What we did: Haircut, Bach Ma Temple, shopped in Hanoi's Old Quarter, walked around Hoan Kiem Lake
Budget: 1,200,000 Dong/$60; Spent: 2,640,000 Dong/$132
Patty here.
It's probably apparent that we haven't been able to stick to our budget lately. Hong Kong turned out to be quite pricey, and I find myself in awe of all the novel things you can find while travelling and let's just say the temptation to buy has been too strong for me! It's so tough not to browse around when there is block after block of vendors and little shops of things you have never seen before and that you would never find at home. Today was another unsuccessful day with respect to sticking to our budget. However, I have absolutely no regrets about overspending today. Our purchases, which I will get to later were awesome! In fact, my heart flutters at the mere thought of our little finds.
Our day didn't really get started until about 1pm. We slept in and it was much needed. We woke up at 11:30am and Jeff started writing his blog while I kept myself busy reading. The blog took about an hour and half to write and by the time it was posted we were starving and slightly irritable. Because as many of you know, nothing stands between us and food!
We got down to the lobby and ended up chatting with one of the receptionists/possible owners named Peter. We had some questions about bartering in Vietnam since it wasn't totally clear where it's appropriate in the Old Quarter. It was a challenge trying to explain our question to him, but eventually we kind of got an answer indirectly. There are some stores with prices posted, but with no tags. And then there's others with prices on tags, but they're hand written so it's pretty unclear. Anyways, it seems it's okay in most places so what we decided was to at least try to haggle and if not, the worst they can say is no. The other thing we were determined to do today is finally learn a little bit of the Vietnamese language. Peter was very helpful with this, and taught us to say hello (pronounced "sin-jow"), goodbye (pronounced "dam-bee-uht"), and how much money (pronounced "bow-new-tien"). We felt very ignorant our first night in Hanoi saying every single word down to a simple hello in English. It's a simple thing to do, and the locals appreciate it so much. The first time we said thank you was at lunch/breakfast. Peter directed us across the street to a cafe which also happened to be recommended by lonely planet. The server brought us our food and we said thank you in Vietnamese (pronounced ga-mon) and she looked immediately impressed. She actually smiled at us and repeated the word giggling to herself. It was the first time a local actually smiled at us that wasn't trying to sell us something. And that set the tone for the rest of the day. Honestly I can't believe what a difference it makes during your exchanges with locals when you know how to say something in their first language. I guess it's like someone coming to Canada and saying thank you in a foreign language. You may know it means thank you, but it's just not as meaningful hearing it in a different language. So I can see that.
It's interesting, as a Winnipegger it has been difficult to relate to people who have to deal with tourists all the time. We're always the tourists, never the locals. As we all know tourism in Winnipeg is so tiny and essentially non-existent, at least to the vast majority of us... Maybe we get 10-20 foreign tourists a year??? I'd like to know the stat especially since we came across a Lonely Planet for Canada today! That was exciting to see. But, I'll get back to Lonely Planet books later. I like trying to see things from the perspective of the locals. Places where tourism is over-saturated, can be tiring. The locals treat tourists very differently and can often be cold, withdrawn, and frankly seem annoyed most of the time. It definitely takes more effort to win them over. But even on our way out of the restaurant at lunch we said thank you and good bye in Vietnamese and that's all it took for two of the workers to warm up to us. They stopped us to look at our lonely planet book and then ended up helping us with our pronunciation of words. It gave us an opportunity to connect with locals like we haven't in a long time and I have no doubt it improved the experience we otherwise would have had today immensely. Our perspective of the people today vs. yesterday is so much more positive.
