For my
personal introduction to the land of Vietnam, Ha Noi became my welcome
city. Happily fascinated with even the
entry procedures at the airport—visa on arrival, customs, my name on a placard
in the hands of Thuy in the entry hall—Ha Noi had me fully captivated with my
first foray into the neighborhood just outside our hotel. Two weeks later I exited Vietnam from Ho Chi
Minh City after spending three nights in that metropolis. I could very easily gush, “I loved Ha Noi!” Although the same such gush would never slide
from my mouth regarding HCMC, I loved
the chance to spend time there, and I totally did like it!
The
political center of Vietnam, Ha Noi has a population of a little over 2,000,000
in its provincial districts; add in the rural districts, and the population
rises to over 6,000,000. The economic
center of Vietnam, HCMC has a metropolitan population of over 9,000,000. Still, the only places in Vietnam where I did
not awaken in the morning to roosters crowing somewhere nearby would be while
on the cruise boat in Ha Long Bay and while staying at the Victoria Resort and
Spa near Mui Ne!
Lonely
Planet describes
Ha Noi as “perhaps Asia’s most graceful, atmospheric, and exotic capital city.” There really is this beguiling pastiche of
French timbre and Asian tempo, the medieval and the modern. We arrived at our hotel in the Old Quarter
not far from Hoan Kiem Lake just before midnight, so our transfer from the
airport occurred in the dark and during a timeframe without traffic
congestion. Our guide Thuy, who knew we
would be venturing out on our own in the morning because we had only scheduled
a half-day tour with him for the afternoon, took the time to specifically
instruct us on the art of crossing streets in Ha Noi as a pedestrian: “Walk slowly.
Don’t change your speed and don’t stop!”
So, yeah! You just keep walking
at a slow pace. All wheeled traffic—from
bicycle to bus—will maneuver based on your established pace and trajectory. Granted, we spent most of our time in the Old
Quarter of Ha Noi, but I never saw a stop light in Ha Noi at all, not even when
we drove out of it to Ha Long Bay or back to the airport for our flight to Da
Nang. Traffic flow unfolds as a work of
art, momentum and design informed by all participants and in constant awareness
of each other—a nerve-trembling but memorable dance!
Two thousand
kilometers south of Ha Noi—by road, anyway—Ho Chi Minh City is situated on the
Saigon River and just north of the Mekong Delta. Asian urban convened around stretches of wide,
elegant boulevards and tree-lined avenues, it is somehow reminiscent of Paris
but recast for another continent, climate, and culture. It thrums with energy and possibility,
traffic and commerce. Until we arrived
in HCMC, I rarely spotted uniformed personnel of any ilk except for some
police/highway patrol types on two different stretches of highway between
cities. HCMC had a lot more visible
uniforms and a lot more signage of the propagandizing sort. We walked through several different displays
of enlarged photos and text celebrating specific historical events or else
touting current government and military endeavors in behalf of the citizens. Except
for maybe a total of two or three KFCs, I saw no American fast-food franchises
anywhere in Vietnam. In HCMC I spotted a
sign advertising a Burger King, and I read that Starbucks would open its first
shop in Vietnam in HCMC in about a month . . . which means it could now be
open, even as I type . . . which makes me feel like YIKES! and a little sad. Vietnam has its own array of coffee house
chains, as well as a fine reputation for the quality of its coffee, and
American fast food cannot compete with Vietnamese cuisine, be it fast or slow!
Like
memorable cities anywhere on the planet, Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City each have a
distinctive medley of traits, tone, and style. Even so, each is also uniquely Vietnamese and
an integral component of Vietnam itself.
Here is Ha Noi, the Old Quarter, Saturday, December 22, 2012:
View from our hotel room window.
Cindy and I go for a cyclo ride.
Next is Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived on Sunday, December 30, 2012, and stayed two nights, so we were there for New Year's Eve. Then we left HCMC for a few nights to go to Mui Ne but returned again on Thursday, January 3, 2013, before leaving for Seoul very late Friday night.
View from the hotel room window in HCMC.
Famous coffee place in HCMC where Cindy sampled the coffee and I . . .
had an iced chocolate--the best one I've ever had since the one in Tokyo!
This building was across the street from our hotel. The platform is a helipad.
This is Notre Dame in HCMC!
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