Day 16: Hanoi today, Hoi An tomorrow
Our last full day in Hanoi. I read an article recently that of all tourists to Vietnam, only 10-20% return for another visit. And we’ve seen the signs of this in the reactions of locals — many are surprised to hear that we’ve been here before. I know the world is a big place, with so many wonderful sights still to be seen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if L and I come back again: the food is great, the people are friendly, the prices are generally reasonable, there’s still things to see here in Vietnam, and the weather is usually pretty good.
This afternoon it rained. Not a huge amount, just an annoying drizzle that continued for hours. Thinking back, it’s likely the last time I saw the sun was Bangkok. Hanoi has been overcast, a pale, almost homogeneous grey that could be clouds or just haze. But little precipitation, until today.
We hit the “local markets” this morning, Cho Hom, south of Hoan Kiem Lake (or turtle lake as we call it, as it’s good luck to see a turtle swimming in it). These markets don’t see many tourists, as it has fairly specific traders: the ground floor is mostly fruit and veggies, and clothes, upstairs is all fabric. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of fabric. And then some. I know almost nothing about fabric, this is L’s domain. I just followed, played the straight guy, and carried the shopping. To be honest, L didn’t buy much: her fabric requirements are quite specific, and much on display either wasn’t suitable or could be purchased cheaper at home.
We skipped back to the hotel to unload, then we were out again to find lunch. The result was a little bar, The Hill Station, that has a few Vietnamese craft beers (and a cider) available. Unlike my Thai experience, this time I was actually having domestic craft beer, a wheat beer from Heart of Darkness brewery, and a kolsch from Pasteur Street brewery, both based in HCMC (PS brewery is owned and run by Americans, but at least they do it in Vietnam). The wheat beer had a lot going for it, good flavour, and the kolsch was okay. We had these with an awesome cheese platter of 3 local cheeses from Dalat; a hard, almost peccorino, a semi soft camembert, and a smoked cheese.
From here we found a hair salon massage spa, so I could get a shave and L could get some foot pampering. Having time to spare after my shave, I also went for a foot massage. At this rate, my calves might almost relax by the time we leave. That’s if we’re not walking carefully on roads slippery from rain.
This evening we went out for pho and souvenirs, and found both. We now have a Vietnam snowglobe to add to the shelf — probably our only disappointment last time was not finding one. Of course, having found one, I then saw an even cooler one in a different shop (the base was a Vietnamese tank) but one is enough.
Tomorrow we’re off to Hoi An, a wonderful old town full of history, and people who can make almost anything: clothes, shoes, glasses, jewellery, so expect to hear more tales of shopping. The nearest airport is Da Nang, which is the former US air force base, so we’ll be using runways that previously saw use by Hercules and other planes.
Hanoi has been great, rain or otherwise. A little busy, sometimes noisy (earlier this evening we had a guy with a portable karaoke machine set up camp on the nearest street corner), okay, mostly noisy, but all good.