A couple of weeks ago I said my goodbyes to Hanoi and its inhabitants and am now back home in Canberra, Australia. Sitting here rugged up against the cold, Hanoi seems a lovely, distant dream. Though I am very glad to be home, I am definitely going to miss Vietnam and Hanoi in particular, and of course all the amazing people I met there.
My last weeks were a blur of shopping, partying, farewells and tailoring. Despite having a lot of work to get through in the office, each lunch time the girls in my office, Vinh and Ngoc, took me out on extended shopping trips to pick up last minute bargains and visit my various tailors (one for darning, one for alterations, one for suits, one for women’s clothing).
On one work day Vinh and her husband Kien put on a fantastic long lunch for me and Brendon, as well as Soan and Ngoc from our office. We all got tipsy in the middle of the day on whisky and wine – it was lovely. As well as helping me source the best and cheapest of Hanoi souvenirs and made-for-export clothes and shoes in my final weeks, the girls bought me a lovely lacquered tray as a farewell present; and Ngoc gave me a wonderful painting done by her sister, a Hanoi artist.
Without a doubt, spending a year working with Soan, Ngoc, Vinh (and Hanh until she left) in the the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Partnership has been a huge highlight for me. I will miss the interesting work and the collaborative atmosphere; as well as the afternoon breaks where we’d eat a vast array of tropical fruits, drink tea and discuss people, countries and culture.
In my final week Brendon and I hosted a long-overdue dinner for some deserving friends; dining on three cheese pasta and kangaroo steaks. Brendon and I also ate at one of Hanoi’s finest restaurants – La Verticale. La Verticale is famous for wonderful French-Vietnamese fusion cooking by long-term Vietnamese resident and French chef, Didier Corlou. We had the tasting menu with two entrees, two mains, cheese and dessert. It was divine. We were both particularly impressed with an amazing buffalo dish. I’ve eaten buffalo a few times in Vietnam and it is generally a tough version of a cow, but this was perfectly cooked and amazingly tender.
As befitting such a lovely venue, I wore a little black dress and heels and Brendon took his vintage Vespa; requiring me to perch side-saddle. As we zoomed through the city on another balmy Hanoi night, past the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the old Hanoi citadel walls with its pock-marked surface (a legacy of American bombing) and into the French district; arms around my darling husband, I thought to myself – this is one of those perfect Hanoi moments.
We booked out the rooftop bar on our building for our farewell party, and put on finger food and keg beer. Our Vietnamese friends turned up early, brought presents and drank lots of beer. Our expat friends turned up later, and drank even more beer. The manager of the bar politely kicked us out at 3am (oh so late for Hanoi!!) and a few stragglers continued on three flights down in our apartment. We watched the sun rise over West Lake that morning from our 16th floor apartment.
My last afternoon in Hanoi was spent driving around the Old Quarter, completely yet happily lost (after all this time!), soaking up the particular charm of Hanoi’s oldest district. Women in conical hats selling bunches of colourful flowers from huge bunches on the backs of bicycles, workers enjoying noodles under ancient city walls, young Vietnamese drinking tra chanh (iced lemon tea) on plastic stools, old men crouched over games of checkers….. the Old Quarter is a visual feast and surely one of the most interesting places to be lost.
That evening Brendon and I and a couple of friends ate a cheap and cheerful meal at a busy downtown bia hoi . Thirteen months ago, on our second night in Hanoi, we’d found ourselves at this very bia hoi after an afternoon of wandering around lost in the Old Quarter. I still remember how, crouched on low plastic stools, we were introduced to the joys of cheap, cold bia hoi (fresh, preservative-free beer). I got quite tipsy and decided that Hanoi and I would get on just fine.
It felt fitting to spend my last night in Hanoi at this same happy spot. This time around we found ourselves drinking with a couple of Chinese tourists (father and daughter team) from Qingdao, which is not far from our old hometown of Dalian. We chatted in Chinese and discussed the differences between Vietnam and China…not altogether surprisingly, the father thought Hanoi was noisy and dirty, and Vietnamese food was “zhen bu haochi!” (not delicious!) His daughter was more open-minded and envied our year in Hanoi.
I can see both of their points of view….Hanoi is noisy and I’m not too sad to be leaving behind some of its less endearing features…..stifling heat and ever-present humidity, immense traffic jams, ceaseless noise and air pollution would all fit into this category. I’m also not altogether unhappy to be walking away from some of the more intractable problems associated with my job in the Vietnamese Government. But I feel very, very lucky to have spent a year in this beautiful and interesting country. I worked hard, learnt lots and hopefully contributed something to water and sanitation goals in Vietnam. I had some amazing holidays, many of them on a motorbike – surely one of the best ways to travel in Asia. I ate and drank far more than my fair share of excellent food and drink – from cheap street eats to fine-dining and everything in between. I made some amazing friends, both expat and Vietnamese, many of whom I hope I to remain friends with in the future. These things I will certainly miss.
Farewell Hanoi! I hope to see you again sometime soon!
