It's Pouring In Hanoi

When it's hot in Hanoi, I always wish for some rain every few days but I should be careful what I wish for! It rained the whole night last night and is still raining12 hours later. This kind of constant heavy rain is too much for this city which has a terrible drainage system. Many streets in Hanoi are now under water and smelly. I decided crazily to go out with one of my friends to look around but was too afraid to take the camera out. I was scared to drop it in the water.

Some friends of mine in Cau Giay district couldn't get out of their houses and 2 friends who are teaching in the Australian English center told me, their school has cancelled all afternoon classes as there is no way to enter or exit. The water level in West Lake is really high and I feel like it would get even higher if it keeps raining.

I finally made it to Hoan Kiem Lake and the water has broken its banks and is flooding over the road. This is the first time I've seen this since I came to Hanoi 7 years ago. There are lots of stupid people trying to ride their bikes very fast, which sprayed dirty water all over my clothes. I shouted at them and they laughed, such idiots. According to the weather forecast, it will keep going during the weekend plus the cold wind from the north. I hope we survive!

These photos are from Hoang Ha, Tin Nhanh Vietnam

Adapting to Hanoi’s Summer

Summer is well and truly here. You can hear the cicadas in the trees. Along most of the streets in Hanoi these days, you can see the beautiful Flamboyant flowers. The hand fans are waving and the storm clouds are threatening. The temperature is on the rise forcing Hanoians to the lakesides and the streets in the evenings trying to get some breeze. Young boys drive their motorbikes around to have a good look at girls. Ice cream and sugarcane juice outlets are doing a roaring trade.

It’s all about staying cool in the brutal Hanoi summer. While the red and purple flowers make Hanoi look beautiful and signal the beginning of the school holidays, it is also a sign that it’s time to adapt. There will be no more cool days until October. One of the most noticeable ways that Hanoians adapt is in the wardrobe department and that doesn’t mean they wear less clothes. They wear more! Avoiding the searing sunshine is a priority, especially for the local women. A range of uniquely designed shirts which tie around the head have been all the rage these past few summers. Long gloves and the newly invented helmet rings complete the look.

Driving habits change, too. Motorcyclists do not stop at the traffic lights but instead 25 or 50 metres back from them – under the shade of a tree. It seems that half a minute stopped still in the open sun is too much to bear. At other times, motorbikers compete to pull up in the shade of a truck or bus. Motorbike parking attendants, in some locations, cover the seats of the bikes to protect them from the sun and their owners from a nasty burn.

Finding a breeze on a hot still night requires inside knowledge or an observant eye. Between Truc Bach and West Lake is an all too obvious one, with hundreds of couples getting in their good night kiss in the subtle wind. The breeze from the Red River can be experienced by hanging in the stop zones on Long Bien bridge. The bases of tall buildings like the Sofitel Plaza and by the waterworks on the dyke road are two other favourites.

A tumbler or two of bia hoi (draught beer) or mia da (sugar cane juice with ice) will give an instantaneous chill.

If all else fails, seek air-conditioned comfort!

Lotus Flower

Summer is the lotus season in Hanoi, the best and the most beautiful flower. Lotus mainly grow in Hanoi, in the West Lake area. The early morning is the perfect time to go there to take photographs and buy lotuses.

There are lots of people trading lotuses around Hanoi. Unfortunately, once the flowers are cut, they don't last long unless they are in an air-conditioned environment. Fortunately, they are dirt cheap right now.

Hanoi Summer

Summer in Hanoi is coming bringing with it a variety of fantastic colour in the form of flowers. The temperature is also on the rise especially in the noon time on the motorbike with a heavy helmet on. Damn hot!

Wandering around Hoan Kiem lake on these days reveals the beauty of the city. The mixture of red, purple, white and green colors in the landscape makes the lake like a beautiful painting. That's why people love Hanoi so much.

