Mar 1, 2024

Communism, capitalism blend easily in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi

 

Making a delivery in Hanoi's Old Quarter

Anyone planning a trip to Vietnam faces a dilemma when it comes to bookending a visit to both Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the South and Hanoi in the North.

At war with each other in the mid- 1970s, the Communist North and American-influenced South reunited into one country since 1976. They are as different climate-wise as they are culturally.

While the South enjoys 95 degree beach weather this time of year, it's winter in the North, with  temps often no higher than mid-50s.

Coming off a trip to Cambodia where the weather matches that of South Vietnam, it would have made more sense from a packing standpoint to spend a few days at the end of our trip in Ho Chi Minh City.

But I’ve always favored less sophisticated Hanoi with its peaceful lakes and lively Old Quarter known for its warren of 36 streets, each belonging to a different trade guild in the 15th century. The 21st century version has vendors selling funeral supplies and frying fish on the street corners; cafes dispensing egg coffee; travel agencies selling tours; and motor bikes whizzing by, piled high with everything from palm trees to mattresses. 




Planning ahead for a 40-degree temperature drop, we packed light jackets, fleece vests and a few long-sleeve shirts in the bottom of our carry-ons, Bundled up, we set out exploring to see how the city has changed since we were here 17 years ago.

Motor scooters still rule, but there are more cars now and only a few bicycles. A few streets have lights and crosswalks, but for the most part pedestrians have to look for breaks in on-coming traffic, then rely on scooters and cars to steer around them. The No. 1 rule: Once you start to cross, do not hesitate, stop or turn back.

Lyna near the Pomelo tree in Hanoi's White Horse Temple

Reminding us of this on our first day out was delightful, Lyna, 20, a student guide for Hanoi Free Walking Tours. Her technique for crossing into on-coming traffic was simply to stick out her hand as if she were a crossing guard. 

There are organizations that run free walking tours in cities worldwide, but the tours are usually with a group.  Hanoi Free Walking Tours operates a little differently in that you get a personal guide who shows up at your hotel at an appointed time for a three-hour walk. Tipping is expected, of course, but the amount is up to you. What I like most about these tours is the opportunity to connect one-on-one with a local. 

As we walked through one of the temples decorated for the Lunar New Year, Lyna pointed out the pomelo trees bearing yellow fruit that resemble giant grapefruits. Pomelos are believed to bring families good luck. She showed us a photo of the stairs in her parents' home stacked floor to ceiling with pomelos, all of which have to be eaten before she returned to the city after the holiday.

Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism mix with other beliefs in Vietnamese culture. People call on the good graces of gods and spirits at Chinese-style temples built before Vietnam became independent of China in the 11th century. Offerings on the alters  include specially prepared foods, fruit,  tins of cookies, even cans of beer.

A shrine in our hotel lobby decorated with Lunar New Year offerings

Communism and capitalism blend easily. A post-Vietnam War baby boom and a fast-paced, free-market economy have combined to make Hanoi one of Asia’s best values.

Family enjoying a sidewalk dinner

Vietnamese like to dine on the sidewalk while sitting on little plastic stools. A meal for two there might cost a dollar or two compared to around $12-$15 at a small restaurant, or around $30 at a high-end rooftop hotel dining room. Hotels, priced at anywhere between $60 and $100 for nice rooms, come with buffet breakfasts, and in the case of the San Grand Hotel where we stayed, a complimentary afternoon tea on the top floor overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake, a fresh water lake in the middle of the city.

Breakfast buffet at the San Grand Hotel 

 
Hoan Kiem Lake and the Red (Huc) Bridge connecting to the Jade Mountain Temple. 

Taking the chill off of winter days are coffee shops on every corner. Some are small, with a few plastic stools out front; others are more elaborate. Several chains, such as All Day, rival Starbucks with cozy interiors and an array of hot and cold coffee drinks and smoothies. Our favorite was Hanoi Coffee Culture where we tried our first egg coffee.

Culture Cafe

Egg coffee

Egg coffee is a mixture of whipped egg yoke, sweetened condensed milk and strong coffee - like crème brûlée in a cup. It was invented by the French in the 1940s when milk was scarce. We became addicted and had one every day.

Most visitors to Hanoi leave the city at some point for a cruise in Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gulf of Tonkin. We skipped this the last time we where due to lack of time. Going to Ha Long Bay this time was one of our main reasons for returning. 

