Asia Sampler: Hanoi Rocks

What to do in Hanoi

• Relax at the tranquil Temple of Literature.
• Visit the Ho Chi Minh complex.
• Shop in the Old Quarter.
• Take a romantic stroll around Hoan Kiem lake.
• Go to the Water Puppet theater.

Quick Tips:

Money Matters Learn to divide by 15000. One US dollar is equivalent to 15000 dong, and you will frequently be doing the math in your head. Things may seem expensive until you realize that 60000 dong is only . Don't argue if your cyclo driver demands 10K dong. It's only 60 cents or so and it means more to him than it does to you.

You can use your credit card to withdraw money from the ATMs near Hoan Kiem lake. However, you will be charged interest from the moment you withdraw the money.

You will want to change your money back at the airport, as there is no place else -- in the world -- to change Vietnamese money back. It is hard to find, but there is a place to change dong to dollars near where you pay your airport tax in the Hanoi airport.

Best Way To Get Around:

Although I enjoy walking, the streets can be quite hectic. I didn't see any forms of public transportation either! Although it feels like a ride of certain death, a cyclo is a perfect (and pollution-free) way to take in the scenery and get a breeze.

The Hong Ngoc Hotel is a pleasant mini-hotel in the middle of the hectic old quarter. In fact, they have four hotels with similar decor, all in the old quarter. I had heard many horror stories about rats and large insects in Hanoi hotel rooms, but we felt perfectly safe from critters in our rooms. On the other hand, we did see a large tarantula during breakfast!

One of the desk clerks was very eager to please and helpful. However, the porter was quite over-eager for a tip, including not allowing us to carry our own bags and then lingering in our room making small talk until we tipped him. On top of this, we had heard many stories about theft in Vietnamese hotels. For this reason, we didn't feel entirely comfortable leaving valuables in our room.

Price
US$25 Standard Room
US$30 Deluxe Room
The deluxe rooms are larger and have balconies, but not all rooms of either type are created equal.

Facilities

• Internet access from lobby
• Tour arrangement
• Breakfast included
• Cable TV in rooms

A note: Breakfast isn't very appetizing. The Pho Ga -- chicken soup -- is watery and tasteless. Our best breakfasts consisted of French bread with jam.

Rooms
The rooms are delightfully decorated in old-fashioned Vietnamese furniture, which looks much like Chinese furniture. Our first room was quite large, with a large opium bed and a lovely area to sip tea, on pearl-inlaid chairs. The deluxe rooms have balconies. Unfortunately, we checked out for one night and upon our return were moved to room 401. Its balcony was not functional and the room was much smaller, although we were paying the same price.

It is worth noting that the hotel will hold your bags overnight, should you take a trip out of town. Also, that they provide airport pickup for $10.

This place is not the famed Little Hanoi of Lonely Planet, but another one sprouted up to take advantage of the popularity of the first. There are in fact three Little Hanois in Hanoi. This is the only one on Hang Gai street, convenient to the silk dress shops. It is also a great place to eat before going to the Thanh Long Puppet Theater, or before a stroll around the lake.

Little Hanoi is an upscale cafe serving mainly westerners in a pleasantly lit restaurant. They serve French snack food, including croques and quiche. You can also get a western breakfast. We enjoyed the mixed spring rolls the most, and I was happy to have a quiche after so long in Asia. Little Hanoi has a full bar and a nice selection of teas.

No reservations were required in the low season of September. There were plenty of seats, but it did appear to be a popular restaurant.

This restaurant is very historic, supposedly the first to serve barbequed fish in this style. Our Handspan tourguide, Bich, highly recommended it and so did all of our tour books. Located on "Barbeque Fish" street, it isn't too hard to find.

This two-level restaurant is decorated in what can be best be described as school cafeteria style. Plastic tables and chairs are tightly arranged into two not-so-clean rooms.

The place was packed with Vietnamese, and we were the only Westerners there. We did see two Japanese salarymen with their Vietnamese "dates". We were seated next to a table of children, their parents nowhere to be seen. An older girl seemed to be watching over them, somewhat reluctantly. They were relatively well-behaved, if a bit loud.

The signature meal costs 60,000 Dong, the equivalent of US$4. For this, you get barbequed fish, cooked in a hot pot, with bean sprouts thrown in for flavor. A waiter starts you out and then you can cook it as you desire. The meal is expensive by local standards, but a great deal by Western standards.

