Hà Noi - it's two words, who knew?

Hà Noi was my favorite stop on my first trip to South East Asia 8 years ago, and it might be this time around as well. It's a fantastic walking city. We commented at one point that we felt like we were walking around the East Village (well, maybe the East Village 10 years ago). Super skinny, pastel townhouses rise up from the baby green rice patties and give Hà Noi a charming colonial feel. There are more fancy french restaurants and cars than I remember, but the character of the place is intact. The buildings are lovely, the coffee is strong, the boulevards are leafy, and the streets are humming with scooters. That said, Hà Noi has experienced dramatic economic growth in the last decade, since the U.S. re-established diplomtic relations and the country opened its borders to foreign investment. Our first night in town, we watched young men break-dancing in a pagoda in a public park. At the movies, a pre-feature announcements compared those who talk on their cell phones during the film to crude peasants - this struck us as somewhat ironic in a country founded on the political ideology that the communal lifestyle of the rice farmers was superior to that of the imperialist bourgeoisie. This scene of skateboarders using Uncle Ho as a jump ramp was perfect.

A quintessentially Vietnamese sight is the ridiculously overloaded ride (be it gas-powered or otherwise):We spent an afternoon at the lovely Temple of Literature. The thousand year old pagodas here are constructed from huge, interlocking wooden beams. Inside, they are lit by red lanterns and filled with incense. Outside, ceramic dragons sit guard over the tiled roofs. Bonsai and lily ponds dot the grounds. Really nice stuff.





We hit the other major sights in town, including the Presidential Palace (from which Ho Chi Minh governed), Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum (constructed against his wishes), and the somewhat anti-climactic One Pillar Pagoda:







More fun was the insanity to be beheld in the produce market. Exhibit A: unidentifiable fruit. Exhibit B: Thit Chao (that's exactly what you think it is). Exhibit C: Turtle! (for soup, I think...)Exhibit D: way too many varieties of dried shrimp.Fortunately, the finished product was vastly more appealing than the ingredients might suggest. We ate extremely well in Hà Noi, and we believe we avoided consuming anything that might be considered a household pet. House of Nem served up our favorite meal. After minced pork meat on sugar cane sticks (above) we ate fresh spring rolls (nem) with beef and mint, followed by dim sum. Tasty.










Finally, I had to include this picture of Yan Yan - cookie sticks, with chocolate dip, each bearing its own mysterious slogan.
xoxo Jessie