kalpa’sblog

Shall start with a cup of the famous Vietnamese coffee! The locals traditionally sip this strong brew laced with condensed milk slowly..socialising over the small cup in a casual roadside Vietnamese cafe..usually perched on a 10inch plastic chair! And watch the world whizz by in Hanoi! We first tasted the unusual “egg coffee” in old town Hoi Trung district! In fact, within an hour of landing in Vietnam, we had booked ourselves into a street food walking tour in Hanoi and satisfied our kapi-to-luwak coffee curiosity!

Actually, my travelogue ought to begin with the mesmerising food tour in a culinary super power like Vietnam! Pho, Banh mi, Cao Lau, Saigon beer, crunchy peanuts and sesame rice crackers, vague black glass jelly, a hot pot stew on a bunsen burner… The streets were jam packed with low tables surrounded by small plastic stools with happy faces of tourists and locals eating typical Vietnamese food!

Food-was “assembled” more than “cooked” in the open kitchen . Like mixing an Indian chaat with imli sauce and sev puri. Piquant, zingy and awakened all umami taste buds! Naturally, cooking lessons were a must (we took two). And naturally, a trip to the local market first. And, naturally again..the camera shutter did not stop till the dishes were all cooked, displayed and in fact, even the sun set did not stop the photography- as the various night markets spring into colour!

We took a sampan boat from the market place- bags full of sweet basil, morning glory, exotic chillies, fried onion bags, fresh tumeric and arrived at our lesson venue. Our shopping highlight- a magic carving knife which promised to revoutionise papaya salad back home in UK! The venue that afternoon had doubled up as a wedding site I was informed as I admired the lotus bouquets arranged as we entered the tastefully decorated place.

Time to pause and add the pictures..

Meet Ayi

Ayi. Our guide from the native Hmong tribe at our 2 day SaPa trek. We stepped out of Victoria Express (highly recommended red carpet luxury experience-a blog in itself) at Lao Cai – a town 3 km off the China border.

Ayi was all of 4.5feet, with a Mongolian face, spoke heavily accented self taught English. She had never attended a single day of school and did not read or write any language! She wore a pleated traditional skirt, a pair of dark velvet stockings and carried a traditional Hmong SaPa hand knit pouch across her chest with nonchalant pride! Within minutes of arrival at SaPa, we interacted with the few main tribes- Red Tao, Black Hmong. The colour of their costumes and hear gears stood them apart. Women never stopped needle work- their thimble free fingers, deeply stained with base dye indigo as they mastered the cross stitches and tried to sell their work at street corners. The Indo Chinese air reminded me of Shillong. The rice terraces did not fail to deliver wow factor inspite of the “wrong season”. Our pictures were less green and more brown…but our telefocus was put to full use as we trekked the terraces and spent time with the locals. Another must do when in Vietnam! Sharing some paisa vasool shots as Ram would say..

Hoi An

The only question for Hoi An…

Are you going to fall in love with Hoi An instantaneously or after the sun set?!

Sammy had said- “Mom, Hoi An is magic”. It was mesmerising. UNESCO protected ancient port town in mid Vietnam, quaint, with yellow brick faded houses and bougainvella to contrast, governed by one adorable law – “One simply HAS TO hang plenty silk lanterns in front of their trading homes” The hundreds of lanterns transformed the town by day and night. A town to be explored on foot with a DSLR and DRONE. I shall let the DSLR do the rest of the talking about Hoi An…

Southward bound

From AONB Hoi An to HoChiMin City (HCMN) was like romantic Lake District to Zone 2 London.  One word for HCMN-Chaos.  For the city devotees -a Mecca. Looked more like a capital-aspiring international status but undoubtedly Vietnamese in culture. The refurbished Notre dame cathedral, Bitexco financial towers, Landmark 81 downtown, City Hall and Opera House on one hand and ben Thanh markets,  motorbike tsunami, high octane smog, footsie badminton by street locals on the other made me draw this observation. Well, they blended to an exciting energy mass..Saigon! Ho Chi Min himself was like omnipresent Mahatma.  By now, the conical Vietnamese hat was my firm travel companion. But I struggled to retain Vietnamese phrases and  although was Dong millionaire, the number of zeros were confusing me no end in conversion!! We wandered on foot downtown in search of trip advisor recommended resturants and took in the neon decorations to usher 2020 in!

Market research takes a whole new turn in Mekong I mused on our road trip from HCMC to Ben tre. We watched downloaded netflix (new found interest for Korean drama ) and intermittently clicked pictures of  “life” in rural Mekong. The 4800km khaki coloured narrow shallow rive meant everything to the locals. It was a source of food, pottable water, hydro electrics. It was where a father taught his young son to throw a fishing net and laugh together as they loaded up a barge- memories of childhood shaped here. Ben Tre is a coconut capital. For a South Indian with a farmer for a grand father, nothing I saw was new.  But the narrow   muddy network of water was like entering a  palm lined labyrinth and specific to Mekong.  

The floating markets came into sight.  Barges with fruits, pumpkins, fish flashed by.  A long pole with produce announced what was being sold! I struggled with aperture and settings to keep upto the pace of moving activity around me.  The floating market was a riot of commerce and clutter. Not as colourful I pondered as I looked at  my pictures in the hotel room that evening.  I also realised Ram and I did most  touristy ticks- rode on a rickety bike, watched chocolate come out of cocoa, learnt to play music from a monk. In my last  blog, the tag line was  to be non touristy. But this time, it was all about being touristy and doing what locals suggest we do! Isn’t that strange!!!

As I pedal to the end, I share with you a presence of undertones of war ravaged Vietnam throughout our travel. Like the base broth in the “Pho”. The variety of life created the flavours to make it all delightful ultimately!

Looking forward to journeys in 2020! Bye for now..