The day dawned grimly grey and drizzling, and so we were in no hurry to get out. It seems that this time of year brings extended periods of grey weather that just hangs. There is little wind and so the mist and clouds stay. But, we’re in Hanoi and so we head out to explore some new places, a bit aimlessly but in a general direction.
There is another Buddhist pagoda just 5 minutes walk from our place, and so we start there. Just yards from that is the “John McCain” memorial, which actually celebrates the men who downed his plane and captured him. He was a good man, and it’s kind of amazing that he experienced what had to be super traumatizing but maintained the humility and dignity he showed during his career in politics. And the Vietnamese who downed him…they were protecting their country so I cannot fault them either. The Vietnamese have been invaded so many times and suffered so much and now they really just want to be friends with everyone as much as possible. Since I was myself given a draft number in 1972 (I think) to go fight in Vietnam, watching the terror of the whole thing unfold on nightly news broadcasts, I think it’s admirable that these people are so friendly and accommodating to us Americans. They call the war the “American War” and we call it the “Vietnam war.” And, my number never came due, thank heavens! The last draft call was on December 7, 1972, and the authority to induct expired on June 30, 1973.
From there, we found our way to the Ho Chi Minh memorial/mausoleum, a grand edifice with tight security around it. I need to read some more history of Vietnam to get more detail of this country. Anyone who wants to recommend a book, just post the name back to me.
Leaving the concrete walkway of the memorial, we passed by a number of embassys. The streets are wide and the buildings grand, reminding us of what might be a disheveled and unkempt Paris. And there is an Old French Quarter in Hanoi as well, but it’s suffered the same fate as the Hanoi Old Quarter with lack of care and upkeep. There’s no way to sugarcoat the fact that the city is dirty and squalid in some ways. The sidewalks are cracked, blocked, flooded, covered by wires or construction material, and certainly a lot of just plain old dirt. It reminds me of many places I have been in Mexico, Central America, etc.
Like buildings in Mexico always having rebar sticking out the tops of concrete walls, the Old Quarter is built endlessly on top of itself, and concrete cubes are built on top of 2 story buildings with classic French facades. It’s a crazy jumble of architecture and energy; very stimulating but tiring. And yet, the people are smiling and gracious and super-hard working. They don’t seem to notice any issues. They just get on with their lives.
Like my fascination with windbreaks in NZ, I’m captivated by the way electricity is delivered here. Strong(ish) cables are strung from power pole to power pole and then the first set of wires is attached with basically zip ties, and the next set and the next….and that continues basically into infinity. It must work, since I think this system is in place in lots of countries.
We were hungry, so we made our way to Food Street, which is as it sounds, and had a simple, pretty tasty meal with a couple beers.
One reason for us to wander is to find a store that has instant coffee. Yes, I know that fresh brewed is better we’ve been waking up to instant and then going out for real coffee later. Instant coffee is hard to find, or at least instant coffee that is not pre-combined with sugar and more sugar and milk. But we found it. Our day was complete! Tomorrow, we are going to Ha Long bay for 3 days/2 nights.
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