HANOI, VIETNAM – OK, I admit it, I was not prepared. There are over 7 million people in Hanoi, and well, goods have to come from somewhere and people have to be able to buy them. We hit the jackpot in the Dong Xuan Market in the Old Quarter. The words ‘huge’ and ‘expansive’ don’t even do it justice. Three floors, even an escalator, and many stairways.
What took me awhile to understand about Asian market stalls is that there is no storeroom in the back. The booth IS the storeroom, so you see everything they have – piled floor to ceiling and spilling out into the aisle or onto the sidewalk. And if you don’t see it, they still probably have it, just piled under something else.
After much fanfare and digging, they will happily pull out exactly what they think you want – oh yes, in a bunch of new colors and sizes too.
I was also noticing that among what first appears to be random stalls there really are sections of merchandise. Like the shoe booths will tend to be in the same area, several booths in a row will have children’s clothes or housewares, and so forth. Around our hotel are areas for rope and twine, straw mats, plastic food containers, packing tape and other items.
Who can make a decision for lunch? It all looks terrific!
And you can find food vendors just about anywhere among it all. There is an entire alleyway just a few steps from our hotel front door that leads up to the big market, and it has one food stall after another all the way for a few blocks. Who can make a decision for lunch? It all looks terrific!
One stall has steamed fresh whole crabs. Oh, does that look good (but messy)! Unlike our Dungeness crabs back in the Pacific Northwest, these crabs when steamed turn a beautiful red and beige in a modern freestyle design on the shell. Very beautiful.
As for markets, I have not seen anything to compare in Mexico or South America, and even Cambodia’s Siem Reap market was no match for Hanoi. The entire area of the Old Quarter has market stalls along every street, in every nook and cranny.
Our really nice comfortable little hotel/hostel has its entry almost obscured by the street stalls. You can miss the doorway entirely if you are not paying attention. There is barely enough room to bring in your luggage/backpack to the front door. But no worry; as soon as the bellboy saw our car and driver stop, he rushed out, escorted us single file to the door (7 steps), held it open and waved us on – no problem, he will bring our luggage up.
And UP it is. This part of the city was built at a time when the tax was based on how wide your front façade was. So they built all the houses one room wide and went up 3 or 4 stories, and often quite deep, should the owner have enough money to do that.
So here we are, settled into our second-floor room (third-floor actually, since the “first floor” lobby is one flight up) overlooking the busy street below. The perfect central location for our exploratory forays around the city.
We can hardly wait!
The culture in Asia is so different. Want to see more? Let us know what you think. Follow us on FaceBook.