First off, the way in which traffic moves about the city needs a mention. It is quite unlike anything you can encounter anywhere else as 6.5 million inhabitants travel on 5.5 million motorbikes and mopeds. It is a literal river of people sitting upon combustion engines. The painful fact is that per mile driven, one of these little motorbikes (even the new ones) put out more pollution than your typical yank SUV and there's no indication that the number is going to get any fewer. This river of chattering engines spill over everywhere, with no road rules to follow it is a miracle of entropy that more people are not in accidents.
Our first foray out of the hotel was to orientate ourselves to the city. It's pretty uncomplicated for the casual tourist as almost everything of worth to see is situated in or around the old quarter. A lake dominates the old quarter itself, and reputed to have 2 giant turtles still in it, now it is the enviable view on many postcards. It's not clean by any stretch of the imagination but it does prove a nice backdrop to the shrine that sits in the southern portion and the temple on the northern.
Our first port of call was the temple itself and we picked up a couple of lovely paintings and a decorative box that we would not see for sale again until the mountains of northern Laos. Prior to the temple we opted for our first Viet Nam meal. Looking at the skyline around the lake we spotted a load of Farangs up on the 5th floor of a centrally located building. Heading up we got a great view of the lake and of a particularly chaotic intersection. Only in Viet Nam would you have the option of postcard view on one side, and death defying feats by locals and tourist pedestrians on the other. I have a video to describe what I mean but it appears our blog app doesn't like it (this is my second writing of Hanoi). A photo will have to suffice though it doesn't come close to giving the scene justice.
Hanoi has a good share of temples but the main must see is Uncle Ho's mausoleum. Apparently the only day it is closed is Monday. I'd long ago forgotten what day of the week it was, knowing only the date because I was wearing my wrist watch. Days of the week didn't seem to matter to much these days. We didn't get into Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, because when we did go, it was Monday. We did however go to the museum erected in his name. It was a bit of an odd collection of art and personal effects with all too much praise being given. I don't doubt that he did great things for Viet Nam, and there is no doubt he is a loved past leader, but every piece of museum history lauded him as the great saviour and leader. All being said, Ho Chi Minh was an incredible character, modest, wise, intellectually savy and seemingly incorruptable. I rare trait in Asian politics, then and now.
One of our nights also turned out to be a hoot. I'll start by telling you of a place called Highway 4. Highway 4 is the main produce route from northern Viet Nam, feeding the major cities with the meats, veggies and booze. The restaurant was a wonderful fusion of flavours from all over the country and specialised in a rice based drink called Son Tinh which I'll talk more about in a bit. The food was terrific. I ate there three of the four nights I was in Hanoi it was that good. Highway 4 is also one of Viet Nam's first home grown franchise's, and perhaps the first restaurant based franchise. All others seemingly belonging to external entities like KFC. By the way, we never saw a Burger King or a MacDonalds. It's amazing how the small things in life can bring you so much comfort. The meals at Highway 4 included locusts, crickets, osterich, water buffalo, all prepared in a variety of ways. The salads were great and in general, ordering a number of dishes and a sticky white rice was enough to satisfy two hungry westerners. The price, not including drinks would generally come to less than 200,000 dong and with a decent amount of drinking you could double that. We usually opted for the later, only because we felt supporting the local economy was the right thing to do, but also because we were told that liquor would keep us healthy. We were told this by two rather suspicious looking characters we met on the first night. After a couple of cheers's with glasses of Dragon Fart raised in salutation we introduced ourselves. They went by Dan and Greg. Dan was a long timer in Hanoi, Greg felt he was still finding his feet after 18 months. These guys, in addition to being nuts a la Grant and Joe style, as we'd find out as the night unfolded, were also the men behind Highway 4. Greg from the restaurant industry in London, Dan was involved with Son Tinh and probably many other things, but from the sound of it, he was the brains and driving force behind the Highway franchise. Six restaurants and counting with the first of the official franchises openinig up in the south of the country.
Greg and Dan invited us out to another of their restaurants and their main HQ. Another unassuming building on the outside but a pretty and artistically pleasing establishment on the inside. Greg gave Rin and I the run down on the Son Tinh brand, the drinks and the heritage. I've got to say that in my opinion it, and the liquors, were damn fine. They ranged in flavour and strength, with about 27 being made but 12 available for sale and consuption. The flavours ranged from almost whisky like to herbal and medicine tasting. It was hard to determine the actual strengths because they all slipped down so easily, that, and Greg's generosity meant reading a label through my rose Tinh'nted goggles was a challenge.
After the sampling Dan announced with much aplomb that Hanoi Rock City was calling. It made me wonder about the Glam Rock band that my brother was all too into during the 80's, (Hanoi Rock). After a surprisingly hefty entrance fee we went into a huge outdoor garden with a big bar dominating one corner and at the far end a staircase going up to a large fan cooled gig room. The band were playing varieties of very heavy metal, not so much covers, but certainly heavily influenced by Metallica and ocassionally a brutal Slayer influence (if my Death Metal days serve me well). Rin and I headbanged for a while before retiring back to the bar and conversations with the ex-pats that had filled the place. It was not a location many tourists would find but it was a place filled with French, Irish, English and Aussies who had turned up in Hanoi and forgotten to leave.
The night was epic, Dan and Greg both providing an elightening experience to a city that lives beyond the tourist veil. They reminded us of the difficulties starting a business in an emerging economy where corruption at all levels is still the norm and success is usually defined not by how good you are, how sound your business is, but who you know and how much you're willing to pay.
I hope one day our paths can cross again. In the meantimie, we seek out Son Tinh, look for Highway 4 and raise our glasses to "Chucks Away"!
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