We had originally planned to go to a hair salon a couple kilometers away because it was recommended online, but when I noticed a salon by the same name across the street from where we ate lunch, we decided to check out the price there. I managed to ask the lady there how much it was in Vietnamese and again she smiled at us, and said 100,000 Dong which is $5CDN. Peter from our hostel recommended we show them the paper bill to ensure we get charged the right price since we're dealing with dozens of zeroes here and they can take advantage of that sometimes. So we pulled one out, and she confirmed. All I needed was a trim so no further questions were asked. Where else can you get a $5 haircut?! And the girl next to me had just gotten a really nice haircut so I was feeling confident about it. I had also read online that you can get a decent haircut in most places in Hanoi. Fast forward 10 minutes later, my hair was trimmed and I was quite pleased with the result I must say. The best part was it was $5 and the lady was very sweet, like most of the people here in Hanoi.
During my haircut Jeff had done some reading in our Lonely Planet book and mapped out our day. We first headed to the oldest temple in Hanoi named Bach Ma Temple located in the Old Quarter. It was free to get in and there were many locals there praying which we didn't totally understand since the temple to our knowledge was a historical monument that was built in honour of a horse that led a king to that site. And it was at this site he decided to build the walls of the city (which are no where to be found today). So we're not sure who/what they were praying to but there was lots of praying happening. Jeff said there were two cute little old ladies praying at a shrine that motioned to each other that we were standing there and from the looks of it were hoping we would take their picture. Funny enough it had crossed my mind, but we didn't out of respect. They also likely would have charged us for the picture - those little rascals. Here's a picture of the horse I mentioned from inside the temple:
Afterwards we came across a bookshop selling new and used books in English. There were a bunch of Lonely Planet books in the front window which peaked our interest. We've been thinking about getting one for New Zealand and actually found one in the store. It was photocopied, and a 2010 version, but still relevant. So we asked about the price. He said $7.50. We looked a bit more and then saw the Lonely Planet book for Canada. We actually got excited to see what it had to see about Winnipeg. We have been reading these books for so long and they can make or break a decision to visit somewhere. They can make a place sound like heaven and describe other places like somewhere you wouldn't want to step foot in. We took a picture of what they had to say about Winnipeg:
We eventually bought the New Zealand book for $6.50. We were happy we saved $1.50 and agreed to buy two draft beers later that day with our savings!
Vietnam was once invaded by the French so there are many remnants of French culture still here today, particularly in Hanoi for some reason. Consequently, their baked goods are said to be on par with those of the French. I am a bakery fiend! So after the temple visit we were hoping to find a cafe/bakery and sit down to check out the baked goods ourselves. Well, the place recommended by the book was closed sadly but we did end up finding a super awesome shop with very unique and affordable clothing. They had exactly what I have been looking for - a full length skirt I could wear in India and other places requiring a more modest attire like churches/mosques etc. Okay it wasn't exactly a skirt, it was way neater. They were wide black linen pants, but from the front it had a sheet of the same material that came across my hips making it look like a skirt from the front. I was so excited and the price was super good too - $14. I then tried on a really neat off the shoulder, teal coloured, cotton/spandex shirt with asymmetrical sleeves and I had to do it. I bought it for $12. Jeff liked it too. Even though it was cotton it was surprisingly elegant looking. I almost felt like I could wear it to a wedding. I tried my best to barter down the price but failed. But, I have no regrets whatsoever about purchasing those two items. The prices as they stood were more than reasonable and I love them.
I tried on another several pairs of pants but they were a little too trendy for me. The genie pants are really in style in Asia. They have really wide pant legs, the crotch comes down super super low sometimes to your knees or even to your ankles making them look like a skirt. Then they come into your ankles tightly with little cuffs. They're super neat, but not sure if that's going to be a trend I follow. I've seen a lot of people wearing them and it's just not flattering on them. It's certainly not for every body type, but very cool. They also had these pants that had what looked like aprons on the front. They were supposed to look like skirts but the one I tried on looked like just that, an apron. So another super original style at this store, but it didn't work out for me. But definitely left and impression and some inspiration.
