Hidden Sanctuaries

What better way to start the day than with a fresh bowl of  Pho Bac. The traditional Vietnamese noodle soup originates in Hanoi where the winter can get cold and especially in the mountains the Vietnamese people will warm themselves with this hearty and very tasty soup. Apparently it works wonder when you have a hangover from the rather cheap local beer. No that we would have tried it…

The day is going slow and one of the a few points  we still wanted to visit were also the local market. This 3 floors tall, very busy place is home of hundreds, if not thousands of vendors, who try to sell their goods to the never ending flow of people squeezing themselves through the narrow alleys and sometimes hidden labyrinths. A wealth of fabrics, shoes, toiletries, sunglasses, toys, faked purses, valets and jewelries makes this place popular for bargain hunting tourists an locals alike. Just outside the market you will find a maze, which leads you deep into the live of the local people. This was certainly a very poor area and people didn’t like it for me to take any pictures. It’s in my memory though.

The afternoon was relaxing with a mix of sightseeing and café & bar hopping. One little sanctuary in the middle of the busy capital was certainly the visit of Café Pho. No sign on the street and if we wouldn’t have stopped in this small souvenir shop, we would never have found it. The shop’s back door was basically the entrance to the café. We ordered our items in the dark courtyard and took them 6 floors up a narrow stairway, with lead us to a roof top patio overlooking the already for the 10-10 Independence Day prepared Haon Kim Lake. Just us the lake, us and our Heineken - a perfect sanctuary.