Hang On Hanoi!

My visit to Hanoi is best illustrated with pictures.  Writing certain detail about this particular adventure makes me want to cover my head with a blanket and curl up in the fetal position.  Maybe whimper and rock a little too.

With only one weekend left in Asia, I needed a final adventure before leaving.  Hanoi is less than a two hour flight from Hong Kong and I've never had the chance to visit  so I booked it.  My trip was short so my itinerary was focused on the two things I loved most about my last trip to Vietnam – eating and cycling.

It is possible that I've done more cooking in classes than at home over the past 5 years.  So, with no intentions of replicating the dishes again, I started my Saturday bright and early at cooking school.  Of the many cooking schools in Hanoi, I chose the one that advertised itself as being the most local and authentic.  This was a nice reminder that I'm more of a main stream kinda gal.

The class started with a fun shopping trip at a nearby wet market where most of the ingredients were purchased. 



Maybe it's because I was raised on a vegetable farm, but piles of fruit and veg at a fresh market are always a favorite site, no matter the country or city.  



The market was bustling with motor bikes, cyclists and loads of ladies with bags of food darting through the tiny rows. 

Gorgeous,produce lying next to the gutter.

Fresh sticky rice noodles for Pho.

I've become less squeamish about the bloody side of fresh markets, finding it more fascinating than disgusting, mostly because I only have to look at it.  However, If you don't want to look at it, skip the next series of photos.

This guy was scraping the hair off of fresh pigs feet.

One of the many butchers, most of them women.

First question:  Why do the locals eat this?  Second question: Why did I take an authentically local cooking class?

Back at school with all the ingredients in hand, we were ready to start cooking beef Pho (essentially beef noodle soup).  Pho is everywhere in Hanoi and clearly the favorite dish in the city. And I understand why.  It makes you feel warm and full and you get to slurp noodles and add lots of chili, basil and lime. 

Next recipe was some deep fried shrimp cakes that are also sold all over the streets.  The interesting part about this preparation was that the prawns were still alive.  So the prawns jumped out of my hands while I tried to pull their heads off.  It made me a bit sick.   

We finished up with some tasty spring rolls (which I actually might make again?) before the whimpering started.  

   

The next series of local delicacies are vomit worthy.  And it embarrasses me to say that I tried them because I was the only one not doing it and the class started cheering my name.  Weak willed!

Stir Fried Silk Worm.



Fresh Fried Frog Legs



You don't want to know and I can't talk about it.



I didn't feel much like eating for the rest of the day, so I decided to forget about the local cuisine and lounge by the pool

Next morning I ate a giant bowl of Chicken Pho to prepare myself for the cycling tour.  Turns out I was the only one stupid enough to go on a cycling tour in Hanoi, so it was just me and my guide Dan driving through the city.

This is traffic in a nice spot.  My hands were shaking too much to take any photos in the busy parts.  I was scared half to death.

Dan could tell I was not navigating the traffic with confidence and suggested we go out of the city to an "unofficial" town.  I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded like a great alternative to being killed in the streets of Hanoi.  So we cycled outside the city and onto very quiet, but more technical dirt tracks. 

Crossing the river to get to the "Unofficial" Town

Unfortunately, I was starting to miss the prospect of death in the streets of Hanoi.  

The further we went into the banana fields, the sicker I felt.  Here is Dan looking back at me wondering why I don't have a big smile on my face while admiring the beautiful surroundings.

It was about then that Dan yelled back at me: "Actually, I should tell you that there are very aggressive dogs here.  But no worry, they don't bite."  Oh God.

A little further along, Dan stopped and said he was not sure how to get out of the Unofficial City.  Then he rode off telling me he'd be back in a few minutes leaving me alone in the middle the fields.  This is how I felt at that moment:

In case you are considering it, I don't recommend going to an unofficial city alone when you don't speak the language, don't have a mobile phone, don't have a map, and officially don't know where you are. 

We eventually made it back to Hanoi and Dan bought me a Vietnamese coffee to cheer me up.  I'm going to miss these...

I couldn't have been more thrilled to get off my bike and decided to walk around and buy souvenirs before catching my flight back to Honkers.  That's when my wallet was stolen for the second time in 5 days. 

It might be time to head back to the Western World...