The State of Nats #12: Xin chao Hanoi
[Everything between November 22 and the day of publishing this]
Ha Noi, Vietnam
Data
Noodle bowls intake: 11
Coffees consumed: 18
Matcha consumed: 3
Books read: 1
I moved in Hanoi
Twenty three days spent in Hanoi already, I write this with the nonchalance of a seasoned traveler. After moving out of Old Quarter, we moved to a neighbourhood chosen at random. I had gotten used to seeing “firangs” on my walks in Old Quarter, and saw a total of 5 foreigners on my first day here in southwest Haom Kiem area. The observation brought mild discomfort that crept up my spine as the day progressed. I felt like I was looking into a Vietnam not meant for me, the one they keep away from regular offices, schools and lives, so the likes of us have no impact on the everyday of a Vietnamese person. Considering how obsessively I behave with the cuisine and its superiority from all I have known before, I felt obscene about our move here. I was an invader, a gentrification expert that is violating the realness of Vietnamese city culture.
With a broad road separating the old quarter from all else, everything changed slowly. Menus became less English, eventually losing it entirely. Faces became more Vietnamese. Coffee shops are more diverse with upscale air conditioned establishments and local street joints sharing sidewalks. More cuisines here that seem bent on Vietnamese taste and not a country niche. Vietnamese is so dominant here that Google translate pisses itself trying to translate a single word. Lunch is ordered with faith put in the lord and the person behind the counter at an eatery where I am. A lot of pointing and smiling. A lot of making the “ok” hand gesture and signalling at the sandwich I am holding, head nods saying frantic “yes yes it is so good”.
I feel so real when I travel, like I truly am a person. That I live somewhere, a new bedroom, new shower arrangement, a new temperature. I eat and fill my body with different nutrients. My spice tolerance, and sweet tolerance, they both change like the lunar cycle. All my molecules are equipped in evolving to be more “from here” than where I am from. It all feels like an illicit affair, like I am borrowing a life that is not mine. I am aware my presence causes more harm than good. Cost of living will go up, places will turn to Airbnbs and price out the people who spent lifetimes in the neighbourhood. Eateries with ”more acceptable” offering might replace food native to the land. Can gelatinous pig blood outlive banh my in the neighbourhood? Can beef cake outshine crab paste? When I choose to eat one over the other, am I adding to the summarised opinion of chef on his new menu, to serve “easier” food?
We build this muscle to learn how to stand out, to shine, to be different. A millennial survival mindset of “you are a special little snowflake” demands it. But here, always when I travel, I want to be so small and simple. I want to be painted onto the canvas of a city when I live there, and painted over when I leave.
I am living in an embassy area. It is upscale still. All my “down to earth observations” must now feel bogus with the knowledge of my acquired rental. They do to me.
Vignettes
The Bookshelf Hanoi is an outstanding bookshop with an owner so wonderful, she makes me bow down to all the people who sacrificially follow their passion of running bookshops and create such spaces for the likes of me. Her enthusiasm and taste had me shell out more from my wallet than any tourist trap could possibly make me do so. So many beautiful stationary pieces I acquired.
I bought so many enamel pins.
Have we collectively, as a globe, fallen in love with Capybaras? Or am I seeing them everywhere due to my own discovered interest?
There are 80-85% small sized dogs as pets in Hanoi. I have seen a total of 6 large dogs (I am keeping a count).
There are so many books originally written in English that are available to read, after translations in Vietnamese. I have NEVER seen such localisation for translations in India. Mostly, the bookstores in India (unless specifying differently) carry English books. I do not walk into one expecting to read Emily Henry in Marathi. But here, the norm is Vietnamese. It took several visits to three different bookstore neighbourhoods to find a bookstore with English books. The abundance of Vietnamese books was extremely delightful for me, and very frustrating for Ru. He was looking for Vietnam history books written in English. I was looking for bookstore interiors that get cozier as you go deeper into the store.
I had to take an entire day off, and rest more at home, due to a migraine from a sudden surge in pollution of air, and noise. I was very over stimulated that day.
We purchased a packet of moong dal, turmeric and dhania power to make dal at home. The surge of red meat in my diet has given me the sense of urgency for 4-5 dal chawal nights in December.
You go to a cafe, people are on their phones. You go to a hotel lobby, people are on their phones. You go to a street side eatery, people are eating and on their phones. Groups dine together with each one on their own phone. I am worried.
