Hanoi, Night and Day!

I generally dislike cities. I live in one of the biggest and the most populated cites in the world and that in itself makes me run away from anything similar when I travel. I live in a city which might not have a lot of sights to check, but has something more than mere sightseeing for the average tourist. It has a strong character. 

In my travels around, only Rio in Brazil had matched the colour of Mumbai. A colour which when looked at from the ground seems to be only of one shade. The shade that you currently see as experiencing the scene in front of you. That might be the grey of poverty, the red of glamour or the yellow of the bright faces one sees walking on the crowded streets. But, get above the streets and look at it from a different angle(and I don't mean going into the top floor of the towers) and you will not make up any shade. Its  a mad mixture of everything and yet there is a distinct colour to it. I love the fact that you don't know what you love in a place.

In Hanoi, Vietnam I have had a similar experience. There is something in the city I cant explain. At first when I came here 6 months ago, I immediately felt peaceful in the mad rush of its old quarter. I wasn't that far away in days from Mumbai, but even then it felt good to walk around the streets as if it was my city. The sweat was minimal though and with it the fragrance of different kinds of foods was the only thing which made my walk on the first night in Hanoi, somewhat different than the ones I have had in Mumbai. 

One of the busy streets in the old quarter, Hanoi.

 There is the Hanoi of the night which has a wild side to it, but even after my second time here I know it is not as wild as Bangkok. In the old quarter, which is the pulse of Hanoi, people, both tourists and locals sit on small plastic stools and go about their chore of eating. When I look at faces of locals and in them the tourists, all look the same. Its like they all have the colour of Hanoi on them.

Then there is the Hanoi of the morning, especially the early morning. In my first few minutes of walking on the lake front, I could smell the air different. The scent of food was still in the air but with it the sight of people, mostly locals starting with their day made me feel like a resident of the city. Tai chi on the lake remained in my mind as I had my breakfast of the Pho(noodle soup) with chicken at a road side stall and later downed a freshly brewed iced coffee. I wanted to stay for more but I had to go back to my hotel to pack up for my flight. That morning was left incomplete so I went again today. Since the last 9 days on this tour of Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam, it is only Hanoi in the morning that made me wake up an hour before the alarm rang. 

Pho at a 'not so roadside joint'

When I think of both the times, the night has its energy like you would expect, but what makes the early morning different is along with the obvious calm there is a different pulse that comes with it. It is like the energy from the night just spilled over to the next morning. I have seen the odd food stall serving food late till the night and the same lady opening up for the morning breakfast, like she has been over the last 30 years maybe. 

Off course there are other parts of Hanoi which i haven't experienced yet and maybe they are the same like any other city with their offices and shopping malls. The old quarter however remains the place to be in Hanoi. No matter how cynic you are, no matter how much I tell myself, “oh I have had it with the dirt, cramped up food joints and loud noise”. It is to the old quarter that I return to. Like last night when I thought of eating at a shopping mall which I had taken my tourists to but eventually came back to an old quarter food joint, which turned out to be quiet an institution. Sticky rice with meat floss, white corn and chicken is what they have been selling for the last, i don't know how many years. Like the many little unknown food stalls, that have stuck to one item and mastered it. 

I am on my way back to where I live, after having ‘lived’ in Hanoi. 

Luang Prabang, Laos - European face, Asian smile!

My first view of Luang Prabang was on Google Images. I was not even aware that such a town existed. As my screen started to show a village like town from an aerial view with two rivers joining hands at its head, I was already clicking on more images. The initial reaction from my Hanoi based agent when I told her about wanting to add Laos and in it Luang Prabang to the Vietnam & Cambodia itinerary, was a ‘why’?

“Why do you want to go there? You have a similar kind of town in Central Vietnam, called Hue and much cheaper”, she said in one of our 30+ mails, exchanged to discuss what exactly to do different in the already touristy Vietnam and Cambodia. 

