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30th March, 2001

Hanoi Shops Sell Well Known Brands of Whisky. Vietnamese Man Works On Pavement While Children Play. Colonial Facade Of First Floor Flat Looks Attractive In Sunlight

December, 1996
The Hanoi arrival of Trung and myself was quite eventful because as soon as we stepped out of the airport, we were besieged by taxi and hotel agents vying with each other to get a booking. We were to have been met by a travel agent, but could see no sign of him, so we retreated to the airport restaurant for a coffee, waiting for the taxiBrandy and whisky on shelves. agents to forget all about us. What a hope. When the attention of the taxi agents was diverted to another batch of arrivals, we sneaked out of the restaurant, booked the first taxi we saw, and got to the hotel without further incident. We had just completed the registration at the hotel, when the travel agent arrived with three other tourists, and said he had been looking out for us at the airport. This was my first day in Vietnam !

Walking through the streets in the days which followed were more peaceful. There was the occasional beggar asking for a few cents, but that was to be expected in a country recovering from many years of turmoil. I was amazed by the well stocked shelves of the shops and stalls, displaying well known brands of most things, including whisky, liqueurs and beers. Whether they were the genuine article, is another matter.

Father works, children play on pavement.Hanoi was certainly a city of contrasts with well stocked shops for those who could afford the items, but the poorer people struggled to make a living by whatever means they could. Some set up their workshops on the pavements making sandals from discarded tyres; repairing shoes or bicycle punctures.

Others hawked their goods by panniers on shoulder poles, Cycle hawker by travel agents. or baskets on bikes. The hawker outside the Travel Agents, where Trung and I had gone to book our seats for a visit to Ha Long Bay, had little success during the time we were there, but I do not know what he was trying to sell. The bicycles in Vietnam are used, not only for getting from one place to another, but also for the transport of goods, sometimes piled up quite high on the bike. To help maintain balance and assist with steerage, a pole is fixed to the bike, at an angle, behind the seat. I wonder who was the first person to think of that clever trick ?

Ornamental facade of flat.The streets close to our hotel were full of intriguing sights, commonplace to the local inhabitants, but wonderful in the eyes of a new visitor. Although there was much reconstruction under way in some areas of Hanoi, colonial legacies from the past still survived. The facade of a first floor flat, on the balcony of which a man was checking his laundry, looked very attractive in the sunlight, and from that vantage point there would have been a wonderful view of the bustling streets below, but of course the man would have seen it all before.

Walking across the streets in Hanoi was an alarming experience, particularly during rush hours, with its constant stream of traffic, hundreds of bicycles, small motor bikes and taxis. It seemed that the only way was to say a short prayer before you started, walk steadily into the stream, and hope you reached the other side in one piece. That is what the locals did; Trung and I copied them, and here I am to tell the tale.

Well stocked market stalls.There was far less traffic to contend with in the local markets, of which there were many; chicken market, fish market, flower market, fruit and vegetable market, all very convenient for the shopper, who could be sure of some very keen prices, with so many competing stall holders. I quickly gave up on the Vietnamese currency, the Dong, as even a cup of coffee was priced in thousands, so Trung did all the buying and paying bills at hotels and restaurants.

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