Sunday, June 2, 2013

Hanoi: Hanging Out

After two weeks of traveling through many cities in Vietnam, we were ready to settle down in Hanoi for a week. We stayed in the Old Quarter because we liked all the activity. It was fun to spend time wandering through the small streets, checking out the scene.



There are a lot of street vendors who walk around to sell their goods, often shouldering a bamboo carrying pole to support two baskets filled with food like these vegetables. The shape of Vietnam resembles the iconic carrying pole and baskets, with one basket representing the large area in the south along the fertile Mekong Delta and the other basket for the north along the Red River. The slender pole in the middle spans about 1,200 miles north to south and Vietnam at its narrowest point is less than 25 miles wide.



This woman will sell pho, beef noodle soup. She carries everything she needs to set up shop on the side of street.



We were eager to try bia hoi, which is Vietnamese fresh beer. It has about 4.5% alcohol content, contains no preservatives and costs about 40 cents a glass. Served fresh from the keg and very cold, it is a tasty and refreshing drink!



Peak time for bia hoi is 5-6 pm daily. We tried half a dozen places and found a friendly scene close by our hotel.



We also found that the best bia hoi was served at places that had high volume. As you can see in the background, all those empty kegs means plenty of bia hoi had been flowing that day.



Most bia hoi joints serve snacks. This is dried squid. To eat it, you tear it into strips, as it’s quite chewy. It is barbequed right before it's served.

  

Our favorite snack food with bia hoi was bo xeo tay, dried beef. It too is barbequed right before being served with a horseradish sauce for dipping. It’s also quite chewy, so we’d tear off a small strip, dip it in the sauce and enjoy.



Another snack food we tried was Vietnamese sausage. It’s served cold and wrapped in banana leaves. This was a favorite amongst the kids who were hanging out with their dads.



Our favorite bia hoi place had a full menu. We loved the pork ribs that are served with fresh mint or basil, lime, chilies and fried garlic. And we also ate fried tofu with salted duck egg that was served with a dipping sauce of lime juice, salt, pepper and chilies. Both taste great with bia hoi!

   

They also had a good selection of stir-fried vegetable dishes. We enjoyed bitter melon (pictured below), morning glories, and pumpkin vines. All are cooked with generous amounts of garlic and served with chilies and soy sauce - yum!



The Women’s Museum was outstanding for showing the culture of Vietnam. The portrayal of the women soldiers in the Vietnam war put faces to acts of bravery and sacrifice. We also read When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip, and learned how hard life was during the war.



The Women's Museum had a special exhibit on the Mother Goddess who, as part of folk traditions, is worshipped for protection. This elaborate altar includes three mother goddesses: in the middle is heaven, on the left is mountains and forrests, and on the right is the water goddess.

  

We enjoyed an evening at the Opera House (which was built during French colonization) where we heard the Hanoi Symphony perform. The soloist was Do Hoang Linh Chi playing Chopin’s Concerto #1 for Piano and Orchestra – she is 16 years old and a true prodigy on piano.



And we went to water puppet theater, which was created in Hanoi. Originally performed in a lake, it is now done in a theater with the puppeteers standing in a tank, up to their waists in water.


This is Tran Quoc pagoda, the oldest in Hanoi. It was built 1,400 years ago along the bank of the Red River. When the river encroached in 1,615, it was relocated to Hanoi. We visited at dusk before trying a new bia hoi place nearby.

  

We have had a great time exploring Vietnam! Next we head to Taiwan.