The bay is known for its limestone pillars, islands and a network of caves, some occupied by fishermen and their families until the 1990s. But overtourism has had its effects. Complaints about crowds and loud partying spoiling the serenity of the experience prompted us to look into overnight trips offered by Indochina Junk. It was the first company licensed to travel further away into Bai Tu Long Bay, an area with similar scenery but fewer boats.

The Dragon Legend

It’s important to pick a Ha Long Bay cruise carefully to avoid feeling ripped off or disappointed. Indochina Junk delivered as promised. Dinner our first night on the top deck was in total silence and darkness with only four other boats anchored around us. Our boat was the 25-cabin Dragon Legend with spacious rooms, indoor and outdoor dining areas and a small pool. 

Cruising Bai Tu Long Bay

The $235 per person price was a little steeper than some other options, but it included transportation to and from Hanoi (three hours); all meals; a cave tour; kayaking; and a visit to a floating fishing village by rowboat. 

Exploring in a rowboat 

Especially cool was an hour‘s ride around the island and under the rocks in a rowboat rowed by a villager from a floating fishing village. After lunch the first day, the ship‘s tender pulled into shore near the entrance of Thien Canh Cave, one of a network of caves and grottoes created when wind, waves and rain eroded the rocks. 

Inside Thien Canh Cave 

Reaching the inside of the cave required a climb up a steep set of stairs carved into a hillside, something that would probably be off-limits in the U.S. due to safety hazards. Once inside, we were treated to a stunning display of stalactites and stalagmites. 

Making Banh Xeo onboard

Indochina Junk didn't fill our onboard time with hokey activities as some of companies apparently do. Much appreciated was a short cooking class on how to make Banh Xeo, a sizzling crepe stuffed with veggies or shrimp and served with piles of fresh herbs. 

Feb 25, 2024

Cooking with Mandy: A visit to an urban farming village outside of Hanoi

 

These hats are not a tourist gimmick. Vietnamese wear the non la (conical hat) to protect them from sun or rain  

Readers of this blog know I‘m a fan of eatwith.com, the Airbnb of dining which connects travelers with locals who host dinners in their homes. My husband, Tom, and I have lasting memories of spending evenings with families in France, Italy, Spain and Mexico, but when I began looking for a similar opportunity in Hanoi, I assumed language and cultural barriers would limit the chances for a connection. 

Then I spotted a listing for a “Hanoi Farm Tour and Cooking Class with Local Family.” The host, English-speaking Mandy, 38, proposed a visit to a rural community 12 miles out of the city center where her husband’s family has farmed for generations. Guests were invited to collaborate with her on a menu, visit the local market and wander through the fields of her farm and other neighboring farms. Then it was back to her house to help prepare a four-course meal and have lunch, all included in the $35 per person price. 

Several WhatsApp messages later to confirm details and the location for a Grab (like Uber) taxi from our hotel in Hanoi, we met Mandy outside the local temple on a rainy morning in the village of Song Phuong. She gave us each one of the conical hats Vietnamese wear to protect themselves from sun and rain. As we began our walk through the Vang market, it became apparent why Song Phuong is called “Vegetable Village,” for its acres of fertile farm land and large wholesale market that supplies vendors and restaurants in Hanoi daily with fresh produce and meats. 

Farmers, many of them carrying their produce, ducks and live chickens to the market in baskets attached to bicycles, show up at 1 a.m. so wholesale buyers can make it back to Hanoi in time to stock the stalls of early-morning street markets and supply restaurants and hotels.

Mandy and her husband, an auto mechanic, are the first generation in their families not farm for a living. She worked in tourism until starting her tours seven years ago. He is an auto mechanic, but his parents still work the family land, harvesting at midnight, and selling guavas, kohlrabi, cauliflower and whatever else is in season to the wholesalers.

Mandy in a cauliflower patch

“I love cooking,” she explained, and when I moved here (after getting married), and saw the beautiful farms, I wanted to find a way to show people where the food comes from.” Her in-laws at first weren’t sold on the idea of bringing in tourists, but they have come around as have the local farmers who seem to enjoy meeting visitors 

By the time we arrived at the market at 9:30 a.m., the wholesale buyers were gone, and the vendors were selling what was left to retail customers. The woman below proudly showed us her freshly-killed chickens even though we were unlikely buyers.



