coffee by the lake in hanoi
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
Hanoi, Vietnam - Hanoi was more bucolic than I expected.
Scooters and motorcycles occupied half of the road but they didn’t zing or zag or swerve. The engines puttered away steadily, bearing as many as four people.
There were no gargantuan malls like the ones we have in Manila. That’s a good thing, of course. I never subscribed to the school of thought which measured the progress of a city by the presence of glitzy department stores and similar monuments to consumerism… Hanoi’s charming Old Quarter has rows and rows of shops tended by artisans and traders. If you’re not used to the heat and humidity though, shop-hopping all afternoon will kill you.
According to our generous host partner, Hanoi has 12 lakes. What is even more impressive is that their lakes are clean and teeming with fish. Our hotel, the Intercontinental Hanoi West Lake, sits calmly on a lake, like fishermen’s houses on stilts but nicely done in concrete, colonial-like architecture. Each hotel room has glass doors that open out to your private balcony and a piece of the lake.
We had an exceptional dinner at Le’Orientale (not sure if I got that name right), where fabulous tables were laid out in the restaurant’s basement wine cellar. I thought I had had enough of dumplings till I tasted the excellent food in that restaurant.
On Saturday morning, we got a taste of Vietnamese coffee atop an old boat. Highlands Cafe may feel a bit rundown but it offers good views of the lake and of the locals casting fishing lines by the shore. A couple of hours later, we headed to Cafe Mai downtown and bought bags of coffee beans, supposedly the best in Hanoi. I took home just one bag, belatedly realizing it cost only 2 US dollars. The price in Vietnamese dong just throws you off - I exchanged 150 US dollars and received over 2 million VND in return.
I regret not visiting the Temple of Literature, one of the oldest universities in Asia, as well as the Ho Chih Minh museum. I could’ve gone to the tourist attractions on my own, but I just didn’t feel juiced up enough to explore beyond my hotel and the few shopping streets in the Old Quarter. Next time, I will pack more energy!
On the way home to Manila, I made a shameful shopping stop in Hong Kong, spending about 4 hours at the Citygate outlets despite my worn feet. I guess I missed the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan life.
I liked Hanoi but because of the work I had to do, my mind was unprepared for the city’s slowness and tranquility. I should return to Hanoi with an empty suitcase.
