I was in the capital of Vietnam, and I wondered what it had in store for me. During the day, I did a Vespa city tour with Vespa Adventures again. I strapped on the orange helmet, swung my leg over the back of the bike and away we went. We zig-zagged through the city and stopped where the train tracks ran outside the locals' front doors by literally 10 feet. These were not old, decommissioned tracks - trains still ran through on a daily basis, creating a wind to help dry the laundry hanging outside.
We jumped back on our Vespas and headed over a bridge to get outside the old city. On the other side of the bridge, we stopped at a cafe for a li'l snack. I think the term "cafe" is an overstretch, but like most other cafes, it did have the customary plastic table and chairs for us to pop a squat. There I had the most delicious bánh mi sandwich of my trip (vegetarians, skip to the next paragraph). It was oozing with pork meat, and the pork juice seeped into the fresh bread. Another rider and I had split the sandwich, as it was only supposed to be a "snack" but I was incredibly tempted to snatch her half out of her hands and gobble it up as well. The fresh coconut to parch my thirst was the perfect way to complete the snack outside of stealing the other sandwich half.
We then headed to a family-run kumquat nursery where we met the owner and his son. The owner's wife had prepared a meal of noodles and spring rolls in their home for us. As usual, I looked clumsy with chopsticks, and without my asking, the owner went and got me a fork. We both smiled, but I continued to forge ahead with the chopsticks. I’m no quitter - it just might take me a few hours to get through a meal! Although the owner didn’t know much English, it was still easy to communicate with him through some basic keywords and lots of hand signals. He handed us a photo album full of pictures of himself with family, visitors and dignitaries to look through, giving us this mini window into his life to peer into. Before leaving, we took a group photo - I hope we made a spot in the album!
In the evening, the Saturday night market was going on around Hoàn Kiếm Lake. In my opinion, it was less of the traditional market and more of a community festival where locals gathered for traditional games that Americans would have been familiar with seeing growing up (at least premillennial). Kids were playing games with rocks and chalk (similar to checkers/chess), teenagers were doing double Dutch on the jump rope and grown women were getting their groove on with the Hustle. I was half-tempted to join the Hustle but decided it was better to be an observer - maybe next time. There were also large groups of kids sitting in circles, singing songs and bopping their heads around. It was all reminiscent of nights at summer camp with the ol’ PG-fashioned fun - ah, the memories.
In round two of Hanoi after Halong Bay, one of the final attractions I saw was the Hỏa Lò Prison, or what American POWs referred to as the "Hanoi Hilton." This is where John McCain and John Kerry were both held as POWs. Most of the land has been repurposed, but they have created an exhibit at the original location. Similar to other museums and exhibits I saw around the country, I was glad to have the opportunity to visit, but the exhibit was still slanted with propaganda. In the prison, the placards and images tout how lovely the prison officials made accommodations for American prisoners and how they were able to have wonderful celebrations and feasts for holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. In contrast, from memoirs of American prisoners who actually stayed there, the accounts are grim and include incidents of torture and murder of inmates.
Although the prison was the last attraction I saw in Hanoi, my visit ended on an upbeat note. As I was checking out of my hotel, the workers invited me to celebrate one of the front desk worker's birthday over lunch with them. I didn’t want to intrude, but the birthday girl insisted I join, and at that point, I didn’t want to be rude. As a special occasion, they ordered in pizza and fried chicken. The birthday girl said that it’s not often they eat fast food, and the last time she had it was six months ago. She was also five months pregnant and had been craving fried chicken, which made us laugh. For dessert, she said they had a Vietnamese favorite. I could see it sitting at the end of the table but had no idea what the hell it was. This was definitely not birthday cake and ice cream. This was clear, tall, plastic cups with brown and cream Jell-O looking chunks floating in liquid. If I were stateside, I would assume it was Jell-O, but in Vietnam, I knew that was unlikely. They said it was very popular and was a type of tofu pudding. To eat it, they mix it with ice and dive in. I thought, "When in Rome!" and just started eating it as requested by the birthday girl, even though I was not 100 percent confident what I was actually eating. A shout-out to my new pals at the Essence Palace Hotel: if you want heartwarming customer service in the Old Quarter, this is it. What a great way to end my time in Vietnam!
