Goodbye Hanoi, Hello Chiang Mai

Banana Vendor in Hanoi, Vietnam

We left Vietnam on 2/11 in the morning and arrived in Chiang Mai not too long after. My first impression of Hanoi was pretty negative at first. I felt it was chaotically busy. Crossing the street seemed like a deadly act. People seemed very dishonest and out to scam us left and right. I had the hardest time communicating at all. Many people speak no English whatsoever, which isn’t a crime of course, but it does get frustrating after awhile. I love Vietnamese food and i felt like it was impossible to get good authentic Vietnamese food unless if we speak fluent Vietnamese.

Eight days later, I fell for Vietnam. I am glad we had so many days there to carry on our daily routine and to really get to know Hanoi, not as a mere tourist but more like a resident.  The interesting thing about Vietnam is that people here have a routine. Not only themselves. It seems like the whole city is always doing the same thing at the same time. In the morning, around 7-8, you see everyone having coffee. 10-11 is tea. Everyone is drinking tea out of small glasses. And then around 12:00 everyone is eating noodle soup. At 3PM, people are having beers by the mug in the street. Old ladies bring out kegs of “Bia Hanoi” and sell them for about $.25 – $.50 for a mug. The beer is really fresh and sitting on the sidewalk in the middle of a hot day having beer on the street was our favorite activity! 5:00 is snail time. People are eating snails dipped into fish sauce on the sidewalk. 7-8:30 is bbq on the street time. They bring out hot coals and a cast iron plate, and raw meat, and you cook your meat on your table, similar to Korean bbq. It’s really endearing. I wonder if it’s just part of socialism? I made a mental note to try to photograph throngs of people doing these routine acts throughout their day but alas, I failed. You just have to take my word for it.

I found the city to be extremely stylish. It doesn’t seem as wealthy or advanced and organized as Thailand, but people there are very showy fashionistas, even the men. Many of the women had the hipster emo bangs swept sideways and the men had the “I just rolled out of bed” hair that probably took alot of hairspray to hold together. Everything they wear resembles the look of Diesel brand. Many have Vespas and wear these “mod” styled helmets. I wanted to buy one but chickened out last minute envisioning my own dorkyness of wearing a moped helmet on my bicycle back at home :-/

The weather was much cooler than Thailand. Its not as tropical and thus, lacking in the beautiful and exotic plants like a gazillion varieties of orchids that are to Thailand as carnations are to the US. Still, the trees, older architecture, and people reminded me much of China, where I have never been. Ha Long Bay was like a beautiful brush calligraphy Chinese painting and it felt pretty amazing floating between these beautiful dramtic rocks ascending from the water.

I left Hanoi very bittersweet and wondering when I will see it again. There’s just too many places to go to in the world!

We arrived in Chiang Mai and the drive to the hotel showed a generic Thailand town. We explored the infamous night bazaar. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many vendors of everything in my life. After walking past 30 of the stores, you get a bit desensitized at the amount of crap that could be bought. There are some really great things too…at great costs…and laborious to lug back to the states. Joe wants to get a fantastic huge wood carving of Buddha. We’re scheming about how we can possibly lug it back on the plane without breaking our backs…

The weather in Chiang Mai right now is perfect. Days are about 75 degrees F and nights are about 55. Our guesthouse is an absolute treat. It’s called the Secret Garden and its owned by a German expat named Peter and his Thai wife, Pai. The place is built up in between traditional Mexican casita and Thai style. They are extremely gracious and offer free cooking classes in their beautiful outdoor Mexican style kitchen. It couldn’t be more ideal…

Joe and I are going to learn to cook Thai food from Pai tonight. Tomorrow we would likely go on a bamboo raft through some tribal towns and an elephant ride. The idea of an elephant ride is extremely cheesy to me but I guess that’s one thing to cross off on the list of things I’ve done.

I’m already counting down the precious days left in Asia and its making me a little gloomy…

Updates soon…