This woman was selling pumpkin leaves and stems used in many Vietnamese dishes. The pumpkins themselves are small, and rarely eaten. Pumpkin soup, which appears on many restaurant menus, is for tourists.


Banana are grown and sold in bunches. No one buys just one 

Vietnam is a communist country, and any man, woman or child born before 1991 was entitled to 360 square meters of land. Mandy‘s parents as well as her husband‘s mother and father encouraged them to go to school,  telling them that if they studied hard, they could say “goodbye to 360 square meters,” meaning they could have the chance to establish careers in fields of their choosing.


Mandy and her daughter, Anh Thu, 9, show us how to prepare stuffing for steamed cabbage rolls

Their education has enabled them to build a comfortable life for themselves and their three daughters, ages 2,9 and 12. They live in a newly-built four-story house next door to where his parents live. They have two motorcycles which they use for everyday transportation and sometimes for taking the whole family to visit her parents who live 60 miles away.

Sitting at her kitchen table with knives and cutting boards, we chopped bunches of herbs, shredded carrots, green mangos, cucumbers and jicama for a salad; sliced mushrooms for a dish of pork and shiitakes in steamed cabbage leaves; learned to wrap spring rolls in rice paper; and helped prepared a pork meatball soup with rice noodles, shallots, tomatoes and taro stems.

Pork meatball soup



Frying spring rolls with chopsticks


Tom slicing mushrooms

“Smaller, smaller,” Mandy would say as we sliced mushrooms and spring onions. She and her daughter, Mai, 12, had to patch up our spring rolls before frying them in oil, but with much of the prep work done by them in advance, it wasn‘t  long before our meal was ready. 

Our four dishes ready to eat


We sat around the table, talking and eating until early afternoon, sharing stories about how we met our spouses (she and her husband in English class and Tom and I in a folk signing group). While we waited for our taxi back to Hanoi, she showed us her garden. She and her husband are a long way from retiring, but  when they do, they hope to farm, not for survival but for the pure joy of growing what they eat.

Visitors can book a farm tour and cooking class with Mandy (Manh Bui) by e-mailing her at manhfarmandcook@gmail.com, by contacting her on WhatsApp at  0084 0945 265 708, or by booking at eatwith.com or bonappetour.com Payment is by credit card with a liberal cancellation policy. She includes all the recipes and a detailed explanation of ingredients in a follow-up note after the visits.

Feb 18, 2024

Phnom Penh: A City of Surprises

 

A gilded reclining Buddha in Phnom Penh

What kind of hotel does $97 a night buy in the U.S. or Europe? In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, it buys a comfortable suite at the Pavilion Hotel, with gardens, two pools, a spa and outdoor restaurant serving $6 cocktails and an unlimited breakfast on the outdoor terrace.

The Pavilion  Hotel, five-star service at two-star prices



An isolated and pretentious Western-style resort, you say? Hardly the case, given our next-door neighbors - street food vendors grilling on the side walk, sugar cane juice sellers and Buddhist monks living in a monastery where a giant Buddha reclines in a gilded temple.

A family sets up for the evening dinner rush

When most Americans think of traveling overseas, they think of Europe or Australia. Few think of Southeast Asia, and when they do, it’s the beaches of Thailand or Vietnam that come to mind. Few consider Cambodia, a country bombed by the U.S. during the Vietnam war, and ravaged in the late 1970s by Pol Pot and his Communist Khmer Rouge regime.

While Siem Reap is well-known for its ancient Angkor Wat temples, Phnom Penh is the surprise city. Abandoned when Pol Pot forced city dwellers back to their home villages in the countryside, it‘s now alive with a mixture of modern and French colonial architecture; street food carts and rooftop bars; outdoor markets and modern malls; and massive monasteries where monks in saffron robes welcome visitors. 

Bea Tem, a Buddhist monk at our neighborhood temple

Morning Glory for sale in a street market

With major sightseeing out of the way on a previous trip, we found various ways to explore the street life, either on foot or by taking Grab taxis which work like Uber does in the U.S. Most rides are $1-$4 at most, more comfortable and often less expensive  than Tuk-Tuks, the open-air motorcycles, we use when we were here 19 years ago. 

