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ADVENTURES IN ASIA WITH LADYB, LAOLAO AND GONGGONG
Story #22: Twenty-two pictures from Hanoi, Vietnam.
Northern Vietnam via Puli Town, Taiwan, China.
This is going out tomorrow at the post office!
Dear Grandaughter Mila,
Finally finding a few hours to put together a picture tour of Hanoi, from Laolao’s and my trip to Vietnam, 17 March-7 April. We only spent 2-3 days in Vietnam’s capital. The rest of the voyage was in the countryside, so I’ll have more show-and-tell for you!
The Vietnamese are welcoming, kind, courteous, helpful, street-level honest and hardworking. Their food is dee-leesh, their country is stupendously beautiful, infrastructure has made huge gains since your Grandmother Maflor, Aunt Chara and I visited there in 2014. And for the budget-minded, like Laolao and me, it is an incredible bargain. Really nice hotel rooms cost €8-18 a night, trains, buses and taxis are super-reasonable and we can have a great meal for two, with beverages, for €8! It is lower cost traveling in Vietnam than living in China or Taiwan Province. So, what is there not to like?
Let’s get politics out of the way first. It shocks many visitors to see so much communist symbolism in Vietnam, and China for that matter. The hammer-and-sickle flag, for the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) is all over the country, usually in tandem with the national flag – which is a big gold star on a red background. The CPV is so important to the people that its symbol is usually to the left of the national flag, reading from left to right, meaning that the country is free and independent thanks to the Party. No CPV, no modern Vietnam. The story is much the same in China. The Chinese always say, “No Mao Zedong (and the CPC), no New China”. More on Ho Chi Mihn further below.
#1: the Vietnamese celebrated the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPV the day we arrived, 17 March 2025.
#2 and #3: everywhere you turn you see the two flags paired up, the CPV and Vietnam.
#4: it is jarring for most foreigners to see the communist hammer and sickle next to a bank logo, but that is easily explained. There is a dizzying array of bank brands all over Vietnam, a total of 49. However, except for 12 foreign ones (of which we did not see one!), they are all owned by the people – public banks. The symbol above Vietcombank is the logo for Hanoi, which in Chinese means, Inner River.
#5 and #6: all over Vietnam, the women LOVE to get all gussied- and made-up in traditional dresses, strut their stuff and take lots of photos. They were flattered when Laolao and I took pictures of them.
#7: like in China, including Taiwan, dogs and cats are a big facet of daily life. Pets of all kinds are very well taken care of and get a lot of attention. At this restaurant where we were eating, a food deliverer had to wait for the takeout to be prepared, so he picked up one of the owner’s two dogs to give it plenty of loving.
#8: the Vietnamese zodiac differs from the Chinese one in two respects. They have the Cat, instead of the Rabbit, and the cow is replaced with the Water Buffalo, a mainstay fixture all over rural Vietnam. Snakes are snakes the world over, so we saw lots of 2025 New Year serpents during our visit. New Year in Vietnam is called Tet.
#9: we stayed in Hanoi Old Town, where there is a lot of French colonial architecture remaining. Our neighborhood citizens painted this wonderful wall mural in the old French style. It is really charming.
#10: speaking of French architecture, here is the Hanoi Opera, built in the early 20th century. Unfortunately, it was closed to visitors the week we were there.
#11: one of the coolest dragons I’ve ever seen. This one is on the outside of a Buddhist temple.
#12: East Asians love their kitsch. Here are a couple of young Vietnamese ladies enjoying iced teas under a huge flower bouquet.
#13: the kitsch just keeps on coming! This high-end shopping center has displays like this for major fashion names: Gucci, Chanel, Dior, etc.
#14: kitsch sells in East Asia! Here is a street stand offering smoked duck, surrounded by cute images.
#15: Vietnam is not far from the CIA-controlled Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos and Thailand), which Maflor and I visited when we were living in Thailand in 2019-2020. The Golden Triangle pushes marijuana, heroin and opium around the region, and Vietnam takes a hard line on their use. This tourist café wants to make sure that cheeky foreigners don’t try to test the law.
#16: Vietnam, with 100 million people, has industrialized very fast in the last two generations, since its victory over the USA on 30 April, 1975. It exports millions of tons of steel each year and manufactures and exports car brands from around the world. This car is Vietnamese, called Vinfast, employing Italian auto designers for the concept (https://vinfastauto.eu/en). Nice looking wheels!
#17: Laolao and I love Vietnamese food. Even inside many restaurants, the chairs and tables are low to ground, so you eat in a crouched position. Using our mobile phones to translate, we got along very well “talking” to the locals and deciphering menus. We learned a handful of Vietnamese terms, which they really liked us using. Here is Laolao eating a cucumber salad, some tasty roast pork with fresh spices and onions, and on the right, fresh-rolled nem. Yummy!
#18: these are the famous Vietnamese beef pho noodles, with lots of ingredients in the broth, always served with a basket of fresh greens, including baby limes, 2-3 kinds of basil, mint, cilantro, bean sprouts, lettuce and a number of local spice plants you’ve never seen. Each bowl is less than €2.00! Bon appetit!
#19: here is central command for making pho. The yellow pieces in the broth are fried tofu and she has at her disposal all she needs to make up a tasty bowl in just a few seconds. There were two pho stands side-by-side and the sideway was packed with lunchers.
#20: Vietnamese don’t just eat pho. There are many different kinds of dishes. Here is Laolao surveying a meal we got with rice fritters, stir-fried noodles, sauteed pork and veggies. She is drinking fresh passion fruit juice on the rocks and I’m having an ice-cold beer. This whole meal with beverages costs about €8!
#21: like Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung, Fidel Castro and so many other founders of communist-socialist countries, foreigners have a hard time accepting their worth and appreciation, since the Western propaganda and lies against them are so relentless. Ho Chi Minh, the founder of modern Vietnam was one of 20th century’s greatest leaders and is revered by the citizens. For the Vietnamese, it’s a virtuous circle. No Ho, no CPV; no CPV, no modern Vietnam, no modern Vietnam, no freedom, independence and a better life. Here is a memorial in his honor.
#22: Ho Chi Minh is so respected in Vietnam, that they call him Uncle Ho, as he was always working to help children. Traveling around, there are many images of Ho with youngsters; he loved them all. Uncle is an honorific for older men, as it is in China too. In translation, I got called Uncle a few times and it made me very proud. The best place in the world to be old is in East Asia.
Granddaughter Mila, I hope you enjoy seeing a bit of our short stay in Hanoi, and are able to learn something new.
For an extended Easter celebration, please find enclosed a Japanese bunny backpack with a couple of little surprises inside for you.
Love, Grandfather Gonggong, Laolao and LadyB. LadyB travels with us everywhere we go! She’s waving hello below and shouting: ASIA ROCKS
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