hanoi fr des tin asian fr chris cox feb2010

8/9/2019 HANOI Fr Des Tin Asian Fr Chris Cox Feb2010

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BY CHRISTOPHER R. COXPHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTIN WESTLAKE

WHATS THE RUSH?

Afternoon trafficin Hanois vibrantOld Quarter.Opposite: ScenicHoan Kiem Lakeis the focal pointof city life. 9

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2010 DESTINASIA

STRIDING CONFIDENTLY INTO THE 21ST CENTURY, HANOI REMAINS A COMMUNITYANCHORED TO ITS PAST, HARBORING A RICH ARTISANAL HERITAGE AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE. ANDTHERES NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO VISIT; AFTER ALL, ITS NOT EVERY YEAR THAT A

CITY CELEBRATESITS 1,000TH ANNIVERSARY


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MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HANOIwere shaped while on assignment in 1992 for an Americannewspaper. Back then, the government imposed a nightly 10oclock curfew across the capital, by which time my prison-likehostel was in lockdown mode. Desperate to make an after-hoursdeadline, I went over the compounds two-meter wall one nightand skulked though the shadows up Ngo Quyen Street to theHotel Metropole. Save for a lone, squeaking cyclo pedicab, it wasdead quiet.

In that pre-Internet age, the grand old colonial-era Metropolewas the only place in the cityindeed in all of northern Vietnamwith an international fax machine. This was also the pre-MasterCard age in the socialist republic, so I forked over US$50in cash to the hotels conciergethe going rate to transmit twohandwritten pagesand thought to myself: Theres no capitalistquite like a Commu nist.

Flash forward to 2010, and Hanoi is a city transformed. Cyclos

have been largely replaced by fleets of air-conditioned taxicabs.Fax machines still exist, though even the humblest guesthousehas Wi-Fi. The range of bars and restaurantseverything fromnouvelle Vietnamese to gourmet fusion and authentic tapashasexpanded dramatically, as have lodging options. The Metropole,now run by the Accor group under its luxury Sofitel Legendbrand, has grown nearly four-fold, to 364 rooms; a lavish new

InterContinental overlooks the 800-year-oldGolden Lotus Pagoda from its perch on Ho Tay,the citys largest lake; and th eres even a sleek,

boutique-style property, the Mvenpick Hotel Hanoi, catering tobusiness-minded travelers.

Theres no question the capital is on the go: a recent study byPricewaterhouseCoopers predicts Hanoi will have the worldshighest average growth among urban economies from 2008 to2025. Thats a startling forecast, particularly for a place that isntexactly a start-up; this year, Hanoi will celebrate its founding1,000 years ago, when Emperor Ly Thai To established his newcapital along the banks of the Red River. And even as the city

plunges headlong into the 21st century, its past remains palpableand venerated, from the 11th-century Temple of Literature,which trained the nations elite for nearly 900 years, to the giantstone mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, who founded the VietnameseCommunist Party and served as president of the DemocraticRepublic of Vietnam (or North Vietnam) from 1945 un til hisdeath in 1969.

Hanoi is still a very different place from Ho Chi Minhsnamesake southern citythe former Saigonwhich emergedafter reunification in 1975 as the nations unabashed commercial

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TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

Above, from left:Motoring past the ArtDecostyle State Bank ofVietnam; an Old Quarterfruit seller. Opposite:Sightseers queuing in

front of the enormousstone mausoleum ofHo Chi Minh, built in1975 to entomb theglass-encasedremains of the formerVietnamese leader.


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PAST AND PRESENT

Clockwise from top left:A doorman at the grandold Metropole hotel; thefacade of the hotelsoriginal 1901 wing; buncha(grilled pork patties

with rice noodles) at anOld Quarter eatery;hanging canvases at thewell-curated ApricotGallery; pictures of HoChi Minh, a ubiquitoussouvenir item.

HANOI VIGNETTES Clockwisefrom top left: TheMetropoles Indochine-styled Graham Greenesuite; Nguyen My GiangHuong outside her GreenTangerine bistro; river

fish for sale near theLong Bien Bridge; a viewacross Hoan Kiem Laketo the capitals CentralPost Office; cooking upstreet food in the OldQuarter.


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and entertainment center. Jeff Richardson,an American whos lived in the capitalsince 1993, offers a familial Vietnameseanalogy to explain the distinction: HoChi Minh C ity is the naughty youngersister who wants to break out, who wearsrevealing clothes on the street. Hanoi isthe older sister, who has to keep order inthe house.

