Vietnam is red, hot and ready for you. Nominally communist, but unabashedly capitalist, these days it's rockin' from the Delta way beyond the old DMZ thanks to free market reforms that have attracted foreign investors and budget travelers. The best part is that while it's still cheap and offbeat enough for shoestring nomads, it also happens to be the safest destination in Asia.If this notion is hard to swallow, it is because, for as long as anyone cares to remember, its history has been defined by resistance. Over the course of 2,000 years, Vietnam served as an insolent imperial concubine to the Chinese, the French and the Japanese. Enticed by vast resources and lush beauty, each tried to usurp her charms through force and cunning, only to be rejected in the end.
After the growing pains of socialism, rapprochement with the West during the last decade has allowed Vietnam to finally relax her defensive posture and let her hair down. Yet even though her geopolitical status in Southeast Asia and the world at large has stabilized, Vietnam remains bipolar.Located on the banks of the Red River, Hanoi has been the artistic and intellectual fountainhead of the country since the communist Viet Minh's ultimate defeat of the French in 1954.
Bicycle rickshaws always outnumbered cars, the clang of hammer-meets-anvil was a familiar sound, and the visitor was more likely to encounter streams of farmers in cone-shaped hats bearing durian and coconut to market than a traffic jam.
"Uncle" Ho Chi Minh himself, Vietnam's revolutionary patriarch, is buried in Hanoi, and his legacy has imparted the city with a proud moral gravitas.It is said that Hanoi looks down disapprovingly at her brash alter-ego, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest population center and the manic heart of commercial activity with attitude to spare. HCMC's strategic location in the Mekong River Delta's rice basket made it the ideal base of operations for imperial France, and later, the U.S. military during the Vietnam Conflict (1965-75).
HCMC should have developed an inferiority complex after being successively co-opted by foreign powers. Instead, it used the industrial base imposed by the French to gain economic primacy during doi moi (liberalization).
In typical Vietnamese style, HCMC opted to be practical rather than hold a grudge. Today it is a liberal metropolis that is shaping Vietnam's modern image in its likeness.
The noble north
Judging from the fiery orange glow on his face (more later), Uncle Ho is not too happy with what's going on in his backyard. Though it was said to be 10 years behind HCMC developmentally in the early 90s, Hanoi is -- for better or for worse -- now starting to show signs of becoming HCMC's urban doppelganger.
High-rise buildings are sprouting up at the edge of the city like saw-grass. Drivers have begun to bump off pedestrians. And when the H5N1 bird flu virus recently struck, the eight Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises in Hanoi didn't miss a beat, offering the Colonel's fried fish instead of chicken.Fortunately, the city retains much of its old world aura and a pace of life that is gentle compared to its southern counterpart. Shady boulevards and leftover beaux-arts facades have earned it the nickname "Paris of the Orient," and there is plenty of good food, antique shops and cultural fare to back it up.
The French touch is found mostly along the sleepy west bank of Hoan Kiem Lake, an oasis at the center of city, where cafes, tearooms and ice cream (kem) parlors provide haven from the heat. Try Kem Trang Tien (54 Trang Tien Street) near the Opera House, then take in local artists at the galleries next door as St. Joseph Cathedral (Nha Tho Street) looms large.
Along Nha Tho, boutiques like Mosaique and Song sell exotic linens and lanterns, while musty antique shops tucked away on nearby side streets offer cracked Cartier watches and teak chests -- both real and fake.
Colonial residues aside, Hanoi manages to convey an authentically Vietnamese sense of time and place that can at turns transport the visitor to a 19th century provincial village. This happens frequently in the Old Quarter, north of the lake, where artisans, carpenters and blacksmiths ply their trades on narrow streets with a distinctly medieval feel.
In a place one might expect to find stalls of tourist junk, craftsmen are engaged in producing everything from plastic mats to wooden chair legs -- all for curious eyes to watch. Notice how one block is devoted entirely devoted to textile weaving and the next block suddenly takes door making to an art form. Be sure to check out the shoe market along Pho Hang Dau and grab the latest Nike knock-offs for next to nothing.The neighborhood's intimate vibe lends itself to easy wandering, and -- along the way-- formica-tabled traditional pho (soup) houses abound, as well as some casual dives to hide away in. Swing by the Tamarind Cafe (80 Ma May Street) for Asian-fusion eats, Vietnamese drip coffee and a lychee-tamarind fruit smoothie that is off the chain.
If hunger pangs set in that soup can't settle, go to Cha Ca La Vong (14 Cha Ca Street) for some cha ca, a regional specialty of turmeric glazed whitefish fried tableside in a skillet with fresh vegetables and chili sauce. For those on a slim budget, some deliciously cheap food is found in the bustling street stalls of Cam Chi, just north of the Hanoi Train Station.
The Old Quarter is also the place to score a room for your stay in Hanoi. Guidebooks tend to recommend The Giang Guesthouse (5A Tam Thuong Street) and the Lotus Guesthouse (42 V Ly Thoung Kiet Street), both of which offer doubles for less than $10 a night in addition to rock-bottom dorm beds. I would suggest the Camellia Hotel (13 Luong Ngoc Quyen Street), a centrally located and backpacker friendly mini-hotel, with flat mattresses, helpful staff and doubles under $15 a night.
Monument-memorial-museum culture is clustered in the west of the city, a two-kilometer cycle ride from the Old Quarter.
Gliding around the expansive Hanoi Citadel, we cajoled our drivers into racing one another to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, though we were obliged to get out and walk from the Lenin Monument out of respect.
A massive gray tomb set back at the edge of Ba Dinh square, citizens make pilgrimage by the thousands to pay homage to the little old man who fought the world and won. After waiting in line for the better part of an hour, we trudged in single file with well-dressed Vietnamese past his embalmed corpse, tinted an eerie shade of orange inside a glass sarcophagus. Apparently "Uncle Ho" is working overtime for the Revolution, as he is sent back to Russia every couple of years for chemical re-treatment.The tour continues past the presidential palace to "Uncle Ho's stilted house," and then on to his namesake museum -- where everything revolutionary and Ho Chi Minh-related is on display -- featuring many original notes and manuscripts with English translations.
Elsewhere, military buffs can massage Soviet MiG-29s at the army museum across the street. And armchair historians can feast on propaganda at the Revolutionary Museum and the Women's Museum, which does a worthy job of highlighting the exceedingly heroic role of women throughout Vietnam's turbulent past.
Nightlife in Hanoi is downright comatose compared to HCMC. Unless you happen to be in Vietnam during the Tet Lunar New Year holiday (late January) when 333 brand beer cans and firecrackers pop nonstop, you'll have to settle for some low-key debauchery.
Options range from live jazz near the lake at Quyen Van Minh (31-33 Luong Van Can Street), to the infamous Apocalypse Now bar (5C Hoa Ma Street) which doesn't quit until sunrise, to the Highway #4 bar (5 Hang Tre Street), to base camp for Hanoi's Minsk Motorbiking Club.
If you've got the chops to talk to a club member keyed-up on lethal rice wine (ruou), you might ask about backcountry biking routes along the famed "north-west loop," a gorgeously rugged weeklong trip from Hanoi to Mai Chau, Dien Bien Phu, Sapa, Lao Cai and back. Or contact Fredo at Association Bourligue (11B Dien Bien Phu, 2nd floor), the north's top motorbike guide, who can rent you a 125cc Minsk for around $5 a day.
Alternately, the emerald waters and three thousand limestone islands of Halong Bay also are just a short ride away, while shady bus lines run as far as the Lao capital of Vientiane. Ask around various tour agencies in the Old Quarter or tap the hostel desk clerk for more info.
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