Bắc Ninh

Yesterday, I visited Anh Hung in Bac Ninh province. He was one of the first Vietnamese friends that I made in Hanoi in 2006. I try to meet him and his family each time I return to Vietnam. I consider him like a brother and he asked me to be godfather to his daughter, Quynh. It was my second time meeting her.

Once I arrived, Quynh was scared of me for most of the afternoon (who can blame her when a random, foreign stranger suddenly turns up). Finally she became more comfortable and I was so chuffed when she wanted to share her milk with me.

In the evening, we had a small gathering with Hung's family and neighbours. It was great seeing familiar faces and it made me feel like I was a 19 year old, on my gap year all over again. They have some animals in their courtyard, so the chicken was definitely fresh! There was so much food, including fish, soup, chicken, tofu, spring rolls and vegetables.

The next morning, I was able to spend more time with Hung and his family. For breakfast we ate trứng vịt lộn, or balut (duck embryo). We also had homemade bún chả and nem.

Quynh loves to sweep up around the house. After she tidied up, she enjoyed watching some videos and looking at pictures on mobile phones. One of the best feelings was counting in Vietnamese with her.

Hung's wife, Chung asked me to help her make spaghetti. After eating, it was a resounding "the spaghetti is bland and not salty enough" for the Vietnamese palate. Luckily, they had also prepared pho cuon.

I love spending time in Bac Ninh. Hung's courtyard now has a bathroom with hot water and he has a small area for his salon so that he can work from home.

Driving through the streets of Bac Ninh Province, you get a real sense of the countryside life; tropical trees lining the roads and workers in conical hats in and around the rice paddies. There are absolutely no tourists in the area where Hung lives, so there are some shocked expressions when the see me and the word "tây" (Westerner) can regularly be  heard.

Hung and his family may not have a great deal in terms of physical possessions, but they do have kind hearts. They treat me, an outsider who often has no idea what is going on, as one of their family. I have many treasured memories here and hope to have more in the future.

Hôm qua, tôi đã đi nhà Anh Hùng ơ Bắc Ninh.
Tôi coi anh ấy như anh trai của mình. Con gái Anh Hùng rất dễ thương. Em bé này là con gái đỡ đầu của tôi.

Nghĩ về gia đình Anh Hùng, lòng tôi dâng lên những cảm xúc tuyệt vời.

Cuộc sống nơi vùng quê thì ít ồn ào vội vã.

Uncle Ho Bác Hồ

Today I visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. I have been inside before, so today I just enjoyed walking around and taking in the sights.

As I made my way back, it clouded over, the heavens opened and I was caught in yet another rainstorm. I managed to get a photo of the Flag Tower Of Hanoi before getting utterly drenched. Check out the angry clouds...

After resembling a drowned rodent for the third time in a week, I felt it was only fair to treat myself to a cupcake. I stopped off at Mint Cupcake Creations and chose a key lime cupcake. It was the perfect remedy to getting soaked. I also liked the look of the cookie chocolate cupcakes on offer, so I will be keeping an eye on the weather forecast while planning a return visit!

Later in the day, I met with Hieu and Nhung. I first met them eight years ago. It was wonderful to see them again and meet their daughters.

We had dinner at a seafood restaurant. It was definitely a big, tasty feast! We had snails, squid, crab, clams, noodles and shrimp soup.

I walked off the meal with a lap around Hoan Kiem Lake. A nice end to the day.

Hôm nay tôi đã đi thăm lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh. 

Tôi biết là sẽ có mưa rào nhưng tôi không biết rằng là nó sẽ mưa như trút thế :))

Sau đó, tôi đã ăn một bánh nướng nhỏ...ngon quá!

Tối nay, tôi và bạn bè đã đến một nhà hàng hải sản. Ở nhà hàng này có quá nhiều món trong thực đơn. Tôi thích ăn hải sản. 

Bún Bò Huế

I decided to explore the Old Quarter a little bit more. In Vietnamese, it can be called 'Ba mươi sáu phố phường' which means thirty six streets, but there are actually a lot more than that. It is a great place to explore and get lost.

For lunch I ate bún bò Huế. It is not too different from phở bò, but the noodles are more cylindrical and there was a floating meatball added to the mix. The Vietnamese know how to make a good broth.

Later I went to the monument of King Le Thai Tho. It was so quiet there so I was able to get some photographs without other visitors photobombing. Lê Thái Tổ was a Vietnamese emperor and led a revolt against the Chinese occupying Vietnam. He is also involved in the legend of the sword and turtle in Hoan Kiem Lake (perhaps a story for another blog entry). Anyway he is a pretty famous historical hero.