Especially fun are a variety of three or four-hour tours organized by eager, English-speaking young people. This is where the Tuk-Tuks do come in handy. Because of the 95 degree heat, signing up for a “walking tour” means going with a guide in a Tuk-Tuk with a driver who waits at each stop.

Neara explains the many types of herbs grown in Cambodia

The delightful Yim Neara, 30, was our guide for an early-morning breakfast tour by Turk-Tuk, organized by Portland, Oregon Lost Plate Tours. She arrived at our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and by 9 a.m., three of us were sampling steaming bowls of a pork and vegetable noodle soup at a popular street stall where the owner shows up at 4 a.m. to start the broth.


Key Teay is a popular breakfast food in Cambodia

Most Cambodians go to a stall like this for breakfast rather than prepare the time-consuming dishes at home. The soup is eaten with a spoon and chopsticks, for picking up the thin rice noodles, and accompanied by shot glass-sized cups of coffee laced with sweetened condensed milk.

Market day in Phnom Penh

After several snack stops and a walk through an outdoor urban farmers market, we stopped for banh chao, a thin, crispy pancake made with duck eggs and rice flour and tinted yellow with turmeric.  It’s a savory dish, filled with pork and vegetables, and served with a pile of fresh herbs. One was big enough to share.

Banh Chao for breakfast

Our next “walking tour” by Tuk-Tuk was an architectural tour led by Hun Sokagna, 30,  a university graduate and freelance architect specializing in urban preservation. She is a member of Architecture Cambodia, a non-profit organization of architects and students promoting urban heritage in Cambodia. Customized tours can be organized on request for around $20 a person.  Free walking tour maps are available on the website of Khmer Architecture Tours.


Tuk-Tuks provide easy transport between stops on walking tours


Our guide, Sokagna, going over our plan to see local architecture 

The French colonized Cambodia in 1863, and left 90 years later in 1941 when Prince Norodom Sihanouk became the king. Houses and monuments built by the French remain along with other reminders of the past. Many older people speak French, and  fresh baguettes appear where you might expect rice. 

Our first stop was the main post office, built in the Neo-Classical style by the French in 1885. Like many buildings of that era in Phnom Penh, it was never bombed, but abandoned when  the Khmer Rouge emptied the city, forcing people back to their home villages in the countryside.


The post office building, built by the French in 1885.

Across the street is the building that was once the Grand Hotel, the city’s first five-star hotel built in Phnom Penh in 1910. Abandoned when the Khmer Rouge took over, it and other buildings like it became the property of squatters once the genocide ended and people returned. Complicated laws mean various owners still claim rights to different parts of the same building.


The former Grand Hotel, now part casino, part run-down apartments 

The facade on this side of the old hotel is run down and in need of a paint job. The interior is run down as well although some of the original tile work remains. On the other side of the building is a sleek entrance to a modern Chinese-owned casino and a wine bar. 

Abandoned churches and temples became housing once the Khmer Rouge left. Books in the National Library were burned but the building was left standing, and has been renovated. The iconic Le Royal hotel, built in 1929, was used by the Khmer Rouge to welcome officials from China, then left in ruins. Today it‘s the luxury Singaporean-owned Raffles Hotel. 

Top-notch hotels, drinks and meals come at bargain prices in Cambodia, as they do in many parts of Southeast Asia. Given the country’s poverty and tragic past, travelers need to be sensitive about supporting businesses, restaurants, hotels etc. that promote responsible tourism. Some hotels cater to sex tourists, or do nothing to dissuade the practice, while others, such as the Pavilion, actively discourage it by posting “Child Safe” stickers on their doors.

While wandering towards Phnom Penh‘s Russian Market one day we found Y.E.K. Peace Handicrafts above a convenience store. Walking past shelves lined with boxes of detergent and cereal at Twin Supermarket, we climbed a flight of stairs to find a boutique that provides training and employment for disabled artisans, many of whom are land mine victims.

YEK Hong Tang

YEK Hong Tang, above, is the executive director and also the designer of many items, including these new messenger bags made with reused nylon netting traditionally used for hammocks or mosquito nets. 

Colorful bags made made from upcycled materials

Shops such as Peace Handicrafts can be hard to spot, or even know about. Friendship with Cambodia, the Oregon non-profit we support, publishes an online responsible travel guide on its website with updated suggestions on where to stay, eat, shop and patronize businesses that practice fair trade, and train disadvantaged workers for careers.


