Stories from Hanoi

As with Laos, Vietnam has a history of French colonialism that is strongly reflected in its current culture. European style buildings are filled with Vietnamese musical instruments for sale, old men wear berets and again, baguettes and pastries are available everywhere. What I was surprised to see was the influence of Chinese culture on Vietnam's northern capital, though in hindsight, it makes perfect sense.We could immediately see the difference from Thailand and Laos. The plump, jolly Chinese Buddha had replaced the reverent (and thin) Thai and Laotian Buddha images. Chinese-style, red pagodas were common and Confucian philosophy had been taught and is still revered at the ancient University.Religion does not seem to play nearly as large of a role in Hanoi as in Thailand and Laos, which are packed with Buddhist temples, monks and family shrines. Though many Vietnamese practice various forms of Buddhism, we did not see any monks. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with religious suppression by Communist rule, or that Confucian and Taoist theology are also very prevalent in Vietnam.Most of the buildings in Hanoi are tall, deep and thin, multiple-storied (usually 3-5), concrete structures. Picture a flat, anorexic, communist San Francisco on speed. They are ornately decorated on the front, but have starkly bare, unpainted side walls. No need to waste paint! Another traveller told us that property is leased from the government for 99 years before it must be returned. Families pay higher rent for the first story of the building than the rest and as a result of this, many open shops on the first floor to help cover the costs. The families usually reside in the upper stories of the building, or in the case of hotels, sometimes on the roofs, which are decorated with hanging laundry drying in the sun. The Vietnamese are very family oriented and often times one home will be packed with many related family units. I'm not sure how deep many of the buildings go. Occasionally, we catch glimpses of dark hallways between structures resembling deep tunnels, often, motorbikes are parked near the end. We haven't figured out if they ever open into courtyards.The sidewalks and streets in front of Hanoi's homes seem to carry the most important social activities. Before meals, mothers will set up their temporary propane or pressed charcoal stoves on the sidewalk, shield them from the wind with a metal pipe, and set their pot or frying pan on top. Other family members bust out plastic child-sized chairs and take a seat nearby. Dad puffs on his smokes or tobacco fed bamboo-bong, while sister gets busy chopping up fish or pork on a thick, wooden block and scrapes the scraps with his knife into the gutter nearby. Numerous dishes are prepared including mustard greens, fried tofu, pig, fish, other misc. meaty unmentionables, things that look like larvae, steamed bean sprouts, potatoes, etc. Each person dishes rice into their small bowl and communally shares the rest of the dishes. Using their chopsticks they grab mouthfuls of the side dishes then follow each bite with another of rice. One would normally associate cooking and eating on the street with poverty, but you would be pressed to find an unkempt, dirty individual sit down to these meals. I believe it is more of a cultural norm. More than anywhere else I have been, life here for everyone is literally lived on the streets (with no bad connotation).As for the scraps of pig in the gutter, don't worry, every morning, residents sweep the sidewalks in front of their homes, creating little garbage piles on the streets. City workers then come by to pick up the trash. As you can reason, this practice of casually tossing garbage can turn into a major problem outside the bounds of these regimented disposal collection programs.Because everyone is hanging out on the sidewalks and any remaining space is filled with vendors and parked scooters, pedestrians are forced onto the street. In Hanoi for newcomers this can be particularly harrowing. Many streets are small, luxury vehicles, thousands of motorbikes, bicycles and conical-capped women balancing produce-filled baskets from sticks on their shoulders all try to navigate the same paths. Now throw in some plump, fumbling tourists to disrupt the delicate balance and it becomes comical madness!Though people in general are not as openly warm and welcoming to foreigners here in Hanoi (maybe its the classic city brush-off?), we a little effort we were able to break through some of the tourist barriers. What we were very impressed with people's open affection towards one another. Old friends, both male and females commonly strolled with their arms linked or draped over eachother's shoulders and everyone joked and laughed with eachother.It has been an amazing experience to get an inside look (though brief) at such a culturally rich, historically tragic and tight-knit city. Unfortunately, we were unable to experience more on this trip, but we will definitely have much to bring home with us.