`On our way to Hanoi, about 40 miles east, we stopped for a visit with Little Phuic’s grandparents. Notwithstanding its proximity to Hanoi, the village they live in is astoundingly archaic. The main house is 3 rooms. Granny and Gramps and their beds, a table and 2 benches, and the ancestor altar are all in the main room. I saw one electrical outlet above the table. There’s a guest bedroom where Little Phuic stays when he’s visiting, and a store room/root cellar. Declarations of war bravery adorn the walls, along with a village proclamation congratulating Granny on her 80th birthday.

A separate building across a small courtyard contains the kitchen and an adjacent “rest room” of some sort (I didn’t want to look). The kitchen has an electric rice cooker (!) and a 2-burner stove top. Behind the kitchen is a series of small rooms/pens for any live stock, chickens etc that happen to be resident. There are a few places where herbs and vegetables are growing. Gramps served us tea while Granny sat on her bed contentedly chewing her betel nut. They were truly gracious, although the bomb crater just beyond their front yard has to be a nagging reminder of “the American War”.

Hanoi is pretty crazy and chaotic, but it’s more westernized than Saigon and the cooler temperatures made it feel more manageable to us. Since we’re practiced street crossers at this point, it was also less intimidating and life-threatening. That said, Steven took a hilarious video of Judy and me clinging to an older lady in order to safely make it across.

We spent the morning trying to see the highlights but like NY, the museums are all closed on Monday. Stumbling around with our heads bobbing in and out of street maps and tour books, we managed to get a sense of the Hoan Kiem Lake District which is the central commercial area, the Old Quarter with its shops spilling over the sidewalks, and the French Quarter, more elegant and residential. We visited a “tube-house” in the Old Quarter. Built in the early 1900’s, these started as market stalls, evolved to store fronts, and then extended many times in the back to accommodate family members’ living rooms, court yards to let in light and air, and store rooms. Taxes were based on store frontage so from the street, these houses look like small single storey structures.


Hoan Kiem Lake is the Central Park of Hanoi. There’s Tai Chi at dawn, vendors selling everything from live chickens to fried dough, lunch rendezvous’, old men playing chess, and lots more that goes on here.

We visited the Temple of the Jade Mound on an island accessible via the red-lacquered Huc Bridge. The temple buildings are from the 1800’s and contain wonderfully ornate altars, with dragons, birds, statues of gods, huge vases, and offerings of all kinds of food, flowers and incense.

My charge for the afternoon was just that – charge up a storm! I didn’t disappoint, and Steven was thrilled because he didn’t come with me. Little Phuic met us for a last dinner and regaled us with tales of his financial woes, in preparation for the laying on of tips. Nonetheless, the food was divine and we gorged ourselves. Steven and I braved the ice risk and indulged in real drinks, a true celebration.

So now, we’ve stuffed everything into our suitcases including a ton of dirty laundry, and are primed to leave in the morning. It’s been an amazing trip – fascinating, fun and just long enough to feel like we’ve truly been away. The rice noodles have left their mark, but cycling along the way provided some damage control and more importantly, intimate exposure to life on the streets of Vietnam.


What a way to go!