I decided to buy some dried fruit. After trying a variety of fruit on display, I chose dried plum. There was a heavy rain shower so I returned to the hotel.

In the evening I drank beer with Thang and his friends. I enjoyed drinking Hanoi beer and practising my Vietnamese. I really like having dried squid and chilli sauce when drinking beer.

Tối qua tôi hơi say. Tôi thích đi chơi cùng bạn bè và uống bia. Một người bạn đã dạy tôi 'không say không về' bằng tiếng Trung là 不醉不归 (bù zuì bù guī) :))

Hanoi's Old Quarter

Today was quite a lazy day. I decided to have a walk around the Old Quarter. Hanoi has so much tangible and visible history. I have enjoyed being a tourist here and seeing famous places during previous visits. This time I wanted to focus mostly on meeting friends and enjoying the culture and food. But I still love to appreciate the beauty and history which is literally on my hotel doorstep. As you walk through the labyrinth of ancient streets, you can really imagine you are travelling back in time (especially the streets with less traffic!). Many of the buildings and shops throughout the Old Quarter have kept their charm and authenticity (although some areas are obviously heavily aimed at tourists now).

I paid a visit to the Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural. It tells the story of different periods in Vietnamese history. It is amazing to think that it didn't exist when I first visited Hanoi. It was created to celebrate the millennial anniversary of Hanoi being the capital. It has an impressive length of about 4km which resulted in a World Record for the longest mosaic mural.

Behind the mural, I have always admired the Vietnamese architecture of the houses and buildings. They are typically narrow and very tall. I was told that this is due to land prices being so expensive. So these buildings have many floors, with perhaps only one or two rooms on each floor. People may rent out floors of their house to shops, offices or tenants. I often picture this style of building when I think about Vietnam.

Afterwards, I decided to eat chè. There are many kinds available and I chose to eat chè thập cẩm. It can contain crushed ice, beans, fruit, syrup, ice cream, milk, glutinous rice, tapioca balls and jelly. It is certainly refreshing to eat this during the summer heat. 

Later in the day, I ate phở again...but this time it was different: Phở cuốn is beef, garnished with vegetables and herbs, then wrapped in a rice noodle roll (like a fresh spring roll). It is then served with a dipping sauce.

The other kind is phở chiên phồng (fried pho noodles). The noodles are like fried square pillows and served with beef and vegetables in a sauce.

Hôm nay tôi rất lười biếng  ╯_╰

Tôi đã đi khắp phố cổ Hà Nội. Tôi rất thích 'Con Đường Gốm Sứ'. Đúng là một kiệt tác nghệ thuật! 

Tôi muốn biết nhiều hơn về lịch sử Việt Nam.

Quẩy

Today, I decided to treat myself to Kem Tràng Tiền (Tràng Tiền ice cream). On my way to the shop, a university student asked to speak English with me, so I looked over some of his notes and helped with his pronunciation . It made me remember that so many people here are eager to learn and speak English.

Tôi thích ăn kem Tràng Tiền!

Later, I went to the Temple Of Literature. It was the first university in Vietnam and is an iconic landmark, not only in Hanoi, but the whole country.
As I was leaving, I got caught in a torrential downpour.

Nam, the English student I met at Hoan Kiem Lake

I went back to the hotel to dry off and then ate phở bò (beef noodle soup) with Minh.

After my very first phở meal in 2006, I remember thinking that phở could not get any better. But a few weeks later, a friend introduced me to quẩy and I soon reconsidered my initial feelings. How do you improve on perfection? By adding a deep fried strip of dough, of course! So this was my first phở with quẩy in a long time! Delicious!

Following that, we went to my friend's guitar concert. Khoa Le uses a technique called percussive fingerstyle. It was really impressive how he created so many sounds from his guitar. He is a talented musician and played a variety of genres from Vietnamese and Western music. I love live music and I think my favourite part of the concert was a very energetic and intense performance of Smooth Criminal, which saw Khoa duetting with a violinist.

Once the show ended, Minh and I had a couple of beers at some local bars.

As I write this blog entry, I can hear another heavy rain shower. Very relaxing! While the clouds gently weep, it's time to sleep!

Hôm nay tôi đã đến thăm Văn miếu Quốc Tử Giám - Trường Đại Học đầu tiên của Việt Nam.

Sau đó trời mưa rất to và tôi đã bị ướt. 

Tối nay, tôi đến nghe hòa nhạc của một người bạn. Bạn của tôi là một người chơi ghita rất có tài và giàu cảm xúc.

Tôi và Miggy tới một quán bar sau giờ buổi hòa nhạc và uống vài ly bia tại một quán bar trên tầng 19 với khung cảnh Hà Nội vào ban đêm.