The Rich Grandma, or, How I Spent the Night in A Mansion

This weekend I am in Hai Phong helping to lead a seminar on public speaking for Vietnamese children. Last night we were scheduled to stay in a homestay in the city (Hai Phong is the fifth largest in Vietnam).

Ok, I thought. Homestay in Vietnam. This is going to be terrible.

I was so so wrong.

"My grandma is very rich." Our guide explained as we drove to Hai Phong. "I think you will be surprised."

OK, so maybe there will be Western toilets. I still wasn't expecting much. But then we turned the corner, and....

holy cow.

That picture is dark but the house was insane. 5 stories of pure opulence and tasteful beauty. 

As soon as we pulled up a woman ran to the gate exclaiming "Power is out! We so sorry!" It felt like the beginning of a scary movie. Except a comedic scary movie.

I really wouldn't have been surprised if Eddie Murphy had popped out

As soon as we walked in the door the power turned back on, which was great because the house was even more incredible in the light. There were two tea rooms, countless bedrooms, a study room with a Smart board, and a throne room. A THRONE ROOM.

thrones galore

high tea at midnight

5 floors up

Can I live here please

These pictures really don't do it justice, but the mansion was amazing. I've never seen anything like it in Vietnam OR America. And I will likely never sleep anywhere like that ever again.

The woman was vague about her occupation, but that might have just been the language barrier. From what I could gather, she used to teach high school physics, but now she's a business woman. I don't know if her heaps and heaps of money are from her or her husband. Either way, SHE HAS A FREAKING ELEVATOR IN HER HOUSE.

Unfortunately, I will not be sleeping in the mansion again tonight. I will be at a hotel where the summer camp is held. But the children are lovely and the teaching is fun. Wifi is spotty, but I'm sure the weekend in Haiphong will be wonderful.

Angela

Putting the nom in Vietnam

Today was a combination of interesting, dangerous, and exhilarating. I knew I needed to go into Old Quarter to get a camera if I was going to fully document the snake-eating experience at night. I taught English in the morning and then took the afternoon off work, and took the bus into Hanoi to look for a camera shop.

It was my first time taking the bus alone, and goodness was it different from taking it with a group. In Old Quarter they're used to white people and Western-style dress, but on the bus I got glared at by several people. One old woman in particular was giving me a really mean Evil Eye. If I'm cursed  now at least I'll know where it came from. 

I thought I remembered which stop I was supposed to get off at. Unfortunately I didn't realize that when I had seen the stop earlier, it had been a one way street. So when the Old Quarter stop came around, I didn't recognize it and just stayed on the bus. I started to get nervous as we traveled further North and the areas got poorer-looking. I was positive we had passed Old Quarter, but didn't know what to do. We reached the end of the line and the conductor shooed me off. I was alone at a bus stop in an unfamiliar area of Hanoi. So I did the logical(?) thing, and started walking South.

The amount of stares, yelling, and  taxicab offers I received was unreal. At one point I think a van was following me, slowing down every time I reached an intersection. I sped up. 

Eventually I reached a familiar street and took it to Hoan Kiem Lake. I, for one, am very proud of my navigating abilities. I feel like I barely know my way around Glen Ellyn, so navigating Hanoi was a great accomplishment.

I found a camera shop and bought one for $75. It's a lot compared to how cheap you can get things like clothing here, but it came with a memory card, case, and warranty. Definitely worth it to have a camera for the remaining 6 weeks.

I walked back to the bus stop and sat down to wait. An old Vietnamese man immediately came up and sat very close to me, smiling with very yellow teeth. He said something in Vietnamese and I smiled vaguely and turned away. He pulled a radio out of his pocket and switched it on, blaring Taylor Swift and smiling at me. I smiled politely. He then got up off the bench and crouched down to literally stare at my legs, nodding and smiling. Thank God the bus came a minute later. As I got on, he yelled something in Vietnamese. Probably "RED IS MY FAVORITE TAYLOR SWIFT ALBUM!!!"

It was a guy in the group's birthday, so we went out to a fancy restaurant specializing in SNAKE. The meal started with us picking out a snake and it being killed right in front of us

so that was gross

We were each given a shot of snake's blood mixed with rice whiskey (no chasers allowed). It tasted like when you lose a tooth.

pre-snake shot

post-snake shot

 We were also given a shot of the bile mixed with rice whiskey. Apparently this is some kind of delicacy

"This will make you fertile" k thanks

I'm an adventurous gal

 We were then brought a 7 course meal of snake prepared different ways

fried snake with crackers

Snake bone--kind of like a chicken wing

snake rolls

snake wraps

something that looked like worms, I'm not sure what it was

snake nuggets

fried snake skin

 As a special treat at the end of the meal, the Snake Lady brought us a bottle of wine. Wine MIXED WITH 150 SNAKE PENISES. I guess this is also a delicacy, but she gave us each a shot of it for free.