Tam Anh is one of many silk shops on Hang Gai Street, which is known for its silk shops. They were open late and had the sweetest little shop girl. Although it was late, she was happy to sell me an ao dai (pronounced "ow sai", the national clothing of Vietnam). She easily found one in my size and told me that I looked quite Vietnamese when I tried it on. When I didn't try to bargain, she even offered me a discount! I told her that in return I would tell all my friends to visit her store when they are in Hanoi.

There was no need to bargain really. Prices were excellent, where I paid US$35 for a silk ao dai. I would have paid much more in Boston's Chinatown for a comparable outfit. It was a perfect souvenir from Vietnam. Contrary to popular belief, it can look quite lovely on Western figures.

The store stocks silk pajamas, jackets, and dresses in addition to ao dai. You can also have your clothing custom-made and embroidered.

Email: lamsilk@hn.vnn.vn

The Thang Long Water Puppet Theater is not to be missed. It is a short show and thus is able to keep the attention even of small children. Water puppets are an old tradition in North Vietnam, and such performances were originally done in the rice fields. Like magic, the puppets rise from the water and mist. My particular favorite were the dragon puppets, which spout fireworks. The troupe has travelled all over the world, but it is best seen in the specialized water-puppet theater right here in Hanoi.

The performances focus on images of traditional Vietnamese lifestyles, local legends, and sacred creatures. For example, there is one called Catching Frogs that is quite comical. I felt a tear in my eye at the beauty of Agriculture. Another performance was about the homecoming of a son that had been away from the village.

As you watch the varied performances, you hear Vietnamese classical music. The performers are visible on the side of the stage, and were the subject of many photographs. Vietnamese classical music isn't my favorite form of music, but you do get a soundtrack CD if you buy the most expensive tickets (around 4$).

The other feature of buying a $4 ticket is the opportunity to wait in an air-conditioned room before the performance.

Cameras are permitted for an additional fee. Yes, you can take flash photography. However, I think it is quite rude to use flash because it distracts the rest of the audience and ruins the effect of the show. Rather, I would take some very fast film and steady your camera on the seat in front of you. The camera fee is US$1 or US$5 for a camcorder.

The Temple of Literature is a place of peaceful repose in the middle of this hectic city. Most visitors will be relieved to find the Temple of Literature as a place to escape the endless rush of motorcycles for a few hours. The Temple of Literature is part temple, part university. It pays homage to the great scholars as if it were a religious site, but in actuality, it was a place where doctors and teachers were trained in the Mandarin tradition. The architecture is very Chinese, appropriately, as the site honors Confucius.

The Temple of Literature, or Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam, as it is called in Vietnamese, has been preserved quite well from its origins in the 11th century. Unlike the temples in nearby Cambodia, the Temple of Literature is a living structure rather than a ruin. The Vietnamese are clearly very proud of this historical structure from their past.

I really enjoyed the tranquil grounds, with the waterlily-filled ponds and the unique topiary. As the price was less than $2, it is a very economical way to spend an afternoon.

I haven't included directions, but Temple of Literature is one of the major sites in Hanoi. You can easily get any moto or cyclo to take you there. From the Old Quarter, it is a lovely drive because you go through the old diplomatic section with gorgeous mansions on tree-lined streets. Its block-long walls make it hard to miss.

Craft-Link is a beautiful shop that seems upscale until you ring up your order and realize you spent far less than you thought. Craft Link is also a not-for-profit organization that brings handicrafts from the artisans to the tourists, without a greedy middleman. The ethnic minorities and small craftsmen get paid a fair value for their work, and the buyer brings home a beautiful piece of art from Vietnam. Much of the merchandise is available elsewhere, but I prefer to give my money to this organization. Also, they did have some unique items.

Their multi-level, air-conditioned boutique across from the Temple of Literature is an oasis of beauty. I could not recommend it more as the one-stop-shop to buy all your handicrafts. I brought home a silk-lined photo album, a Hmong textile purse for my sister, and pearl-inlaid chopsticks for my roommate. If I had known that it would only cost me $8 for all that, I would have bought much more!

Other products include bamboo bowls, water puppets, lacquerware, silk clothing, and Hmong textiles.

The Craft Link organization also trains the local people and the ethnic minorities in business and management skills, and has been visited by luminaries such as Bill and Hilary Clinton.

If there is one thing you cannot miss in northern Vietnam, it is a trip to Halong Bay. And the best company to visit Halong Bay with? That would be Handspan Adventure Travel.

Handspan tours are a little pricier than some of the other tours, but the quality is just what you'd expect. We paid $35pp for a 2-day trip into Halong Bay, including all meals and an excursion to a cave. You can't beat that price anywhere else in the world!

