We zip down the highway amongst cars, trucks and bikes who seem to communicate with a series of beeps and flashing lights. As our taxi makes its way through the city, there are a number of occassions that I fear for my life as I spy oncoming traffic a small 2 meters outside my window.
Our hotel is clean and we can't ask for more on a budget holiday. For dinner, we head outside and after walking some blocks to a restaurant recommended by the concierge, we find that it is closed. So we dine in a local shop two doors from our hotel where the only way to order the food was to point and nod. We end up with two steaming hot bowls of Pho which were kung fu panda awesome.
The only other eventful thing to happen that night was the lizard's tail that dropped out of the air-conditioner and wiggled around on Tim's bed for a good 5 mins. Lucky for Tim, we had a spare bed and he was saved from sleeping in a bed with drops of lizard blood.
The next morning, we arise for our "Hanoi Sunrise" tour, departing at the ungodly hour of 6am. We make our way to the Lake of the Returned Sword, a lake where the residents of Hanoi take part in their daily exercise routine of running, tai chi, qi gong and even badminton.
Breakfast is a simple meal of steamed rice pancakes, stuffed with pork, mushrooms and "jews ears".
After breakfast, we make our way to the restaurant where we are going to have cooking lessons. They are closed so we sit with our guide by the road and drink tea with the locals. We don't understand what they are talking about.
The restaurant opens and our cooking lesson begins with a tour of the nearby market. Our guide points out various local delicacies as shop keepers cut up bloody slabs of meat and fish.
When we return to the restaurant, we learn to make rice paper rolls, fried chicken with lime leaves, steamed fish with tamarind sauce and for dessert a sweet potato and ginger pudding. The whole time, we converse with fellow participants in broken english and french.
The lesson ends and we devour the food which we've lovingly prepared and get some take home recipes. We then make our way back to our hotel, traversing the dangerous terrain of Hanoi's motorscooter ridden laneways and intersections.
I was told that 'beeping your horn is actually considered a courtesy in India, it lets the other people know that you are there and/or that you are coming'
ReplyDeleteFrom what I could gather it's the same in Vietnam and pretty much the rest of Asia.
Figured out how to cross the road yet. Here's my solution
1. Look left and right for anything bigger than a bike or 3 wheeler.
2. If none coming look straight across the road to the place u want to end up.
3. keep looking at that spot and proceed across the road at a consistent pace.
4. DO NOT STOP!
Yea, from what I could tell when I was in HCMC only the following road rules apply:
ReplyDelete- Car beats bike.
- Truck beats car.
- Driving on the left side of the road is preferred but optional.
Organised chaos...
Have a great time!
Agree with all comments but we would like to add that long distance bus beats truck... or at least in Bangladesh. Perhaps this is good training so that you can come and visit us.
ReplyDelete