information technology at a university in Hanoi. He spoke English, but Chi knew more English than he did! After a bit, and to thank us for speaking so much with their daughter, Tuong and his wife invited us to join them for ice cream at a famous Hanoi ice cream parlor, Kem Trang Tien. To the other end of the lake, and we found homemade ice cream bars! Chi's mom bought six ice cream bars from this Hanoi institution which has been serving folks chilly goodness since 1958. After we finished our first round of ice cream, Chi's mom went back to the line and bought the sweet potato ice cream bars for Phillip, Tuong, and me! Delicious even as it dripped down our arms. Thank you, Tuong and family, for sharing your ice cream break with us!

Pat with Chi and her family after ice cream

     As Phillip and I returned to our hotel, we came across a game of tug-a-war and stopped to watch. The kids noticed Phillip's size and waved for him to join them, and he did! Unfortunately, the numbers were a bit off, with more folks on the other side, so even with the addition of Phillip, the other side won.

Phillip ready to help out

    Monday was our last day in Vietnam. We did some final shopping, walked around the lake, drank more coffee and went to the Hanoi water puppet show.
     During our last stroll around the lake, we were approached by fewer kids than the day before. A 22-year old university student, Tuyet (which translates to "snow" in English) came up to us, and we had another lovely hour-long conversation. Since it was lunchtime, we invited Tuyet to join us for banh mi. Just across the street happened to be a banh mi restaurant run by the winner of Iron Chef Vietnam. Another tasty sandwich!

Pat and Tuyet

     The Hanoi water puppet show had better production values than the one we had seen in Ho Chi Minh City.

     This show had singers and musicians in the wings.

     The stories illustrated by the water puppets were similar to those at Ho Chi Minh City, fishing, dragons, village life.

     After the water puppets, we made a last visit to Note Coffee. I left a note, "Live Long and Prosper," and the staff's note on our coffee order was "We will miss you!" Yes, they knew this was our final visit.

     During our last walk, I made my final purchase of fresh jackfruit from a street vendor. It's been so nice to eat all the jackfruit I want! It's only available canned back home.

fresh jackfruit in the sack from the vendor

     We took a car from the hotel that evening to the airport for our 12:05 am flight to Tokyo, where we changed airports, had an 8-hour layover, then flew to Los Angeles, had a 4-hour layover, then flew on to DFW Airport. We are glad that ordeal is over, but sad that our Vietnam adventure is also over. I'll have one more post to talk about food adventures and my final thoughts on Vietnam travel.