We continued on and mosied into a shop selling some gorgeous paintings. Immediately there was one that caught both our eyes. It was very simple; just an enormous perfectly symmetrical tree in the center of the portrait. The background was stark white, and the entire tree was a lime green colour - a very surreal image. I don't want to get artsy fartsy and all deep and profound cause I know nothing about art but I would describe it as life-like. The tree made me feel alive and it looked like it was a living breathing tree. The colour though was a little much, but it was what initially drew us into the store. Turned out they had many versions of this tree and this type of painting. They were all replicas done by famous local painters and so fortunately for us, the price reflected this. It was very cool, they had all these students in the back of the shop working on canvasses, just painting away on little stools. We ended up falling in love with two paintings. There was a pink image of the tree, again with a stark white background, and little huts just under the tree. There was something so warm and vibrant about that one that I loved. The other one was slightly larger, and was a white tree (with a stark white background), with little flowers in pink, orange, and green sitting under the tree. I believe there was also a little boat but we saw so many I can't remember. We stood there contemplating buying one for probably 10 minutes going back and forth to each other and looking at others and we kept going back to those two. We were both in love. The guy first quoted us $60 and we said it was too expensive. We then kept talking and tried to decide if we even really wanted one. The answer was yes. Then it was a matter of price and which one. We went with the white tree. Then it was about the price. We offered $40. He declined and came back with $55. We said no and he went down to $50. We said we would think about it. And walked away, deep down hoping he would come after us. We were down the street when he yelled at us and said okay $45. And that closed the deal. We walked away with a painting that we both sincerely love.
After that we were hungry and grabbed dinner at a place selling $0.75 draft beers. We got a nice meal on a balcony overlooking the streets below and talked about how much we liked Hanoi. Looks like we'll be here for another 3 days. And luckily, we've managed to book our same room for the remainder of our time here. It'll be nice staying in one place for awhile. We agreed that part of the reason we liked Tokyo so much was because we got to know the city well. Hopefully we get to know Hanoi in the same way.
After dinner we went for a nice stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake nearby. It was kind of chilly due to the humidity but we still enjoyed ourselves. A really nice day overall.
Good night,
Patty
Patty here.
It's probably apparent that we haven't been able to stick to our budget lately. Hong Kong turned out to be quite pricey, and I find myself in awe of all the novel things you can find while travelling and let's just say the temptation to buy has been too strong for me! It's so tough not to browse around when there is block after block of vendors and little shops of things you have never seen before and that you would never find at home. Today was another unsuccessful day with respect to sticking to our budget. However, I have absolutely no regrets about overspending today. Our purchases, which I will get to later were awesome! In fact, my heart flutters at the mere thought of our little finds.
Our day didn't really get started until about 1pm. We slept in and it was much needed. We woke up at 11:30am and Jeff started writing his blog while I kept myself busy reading. The blog took about an hour and half to write and by the time it was posted we were starving and slightly irritable. Because as many of you know, nothing stands between us and food!
We got down to the lobby and ended up chatting with one of the receptionists/possible owners named Peter. We had some questions about bartering in Vietnam since it wasn't totally clear where it's appropriate in the Old Quarter. It was a challenge trying to explain our question to him, but eventually we kind of got an answer indirectly. There are some stores with prices posted, but with no tags. And then there's others with prices on tags, but they're hand written so it's pretty unclear. Anyways, it seems it's okay in most places so what we decided was to at least try to haggle and if not, the worst they can say is no. The other thing we were determined to do today is finally learn a little bit of the Vietnamese language. Peter was very helpful with this, and taught us to say hello (pronounced "sin-jow"), goodbye (pronounced "dam-bee-uht"), and how much money (pronounced "bow-new-tien"). We felt very ignorant our first night in Hanoi saying every single word down to a simple hello in English. It's a simple thing to do, and the locals appreciate it so much. The first time we said thank you was at lunch/breakfast. Peter directed us across the street to a cafe which also happened to be recommended by lonely planet. The server brought us our food and we said thank you in Vietnamese (pronounced ga-mon) and she looked immediately impressed. She actually smiled at us and repeated the word giggling to herself. It was the first time a local actually smiled at us that wasn't trying to sell us something. And that set the tone for the rest of the day. Honestly I can't believe what a difference it makes during your exchanges with locals when you know how to say something in their first language. I guess it's like someone coming to Canada and saying thank you in a foreign language. You may know it means thank you, but it's just not as meaningful hearing it in a different language. So I can see that.