Halong Bay is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world, surely among the best natural wonders. High limestone cliffs loom out of emerald waters, cast in fog. There are moments of quiet where you might think you are all alone in this bay. The water is so calm and warm that you can swim right off the side of the boat.

Our tour stopped off at a cave, all lit up like Disneyland and filled with Vietnamese tourists. I have to admit that the cave tour wasn't all I expected, but it's a nice break.

In the evening, we docked the boat near a fishing village and sat on board all night talking. One option was to take a small boat to the fishing village, or over to a nearby island. However, we enjoyed our little tour group - 13 in all - so much that we spent the night drinking wine and sharing stories.

Our tour guide, Bich (pronounced Bic), was fantastic! She gave us a great perspective on Vietnamese people today, and was really fun to hang out with. Handspan's staff is another reason to travel with them! In addition, Handspan is very aware of environmental issues and takes care not to pollute. Halong Bay is beautiful from any boat, but the Handspan company is a joy to travel with.

Some Handspan tours are longer, and permit visitors to kayak to a small private island to spend the night. Other tours stop off at the beautiful Cat Ba island, a national park. They also go up for hill tribe treks in Sapa, and on motorcycle rides around the countryside. I had heard that their Halong Bay tour was the best, and furthermore that it was very difficult to do Halong Bay without a tour group.

The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum grounds are quite large, and landscaped with gardens. In this area, you will find the Ho Chi Minh museum, the mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh's mansion, and Ho Chi Minh's house. You will find old historic pagodas, like the One-Pillar Pagoda. There are numerous vendors here hawking t-shirts and ice cream. It is simply a pleasant place to explore if you have an afternoon in Hanoi.

Unfortunately some parts of the complex are guarded and cordoned off, and it's hard to find your way around. For all of our searching, we never found Ho Chi Minh's house. Luckily, English signs helped us on our way to the One-Pillar Pagoda, a popular spot for Vietnamese to visit. The One-Pillar pagoda, built in the middle of a pond supported by a single pillar, is a beautiful site and we felt caught up in the joy of the other visitors.

Visiting the mauseleum is serious business. You must be appropriately dressed (no hats), and you must leave your camera at the entrance. With our expensive digital SLRs, we weren't going to take any chances and thus missed our chance to see an embalmed Uncle Ho. The architecture of the Mausoleum is quite startling, a square grey building rising incongruously from gorgeous green parkland.

In Hanoi, you need to be on your guard. There are several types of annoyances, from overeager postcard sellers, to insane motorists, and finally, young teenage boys with nasty ideas in mind. We ran into several of them in a single night.

Post-card sellers and other vendors operate on the streets, especially in the Old Quarter and around Hoan Kiem Lake. They are very eager to sell you maps of the city and postcards of Vietnam. These postcards are not of the best quality, but since they are very cheap, I recommend you buy something. You are encouraging entrepreneurship and you might even have a fun conversation with the young boys and girls that do this. Unfortunately, if you've already bought your quota of postcards and are merely trying to get on your way, some postcard sellers do not take it so well. For us, the worst thing that happened is that the boy shouted very loudly in our eyes that we were fat. I thought of several clever comebacks much later.

Several people have written forums about crossing the road in Hanoi. It is indeed harrowing. You really must walk across slowly and hope you do not get hit. At the same time, the sidewalks are covered with parked scooters and street vendors. You will have to walk in the street at most times in the Old Quarter. People will even back their motor scooters into you, and my response to this was putting a hand on their back to let them know I was there. It's amazing to watch three or four people, including babes in arms, riding on a little scooter.

The only real danger we encountered was when we were taking an evening stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake. It is not very well lit, but there are many other people young and old strolling around the lake. After passing the bridge to the pagoda, a young man came up and asked our names. He told us he wanted to practice English. All seemed normal and then I glanced behind us. 5-6 young men were following us, and getting closer. I put my hand on my partner's backpack and gave them a look. Very shortly thereafter, the young man who wanted to practice English with us said very quickly that he had to go and all the boys ran off. I'm not sure what their plans were, whether to mug us, pickpocket us while we weren't looking, or maybe take advantage of us in an even worse way. I am just glad I was alert and aware.

That said, the next day, we met two lovely young college girls and had a great conversation with them about Vietnam and America. I compared Boston to Hanoi, saying it was where our revolutionary war started, when we threw off the English and declared ourselves independent. While we talked to them, some postcard sellers approached us, but other than that, I couldn't detect any scam. So don't be suspect of anyone who wants to practice English, but be aware of what is going on, particularly if it is late at night.