Arrival in Hanoi - Fight Jet Lag At All Costs!

About 34 hours after leaving our home, and two days later according to the calendar, we arrived in Hanoi around 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, December 17. Passport control was quick and efficient, our bags were delivered promptly, and our Uniworld representative (Tri) was waiting for us in the arrival hall.

For those of you that didn't find this blog through Cruise Critic, we booked this trip through Uniworld, a river cruise company. The land/cruise tour included hotels in three cities, an overnight cruise in Ha Long Bay, a 7-night river cruise, local guides, and all airport transfers. We were extremely happy to hand over the controls to a local as soon as we arrived.

Tri's first order of business was to confirm that we were indeed his guests, since we are so much younger than the typical Uniworld traveler. He seemed genuinely surprised. Once we assured him he was in the right place (and mentioned that we knew we'd be the youngest), he took us to a waiting driver. During the 30-minute drive to the hotel he gave us an overview of the program and our group (there would be 30 of us, and only three other guests joining us for the pre-trip to Ha Long Bay). He also helped us with a major language blunder - how to order noodle soup in Vietnamese without asking for a street or a prostitute! (The tonal language is complicated, and a slight change in pronunciation completely changes the meeting of the word).

We pulled up to the Intercontinental Hanoi West Lake, and our bags were whisked away as Tri led us to the Uniworld desk in a lounge for our welcome drink. The waitress immediately appeared, but she spilled Aaron's drink all over the table. We shrugged and laughed it off, but she was mortified. She basically ran away. Another staff member cleaned it up, and both apologized profusely. We weren't mad, but it was clearly a major embarrassment for her.

After the drink and a refreshing towel, we went to our room, and within minutes fresh flowers and a fruit tray were delivered. We were given a standard room in the main building, which included a balcony and a large bathroom.

Complimentary fruit, from L to R: passion fruit, banana, rambutan

Fresh flower delivered to the room

The room was quite comfortable, and there were plenty of outlets. We'd brought two adapters, and one small power strip that included two plugs and two USB outlets. This met our electricity needs for the entire trip.

After quick showers, we left the hotel in search of lunch (our second lunch of the day, I guess). We had arrived a full day early for our pre-trip extension, so today and the following day we would be on our own without a Uniworld guide. I had done some pre-reading, and my mouth was watering based on what I'd read about Vietnamese street food. Just a few blocks from our hotel, we found a street stall selling bun cha (barbecued pork soup with noodles and herbs) for 30,000 VND per bowl - less than $1.50. The author of my book had raved about this dish, so I felt comfortable ordering and eating it. Had I not read ahead of time, I would not have been comfortable walking up to a mostly empty street stall with no menu and no English signs.

Yum. So tasty. So delicious. Even when sitting on a tiny plastic stool. We took a picture so we could remember where we found it if we needed to eat it again (unfortunately, we didn't).

We walked a bit further (I was surprisingly comfortable walking amongst the ubiquitous motor bikes), and happened upon a pagoda—the oldest in Vietnam (chùa Trấn Quốc). We walked through, and encountered people praying at various alters, which were piled high with offerings of food and drink.

We kept walking, and braved some major road crossings (motorbikes going every which way) until we got to the Temple of Literature. This was the site of Vietnam's first university and is home to the Doctors' stone stelae—inscribed stones that record the names of the people who completed doctoral exams from 1442-1779. Since this trip was a bit of a celebration of my doctorate (at least, that's what I kept telling myself while I was finishing my dissertation earlier in the year), I really wanted to visit.

The stelae, being centuries old, are worn and hard to read. Not that I know mandarin Chinese (which was how the educated population of Vietnam communicated in writing for quite some time). Each tablet sits atop a tortoise (the specific design of which changed throughout the years). The tortoise is one of four Vietnamese holy creatures (the dragon, unicorn, and phoenix are others) and symbolizes long life.

Throughout the temple, there are hedges in the shape of animals—the Chinese zodiac.

A few days later, I would learn the difference between a pagoda and a temple from one of our local guides. In Vietnam, a pagoda is constructed to worship a god (Buddhist structures are generally pagodas). Temples, however, are built to honor/worship a person or people who actually lived. It may be the "god of the village," who is actually one of the village founders. Altars appear in both types of structures, as the Vietnamese have a strong spiritual belief related to the after-life. Little knowledge tidbits like this are why I love to have a knowledgeable guide when we travel!

I was fading fast as we exited the temple sometime after 3:00 p.m., so we hailed a taxi back to the hotel. We were in rush hour, and even in the taxi with a window just slightly cracked, I found myself coughing from the motor bike exhaust. I have asthma, which doesn't bother all that much at home, but it seemed to make me especially susceptible to the air pollution in Hanoi.

We arrived back at the hotel a bit after 4:00 p.m., and I couldn't help it—I fell asleep. Even after setting a 30-minute timer, I slept for about two hours. I felt like I was drugged, I was so tired. Sometime during my nap, the phone rang. It was the desk calling to make sure everything was ok. I hope I didn't sound like a crazy person when I just kept saying "yes" in order to get off the phone and back to sleep. In a moment of wakefulness, I ordered room service for dinner (it was excellent), and we fell asleep very early. Even slightly jet lagged, it was a great first day in Hanoi.

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