Certainly, there is a modicum of orderin H anoi. The demolition-derby standardsof Ho Chi Minh Citys trafficnot tomention the aggressive tactics of its street

urchins and vendorsrarely apply here.There is also no equivalent to rollickingSaigonese nightlife; here, the clubs andpubs are typically shuttered by midnight.Hanois crowded sidewalks hold open-airmarkets, phostands, and beer stalls wellinto the evening, but by dawn thepavements have been cleared to serve asearly-morning badminton courts.

The pace of development here isdifferent than in Ho Chi Minh City, saysRichardson. This place still has its soul.

M O R N I N G S I N H AN O Iare at their most magical along willow-rimmed H oan Kiem Lake, which attractsscores of joggers as well as elderly tai chienthusiasts who go through their motionsas the mist lifts on the iconic TortoiseTower and an islet anchored by the NgocSon Temple. The lake takes its name,which means Restored Sword, from anArthurian-style legend about the 15th-century emperor Le Loi, to whom afisherman gave a magical weapon that heused to drive Chinese invaders fromVietnam.

This beloved story is reenacted at thenearby Thang Long Water PuppetTheatre, where performers keep alive amillennium-old art form that features elaborate, articulated fig-wood marionettes. They recount Le Lois victory and subsequentboat trip on the lake, where a golden turtle surfaced and requestedthe sword. Le Loi relinquished the blade, which the turtle thencarried into the watery depths.

A tall tale? Well, the Ngoc Son pagoda displays the stuffedremains of an enormous, 250-kilogram tortoise captured (sword-

free) in the murky lake in 1968, a time when fighting against theSouth Vietnamese and their American allies had reached a feverpitch. Biologists estimated the animal to be approximately 500years old, which dovetailed nicely with the Le Loi story. Asingleliving specimen, identified as the giant soft-shell turtle (Rafetusswinhoei), one of the worlds most critically endangered reptiles, isstill periodically sighted in Hoan Kiem Lake, often at auspicioustimes, as when Hanoi hosted the 2006 APEC summit.

Luckyturtlesaside,the citysh eartbeats strongest in the teemingOld Quarter, the nations oldest urban area and one of the most

densely populated neighborhoods in Southeast Asia. Lying justnorth of Hoan Kiem Lake, each of its three dozen streets was onceoccupied by a separate artisans guild specializing in a particularproduct: Hang Bac was the street of silversmiths, while Hang Gaidealt in silk and Hang Ma sold votive papers. Eight centuries laterthis mercantile maze is still dominated by family-run businessesthatconcentrateon a single trade:HangGai remainsthe place for silk, while Hang Mam, originallyknown forits pickled fish, nowtrafficsin tombstones.

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OLD QUARTER OASIS Above:Occupying a lovinglyrestored 1928 tube houseon Hang Be Streetabustling Old Quarter lanethat was once home to aguild of bamboo raft

makersGreen Tangerinmakes a pleasant stopfor French-accentedfusion fare. Opposite:The Red River, flowingunder the Chuong DuonBridge at dusk.


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Walk the warren of crowded streets lined with tube housesresidences notable for their long, lean layouts (they were builtat a time when property taxes were based on street frontage)interspersed with courtyards and atriaand youll sense theenergetic mix of community and commerce. This is the old Asiathats largely vanished from the rest of the regions major cities,a bustling streetscape where everyones lives and livelihoods areinextricably linked and spill out onto overflowing sidewalks andnarrow lanes.

Everyone knows each other very well here, says Duong ThuNga, a graphic designer who grew up on Hang Dong Street. Itsa very small world.

Aworld at once m edieval and modern: tinsmiths hammer andsolder sheets of metal on Hang Thiec Street while wizenedwomen shoulder wooden yokes groaning under the weight of ripebananas and papaya, and hi-so matrons emerge from late-modelBMWs and Audis to shop for tailor-made shoes and dresses.

Think of a producta shirt, a mailbox, a musical instrument, achopand theres someone within this one-kilometer-square hiveof humanity who will handcraft the item while you wait.

