WALKING IN VIETNAM

STICKY RICE and WHISPERS and HAPPY ROOMS

pineapple purchase

We’ve never gone on a group excursion before, fearful traveling in an ever-moving horde would be more of a slog than an adventure, but the Overseas Adventure Travel company (O.A.T.) keeps it small and intimate. There are just 14 travelers on our “Inside Vietnam” tour. Thankfully the traveling is slower paced. We are in Hanoi for 6 days, before moving on to the next destination.

This has allowed us to ease into the culture of Vietnam without having to sacrifice sleep or experiences. We’re always given the choice to opt out of different planned adventures, though so far, we’re happy to go along with everything O.A.T. has planned for us.

Our tour guide is Mai, from Saigon. Her informative walks brim with details and personal anecdotes about the complicated history of Vietnam that could not be culled from a guidebook. Her infectious laugh and gracious ways make the smallest moments great fun, and her catch phrases like “steps by step” and “sticky rice” conveyed to us through headsets she calls “whispers” make crossing the treacherous streets or finding a “happy room” much easier.

The first stop on our introductory walk was across the street from our hotel, the May De Ville Trendy Hotel, to enter the Old Quarter of Hanoi and to buy pineapples from a street vendor wearing a typical conical hat. Mai pointed out how the woman carved and sliced the pineapples for us with a special tool.

We basically walked around the block on this introductory trek in the Old Quarter, which is densely packed with shops, cafes, and restaurants. Along the way she pointed out a French Colonial mansion now broken up into several “homes” and Communist-era drab construction and air raid sirens leftover from the war. Space is a luxury in Vietnam and the cramped conditions in the Quarter reflect that.

After lunch we went to get Iced Coconut coffee and then given the choice to either return to the hotel or go to the Women’s Museum. We opted for the museum to learn about life in the hill country and women’s roles during the “American” War.

Later that evening we were embedded in the maniacal traffic of Hanoi and rode in cyclo-shaws, a bicycle version of a rickshaw to an opening dinner at a restaurant in town. With cars, trucks, scooters, pedestrians and buses converging from every direction with intersections especially frightening we surprisingly arrived at the restaurant after this white-knuckled ride unscathed.

Great experiences.

Love Janet and greg

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj

Cyclo-shaw rides are not for the 
faint of heart