We boarded a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok early
in the morning heading to Hanoi, the capital of
Vietnam. Flight lasted about an hour.
Upon landing, my first impression of the airport terminal
was that of an old shabby warehouse that reminded me
of smash repair houses in Sydney. Experience inside failed
to improve as we came face to face with the reality that
this is not Bangkok or Singapore, though it is still in a
South East Asian region, the region of Asian Tiger economies.
We queued up in a poorly lit hall with other passengers
to face custom officers who were dressed in their military
uniforms. Their stony, cold expression was unforgettable,
we would later know this is the case in all parts of the country
with the government officials. There is no rush to make
the tourists feel welcome on their part. Hanoi airport terminal
is a poor cousin of Bangkok or Singapore's gloss. We were
made to walt to an X-ray machine where I found the guard
not interested at all in checking what was showing up in the x-ray
screen or in the bags that were passing through the conveyer
belt. So it seemed the security was pretty lax.
The queue to reach the machine not marked or arranged at all,
so people were heading to different directions without getting
their luggage checked. At times, the same x-ray official would
get out of his seat, leaving the x-ray scanner unattended while
the luggage passed it by, and redirect the traffic to the queue.
There is little to talk about in the airport glitter, but it does
the basic functions, and works. Welcome to Hanoi, the
capital of a communist nation. Vietnam.
Outside the airport, the first thing to hit us was chaos.
This was expected in a developing country, but what hit
me was the sad melancholy of the place, the negligence
of the whole place. Luckily, our guide was waiting for us
with a placard with our names on it so we were able to escape
the fierce taxi drivers fighting for their customers.
All along the drive to city, my camera was out and
I was trying to find a decent looking street to shoot.
Hanoi, it seems, is decades behind other South East
Asian cities. Its infrastructure seems to have been frozen
in eighties, with most of the buildings still the remnants
of an bygone era, old, narrow and short.
So were the streets, the whole city is mostly made of
its old quarter, whose streets were made mainly for
pedestrians and horses rather than the en
masse scooters of today that are
running like rats everywhere there. A huge number of
rickshaw pullers are everywhere, hassling us every
few meters, very hard to get rid of.
Many parts of the old quarter maintain
quaint beauty of the past. In spite of being completely
neglected, and covered in dust, they manage to
create environment of an old, Chinese architecture
that is quite an experience in itself.
Hanoi does have attractions in the form of
magnificent ancient palaces, temples and schools
built by past emperors, which
are well maintained to this day.
One such place called the Ancient school of literature
is a great visit.
So, to me the main attractions of Hanoi came
down to three things : the ancient temples and
palaces, Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and the quaint
bustling streets of the old quarter.
I sensed the people seem desperate for survival, so the
street and local business vendors are some of the most
aggressive I have seen in Asia. We went on a gas powered auto
around West lake, which I felt was a waste of time as
the views were not different you would see from anywhere.
As mentioned before, the infractructure and development
of the city seems to have stalled for decades.
There is no traffic management, to talk about as people
drive, turn, run their scooters and vehicles where ever
they want; turns out this was the case for the entire nation.
For a city of eight million people, it is a very bad job.
I felt for the people and their struggle is clearly visible.
However, I could not find much sense of people's
willingness to help outsiders or interact with them.
Hardly anyone seem to speak English except the
travel guides and people will directly walk away if asked
for directions.
I really wanted to start off my notion of Hanoi in
a much more romantic way, but this turned out to be
a place I just could not fall in love with.
