1,000th Anniversary of Hanoi

Congratulations Hanoi on turning 1,000!

For the last ten days, the city has been in celebration mode. However, in this bloggers opinion, ten days of joy isn't worth the ten months of annoying preparation that have gone into it. Hundreds of days of polluted, dusty air due to construction projects isn't justified by ten days of streets being lined by flower pots. But that's just me.

My favorite things so far about the 1,000th anniversary have been:
1. The Giant TV screens randomly set up around the city which nobody seems to be watching.
2. The 1,000 doves that were released at the opening ceremonies. For the first time ever there are actually birds flying around the city. Coincidentally, I seem to be seeing more bird-noodle dishes recently.
3. The volunteer students who are directing traffic...as police sit on the sidewalk chatting on their phones
4. That some of my students at national universities were given major tests this week which means they have to stay home and study.
5. That blogspot has been blocked for two week in Hanoi. In order to write on my blog or to be able to read my friends' blogs, I've had to sign in through a server in another country.

Those are the first five that come to mind. It seems that nobody here actually cares about the anniversary except for the government which has gone all-out in promoting it. Regardless, 1,000 years is a pretty big milestone. So, Congrats Hanoi! Hopefully the next 1,000 years bring you less war, cleaner air and more freedom.

A Week of Celebration

(PICTURE: I remember when the countdown was a heck of a lot higher than 7.)

Tomorrow is the 1,000th anniversary of Hanoi. To state the obvious, it's been a long time coming.

All week long there have been celebrations around the city. On Sunday, Huyen and I met up with my friend Van and her fiance. We had a nice quiet walk around Hoam Kiem lake with about 150,000 of our closest Hanoi friends.

(PICTURE: We love headbands!)

The decorations around Hoam Kiem were pretty amazing. Between the lights, array of flowers and various stages set up, the city did a good job making the anniversary feel really momentous.
(PICTURE: A flower pictures made up of flowers.)

Goodbye, Hue....Hello, Su!

(PICTURE: Read below to find out why there is a picture of Pink Eye on this blog.)

What is the most common thing people say after a vacation? Well, maybe this isn't the most common thing but I feel like people always say, "I can't wait to sleep in my own bed."

After spending four nights in a bed with Huyen, Huong and Viet Huong the only thing in the world that I wanted was my own not-so-comfortable bed to pass out on. As we flew on Vietnam Airlines I kept thinking to myself, "How good is my inch-thick mattress going to feel?" I could practically feel the wood panels that support my bed, as I sat in the back of a car going back to my apartment.

As I walked up the flights of stairs to my room, I could almost hear my bed calling to me: "Ben, come lay down. Relax. Get a good night's sleep." However, that voice didn't turn out to be my bed's. It turned out to be Su who greeted me with a giant smiling, "Hi, Ben! How was your trip?" After telling Su about the trip I asked Huyen as politely as possible, "Is Su staying here tonight?" Well, it turned out that four boys in his dorm room got pink eye so he was going to crash in our bed for a few nights. Nothing like sleeping in your own bed...with your brother-in-law.

Water Slide

Besides the natural hot springs we went to on our "honeymoon", the resort had a water park. The water park was literally empty. Seriously, there wasn't one person in either the wave pool (which wasn't turned on and seemed to have a nice coat of algae on the top) or going down the water slides.

Those who know me, know there are few things I love more than water parks. I've basically been trying to teach Huyen how to swim not so she can enjoy a pool or the beach, but so she can enjoy New Jersey's pride: the water park formerly known as Action Park.

Well, Huyen and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go down some water slides despite the slides looking like they might give us tetanus and/or crumble to pieces as we slid down them. Check out Huyen mastering the raft slide:

Our Honeymoon!!!

Huyen's sister Hoai and her husband spent their honeymoon at some natural hot springs near Hue. Having already seen all of the major attractions in Hue, Huyen and I decided to go to the hot springs on our one free morning. The hot springs were located about an hour outside of Hue in a very rural area. As we drove down a small road, passing farmland and being surrounded by mountains, I began to envision hot springs in the style of the Japanese onsens that I so dearly love.

