Normal life in Hanoi

Wow, this is a different place today!  The endless Tet holiday has finally formally ended, but the ‘echo’ will rumble on until Feb 14th, when the lunar celebration which usually takes place on the 14th is symbolically marked being the first of the new year.

The civil governances and private businesses are open again; the daily commute has filled the roads, a nightmare blur of moving vehicles silhouetted in grey mist of exhaust fumes! The pavements, such as they are, if you can dodge the holes, street sellers, and their boiling pans, kettles, grills, and the fact that every inch is actually a parking spot, are quieter though. The festival parades around the lake and into the temples has ended; there was an almost forlorn feel in the air as I walked back tonight beneath the bright Tet illuminations.

This morning the noise from the road below was a real alarm call, what has been a dull rumble is now a roar; and this is a quiet lane!  Off to the Fine Arts Museum to immerse myself in culture. Whilst this has much that is similar to those in Saigon, the collections were far more diverse; split by media rather than subject. The traditional art forms of silk painting, lacquer painting, wood carving, displayed the generic themes of tradition, revolution and nostalgia through each medium. There is an insightful English inscription with telling notes: on the first floor featuring Buddhist images from centuries ago, it was suggested that artists used a holy image to allow them to do portrait work, which makes sense given the multi faceted faces I’ve seen over the years!

This afternoon I visited my friend Thao at her work for the Japan Foundation, as I had promised, a small request I was happy to grant as she has been so lovely to me. Her offices in this charity working for inter country understanding is in an economically wealthier area of the city, opposite a small shop with a window display featuring an English church in winter, merry xmas signs and a Father Christmas.
Very bizarre!!

There is a large ex-pat community here though, this area had not just this but a cupcake shop and trendy coffee bars featuring western coffee brands…when I asked for a Vietnamese iced coffee the waitress was very puzzled, was I sure I did not want a cappuccino??

Hanoi lacks behind Saigon in the fitness department, but a new gym is opening, Fusion bodyworks, with much fanfare. Yes, I joined in the open air zumba session, to the absolute delight of those few dancers who were sooo impressed I knew the steps, its exactly the same as Lewes-needless to say I did not look like those in the pic, but the audience , see other pic, were equally bemused. Apparently I made such an impression I will be in their publicity brochure and online, I daren’t look!!!

Zumba anyone?

Crowd watching Zumba

Flushed, literally, with success and sweat, I continued the cultural theme of the day with a visit to the Vietnam National Tuong Theatre.  This is a government funded group to continue the repertoire of the Tuong plays performed for hundreds of years. In the carnival genre, with mime, exotic costumes, grand themes of love, death and birth (I loved the dance of the lion giving birth), much melodrama, all accompanied by musicians skilfully playing bizarre instruments, well worth the 100,000 dong (about £3) for the ticket, which also included as much hot jasmine tea as one could drink…which, in true Vietnamese fashion, can be taken into the theatre, there are simply no health and safety rules here at all!

Scenes from traditional Tuong Plays

Lion Dance