out with the new, in with the old

I've had enough of the Lunar New Year.

I arrived in Hanoi this afternoon eager to explore this town full of culture and history, only to find out that most places are closed, as Vietnam, like Taiwan, is celebrating the New Year.  At first, when I walked out of the hotel to find nearly empty streets and closed stores in all four directions, it looked like I absolutely chose the wrong time to visit Hanoi.  Half an hour later, when I finally found Hoan Kiem Lake, around which the different neighborhoods of Hanoi center, I was relieved to see that I wasn't the only living soul wandering the streets of Hanoi.  Well, I and two other people - my brother and my cousin.

I flew into Hanoi with my cousin and my brother joined us from Bangkok.  I think traveling with the two of them is a great way to kick of this one-month trip.  After two weeks of living with my parents, I am very ready to be the oldest member of the group and to have no one constantly looking over my shoulder.

One of the very first things we noticed about Hanoi is the traffic.  Traffic lights do exist, but there doesn't seem to be any set of rules that any driver is following.  As pedestrians, we were surrounded by cars honking at each other and occasionally at us.  Even when the walk light turned green, there were still cars zooming at full speed right in front of us.  Smart as we were, we quickly solved the problem.

poor little mousey on the street

The way to cross a busy Hanoi street is by the leap of faith method.  It's sort of like the video game Frogger from way back in the 80s.  In the game, you're a frog who needs to cross a river by jumping onto short segments of floating logs.  The leap of faith method requires you to have faith in these drivers, people whom you've never met and who are traveling at 100 times your speed.  You need to take one step at a time at a constant speed toward the other side, across the river of no return.  If you walk at a constant speed, these drivers can gauge their speed and swerve around you so you live to see a better tomorrow.  For some of you (us), tomorrow won't be better anyway, but that's irrelevant.  If you change your speed, stop, or turn back, you are a dead frog.  And you don't get three lives.

street vendors are everywhere in Hanoi

It was immediately apparent to us that there were indeed other tourists in Hanoi, and all of us were walking along the lake, since there wasn't anywhere else to go.  So we walked and walked, even roamed the tiny streets of cold Hanoi.  I discovered that the Hanoi of 2012 reminds me greatly of the Taipei of 1982.  As we walked past private residences, those with open doors revealed families gathered in the living/dining area, which is typically the space just inside the door.  These families were in the middle of their dinner, which sometimes took place at a table, but more often on the floor.  I was about one meter away from their dinner.  I was hungry.  I didn't know how to ask "May I have some of your food," so I didn't reach out and grab a spring roll.

I'll try to learn some Vietnamese tomorrow.