The Hanoi arrival of Trung and myself was quite eventful because as soon as we stepped out of the Hanoi airport, we were besieged by taxi and hotel agents vying with each other to get a booking. At Hanoi we were to have been met by a travel agent, but could see no sign of him, so we retreated to a Hanoi restaurant for a coffee, waiting for the taxi agents to forget all about us. What a hope. When the attention of the taxi agents was diverted to another batch of arrivals, we sneaked out of the restaurant, booked the first taxi we saw, and got to the Hanoi hotel without further incident. We had just completed the registration at the hotel, when the Hanoi travel agent arrived with three other tourists, and said he had been looking out for us at the airport. This was my first day in Vietnam !
A Walk Through The Streets Of Hanoi
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Walking through the Hanoi streets in the days which followed were more peaceful. There was the occasional beggar asking for a few cents, but that was to be expected in a country recovering from many years of turmoil. I was amazed by the well stocked shelves of the Hanoi shops and stalls, displaying well known brands of most things, including whisky, liqueurs and beers. Whether they were the genuine article, is another matter.
Workshops On The Hanoi Pavements
Hanoi was certainly a city of contrasts with well stocked shops for those who could afford the items, but the poorer people of Hanoi struggled to make a living by whatever means they could. Some set up their workshops on the pavements making sandals from discarded tyres; repairing shoes or bicycle punctures
Hawkers In Hanoi Use Panniers On Bicycles
Others hawked their goods by panniers on shoulder poles,
or baskets on bikes. The hawker outside the Hanoi Travel Agents, where Trung and I had gone to book our seats for a visit to Ha Long Bay, had little success during the time we were there, but I do not know what he was trying to sell. The bicycles in Hanoi, and throughout Vietnam, are used not only for getting from one place to another, but also for the transport of goods, sometimes piled up quite high on the bike. To help maintain balance and assist with steerage, a pole is fixed to the bike, at an angle, behind the seat. I wonder who was the first person to think of that clever trick ?
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