It has been six weeks since we arrived in Hanoi and while
one cannot truly know a place after such a short time, there have been a couple
of things that I have noticed that I would like to share with everyone…that and
my beautiful wife has done an amazing job of chronicling our journey so far.
Hanoi is in every sense of the word a combustion of the senses.
On a daily basis, you have the traffic that seems-on the outside-to be a
chaotic mix of people going in every direction they please without any regard for
anyone else but themselves or any semblance of accordance with the law.
However, if you look a little closer one could call it a beautiful dance. One
that is the perfect representation of a high traffic current filled with
thousands of beautiful colored fish in the Caribbean or you could call it a
representation of a culture that refuses to move anywhere but forward. The
constant honking of motor bikes, taxis, and buses that give a cacophonous roar
might cause a migraine for some. However, after a couple of days in the mix you
realize that the honking of horns here is nothing like that in U.S. For the most part in the U.S. people only use
their horns when they want to make sure that people in other cars can hear the
intent of the four letter words they are screaming at each other. However, on
the other hand here generally it can mean, “Excuse me” “Hey I’m here, don’t run
me over please.” “I’m moving into the intersection now, please pardon my
movement.” It is more of a Morse code of communication than a cursing out of
road rage.
Now, as for the culture of food…the one thing that both
Nicole and I absolutely love (other than each other of course) in Hanoi everything,
every food, every relationship, every time hanging out with friends is all
about balance and respect. The flavors, textures and smells are a respect for
tradition with a blend of new world dishes of sophistication that comes with a
rise in cosmopolitanism. For example, here in Hanoi there are countless numbers
of food shops that can be nothing more than a woman with a wok, ingredients,
and a bunch of stools and sign. Furthermore, there are restaurants that just
make one dish all day and make it again and again…cha ca, bun cha, bun bo nam bo,
cau lau, pho, spring rolls and many many more are all names for restaurants
that make an absolute delicious dish of food for cheap (emphasis on a dish!).
This is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years to when guilds divided up
city blocks to their own restaurants. There was no competition within the
blocks because those families that made bun cha would not attempt to make any
other dish out of respect for the others in the area. While this noble idea
doesn’t exactly transcend into modern day, there is a sense of modern day
competition, but the restaurants that remain popular to those who have lived
their lives here are those that do one thing really well, day in and day
out. According to a number of people
that I have talked to, the concept of what we in the U.S. would classify as a “restaurant”
is a fairly new concept here in Hanoi. However, with the increasing growth of
the Vietnamese economy more and more western styled restaurants have arisen in
Hanoi. You can find the white tablecloths, you can have Italian food, you can
have tapas, and you can even find fast food places like Burger King and KFC if
you want. So, what does all this mean? It
means that food brings people together here more so than any other place that I
have been. So, not only do you have a balance of flavors both tradition and
modern, you have an immense respect for where one comes from without blinding
yourself in the light of the new and fancy. It’s a yin and yang, a dark and
light, a history and a future, and it all blends into a culture that everyday
shows you something new.
Finally, the one other thing that I wanted to talk about was
about the work. It’s amazing that we have both been able to do thus far is
fantastic. It’s taking both of us some time to get used to being an office from
8am to 6pm (one of us coming from the yoga world and the other from the fine
dining industry), but all in all, each day we get a chance to not only
represent the greatest country in the world, but we get to make a difference in
people’s lives every day. I can say with all confidence that people (both young
and old) will remember Nicole’s Halloween Party for a long time to come. I get
to see the look on some student’s faces when after all of the long hard work
that they have done over the past couple of years that they finally get a
chance to go to the U.S. to complete their dreams. The songs and laughter that
we had at Thanksgiving that Nicole and her staff organized. It’s the look on a
families face when they get the chance to see their eldest daughter graduate
from an MBA program. In other words,
this means that despite being thousands of miles away from our loving friends
and family, we get the chance to bring joy and change into the world. It’s a
life and job that I could not imagine doing without the best partner in the
world.
Hope to write more again soon.
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