Last night, we joined the party outside our door, walking through beer corner until we could find 2 available stools to sit and have a beer and people watch.
Could not understand a word spoken around us, but it was clear everyone was having a good time. We were still fighting off the jet lag, though, so we left the party early while it was still going strong and went to bed. Sadly, we still didn’t catch up on sleep, as we woke up at 5am to water pouring down through a vent in our bathroom.
That meant we got an early start on the day, though, so we headed out to find somewhere to drink some iced Vietnamese coffee. During our walk, we passed a pretty park, and we saw locals doing their morning Tai Chi or lining up for their morning pho.
I wore my new dress which I bought from a girl who told me I was “so beautiful” which is a surefire way to win over my business (and it was like $6).
Once we felt more alive, we walked down to the French Quarter to visit the Vietnamese Women’s museum.
Right outside the museum was a photo exhibit by Rehahn Photography, showing older women of Vietnamese ethnic minorities, and the photos were absolutely stunning. I was in love with all of them.
The museum itself had 4 floors with different focuses, the first being marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth. We looked through images, read about the various marriage rituals of the different ethnic minorities, examined tools involved in childbirth, saw examples of the gifts and exchange involved in marriages, and watched a couple videos.
The next floor was more about Vietnamese women’s role in family life, mostly centered around the roles they had in keeping a home and tending to the agriculture.
We continued up to learn about various historical women, mostly about the women involved in the Vietnam/American War. It was fascinating reading the stories from a northern Vietnamese perspective. The verbiage was clearly different than what we would see in a museum in America, and it was weird to see the propaganda from the other side, but it was mostly just fascinating reading about all these women that were so involved in the war.
The final floor was centered around fashion. Probably the most interesting was seeing images of the various teeth lacquering strategies, women smiline with black or red or green teeth, but the dress exhibits were lovely. Much of the traditional dress is quite beautiful.
Afterward, we caught an Uber which was a rather harrowing experience. Trying to walk through the streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter feels like a dangerous feat, but sitting in a car that’s maneuvering through scooters and pedestrians while the driver is watching a movie on his phone is a different level. But we made it safely to the Temple of Literature.
The Temple of Literature is a Confucian temple and was Vietnam’s first national university.
The architecture, layout, and statues were really quite pretty and different than anything I’ve seen before.
There were also TONS of people there. Mostly families or friends or couples like us wandering through taking pictures and selfies. Some worshipers. But also classes in their graduation gowns and wedding parties. Cameras and cell phone cameras EVERYWHERE.
We started walking back through the grounds to leave when a few girls ran up to me, holding their cell phones up and saying “picture.” I thought they wanted me to take their picture, but nope, they wanted to take a selfie with me. Who knows.
We headed to a Banh Mi stand that had some vegetarian banh mi sandwiches available for lunch. Somehow it was the only local Vietnamese restaurant around that had primarily Westerners at it. I told Anthony they were probably all vegetarians like me that Googled what restaurants they could eat at.
After food and some rest back at the house, we ventured back out into the world. We walked back to Hoan Kiem Lake, which seems to be our favorite spot in Hanoi, to sit outside at a fancy restaurant and drink a milkshake. Because I’m 7. But also because I’ve come down with a cold and ice cream sounded good for my sore throat.
Because of said cold, we found a pharmacy after getting a little lost in some alleys, and since I couldn’t read what any of the medicine was, I asked the lady working there if there was any cold medicine. I sure hope she understood me because she handed me some medicine which I then bought.
It wasn’t quite supper time yet, but we were hungry and saw a vegan restaurant, so we decided it was close enough. It certainly wasn’t Vietnamese food (though it did have a slight Vietnamese flare to it) but it was delicious and we got to sit on a patio upstairs and watch the crazy Hanoi life below us.
On our way back, we stopped in some art galleries. The art is absolutely gorgeous. Giant, colorful images of Vietnamese life. We ended up purchasing a small painting for $10. We probably could have bartered, but at that price, what’s the point? Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it before it got all wrapped up.
Once we got back to Beer Corner, we decided to grab a stool and watch as the local bars and restaurants prepared for another crazy night there.
We need to wake up super early tomorrow to catch a 6am train, so we came back to the house early to get everything ready and get to bed.