The only way I could decide between the Central Vietnam and Luang Prabang in Laos was by going to both the places, before having the tourists come with me. Back in October 2015, on a bus from Hue to Hanoi in Vietnam, I was kind of desperate in wanting Luang Prabang to be better than the architecturally old world chinese but very commercial, Hue. I had to however scrape through the madness of Vientiane, the capital of Laos to reach Luang Prabang. As I stepped out of my over crowded Toyota van, the first welcoming sign was the breath of fresh mountain air. We indians and especially people from Mumbai dislike sweat, crowd and rush when we travel. The first few minutes and I had already known that the matter of sweat is resolved, now I had to see if the crowd and rush give me a 1:2 ratio against coming to Luang Prabang. I wanted a 3:0 in favour of Luang. I still remember the relief I felt, when I first entered the centre of the town on a shared Tuk Tuk from the bus station. There were tourists, but for some reason it didn't feel crowded. 

The very French main street 

That evening when I had already made up my mind about coming to LP back with tourists, I changed a few dollars more than what I would normally on a 2 night stay. I was not worried about the left over Kip (local currency in Laos). A old world (not thankfully chinese) french town with a lot of south east asia character which dripped from the smiles of the local Lao people was a recipe for at least 3 - 4 nights of stay. 

I could just spend all the time walking on its quant streets (only post sunset) in the glimmer of the low lit shops and cafes. But I would have people with me and an answer had to be found to, ‘what to do for the period of stay’?

Trip advisor is something which I have come to have a love - hate relationship with. At the onset when one is completely unaware of what to do or where to stay in a place, trip advisor is a good platform but then I believe one should simply follow ones own path.  When a place becomes famous with a 4 star + rating on trip advisor it usually stinks of management making things work to just keep up the rating. The soul is replaced by plain smiling faces I think. When I chose the living land company for a half day excursion out of the near 2 days I had in Luang Prabang, I chose it for what their website said and how they appeared to be but the initial guidance came from trip advisor. 

When I visited the farm where the whole process from seed to feed is actively shown, I was happy. Happy that we would as a group, have a really different activity to do in the town which was at par with the feel of the town. 

'Suzuki' the water buffalow at the 'living land farm'

Sticky rice being steamed 

The other obvious choices, the Kuang Si waterfall with a asian bear rescue centre and the city tour made up for the 3 days I would choose to spend here. 

3 days ago as the flight from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang was about to land the flight attendant announced the outside temperature to be +15 deg C, a drop of 18 deg C from Siem Reap. I however knew the people would have a 180 deg turn around in terms of the feel, once they see the central street of Luang Prabang. I like it when someone from my group asks me on the first day at a place which I want them to like, “How many nights do we have here?”. In Luang Prabang as a 65 year old lady from my group looked at the Mekong from her room with a face I know well, the question came, “why are we only staying for 3 nights here”?

The river Mekong is the biggest in South East Asia and it runs through the length of Laos after beginning in China and ending in the Mekong Delta near Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. It is in Luang Prabang that it meets the Nam Kham and therefore fish is an integral part of the cuisine here in Lao. The local snack, khai pan is a dish where, mekong river weed is dried with some sesame and fried to be eaten with a chilly paste. The paste usually is anywhere from spicy to super spicy and is therefore combined with sticky rice, a national past time. Rice is rolled in balls and dipped in any sauce, and you have a wholesome meal. The starch content in the sticky rice is more than the regular grain and therefore the average person feels and remains full till mid day after having a breakfast of sticky rice with fish or pork. The lunch again has to take care of not feeling hungry till dinner and therefore its sticky rice time for the mid day meal as well. 

We have had our quota of rice and before the noodles of Vietnam, something like a Pizza is a safe bet to give variety to the already deprived vegetarians. So it was Pizza for the guests. As for me, I had the other Lao meal. A fish fillet stuffed with pork and steamed in a banana leaf. 

Fish with Pork steamed in Banana Leaf

The more I come to Laos, the more I want to come again. As I write from my flight to Hanoi, and going back to the mad tourist rush, I know I wouldn't mind if Laos was the only thing that people remembered from this trip of Vietnam Laos and Cambodia. Without Luang Prabang and its laid back european ambience added to that the Laotian greeting of ‘Sawasdee’ coming from every person on the street, there is no Laos for me. As i sipped my last bit of the Lao mango juice on a cafe on the main street, the only thing asian about the experience was the mango, until the bill came and with it came, khop chai (thank you, in Laotian). 

Khop Chai Luang Prabang for staying Luang Prabang. 