That dream was shattered when we rode up to this sign:
I'm not sure if you can tell, but that picture is of a giant wave pool with lots of people sitting in inner-tubes. Huyen's helmet is actually blocking a picture of a cartoon blond-haired foreigner going down a water slide. As soon as I saw the sign, I said to Huyen, "This isn't exactly what I was picturing."

Luckily the natural hot springs weren't as bad as I then began to picture. It turned out that there was a man-made stream that was filled with the natural hot water. Each section of the stream had a different temperature. Huyen and I managed to take a soak in 40 degree Celsius water (104F). Considering it was probably 39 degrees outside, the water felt really really hot. There's definitely something to soaking in hot springs in the winter over the summer (although technically it's Fall here now).


(PICTURE: A Hot Water Sign.)

The hottest water was 68 degrees Celsius (154F). Yeah, that's pretty hot...which this snake found out:


Throughout the morning I kept saying to Huyen, "Happy Honeymoon!" Technically we had been married a couple of days before and this was our first trip together. Plus, Huyen's sister came to this place for her honeymoon so clearly it's a honeymoon destination. Sounds like a honeymoon to me!

Hannah's Ao Dai

(PICTURE: Huyen and the tailor who sewed Hannah's dress.)

For those who read the comments on my blog, you'll have noticed that my sister really wants to wear an ao dai to the wedding in December. Well, her wish has come true -- I had an ao dai made for her in Hue.

In Hue, wearing an ao dai is much more common than in Hanoi. It seemed like everywhere I looked in Hue, there was a girl riding a bicycle with an ao dai on (I think this had to do with ao dais being a school uniform at some school). Because of the demand for ao dais, it meant there were more shops and cheaper prices.

I had told Huyen she should buy a second ao dai for our wedding while we were in Hue. While we were shopping for her, I saw an ao dai that I thought my sister would really like. Well, I emailed Hannah who said her first choice would be a maroon ao dai. Do I know my sister well or what because the one I picked out was indeed maroon-ish. So Hannah sent me her measurements and Huyen and I had her an ao dai made! I can't wait to see Hannah in this in December:

(PICTURE: Huyen modeling the ao dai fabric for Hannah's dress. She'll be wearing white pants with this.)

Hue

(PICTURE: Candles containing wishes float down the river in Hue.)

Considering this week is the 1,000th anniversary of Hanoi, what I'm about to say is totally blasphemous: I wish I could spend my last months/year/however-long-the-USA-makes-me-stay in Hue.

This was my third trip to Hue and I think the first time I truly appreciated the city. Here's a list of advantages Hue has over Hanoi:

Advantage 1: Fresh Air.

Advantage 2: Stars at night.

Advantage 3: Very few cars. The small roads aren't nearly as scary when there's not an SUV speeding towards you at a ridiculous KPH.

Advantage 4: Different food. I love Hanoi food but recently my favorite places have started to seem less interesting to me.

Advantage 5: No construction. Okay, yeah, there's construction but in Hue the tallest a house can be (in the old city at least) is 2 stories. Right now in Hanoi they are erecting skyscrapers like it's going out of style.

Advantage 6: Hue is uber-cheap. Believe it or not, I'm complaining about Hanoi prices. However, everything was 50% or less in Hue. A cup of coffee recently has been 20,000 VND at all the cafes near my house. In Hue the most I paid for coffee was 6,000 VND!

Advantage 7: The beach! There is a beach under ten miles away from the center of Hue. Besides that one, there are some great beaches within an hours drive.

The fact is, I'm getting a little fed-up with Hanoi. For my first two years here, I used to drive around every day and think, "I love this place!" Recently though, those moments have been farther and farther apart. That said, I'm going to give myself a big pep talk to really soak up all the time I've got left in Hanoi. I know that as soon as I get stateside I'm gonna be saying, "I wish ___ could be a little more like Hanoi."

NOTE: Friends and family who have asked me about visiting Hue -- I still think you only need a day or two maximum to see everything in the city. This post is more about living there than visiting it as a tourist.