The O ld Quarter is also the hub of a daily Hanoi ritual, biahoi. Come 5 p.m., folks knock off work and grab a street-sideplastic stool for a glass or three of fresh-brewed draft beer that sellsfor just pennies a serving. At the center of this beer-fest is Bia Hoi

Corner, the intersection of Ta Hien and LuongNgoc Quyen streets, where all four corners arecrowded with thirsty Vietnamese and travelers

toasting their budget-beer success.Thankfully for teetotalers, the French also endowed Hanoi

with a fine-ground coffee culture. There are funky hangoutsgalore, including Caf Lam on the eastern edge of the OldQuarter, a fourth-generation family business that steamed its firstca phein 1954. Caf Lam will never be mistaken for a Starbucks:itschild-sizedplasticstoolsand tinywooden tablessharefloor spacewith a half-dozen motor scooters, while the walls are covered withpaintings by generations of starving artists who traded landscapes

for their lattes.True to its guild-age ethos, the Old Quarter is home as well to

hole-in-the-wall eateries that specialize in a single dish. Just upNguyen Huu Huan Street from Caf Lam, Xoi Yen has a city-wide reputation for its xoisticky rice steamed with coconut milkand topped with shavings of mung-bean cake, sun-dried sausage,and shredded pork. Farther west on Duong Thanh Street, severalplacesconcentrateon chaca, a typeof catfishgrilled withturmericand presented tableside in a skillet to be stir-fried alongside freshdill and scallions, and then placed over ( Continued on page120)


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VIETNAM EASE Above, fromleft: By day, the willow-shaded banks of HoanKiem Lake attract tai chienthusiasts, joggers,and people who simplywant to relax and take in

the scenery; Sovietsymbolism makes for animposing entry to theHo Chi Minh Museum.Opposite: Fruit sellerschatting in front of theLy Quoc Su pagoda.


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(Continued from page104) rice noodles

with mint, cilantro, pungent nuoc mamfish sauce, chilies, and skinned peanuts.While Saigon-centric fare is the default

setting for most Vietnamese restaurantsoverseas (the Vietnamese diaspora isoverwhelmingly comprised of refugeeswho fled the south during the SecondIndochina War), Hanoi residents considertheir cuisine far more sophisticated andsubtle than the sweeter entrees of Ho Ch iMinh City, or even the spicy, nouvelle-portioned fare of Hue, which served asthe 19th-century capital of the Nguyendynasty.

It is widely held that Vietnams signaturedish, hearty pho soup, was perfected inHanoi. Chef Didier C orlou, a native ofBrittany whos lived in Hanoi since 1992and owns La Verticale restaurant, terms ita soup, a cuisine, an art, an identity.Here, pho is all about the rich, savorystocka long-simmering broth of beefbones spiced with a hint of star anise,ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom, servedwith rice noodles and a few wafer-thinslices of beef.

When it comes to food, Hanoians arevery demanding, relates Stephane Yvin,who, along with his Hanoi-born wife,Huong, a third-generation restaurateur,operatesthe well-regarded Green Tangerinebistro. Set in a lovingly restored 1928 OldQuarter tube h ouse, the restaurant dishesup a fusion of E ast-meets-West flavors, likeduck encrusted with tia to(shiso leaf)herbs and a sauce of eggplant, saffron, andfermented rice wine. Theres just a lot

more gastronomy here than in Saigon,Yvin says.

WHEN I ASK LOCALS to name theirfavorite single spot in the city, invariably I

receive the same answer: Van Mieu, theTemple of Literature.

Its the feeling I get when Im there,says Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, who works at aHanoi-based travel company calledFootprint. Hanoi is a very busy city, butyou feel different when you enter VanMieu.

Beyond a great portico one kilometerwest of Hoan Kiem Lake in the Dong Dadistrict, I enter a traffic-free oasis of walled

courtyards, enormous tamarind trees,placid lotus-filled pools, and Chinese-styletile-roofed sanctuaries. The Temple ofLiterature was established by Emperor LyThanh Tong,grandson of the citysfounder,in 1070a time when most of Europewas still foundering in the Dark Agesasthe nations first university, dedicated tothe the training of men of talent.

Promising Confucian scholars andcourt mandarins from across the countryattended Van Mieu for three years ofrigorous study in literature, poetry, andpenmanship. As if to underscoreVietnamese reverence for education andscholarship, a pair of stone stelae outsidethe main gates instructed everyone, eventhe emperor, to dismount their h orsesbefore entering the compound. Inside, thenames of more than 1,300 students whopassed the rigorous exam from 1442 until1779 were inscribed on more slabs ofstone, along with the maxim: Virtuousand talented men are state-sustainingelements.