Angkor Wat to Angkor Wat

‘Angkor Wat', the biggest temple complex on the planet. A Hindu King and his dynasty gave it all in making Angkor the biggest and the richest human settlement of the region and some say the entire world in that era. An era which when it ended in 1350 already had under it 400 years of glory. Like any other kingdom in its fag end, Angkor of the 1300’s also had a relatively meek death. The buddhist came from Thailand and conquered, and the statues of the hindu gods were replaced by idols of Buddha! The walls however lay untouched. Untouched and kept to fade away, slowly into being almost overrun by wild forests growing all around and into them. 

When I choose my travel destinations, I usually skip places with the above description. Age old history and monuments related to ‘the era’ hold no excitement for me. But something of the size of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia had to be done for touring purposes, just like maybe the Taj Mahal in India for a foreigner.  

In the last 48 hours, my group saw all the important temple sights. We woke up at 0430 hours on the first day and saw the sun coming up from behind the main temple. The sun shone from behind the stone and onto the few thousand tourists waiting on this side of the water pond, to take the reflection of the temple against the orange sky of dawn. Each one of us had the temple photo pass(we had to wait in a serpentine line to have our tired faces photographed), that gave us a full day access into the UNESCO sight. Some other tourists had taken their passes for 3 and a few for 7 days. I don't know how in a place over run by tourists will one be able to find peace with the monument, even if it was visiting it for a week. 

Angkor, the main temple at 0600 hours

The mad rush of tourists to take capture Angkor at Sunrise

I tried not to be over cynical with the place, so I kept my view as unbiased as possible, by not entering any of the temple. The structures however are unique to what I have experienced in the man made ancient world. But they are still man made, and thats why the only place I really felt was different, was the Wat Prong. Wat(temple) Prong(i cant remember) is different not because of its architecture, but the way nature destroyed what men made. The trees grew and they kept on growing since the 1400’s. The trees that grew in the soil were fine but then some started to grow on the roof and the roots give the structure its uniqueness. It rains and it is really rains in the wet season. The leaves from the trees after drying fell on the roof, which after decomposing, became the fertiliser. The seeds came later and took to becoming plants getting their water from the moss growing on the roof. The plant grew and when the moss was insufficient to provide the moisture, the roots reached for all the places they could suck water from, even if it meant to drop down 10 feet into the soil.

The roots reaching for the ground 

As a group and even as an individual this was my first time in Siem Reap. With the mad rush of tourists I might not want to promote it in the future. Irrespective what I think, everyone wants to strike Angkor off their ‘to visit’ list, and tourists (especially westerners) will continue to flock to Cambodia and in it Angkor Wat. With a $20 entry fee and at minimum of 4 - 5 thousand daily visitors the place has its economy intact for another 40 years.

But it is something that happened 40 years back, that caught my attention. I had  heard about the Khmer rouge in the same context as Hitler or the Bosnian war. We cant merit the ill fame of a human calamity by the number of lives lost. But if we have to arrange in descending order the ruthlessness of humans towards other human beings with the objective to achieve total control over a piece of land, Cambodia, and what happened here between 1975 and 1978 would certainly be in the top 5 human tragedies on our planet. 

I never intended to visit this part of the world and nor were / are the media channels interested in covering what happened in Cambodia in the dark years. So, I only heard of the full extent of the Khmer Rouge horror when I came to Siem Reap. 

What happens when a totalitarian regime dictates all the educated city dwellers to go and work in forced labour on rice fields? Then adding to that the village folk between the age of 15 - 20 yrs, are handed over the reign of the capital Phnom Phen, which they hold firm with a machine gun. 

Well what happens is 2 million people disappearing in 3 years from a population of 9 million. The Vietnamese then ruled the country for another 6 years, wiping out a further one million. The Berlin wall fell in 1989 and with it communism vanished from Europe. But it took another 20 for communism to leave Cambodia. 

Cambodia slowly opened for tourism in 1995. Angkor Wat became a worldwide sensation. From the greatness  of Angkor in the 1100’s to the popularity which it enjoys today Angkor Wat seems to have come a full circle. Much like the local people which are called the Khmer who are once again smiling with tourism feeding everyone. 

Angkor at 1700 hours