Hanoians are sitting around Truc Bach lake, too, drinking and eating til late at night during summer. Finding a cool breeze is a priority and the lakeside is a good bet. Sometimes though, the street police men come and most street businesses disappear, leaving customers standing with their plates or glasses. Once the police are gone, everything returns to normal. It's a funny scene!

Hanoi Winter

Most people imagine Hanoi as a hot climate city, but I'm telling you that recently the weather is really damn cold. 10 degrees in Vietnam sounds like nothing compared to minus 10 or even minus 30 degrees in other countries but it's really different if you ever make it to Hanoi. The humidity makes the colder seem really cold. It gets in your bones.

There have been quite a few old people and livestock who have died in Hanoi. Also lots of people have been sick throughout the north of Vietnam. In Sapa, the weather was minus 5 degrees, freezing and there was snow but people continued to go up to see snow for the first time ever in their lives. I wish I could see snow too as I never ever seen it before. It must be beautiful!

In one magazine, there was a report about one baby who died on the back of a motorbike in Hanoi because his parents forgot to cover his face and they only recognized when they were stopped by the police for not wearing a helmet. I couldn't believe my eyes reading that news. How could they let their children travel on the motorbike in such horrible weather conditions? I wondered. Also, almost ten babies die because of lung disease but the main reason was the cold. Even schools were closed on those days as it was too cold for children. The weather gets warmer but worse in the next two weeks with rain, high humidity and damp.

Now we must wait for the weather to improve and the sun to come out and the time when we can get rid of all the winter clothes. The other day, I had to wear three shirts, three pairs of pants, gloves, a thick jacket, scarf and winter hat but I am sure many people out there were wearing more than me. Another thing I want to mention is all that all of the clothes shops and electrical shops put their prices up unbelievably high at these times. There should be a law against businesses which take advantage of the weather situation.

Countryside Weddings

I have attended many of my friends' weddings in the countryside and I realized that, in the north, the wedding meals always start from 10am and some times, in some families, at 9am depending on where they live. It's quite funny because most people in the west would consider that to be breakfast time. When attending these weddings, we have to leave Hanoi very early in the morning to be there on time. At these weddings, it's common to stay there for one hour, eat all the food, drink all the rice wine, get pissed then piss off. Sounds not pleasant but it really is pleasant and fun and I love it.

The atmosphere of these weddings is really great, warm and special. The neighbors come and help the family out by cooking, decorating the home, talking to people and some of them sing and dance as well. It's so cool. Most of these couples are quite young, from 18 to 25 years old and they sometimes look a bit funny in wedding dresses. Also, it's quite normal for the brides to be a bit pregnant so the weddings have to be rushed so that they still look okay in their wedding dresses.

The food at countryside weddings is always different to other weddings in the city because they use so much MSG, salt and sugar. In different areas, they serve their own special dishes such as cat, dog, rat and buffalo meat but they don't tell you at the beginning. They wait until the end of the party. I have eaten these meats before and they are really tasty but I wouldn't try if I had known. A warning note is: if you have a weak stomach, do not go into the kitchen because you may be surprised at their cooking methods. Most of the food that they cook is near the floor and it's not like a normal kitchen. Some people take a pill before they go to countryside weddings as their stomachs are not so strong.

If you have a chance to go this kind of wedding, go for it and enjoy the great atmosphere, try to be a local and try all the food and you can experience real northern Vietnamese culture.

Hanoi Autumn

There are hundreds of songs and poems written about Hanoi in autumn, which talk about the beauty of Hanoi and I agree with these poets. Between September and November is the best time to discover Vietnam, especially Hanoi.

Walking along the streets and lakes and you can enjoy breathing in the beautiful sweet flavor of Hoa Sua flower(Hoa Sua means Milk Flower in English) and the willow trees hanging low. Autumn turns Hanoi into a really romantic place. It affects the people, too. Lots of young couples walk together or sit down alongside the lakes to exchange their kisses.