It's interesting, as a Winnipegger it has been difficult to relate to people who have to deal with tourists all the time. We're always the tourists, never the locals. As we all know tourism in Winnipeg is so tiny and essentially non-existent, at least to the vast majority of us... Maybe we get 10-20 foreign tourists a year??? I'd like to know the stat especially since we came across a Lonely Planet for Canada today! That was exciting to see. But, I'll get back to Lonely Planet books later. I like trying to see things from the perspective of the locals. Places where tourism is over-saturated, can be tiring. The locals treat tourists very differently and can often be cold, withdrawn, and frankly seem annoyed most of the time. It definitely takes more effort to win them over. But even on our way out of the restaurant at lunch we said thank you and good bye in Vietnamese and that's all it took for two of the workers to warm up to us. They stopped us to look at our lonely planet book and then ended up helping us with our pronunciation of words. It gave us an opportunity to connect with locals like we haven't in a long time and I have no doubt it improved the experience we otherwise would have had today immensely. Our perspective of the people today vs. yesterday is so much more positive.
We had originally planned to go to a hair salon a couple kilometers away because it was recommended online, but when I noticed a salon by the same name across the street from where we ate lunch, we decided to check out the price there. I managed to ask the lady there how much it was in Vietnamese and again she smiled at us, and said 100,000 Dong which is $5CDN. Peter from our hostel recommended we show them the paper bill to ensure we get charged the right price since we're dealing with dozens of zeroes here and they can take advantage of that sometimes. So we pulled one out, and she confirmed. All I needed was a trim so no further questions were asked. Where else can you get a $5 haircut?! And the girl next to me had just gotten a really nice haircut so I was feeling confident about it. I had also read online that you can get a decent haircut in most places in Hanoi. Fast forward 10 minutes later, my hair was trimmed and I was quite pleased with the result I must say. The best part was it was $5 and the lady was very sweet, like most of the people here in Hanoi.
During my haircut Jeff had done some reading in our Lonely Planet book and mapped out our day. We first headed to the oldest temple in Hanoi named Bach Ma Temple located in the Old Quarter. It was free to get in and there were many locals there praying which we didn't totally understand since the temple to our knowledge was a historical monument that was built in honour of a horse that led a king to that site. And it was at this site he decided to build the walls of the city (which are no where to be found today). So we're not sure who/what they were praying to but there was lots of praying happening. Jeff said there were two cute little old ladies praying at a shrine that motioned to each other that we were standing there and from the looks of it were hoping we would take their picture. Funny enough it had crossed my mind, but we didn't out of respect. They also likely would have charged us for the picture - those little rascals. Here's a picture of the horse I mentioned from inside the temple:
Afterwards we came across a bookshop selling new and used books in English. There were a bunch of Lonely Planet books in the front window which peaked our interest. We've been thinking about getting one for New Zealand and actually found one in the store. It was photocopied, and a 2010 version, but still relevant. So we asked about the price. He said $7.50. We looked a bit more and then saw the Lonely Planet book for Canada. We actually got excited to see what it had to see about Winnipeg. We have been reading these books for so long and they can make or break a decision to visit somewhere. They can make a place sound like heaven and describe other places like somewhere you wouldn't want to step foot in. We took a picture of what they had to say about Winnipeg:
We eventually bought the New Zealand book for $6.50. We were happy we saved $1.50 and agreed to buy two draft beers later that day with our savings!
