Hanoi, Vietnam: A city that dances crazily on your tongue, eyeballs and nerves
The "stereotype" of Vietnam has always been that it is a quiet, peaceful, bland Southeast Asian country with rich food and coffee, and a fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. This short trip to Hanoi really refreshed my understanding of the Vietnamese capital. Let me briefly summarize. Probably because of the orderly life in the city, the coffee and delicious food that blooms everywhere, the horrifyingly developed tourism economy, and the super hypermarkets that are comparable to Yiwu (although I have never been there). To condense it again, it is so lively. You are excited at first sight and tired again. It is like this city dancing on your five senses, making you want to escape crazily, but its unique visual, taste and auditory experience makes you unable to stop.
As soon as the plane landed, the hot and humid weather made me breathless, and my skin began to become sticky. On the way to the hotel, rows of buildings passed by on both sides of the street. Small buildings with three, four or even eight or nine floors were connected in a row. Each building had its own color and balcony decoration, red, yellow and green. The purple and white walls, the slightly luxurious Western-style balcony, the long and narrow green wooden windows, and the various green plants embellishment are my favorite parts of the building.
The hotel is near Hoan Kiem Lake. There are more white tourists than Asians, there are more motorcycles than tourists, and the whole street is rumbling. The sound, and the smell of gasoline exhaust and food. After checking in, the Vietnamese people I met were very friendly, most of them could speak a little or fluent English, and the service was comprehensive.
After exchanging money at the jewelry store, we went straight to the first meal of the day, Bumcha (barbecue, vegetables, rice noodles with sweet soup). The entire old street is lined with either gourmet coffees or shops selling various products. Here you can buy AirPods Pro for tens of RMB and a Rolex for hundreds of RMB. Of course, many things here are still Made In China. China is really the god in charge of manufacturing, and it is also the reason why it did not need to work hard to do tourism before. Now... I will omit a thousand words here. In terms of food, this time I also tried snacks such as chicken rice noodles, spring rolls, Bahmi, and seafood and beef fried noodles.
There is a very popular cafe near Hoan Kiem Lake called CafeDinh. Here I tried the egg coffee, the crown jewel of Vietnamese coffee. It is egg white mixed with white sugar and whipped into a creamy form, placed on The Vietnamese local Robusta coffee liquid is two to three times stronger than ordinary coffee. It tastes amazing, like eating dessert. Another kind of latte with condensed milk that locals often drink is too strong and too sweet for me. After drinking it for a few hours, my whole heart seemed to jump back to Beijing.
Walking around the streets of Vietnam is a very strange experience. First of all, Hanoi is definitely not a pedestrian-friendly city. The sidewalks are very narrow and are often occupied by shop tables, chairs, and motorcycles. Many times you need to walk in the driveway, and then most of the crossing is basically risking your life. It's a bit exaggerated to say this, but the fast traffic of motorcycles is indeed a bit deceiving. However, I have not seen even one accident in the past few days. In comparison, there were accidents in the same place downstairs of my home in Beijing in a year. There should be no less than ten, so Hanoi is a bit "chaotic and orderly".
The fusion of Chinese culture, French colonial culture, local Vietnamese folk customs and socialist style, I think is the essence of Hanoi’s temperament. The Vietnamese and Western-style townhouses of different styles have already been mentioned, and Chinese-style temples, Taoist temples, and ancestral halls are also very common. St Joseph Cathedral is a Catholic church built in the 19th century. We just happened to catch the mass when we went there. Listening to the Vietnamese chorus in a foreign country, we didn't understand the meaning but felt deeply about it.
Another feature of the old street is the night market that starts at 7 p.m. During the day, the streets with the roar of motorcycles were closed, and each stall owner began to display various products, with cheap prices and a dazzling array. When I’m tired of shopping, I go to Mixue Bingcheng nearby to have a sip of milk tea. I drank Mixue about three or four times this time, which was more than I drank in a month in Beijing. Maybe it was the effect of "meeting an old friend in a foreign land".
In addition to eating, drinking, shopping, and shopping, there are also places in Hanoi where you can receive cultural influence, such as the Vietnam Women’s Museum, Hoa Lo Prison Site, the National Gallery of Vietnam, the Temple of Literature, and so on. I passed by the Ho Chi Minh Memorial Hall and the Imperial City area but did not go in. Because my skirt was above the knees and the length was not up to standard, I was stopped. I thought it was strange, so I simply stopped going. Going north is West Lake. Compared to Hoan Kiem Lake, the area near West Lake is quieter and the scenery is more beautiful. In addition, there are many people fishing near the West Lake, and the fish are also very large. I feel that fishing here should have a very high sense of achievement.
To sum up, I feel that Hanoi may not be suitable for friends who want to relax and vacation. After all, the motorcycles all over the streets are enough to give you a crazy headache. It’s better to go to a southern coastal city for your vacation. Hanoi is very suitable for friends who want to experience Vietnamese culture, taste delicious food and coffee, and shop at crazy bargains in the market. If I have the opportunity to visit Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries next time, I might choose a cleaner city. After all, it would be too exhausting for me to breathe motorcycle exhaust for a day.
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