The weather in Hanoi during autumn is cool, a little bit sunny with a nice breeze that makes everyone much more active after the long hot summer. I love hanging around Hoan Kiem Lake and Truc Bach Lake on these days, looking at people and taking some photos or sitting down with a beer waiting for the sunset.

A warning - don't breath the milk flowers in too deeply as this might give you a headache.

Mid-Autumn Festival

I have fond memories of the Mid Autumn festival. It was such a great time for me when I was a little boy. After class, there was a big car waiting for me in front of my school to pick me up to for the yearly party for kids at my dad's company. If we studied well then we got some books, notebooks and a beautiful star lantern. It's one of the best parts of my childhood that I remember.

About 20 years ago, we celebrated our festival in a very simple way as life was not really as good as it is now. We usually made our own bamboo lanterns of different shapes like stars, long and round or maybe sometimes animal and car shapes. I used to really look forward making and wandering around with our lanterns, singing. At the end, we always stopped at one of the neighborhood houses to have some candy and cake and keep singing together. It was really cool.

Nowadays, people seem to buy lanterns for their children. There are also all kinds of electrical things with horrible happy birthday songs or some other crazy songs playing when they're turned on. In the past, some families did buy lanterns for their children but the percentage was not very high. Also at that time we had to use candles to light the lanterns and we have to re-light them many many times if it was a windy night. This was also a part of the fun and kids used to tease each other about how good their lanterns were.

This time of year is a very good time to go to the old quarter to take photos of moon cake shops and lantern shops particularly in the evening, if you can stand the crowds. The old quarter is always packed in the days leading up to the festival because everyone takes their kids out for shopping and having a good time.

Winter Is Coming

Another year and another winter, a time which offers everyone in Hanoi a chance to dress up in a few extra layers of winter clothes. I've just realized that many more shops have just opened and also winter clothes are so expensive. I stopped at a shop in the old quarter just to have a look and I asked the shop owner about the price of a pair of jeans. Guess what? she told me they were $350. I almost died - $350 for a pair of jeans? I would never pay that much but I saw a couple go in and they bought two pairs of them. Oh my gosh, I wondered where the money comes from? They were only about 17 years old.

In Hanoi, there are different areas which sell different items of clothing. If you want to buy leather jackets, you have to go Hoang Quoc Viet Street, near Lenin park. The whole street only sells leather jackets and cheap suits. The leather jackets are from $100 up to $500 and the suits, quite cheap, from $15 to $90.

For the latest fashion in clothes, you can check out the shops around the old quarter and in the center where you can see heaps of real and copied clothes from CK, Chanel to Chinese clothes. If you don't really know about much about the quality you may get a copy with a high price.

Summer Notice

Summer is here. You can hear the cicada's music which repeats the same sound for hours. Along most of the streets in Hanoi these days, you can see the beautiful Flamboyant flowers everywhere. The mix of red flowers, old French buildings, the old quarter mix and the lakes make Hanoi pretty special at this time of the year. You also can see lots of people hanging around the lakes and on the streets in the evening trying to get some breeze. Young boys drive their motorbikes around to have a good look at girls. Ice cream and sugarcane juice are the best coolants in the summer.

These flowers are a sign of summer, time for students to have a break and people to travel to escape the heat of the city at the beach or in the mountains. I don't know what cicadas look like but they've been in my mind since I was a little boy trying to find one to put in my bed room and keep as a pet. There have been many songs written about summer which make reference to cicadas, Flamboyant flowers, students on school holidays and remind me of my childhood.

Summer Time

Summer is coming to Hanoi with the heat rising up to 40*C one day last week. God, I can't stand it. I have been trying to avoid the heat by wandering around the lake or just staying at home whenever I'm off work. Replacing the ice cold winter and drizzly rain with the extreme heat is driving everyone crazy, but Hanoians seem to have no problem because they are used to it.