Things that felt different stepping out from the old quarter area:
- The taste of pho changed. Both Pho Bo and Bun Bo Hue were tastier when eaten outside of old quarter. The broths had more character.
- Banh my has more pate, more spice, and more uncertain meat inclusions for me. Also seeing more carts here which people flock to for breakfast and lunch.
- Easier to get a reservation at a Pizza 4Ps outlet.
- Seeing more Bun Rieu and Bun Bo Hue.
- After sunset, the lake area is taken over by romantic young lovers and middle aged men with glasses of alcohol.
- Seeing more shops like wedding dresses, embroidered Vietnamese overalls, millineries, coworking spaces, local makeup and accessories, watch repair shops, bakeries.
- More children taking over entire streets after school. And food joints that give snack sized meals specifically in those hours.
- More food joints, less alcohol spots (but plenty still, just not one at every third shop).
- Great variety in vegetables unknown to me.
- For a day we were even further out in the city when visiting the military history museum and a Cellphones store to buy earphones. In that trip, I saw a few things of note:
- Regular home electronic store that had so many new things for me, such as two bulb heat lamps for bathrooms ”only”, rice cookers with the multitude of size variations, advanced electric grills. Of them all, heating the bathroom during winter through lamps seems like a necessary intervention for NCR, and I want to include it in our house electronic rotation.
- Grilled dog and other assortment in an animal meat street. That was the second time I saw dog meat, and I am more acutely aware of my morality now, one that is hypocritical and nonsensical. In such hours I miss the writings of Olga Tokarczuk.
For my future self to look back at and say “girl what”
To reflect with accountability in future, here are links to places I find the best for their respective reasons:
- Pho at my neighbourhood place. Long ago I had a dream that I would walk into a restaurant, point to an item, receive it, eat it in full, pay, bow to thank them and leave. I have done it now. Here I order that top items for 60k VND and I have no clue what I am eating, but it tastes like the definition of Pho Bo.
- Best matcha of my life so far
- Favourite cafe to work out of, or idle hours in
- Favourite Pizza 4Ps outlet
- Preferred balance of savoury to sweetness in Bun Bo Hue
- The Bookshelf Hanoi
- Street for idling on Sunday mornings
- Fancy feeling cocktail bar
- Favourite Tony Vu beer outlet
- Beloved grill joint
- Ru’s favourite duck joint
Consumptions
Reading
- I picked a cosy audio book that “totally” felt suitable to listen to while walking in a busy overwhelming neighbourhood. It’s Cosy for the Holidays. It was, indeed, cosy. A hot man who has been in love with his friend for five years and a woman who denied herself love recovering from the death of a parent. Hits all the spots, the good and the bad.
I am not reading these days, not at all. The hows and whys are as of yet unknown to me.
Watching
- The Thursday Murder Club is nearly atrocious, but as I cannot hate the cast due to their talent, I ended up watching it with mild boredom. Towards the end I was finishing it entirely out of the happiness that I helped these brilliant folks earn a pay check for a villa or two.
- I am still thinking about Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein on a daily basis. Half those thoughts are really about Oscar Issac and why I am not his wife, and a quarter are about what it would be like to befriend Mia Goth.
- I watched the movie Copycat which was better than I expected from a murder-mystery-thriller of the 90s. It has a female cop working with a female psychologist, yes, TWO WOMEN in a movie’s lead in the 90s! Groundbreaking even today. The movie has good intrigue and lands well. This pace of film is lost on us now. We are ruined by frequent cuts, engaging visuals and sounds, and a minute to minute intrigue in the plot. A movie like Copycat is quite hard to watch today, and takes conscious effort to not touch the phone kept close. I myself paused out of boredom that the movie did nothing to deserve, and had to purposefully remind myself to keep watching. Unsurprisingly, as it was ending, I realised it was a rewarding film to watch. And I learnt that only rich women can afford to be agoraphobic.
- There is a mystery movie called Secret Window that I watched and I cannot recommend at all.
- I think the movie The Imitation Game has ruined all war movies. For the life of me I cannot understand how Operation Mincemeat started out quite alright and eventually turned into a type of The Imitation Game. Pacing, story beats, score, felt familiar and boring. But it did have THE two and THE best Mr Darcy(s) in it. So if I complain, I will have to slap myself.
- No television show these days.
Pho you back,
Nats