Hanoi...First Impressions
What an amazing place! Hanoi is beautiful and vibrant. It’s the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City, but with the quaintness of “Asia”. Missing are the huge concrete skyscrapers and wide sidewalks. Instead you see a lot of French architecture, narrow streets, and markets. Everywhere there is someone eager to give you a ride on a motorbike or cyclo.
People are very friendly and I’ve been doing my share of bargaining and buying. I’m working on my Vietnamese discount. Many locals I’ve run into think that I’m Vietnamese and I often play along, half-joking with them asking for a “Vietnamese discount.” This has lightened the situation with laughter and often given me great deals and excellent treatment in stores. I’ve found that you can get farther with a smile and a friendly chat than with the more common cold foreign brush-off. The thing with bargaining is, if they like you, they’ll deal.
Hanoi Street Market
This morning I visited Dong Xuan market which is like the biggest flea market you can imagine, times 10! It’s absolutely crazy. You can buy everything from parakeets to purses, dishwashers to dried fish. There really aren’t walkways through the stalls. You pretty much have to walk over people and climb over boxes and boxes of crap. I’ve never seen so many plastic shoes and knock-off luggage! Later in the afternoon, I spent about 20 minutes talking with a young girl in her family’s lacquer shop. She wanted to practice her English and I was learning Vietnamese. I was sitting on these tiny stools in the store chatting while her mother continuously poured me tea in a teeny-tiny ceramic cup and her father persistently offered me cigarettes. It was hysterical! You definitely don’t get this kind of treatment in the U.S.
Every kind of thing is for sale here.
People are very friendly and I’ve been doing my share of bargaining and buying. I’m working on my Vietnamese discount. Many locals I’ve run into think that I’m Vietnamese and I often play along, half-joking with them asking for a “Vietnamese discount.” This has lightened the situation with laughter and often given me great deals and excellent treatment in stores. I’ve found that you can get farther with a smile and a friendly chat than with the more common cold foreign brush-off. The thing with bargaining is, if they like you, they’ll deal.
Hanoi Street Market
This morning I visited Dong Xuan market which is like the biggest flea market you can imagine, times 10! It’s absolutely crazy. You can buy everything from parakeets to purses, dishwashers to dried fish. There really aren’t walkways through the stalls. You pretty much have to walk over people and climb over boxes and boxes of crap. I’ve never seen so many plastic shoes and knock-off luggage! Later in the afternoon, I spent about 20 minutes talking with a young girl in her family’s lacquer shop. She wanted to practice her English and I was learning Vietnamese. I was sitting on these tiny stools in the store chatting while her mother continuously poured me tea in a teeny-tiny ceramic cup and her father persistently offered me cigarettes. It was hysterical! You definitely don’t get this kind of treatment in the U.S.
Every kind of thing is for sale here.
posted by SnowPixie at 1:00 PM
<< Home