Check out the people driving around with these unique shirts that cover their faces and hands, making them look like Ninjas. I wonder why women in Viet nam have to hide their beautiful faces and bodies in such ugly manly shirts? Well, the very simple answer is that they don't want their faces to be exposed to the sun. They want to maintain a white face and avoid turning brown or even black. I wonder if women do that in western countries?

Chilli Cold Cold Cold

The freezing north west wind is coming to Hanoi giving everyone the chance to dress up in their winter clothes. This is one of the best time in Hanoi to sit down on the paverment watching people wandering around. I am from the south so that I can't really stand this cold. Of course, I am used to it after over 3 years living here but, it seems to get colder every year in degrees. I always wear heaps of clothes, gloves, hat and jackets but I still feel cold. Is that weird?

Yes, I know that and I can't do anything more to overcome the chill.

But I love cold Beer.

Fruit and Flower

For stunning beauty in this current season, people go for banana flowers. This flower lasts for over a week and two or three stems look beautiful in a big vase. Banana flowers are not really expensive, at only costs about 10,000Vnd for one. The structure and color of these flowers are worth it. Bananas also are a good fresh fruit or cooked fruit for dessert as well.

Pineapples are a great fresh fruit for any season, though it's better in the summer because it's juicy and refreshing. It's sometimes very sour but most of the time it is sweet. In Vietnamese cooking, we use it a lot. Have you ever tried pineapple pancake? They're not bad.

Mandarins are the best fruit choice at this time of the year. There are two kinds of mandarins, one is small and the other is bigger, about the same size as an orange. The smaller mandarins without seeds are sweeter and more expensive, the others a bit sour and the quality depends on where they come from.

Oranges are good for any season because they are healthy. Everyone loves oranges from sick people to athletes. Lots of people drink orange juice and make cakes using them.

Raining Day

Winter is coming to Hanoi with an early squall of rain and cold wind straight to the bones. The streets are so quiet and all businesses are slow but people have started to dress up. Pyjamas have disappeared, replaced by long jackets and colourful jumpers. People are again using blue plastic condoms for the rain and sometimes you can see someone with a plastic bag or a piece of paper on their head instead of a rain coat.

I don't think the cold weather in Hanoi is the same as other places in the world because the humidity makes the temperature seem much colder. A really good thing to do is wear lots of clothes, sit in front of Cafe Nang, have a hot coffee, watch people wandering around and make some silly comments.

Autumn Colours

On the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the Mid Autumn Festival (Rằm Trung Thu) occurs which is a very big event for buddhists and children.

Vietnamese people buy lots of lanterns for children lit with candles. Older people like to go to the Pagoda to pray for better health, luck and success in their business. This is a good time for wandering around to see kids playing traditional games and having fun. People also buy lots of Moon Cakes which have two kinds. One of them is yellow and made from wheat flour, sugar syrup on the cover. Lotus seeds, sugar-preserved pumpkin, sesame seeds, chinese sausage and egg yolk are in the middle of the cake. Another kind is white, the cover made from glutinous rice flour and the centre made from green bean, ground lotus seeds, young green rice and egg yolk. There are other vegetarian cakes too, which are without egg and Chinese sausage.

You can't buy these cakes on other occasions because this is really special. They cost from 10,000Vnd up to 70,000Vnd. Đồng Khánh and Kinh Đô brands are the best choices.

Summer Lotus in Viet Nam

If you ever think about Vietnam, a symbol that comes to mind is the Lotus flower. This flower represents the virgin, the pure beauty of Vietnamese women. This time of the year is Lotus season. People can be seen selling pink and white lotuses on the street or you might catch them growing in a pond in the countryside. Most people who sell them are from the country side. The lotus is just an amazing flower with heaps of meaning which even the Vietnamese don't really fully understand .

You might spend 15,000 Vnd for 10 lotuses at the beginning of the season but almost half that 15 days later. They make your house look special.