Arrival in Hanoi

Today we arrived in Hanoi - thirty-five (35) hours door-to-door.  There is a 12 hour time difference between East Coast US time and Hanoi.  We are writing this at 10 AM Sunday morning which is 10 PM Saturday night at home. 

After about five hours of flight time, we realized the sun should be coming up yet it was pitch black outside because our flight path was a giant arc west traveling over Canada, Alaska, Russia and China. We were chasing the night!  We flew in darkness from Atlanta to Seoul the whole way (15 hours) and the lights inside the plane were off except for meals.

We arrived at the Seoul Airport which is very modern and beautiful with trees growing inside. Plus they had magic toilets like our hotel had in Prague.  These toilets can give you a big suprise if you push the wrong button! We have a long layover on our return and are looking forward to spending time in this beautiful airport.

On the 45 minute ride from airport to our Hotel (Metropole Sofitel) we were  overwhelmed with the number of motor bikes - the main method of transportation for people in Hanoi.  Our driver said “There are 8 million people in Hanoi...... There are 8 million motor bikes in Hanoi.”  The bikes are imported from Japan (more reliable and more expensive) and China.  Our driver said the Japanese bikes will last 20 plus years while the Chinese bikes last about five years.  The cost of a Chinese bike is around $1200 US dollars.

You see families of four on one bike, people carrying 10 feet tall Kumquat trees, large boxes, plumbing pipes, etc on a bike.  There are truly no traffic rules and bike riders/passengers must wear helmets unless they are younger than 10 - go figure.  The bikers have the right-of-way:  on a red light they can turn left or right without stopping. That places the pedestrian in a precarious situation.  The rules for pedestrians are:

1). Walk slowly so the bikers can avoid you

2). Never, ever take a step back.

3). Keep your eyes 👀 OPEN!

 Back to the Kumquat trees.  We arrived on a Saturday and many people were buying Kumquat trees and transporting them home on their motorbikes for the upcoming lunar New Year (February 5th). The Vietnamese believe that the Kumquat trees bring good luck and chase out evils.

After arriving at the hotel we took a short nap and toured the historic bunker at the hotel.  

  

The Sofitel Legend Metropole, which opened in 1901 is the oldest hotel in Hanoi.  

We arranged to take their “Pathway to History” hour-long tour for the day we arrived.  It includes a tour of the air raid bunker that was forgotten but uncovered in 2011 when the Hotel was laying the foundation for the Bamboo Bar located adjacent to the pool.  There are only two tours a day of ten people each. 

The 430 square-foot bunker has six rooms with two entrances, one below the pool and one at the hotel center.  The ventilation system ensures air for 40 guests for six days.  The picture below was taken when all 10 of us  - plus the tour guide - were in one of the rooms.  It was stuffy and crowded and very hard to imagine how 40 people could stay in the small spaces for very long, especially when there was no electricity.

The Hotel remained open during the war and Hotel staff doubled up as gunners on the rooftop who would shoot at enemy planes flying low.  Every staff member was armed while they went about their work. When the bombs came, they would hurry the guests into the bunker and would then seek shelter wherever they could, including in manholes outside along the street where they had little more than the metal covering to protect them.

It was in this bunker that Joan Baez recorded her song ‘Where Are You Now, My Son’ as sirens wailed and bombs fell during the Christmas season of 1972.  She was inspired to write the song a few days earlier when she visited an area of Hanoi that had been bombed and came upon a woman who was searching through the rubble for her son.  Years later, when she returned to Hanoi she gave the hotel a portrait she had painted of a young Vietnamese boy.  That portrait hangs in the hotel near one of the entrances to the bunker.

There’s no way a visit like this would leave one unmoved. It is a powerful reminder of how unjust wars are on people, and the scars they leave behind.

We went to dinner at Angelina's, an Italian inspired restaurant at the hotel and turn in early.