Girl Talk: It's a Dogmeat Dog World

After our 12 hour bus ride on the sleeper bus, we rolled into already bustling Hanoi, with it's thousands of honking motorbikes in full glory at 7am. Sleepy eyed, we peered out the window to find a 1km stretch of a meat market.... rubbing the sleep out more vigorously we looked again and in horror realized the only meat sold was roasted dog. The dogs were whole with tongues out and paws prancing but with their rotisserie colored skin we realized their tails weren't wagging and they had no hair. In shock Gabi exclaimed "Hey Lis, it looks like they're playing!" Good Morning Northern Vietnam! After three weeks we had finally made it all the way to the top. If only we knew what the largest city in Vietnam had in store for us.

We found a quaint hotel, with the nicest Northern Vietnamese people we would encounter, in the Old Quarter, a melting pot of Commerce for almost 1,000 years. Our first stop was the Ngoc Son Temple, founded in the 18th century and set on an island in the middle of the Hoan Kiem Lake. After crossing a beautiful red foot bridge, we entered the meditative center with possibly the only expansive serene views of the city. After our first relaxing afternoon in over three weeks we set out to find Cha Ca, a regional dish scarce on local menus but highly recommended by the lonely planet. We soon discovered the reason behind this scarcity.

The restaurant claimed as THE place to get Cha Ca was not fancy and looked within our modest price range. A grill was brought to our table with an assortment of ingredients that the waiter used to adorn the fish he cooked in front of us. Excitedly we tried the first bite with the purple colored shrimp paste as they smiled, watching our nods of approval as we forced it down. The shrimp paste was pungent, to say the least. We would learn more about this fish paste in the coming days... In our true open minded fashion, we finished it all, without the fish sauce, washing it down with two Heinekens. The bill was the shocker as it was more than double what we had anticipated or ever spent on a meal in Vietnam as of yet. Only then did we realize we never saw a menu for the single item the restaurant offered. Long story short, we didn't have enough money or a debit card on us and the restaurant ended up paying for our beer. We continued onto the night market as planned, empty handed as unplanned.

The next morning we rented bicycles and successfully dominated the chaotic traffic of the Vietnamese capital. We were the only helmeted bike riders but we still felt badass. We passed the Presidential Palace and many embassies, making our way to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, a modern museum to commemorate the Communist Vietnamese President who served from 1946 until his death in 1969. Ho Chi Minh never lived to see the North's victory over the South. He is affectionately referred to as Uncle Ho by his admirers. This site, constructed in 1975, is considered a holy site for most Vietnamese, who we suspect consider the Great Uncle Ho, as greater than Buddha. We learned that he was indeed a very inspirational leader, successively sustaining positive ideals, holding dialogue with local communities and fostering beneficial connections with world leaders. Interestingly we also learned that Uncle Ho's final request was to be cremated, yet the Mausoleum exalts his remains in a glass sarcophagus, against his wishes.

Tired from our bike ride, we rested before meeting up with friends to watch World Cup. Who did we run into, but our German friend, Robert, again! With a group of people we ended up at a bar with a tv in an alley which looked like a promising place to watch the 1:30am match. The police didn't think so. They showed up in a truck yelling in Vietnamese and confiscating all of the plastic furniture we were using in the street, leaving us standing and confused as commotion ensued. Realizing Hanoi's early curfew we retreated to our "suite", only to get lost on our seven block walk home for 45 minutes in a downpour. We laughed it off as usual.

Five hours later, we awoke to the three S's: sunny sweaty Sunday. We arrived early to the Municipal Water Puppet Theater to watch water puppetry, a cultural art form originating in Northern Vietnam. We splurged and got third row tickets to the event and snuck in cameras. The show included a fabulous ensemble of regional instruments and vocalists, and a water stage with colorful wooden puppets manipulated by hidden puppeteers. We both enjoyed the animated show which brought laughter from all ages.

While we had many other excursions in Hanoi, our final notable tale takes us back to our initial entry to the city. It's a dogmeat dog world. Hungry and feeling creative, we took a Fear Factor challenge to find and consume dogmeat. Lisa sends apologies to Coco Channel. After a harrowing and expensive 45min cab ride through Hanoi's North side, our exhaustive efforts at dog charades (barking, eating motions, sniffing and clawing) led us to a dog meat market. The only tourists in sight, we discreetly took photos as we were shooed from packed food stalls until we managed to sit down and get in an order. We know you're all wondering what golden retriever, lab and chihuahua taste like, so here you go... Your pet is made of three layers: skin, fat and meat. The meat we were served was grizzly and mostly fat with a crunchy layer of skin. We suspect we got the worst cut seeing as the butcher was glaring at us and yelling for us to leave throughout the meal. The skin was unchewable but we were thankful they had burned the hair off in the fire. The rest was fatty and grizzly. We ate this with lime, cucumber and rice crackers. mmmm.... canine. The silver lining of this excursion was that we barely escaped cholera after learning from a nice Vietnamese lady that it is currently prevalent in this region in none other than purple shrimp paste. Good thing taste buds aren't keen on Cha Ca and Fido.