Eighty-two of these tablets survive andrest on the backs of stone tortoises, asymbol of wisdom and longevity, flankingthe Well of Heavenly Clarity. When Iexamine the statues more closely, I seethat their heads have been worn smooth;continuing a centuries-old practice, localstudents rub them before tests for goodluck. But hopeful bureaucrat-poets nolonger follow the tradition: the Temple ofLiterature conductedits lastexamsin 1919.

Because of northern Vietnams

convoluted, contentious pastperiodicoccupation by the Chinese, a successionof bloody struggles with the Mongols, theCham, and, more recently, the French,the Americans, and their own southerncousinsthe weight of history hangs heavyover Hanoi.

The N ational Museum of VietnameseHistory is housed inside one of the loveliestbuildings in all of Southeast Asia, an

ocher-hued Indochineconfection designedby French architect Ernest Hbrard. Builtin 1932 for the cole Franaise dExtrme-Orien t, it now holds 3,000 yearsworth ofartifacts, from ancient stone tools andbronze drums to sumptuous Nguyendynasty robes and the original 1945 scorefor March to the Front, Vietnamsnational anthem. And what looks to benothing more than crumbling old logs areactually evidence of Vietnams greatest

naval triumph: ironwood stakes that weredriven into the bottom of the Bach DangRiver in 1288 to trap and destroy aMongol invasion fleet on a falling tide.

History is usually written by the victors,and Hanoi is no different. While two-thirdsof Hoa Lo Prison (the infamous HanoiHilton) was demolished in 1993 for theconstruction of a high-rise apartmentcomplex, its remaining cells and dungeonswere preserved as a small museum. Thebulk of the exhibits (iron fetters, a razor-sharp guillotine) recount the cruelty ofFrench jailers during the colonial era,though a few rooms are devoted to theSecond Indochina War, when the facilityheld and tortured American prisoners ofwar. Among the artifacts are propagandaphotographs of POWs preparing aChristmas dinner and Hanoi residentssaving an American fighter pilot shotdown over Truc Bach Lake in 1967. Thatflier was John McCain, the 2008Republican presidential hopeful, whowould endure more than five long, brutalyears at Hoa Lo, where his helmet andflight suit are now displayed.

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French architecture in theHoan Kiem district.


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Another day I wander upvilla-lined Dien Bien PhuStreet, past the turret-like FlagTower to the enormousmausoleum that holds theglass-encased remains of HoChi M inh, preserved by thesame Russian experts whoembalmed Vladimir Lenin.Uncle Ho, who had requestedhis ashes be scattered across

Vietnam, would probablyhave blanched at the heroworship. His own modestlifestyle is on view behind thenearby Presidential Palace, aRenaissance-style pile thatonce served as the headquartersof the governor-general ofFrench Indochina. Refusingto occupy such an ornatebuilding, Ho Chi Minh livedinstead in a simple stiltedhouse overlooking a smallpond on the mansionsgrounds. The only luxuriesseem to have been threetelephones and an air-raidbunker built into a small knolland blanketed with bananatrees. Its difficult to imaginewhat the ascetic leader wouldnow think of this area, apopular tourist attractionsurrounded by cafs, ATMs,and carts selling Pepsi andknock-off Vietnamese Armypith helmets.

Having tired of sightseeing,I return to the seductive,sinuous streets and sensoryoverload of the Old Quarter.A few glasses of bia hoi later, Ifind myself teetering atop atiny stool along Nguyen HuuHuan Street while Tran HopLan prepares me a steamingbowl of xoi. For the past

decade, Lan and her hu sbandhave worked this buckledpavement, serving as many as 100 dinersa night at their impromptu caf. There arestools, a piece of plywood laden with

metal rice pots and plastic containers oftoppings, even a small floor fan andfluorescent light, which Lan connects toan electrical outlet attached to a tree.

Is that modern or what? asks thefiftysomething cook proudly. I turn it offwhen the rain comes.

I wonder aloud where she gets the

electricity, imagining she has illegallytapped into the overhead power lines. Noway, Lan responds, as if to say: This isntSaigon. She points up the street; she runsa line all the way from her home, 100meters away. And I think to myself:Theres no entrepreneur quite like aHanoian.