You know a Vietnamese woman likes you if she gives you free penis wine

My shot of it

 After that little adventure, we headed back to Old Quarter for a night out. The nightlife in Hanoi is very interesting. The streets are crowded with locals and foreigners alike sitting on little plastic stools drinking 25 cent beer.

 It started to rain, so we went to a club. We were the only ones there, which meant we didn't have to deal with annoying people or thieves.

overall a decent night

If you travel and don't take pictures, did you really travel?

Disclaimer: none of the pictures in this post were taken by me because my faulty Vietnamese water bottle leaked all over my camera and I haven't been able to buy another one yet. I had a fun weekend of sight-seeing: Old Quarter and the War Museum on Saturday, and a day-long Perfume Pagoda expedition on Sunday.

The War Museum was pretty sad. My uncle died in the war and I never knew him, so it felt weird to be walking around the museum, looking at places he might have been and airplanes he might have flown in.

Very jarring to see in person

The doorways were Angela-sized!

That night we went to see Maleficent in the theater. $4 for a ticket, if you're ok with people bringing 2 year olds into an action movie.

Sunday, we went to the Perfume Pagoda. Simply put, this trip was amazing. It started with a 2 hour ride in an air-conditioned van (heaven) through the Vietnamese countryside (gorgeous). Our tour guide gave us a lovely speech about the Vietnamese people and how they are so much more happy than Americans because they accept what life gives them and give to others as well.

Once we reached the town, we took a beautiful boat ride down a river to the base of the hill where the pagoda was located.

The view was absolutely breathtaking

Just seconds before a Chinese man burped on my neck

 We climbed a whole lot of stairs to the "dragon's mouth cave". Honestly, not even the pictures I've found on the internet can capture the beauty of that deep, shadowy cave. It gave me a creepy feeling at first, with the monks chanting to a shrine and candles everywhere, but once I got in it was truly amazing. I don't even know how to describe it. Sorry guys.

inadequate picture #1

inadequate picture #2

After a whole lot more stairs, we arrived at the cable car that took us to the actual perfume pagoda

We weren't allowed into the actual pagoda because my knees were showing. I was okay with that.

After a long bus ride back I crashed and slept for 12 hours. Tomorrow I'm eating snake!

Angela

Hey Hey Hanoi

So I've been here for 5 days and today was my first time taking the public bus system (terrifying) into the heart of Hanoi. For non-Vietnamese, the main attractions in Hanoi lie in a few block radius called the Old Quarter. So we took the bus system--all in Vietnamese--into the city. Scary, but worth it. Also, I now have so much more respect for non-English speakers who work and commute in America.

Our first stop was Cong (sp?) Cafe, a super narrow four story building with the best/only coconut coffee of my life. Side note: I'm a three-cup-a-day person but I haven't had an ounce of coffee since I got here. The past five days have been the equivalent of a junkie kicking a habit. But then--coconut coffee AKA heaven in a glass.

No comparison for how it tastes

We hung out at the cafe for a while, which was actually super cool and relaxed, and then walked to the Temple of Literature.

"Put more pictures of people!" -my mom

"Don't eat the rice, you'll get diabetes" -also my mom

Awkward solo shots, hi mom

After the Temple we tried to go to the War Museum, but I guess Monday and Fridays are vacation days for the Vietnamese, and it wasn't open.

I did take a picture of this plane though, does that put me at spy status?

One thing I did notice about the heart of Hanoi is how motorbikes are lined up everywhere. Of course I had realized that most of the population rides motorbikes to get around, but I hadn't thought about parking or storing them. The result is this

I try to walk past nonchalantly, but all I can think is how this could very easily be me on the streets of Hanoi:

We took several long buses back to the apartment for some delicious mini spring rolls, and then went down to the bar on the first floor of our apartment. It's a really convenient place to hang out and play cards without having to go out into the night. Hanoi is a completely different place when it's dark out.

Let's hope my mom is satisfied with the amount of pictures in this post. Fingers crossed.

Angela