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.