Hanoi from above and below

We left off, dear reader, at the door of an apartment shared by eight or so Westerners from the US and Europe, who were very kind in letting us stay with them.

I've never lived in a big city, so this probably isn't unique to Hanoi, but I loved walking around the winding alleyways as they meandered away from the main streets. They hardly seemed like planned streets and were barely wide enough to fit a wheelbarrow. Even in these tight spaces, people live and flourish, building houses, riding motorbikes, cutting hair, selling newspapers. It was a great effect at sunset to see the tops of the buildings slowly descending into shadow from below.
We spent a lot of time walking as usual, though we did go out with our hosts to restaurants, bars, and karaoke (my first time). The demand for English teachers meant that they lived comfortably and we were glad to tag along for the treat of pricier Western fare.

I wasn't able this trip to visit the actual mountain communities that still practice traditions distinct from the Viet people. Instead I spent a while at the Museum of Ethnology, which is a multi-story endeavor whose main attraction is actually the minority houses behind the museum. In a large park, the museum and various conservation groups have erected houses and homesteads in the styles of the different ethnic groups of Vietnam. My favorite was the Bahnar village house, a massive, massive building that was suspended on pillars and had a roof easily thirty feet above the floor. The idea is that the size of the house represents the unified ability of the village that came together to make it.

The "above" part of the title refers to the observation tower we didn't go to. Visible from most any point in Hanoi is the Lotte hotel/apartment/department store building, far taller than most. We moseyed around the store for a bit, then were disappointed to see that the observation deck charged a hefty entrance fee. We tried to bluff our way into the apartments to get a view from an upstairs lobby (this worked in Saigon) but the receptionist immediately knew what we were up to. The hotel, however, had unrestricted elevators and a fancy restaurant near the top. Even though we were painfully out of place in sweaty T-shirts, the hostess at the restaurant allowed us to wander freely past the wide windows. Pictured is the result.

After leaving Hanoi, we endured many hours of trains and customs lines, complete with a crisis I had to navigate in sleepy Chinese when the guards misplaced my visa. Now, though, we are safe in our Guilin hotel, resting in soft beds before the next adventure.