WaffleJungle

I’ve not taken a train in ages, much less spend a night in one of the sleeper cabins with two complete strangers. Nervous.

We’ll be taking King’s Express and the train will leave Hanoi at 8:30pm and after 7hours or so, arrive at Lao Cai where we will head to Bad Ha Market before Sapa. We shared a cabin with a local Viet man and a pretty Japanese lady who is traveling alone. I took the bottom bunk while N took the top.

The train started pulling out of Hanoi station and its tracks seemed to cut dangerously close to some apartments nearby, roads and motorcyclists. Excited, I waved at some pedestrians and motorcyclists from my window and am amused to see their surprised faces.

That night, I stayed up to finish my book while the rest dozed. The cabin’s air conditioning is cold and it fogged up some parts of the window. At some point in the night, the train came to a stop and curious, I peered out of the window. The scene that unfolded in front of my eyes seemed so surreal that it left quite a lasting impression on me.

From where the train is, perhaps just barely 3-4m away is a small, longish rest-house, barely just a rest stop. The rest-house is lighted with a light bulb suspended from the middle of the ceiling. Its light just barely enough to illuminate the occupants of its two small tables, placed side by side. Save the tables and its occupants, the rest of the place is empty. At the head of the table is a lady chef, cooking what looked like noodles or Pho, her ingredients spread out in front of her. Seated, or rather, squatting around the two tables are some of her patrons, eating and talking with each other. One was waving his hands and chopsticks animatedly while he ate, his listeners nodding at apt intervals. One of the train attendants got off the train, bought a bowl of noodles from the lady and took it back to the train. Once he got on, the train started moving off again.

I finished reading my book and slept around 1am. 3 more hours to Lao Cai. I dozed intermittently, watching the shadows thrown onto the cabin door as the train rushed on to our destination.

We’re spending a short day trip today before catching a 8:30pm train to Lao Cai where we will begin our next leg of adventure in Sapa!

The morning is dedicated to visiting Ho Chi Minh mausoleum but we did not get to enter as the queue was superbly long. It snaked around the park grounds and the end of the line was no where in sight. By the time we got to queuing, its already near the mausoleum’s closing time (11am). We did however, tour the museum, the Single Pole temple and the house on stilts.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Further north, a short distance from Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Presidential Palace is the Tran Quoc Pagoda. Which, is closed for lunch too. Alas! It did really look interesting.

Tran Quoc Pagoda

Path to Tran Quoc Pagoda

Hanoi Travel Tip:

Beware of the people selling Touristy wares like postcards or even those asking for a Donation with dubious IDs. If you want to purchase anything from the street vendors, be sure to bargain, be firm with them and don’t stand too close. Most of them prey on tourists!

We thought one of the lady selling postcards was friendly and so didn’t mind buying a packet of postcards from her (even though the postcards were really ugly). Once we agreed to buy, we were immediately approached by all other sellers pushing us to make purchases. She also kept peering into N’s wallet when he was searching for the correct note and snatched all our money with the excuse that she can break our notes for us. Generally, we were told by the hotel staff to beware the street sellers cheating us when they make us mistake a 5,000 dong note with a 50,000 dong one.

We were also approached by a lady who apparently went around targeting unknowing tourists with the story that she is selling small packet of toothpicks to raise funds for Vietnam’s needy children. Her ID was dubious and she showed us a book where many tourists were asked to record their donation. We gave her a token donation still but she kept bugging us for more. She also didn’t give us any toothpicks! haha.

Its spoilt our day in meeting such yucky people who prey on unsuspecting tourists. The two afternoon experiences was so disgusting I can’t wait to get out of Hanoi.

First daylight in Vietnam, Hanoi after a wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs and french bread (Vietnam has the nicest French bread. Besides France of coz), we started on our day long tour of Hanoi on foot.

Hanoi is a noisy, motorcycle shoving place. Over here, the motorcycle is the preferred mode of transport, the streets rarely have pedestrian traffic signs and the road lanes are not demarcated at all. What resulted is haphazard traffic conditions, with motorcycles and cars zip around, shoving each other on their way about, narrowly missing each other. Hanoi, my dear friends, is not human friendly. Hanoi, is the Mother of Fear Factor: Traffic Mania. To quote the wonderful guys from Top Gear, Hanoi traffic is “a sprinking of massive discomfort.”

Traffic in Hanoi

Today’s itinerary is a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake (which is 5 minutes away from the hotel), Temple of Literature and end the day with a Water Puppet performance.

Maintenance work at Turtle Pagoda - Hoan Kiem Lake

Serenity within Chaos

Hoan Kiem Lake is really more like a enormous pond in the middle of the city. Surrounded by government buildings and shophouses, Hoam Kiem Lake is a quiet sanctuary in the middle of chaos. Its an eye opener to stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake both in the day and at night when you’ll spot lots of children playing, ladies gathered for mass aerobics and the pagodas were colourfully lighted up.

After taking a relaxed stroll around the lake, we walked a distance to Temple of Literature. Along the way, we saw several interesting shophouses like a row of them selling only mannequins. Interestingly enough, anyone with a kettle, a charcoal stove, short table and afew stools can run a eatery business at the side of the road. You can’t get more authentic street food then this.

Mannequin Street

Its a place of tribute to the academic achievements of ancient Hanoi. Learned people gather here to study Confucius teachings. An intimate courtyard greets the visitor where upon entry, one will see several tablets mounted on stone turtles (Turtles are considered one of the 4 Legendary creatures besides the Dragon, Phoenix and Unicorn.) Each tablet lists the names of scholars and I feel it serves as a reminder and symbol of the continued search for excellance and knowledge till present day. A very interesting place to explore and immerse oneself in its tranquil and scholarly atmosphere.

Temple of Literature

Pho Bo dinner @ Pho24

Pho24 is a specialty shop selling Vietnamese popular Pho (Rice Noodles), with the most popular being Pho Bo (Beef Noodles) and spring rolls made with rice paper. The dinner however, disappointed as the noodle was bland (even on my standards!), spring roll unchewable and Vietnamese drip coffee tasted severely watered down. I can see the rest of the patrons didn’t look too happy too (80% were also tourists).

We ended the night with a Water Puppet show. Its really a touristy must-do. The show was interesting but not entertaining as we had no idea what they were singing about. If only they flashed subtitles.

Thanh Long Water Pupper Theater