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Feb 16, 2024

How education is spawning a new generation of leaders in Cambodia


Sien Sok-Ny takes her children to school on her motorbike

Sponsoring the education of students in foreign countries is a typical way for Americans to make donations in the third-world. You write a check. A photo comes in the mail. Rarely do you learn more, or hear from the organization again until it‘s time to donate again.

That‘s not been the case with our 20-year-long association with Eugene, Oregon-based Friendship with Cambodia to whose scholarship program we’ve been supporting every since we traveled with the founder, Bhavia Wagner, on a tour in 2004. Letters, updates and pictures went back and forth between us and the six students from poor, rural villages we sponsored over the years. This month, on a return trip to Cambodia, we met two in person, and it was a joy to celebrate their success.

Sien Sok-Ny, now 37, pictured above with two of her three children, cried when we walked through the door of Holt International, a non-profit that coordinates the sponsorships for Friendship with Cambodia. She opened a notebook where she kept the letters and photos we exchanged between 2010-14 while she was studying at the National University of Management in Phnom Penh.

She presented us with gifts - a  hand-woven scarf, a table covering and a jar of local honey -from the indigenous (ethnic) communities of women she has involved in supporting since her graduation. While her two boys did homework and played games on a lap top and iPhone, we talked about how her life had progressed from the time she was an only child in a rural, indigenous farming village, needed by her parents to clean the house and feed the cows in the morning, all before hopping on the back of a friend’s bicycle to ride the four miles to high school and back.

 Her 10-year goal after moving to Phnom Penh on the scholarship and graduating, was to have two children, a car and a house. She laughed that she ended up with three children, a motorbike and a rented house, but both she and her husband, a motorcycle repairman with his own business, are doing well enough to send their children to private school. After working for a while as project officer for the Cambodia Indigenous Peoples Organization, she now freelances, volunteers and raises money for Indigenous causes online through a YouTube channel featuring songs she writes and sings with a small group.

In Cambodia with Sien Sok-Ny and her two boys

Earlier in the week, we attended a Sunday morning meeting Holt organizes for the FWC-sponsored students at its offices in Phnom Penh. Gathered in a circle around a projector and screen, 15 students, alumni and staff shared experiences in a mentoring session aimed at helping each other through adjustments from life in rural villages to universities in a big, busy city. FWC’s program includes not only tuition assistance but wrap-around care such as these mentoring meetings, English classes, a small subsidy for living expenses, and encouraging the students to organize community service projects in their home villages. FWC’s focus is mainly on empowering women and girls, but young men are also part of the scholarship program including one we sponsored who went on to become an electrical engineer. 


Royal University graduate Sung Sreyhuon is a social worker 

After practicing their public speaking skills with a presentation on the  increase in traffic accidents in Cambodia, and how to prevent them, several of the students talked about their community service projects. One taught village children how to brush their teeth and wash their hands. Another plans to start a community library. 

Sung Sreyhuon, 22, above, a social worker involved with a  project aimed at preventing the trafficking of young women,  told the students that without her scholarship support, “I would probably be a factory worker right now.”  She emphasized the self-confidence and leadership skills she gained, and encouraged perseverance, sometimes against family pushback when it comes girls  leaving home for school. She recalled her parents telling her,  “You‘re a woman. You need to be a man’s wife.”  Instead, she went onto college and became the first in her family to graduate, an accomplishment for which her parents are now very proud. Like most of the graduates, she helps her family with financial support and provides school supplies and some money for her cousin’s education.


At lunch with the students in Phnom Penh 

The meeting ended with a lunch of Cambodian specialties such as fish and pork dishes and platters of bright red Dragon fruit in honor of the beginning of the Lunar New Year and Year of the Dragon. Pictured on the right and below is Chanminea, 19, the student we are currently sponsoring. She is entering her third year in nursing school. We couldn’t be more proud of her success.


FWC‘s current class of students, alumni and staff at a Sunday gathering in Phnom Penh

Very few rural students go to university because their families are so poor. More than half of Cambodian children drop out in grade school. Only 21% enroll in high school. Friendship with Cambodia supports about 48 students in university every year. The cost to sponsor a student is about $1500 per year.