Happy Belated Birthday

October 2010 marked the 1,000 year anniversary of Hanoi as Vietnam's capital. A 1,000 years as the capital!! 1,000 years!!??? Are you are as in awe as we are? That's a long time!

For some perspective Christopher Columbus sailed the Atlantic Ocean looking for the New World a mere 518 years ago, that means Hanoi is twice as old as any major establishments in the US and Hanoi was not the original capital.

We were unaware of this millennium milestone, with little news, tourism PR or international focus on this birthday until we came across an article in The Economist blasting the government on its mishandling of such a monumental event. Vietnam is a communist country with strict governmental control over media and really messed up this one. The Economist article goes on to detail how poorly the government was in organizing and announcing events to mark the celebrations including a fireworks finale that left 4 technicians dead when a crate of fireworks exploded.

Looking deeper into the lack of governmental organization for the celebration showed how poorly the tourism boards are doing to attract foreigners to Vietnam. Very little special tourism packages could be found geared towards the celebrations and worse Vietnam Airlines did offer a promotion just weeks before the celebration, but only included flights out of Vietnam, but not into. Maybe the government is focusing more on the extensive flooding going on in Central Vietnam or maybe 1000 years isn't that old in these parts of the world.

The government estimates Vietnam receive 3.3 million tourist a year, but only manages 5% return rate compared to Thailand's 50%. To us that is heartbreaking considering Thailand was our least favorite country to visit. Direct flights from Asian hubs Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur have been canceled and now only a few carriers do semi-direct (1-layover) flights from the US West Coast. How sad is that? But to be fair Vietnam's tourism is very young compared to other SE Asian countries with it's borders only open to tourism in 1986 and only providing US citizens visas in 1994.

We love Vietnam and really enjoyed our time in the capital of Hanoi. So we would like to raise a glass and say "Happy Birthday Hanoi, may your future be bright with better infrastructure, more transparency and the positive attention you deserve."

Water Puppet Mastery

Farmers and fisherman of Northern Vietnam used to entertain themselves when the rice fields and rivers would flood during monsoon season by putting on elaborate water puppet shows. Today this form of entertain can be enjoyed at Hanoi's Water Puppet Theater on the edge of the Old Quarter. For only $4 for an hour-long water puppet show complete with traditional music played on traditional instruments.

The music for the show was traditional and reminiscent of ancient operas played all over the country. The musicians wore traditional clothing and played traditional instruments that added to the unique tradition of the water puppets.

The plays focused on traditional themes and everyday life, such as working in the fields, tending to the geese and trying to keep cats from eating them, fishing, mating dragons, funeral processions.

The puppets were beautiful and there were even fireworks. We would recommend anyone visiting Hanoi to attend one of the water uppet shows.

Cooking Course: Hanoi

We arrived at the Old Hanoi Restaurant and our lovely instructor was waiting and ready to head to the market to show us the ingredients we would need for the 4 courses we would be cooking. We love the open-air wet marketing in the Old Quarter and had come across it a few days before.

The first dish was Hanoi Cha Ca (Hanoi-style crispy fish, made with snake fish).

The most interesting part of the class was all the ingredients, from fresh turmic vs. powdered, rice pastes, dry shredded por and all the individual curry powders.

The next dish was what Northern Vietnamese call Nem and Southern Vietnamese call Cho Goi and we call eggrolls. All the ingredients were pre-measured and laid out, all we had to do was chop away and combine. Our instructor was very impressed with Mike’s chopping skills.

We got a lesson on the different rice papers and which ones were used for cooking and which ones worked best for fresh rolls. Once we knew the difference we were ready to make our eggrolls!

Then we cooked them and ate them right away! Nothing beats fresh from the oil eggrolls!

The next dish we made was an Imperial Rice dish made with shrimp and vegetables. Again more chopping and extensive list of herbs and spices.

Our three individual plates of shrimp, fresh vegetables, herbs and spices was then combined, sautéed and packed in a bowl with rice for a lovely presentation.

For presentation the bowl is then turned upside and voila – doesn’t that look yummy?

By the time the rice was done we were ready for the hotplate cooked Hanoi crispy fish, served traditionally with all the fixings to make your own rolls. We had these the night before and it was delicious so we were ready dig in!

Our course included a dessert as well and our final dish was a traditional Vietnamese dessert called Che. This particular one was made with fresh ginger and sweet potatoes. Light, refreshing and soothing to the belly.

The cooking class at the Old Hanoi Restaurant was what we were hoping, except for the fact that we didn’t get to see the Hanoi Cha Ca fish actually cooked on the hot plate, so we grilled our instructor on specifics. The dishes we made, excluding the eggrolls, were new to us and we are excited to try them at home. The preparation of the spices was the most informative and we were glad we decided to take this particular class.