GETTING THERE

Hanois Noi Bai International

Airport is well connected tomajor Asian cities via Vietnam

Airlines (vietnamairlines.com ),

which also offers multiple dailyflightsto thecapitalfromHo Chi

Minh City. Singapore Airlines

(singaporeair.com ) and budget

carrier Tiger Airways (tigerairways.com) operate regular

services from Singapore, whileCathay Pacific (cathaypacific

.com) flies from Hong Kong.

WHEN TO GO

The best mix of clear skies and

pleasant temperatures is

springtime, from March throughMay. Bear in mind that the

entire country goes on holiday

for Tet, the Vietnamese NewYear, which this year begins on

February 14.

WHERE TO STAY

The landmark Sofitel LegendMetropole Hanoi (15 NgoQuyen St.; 84-4/3826-6919;

softel.com; doubles from

US$195) has served as Hanois

most prestigious hotel since1901, attracting travelers of all

stripes, from heads of state to

Hollywood A-listers. Following a

2008 expansion, it now has364 rooms; the new wing

features a business center, a

library, and 24-hour butlerservice, while quarters in the

original Colonial Wing score

high for ambience. Theres alsoan authentic French patisserie

and a brand-new spa.

The main draw at the two-year-old InterContinental Hanoi

Westlake (1A Nghi Tam; 84-4/

270-8888; intercontinental

.com; doubles from US$184)is the scenery: most rooms

overlook Hanois Ho Tay (West

Lake) and the Golden LotusPagoda. Back in the center of

town, the Mvenpick HotelHanoi (83A Ly Thuong Kiet

St.; 84-4/3822-2800;

moevenpick-hotels.com;doubles from $130) features aresidential feel and all the

amenities to satisfy executive

travelers. Located on Hanoistrendiest retail street, the 26-

room Church Hotel (9 Nha ThoSt.; 84-4/3928-8118; church

hotel.com.vn; doubles from

US$57) lives up to its boutique

billing, while the tiny GreenMango (18 Hang Quat St.; 84-

4/3928-9916; greenmango.vn;

doublesfrom US$55) offers the

Old Quarters most stylish stay.

WHERE TO EAT

As Vietnams political andartistic center, Hanoi has

a diverse dining scene.

Two of the finestrestaurants, Didier

Corlous La Verticale

(19 Ngo Van So St.; 84-

4/3944-6317) and OldQuarter gem Green

Tangerine (48 Hang BeSt.; 84-4/3825-1286)fuse Vietnamese and

Continental flavors. The

Metropoles elegantSpices Garden offers

cooking classes and a

Hanoi street-food buffet,

while innovative Europeancomfort food is the hallmark of

the 10-table La (25 Ly Quoc SuSt.; 84-4/3928-8933).

Among the best of the Old

Quarters single-dish restaurants

are Cha Ca Thang Long (31

Duong Thanh St.; 84-4/3824-

5115), where the specialty is

catfish, and Xoi Yen (35B

Nguyen Huu Huan St.; 84-4/

3926-3427), for its hearty

steamed-rice dish. Just down

the street is Caf Lam (60Nguyen Huu Huan St.; 84-4/

3824-5940), one of Hanois

most venerated java joints.

WHAT TO DO

The capital has a wealth ofcultural institutions, but its

greatest attraction may be the

medieval Old Quarter. Plan tospend at least a few hours

wandering the warren of streets;

a fineexample ofa tube houseis 87 Ma May, now restored as

a small museum. The ThangLong Water Puppet Theatre

(57 Dinh Tien Hoang St.) isgood, hokey fun, even if you

dont speak Vietnamese, while

the wondrous architecture isreason enough to visit the

NationalMuseum of Vietnamese

History (1 Trang Tien St.). Ashort taxi ride west are the

must-see Temple of Literature

(Van Mieu and Quoc Tu Giam

Sts.) and the Ba Dinh district

complex holding Ho Chi MinhsMausoleum, his house, and theOne Pillar Pagoda. Military-

history buffs will want to inspectHoa Lo Prison (1 Hoa Lo St.)

and the Military History

Museum (28A Dien Bien Phu

St.), where artifacts include a

French cannon captured atDien Bien Bhu and a talismanic

T-54B tank, which crashed

through the gates of thePresidential Palace during North

Vietnams triumphant April

1975 conquest of Saigon. CRC

Fact File

Hanoi


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200m

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CHINA

Ho ChiMinh City

Hanoi

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Thailand

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THAILAND

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