Vietnam was once invaded by the French so there are many remnants of French culture still here today, particularly in Hanoi for some reason. Consequently, their baked goods are said to be on par with those of the French. I am a bakery fiend! So after the temple visit we were hoping to find a cafe/bakery and sit down to check out the baked goods ourselves. Well, the place recommended by the book was closed sadly but we did end up finding a super awesome shop with very unique and affordable clothing. They had exactly what I have been looking for - a full length skirt I could wear in India and other places requiring a more modest attire like churches/mosques etc. Okay it wasn't exactly a skirt, it was way neater. They were wide black linen pants, but from the front it had a sheet of the same material that came across my hips making it look like a skirt from the front. I was so excited and the price was super good too - $14. I then tried on a really neat off the shoulder, teal coloured, cotton/spandex shirt with asymmetrical sleeves and I had to do it. I bought it for $12. Jeff liked it too. Even though it was cotton it was surprisingly elegant looking. I almost felt like I could wear it to a wedding. I tried my best to barter down the price but failed. But, I have no regrets whatsoever about purchasing those two items. The prices as they stood were more than reasonable and I love them.
I tried on another several pairs of pants but they were a little too trendy for me. The genie pants are really in style in Asia. They have really wide pant legs, the crotch comes down super super low sometimes to your knees or even to your ankles making them look like a skirt. Then they come into your ankles tightly with little cuffs. They're super neat, but not sure if that's going to be a trend I follow. I've seen a lot of people wearing them and it's just not flattering on them. It's certainly not for every body type, but very cool. They also had these pants that had what looked like aprons on the front. They were supposed to look like skirts but the one I tried on looked like just that, an apron. So another super original style at this store, but it didn't work out for me. But definitely left and impression and some inspiration.
We continued on and mosied into a shop selling some gorgeous paintings. Immediately there was one that caught both our eyes. It was very simple; just an enormous perfectly symmetrical tree in the center of the portrait. The background was stark white, and the entire tree was a lime green colour - a very surreal image. I don't want to get artsy fartsy and all deep and profound cause I know nothing about art but I would describe it as life-like. The tree made me feel alive and it looked like it was a living breathing tree. The colour though was a little much, but it was what initially drew us into the store. Turned out they had many versions of this tree and this type of painting. They were all replicas done by famous local painters and so fortunately for us, the price reflected this. It was very cool, they had all these students in the back of the shop working on canvasses, just painting away on little stools. We ended up falling in love with two paintings. There was a pink image of the tree, again with a stark white background, and little huts just under the tree. There was something so warm and vibrant about that one that I loved. The other one was slightly larger, and was a white tree (with a stark white background), with little flowers in pink, orange, and green sitting under the tree. I believe there was also a little boat but we saw so many I can't remember. We stood there contemplating buying one for probably 10 minutes going back and forth to each other and looking at others and we kept going back to those two. We were both in love. The guy first quoted us $60 and we said it was too expensive. We then kept talking and tried to decide if we even really wanted one. The answer was yes. Then it was a matter of price and which one. We went with the white tree. Then it was about the price. We offered $40. He declined and came back with $55. We said no and he went down to $50. We said we would think about it. And walked away, deep down hoping he would come after us. We were down the street when he yelled at us and said okay $45. And that closed the deal. We walked away with a painting that we both sincerely love.
After that we were hungry and grabbed dinner at a place selling $0.75 draft beers. We got a nice meal on a balcony overlooking the streets below and talked about how much we liked Hanoi. Looks like we'll be here for another 3 days. And luckily, we've managed to book our same room for the remainder of our time here. It'll be nice staying in one place for awhile. We agreed that part of the reason we liked Tokyo so much was because we got to know the city well. Hopefully we get to know Hanoi in the same way.
After dinner we went for a nice stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake nearby. It was kind of chilly due to the humidity but we still enjoyed ourselves. A really nice day overall.
Good night,
Patty
Albert here
ReplyDeleteI kind of understand these good people making shrines to horses, however I prefer to ride them instead.
Winnipeg receives about 2.5 million tourist each year. huge number for a prairie city. And it is the cultural centre for about 500 mi around.
It is good to follow your adventures. Thanks for sharing