It’s so strange for people our age to be in this city. We were children during the Vietnam War and so recall the nightly news that our parents watched being all about the war, protests of the war, people dying in and for the war. But we did not experience the war first hand unless a family member was here.
For those younger, the Vietnam War means the same as World War II means to us — it’s only an abstract idea.
This isn’t to minimize the experience of those just a little older than us who were actually here, fighting a war, but just to give a perspective. Vietnam is almost a mythical place due to the time in which we grew up. It wasn’t until the last 20 years that Americans could even come to Vietnam.
It occurred to me today that we are actually in a city that was bombed by Americans in our lifetime. Say what you will but it is the generation of Vietnamese our age and older that lived through the nightly raids that were visited upon Hanoi in order to break the backs of the communists.
So now 40-50 years later you’d think the Vietnamese might be holding a grudge against Americans. But instead we have encountered some of the warmest, kindest people on the planet. We’ve been suspicious about them actually, They have approached us to talk and our initial reaction has been to not engage. In reality, they just want to practice their English or to say hello. So then we feel bad about being so callous. We even had an energetic grey haired lady come right up to us in and welcome us to Hanoi. She went on to say that she had a husband who fought in the war and was killed and so, very casually she said, she has been a single mom. As warm as she could be she smiled at us the entire time we spoke.
The number of Americans in Hanoi is surprising. We have seen more of them than any other nationality, closely followed by the French. This is in contrast to Bangkok where we saw almost no Americans and mostly British tourists. Just an interesting point.
We haven’t encountered a single beggar, and only a few aggressive sales people (mostly members of the donut cartel) who were mild compared to most. It’s been a wonderful experience and if you haven’t been to Hanoi, definitely hurry. It’s going to change very quickly in the next 5-10 years and what you experience today will be gone.
The first shock you’ll run into when you get here are all the cyclos. Here’s a gang of them at a stoplight.
Then they get going out of a stoplight and it’s like a swam of bees.
On our first night in Hanoi we took a walk just to see what the vibe was like. Our hotel is near a lake that borders the Old Quarter. In the evening people come to the park that lines the lake for an evening walk or just to sit on the park benches.
And as if by magic a dozen or so couples appeared in wedding dress posing for wedding pictures in the middle of the busy street adjacent to the park.
This couple was so compelling that I made a video as the cyclos buzzed around them.
http://youtu.be/nG5YCAwUwsw
They were doing their thing while everyone around them was doing theirs.
So far we love Hanoi and Vietnam. Definitely a great stop on our trip.
