Our first full day in Hanoi was fun and interesting enough to make me forgive (if not forget) the bone-chilling cold.

The big event of the day was a visit to Duong Lam village, the first Vietnamese village to be declared a national relic, with a stop for lunch in town.

Driving outside Hanoi, we passed pagodas and rice fields and stopped to meet a local mung bean farmer.

Upon leaving the farmer’s house, we saw our van had a flat tire. While our driver set about fixing it (borrowing a scooter to drive somewhere else to borrow a jack), our guide took us for a stroll through the neighborhood.

To his and our surprise, a local invited us into his courtyard. His neighbor came over to see what was going on, and before you knew it, we were all having tea in his house.

The neighbor, an older woman, took a liking to Peggie, one of our fellow travelers, and invited us into her house. She explained, through our guide, that she lived alone, but her children would come to visit. 

After that stop, we continued down the street, where yet another resident invited us in. We demurred, hoping our van was ready, but as we walked back, the neighbors came out to watch and wave. Our guide tried to explain we were Americans, but not having knowledge of American, they just called us the “French” people. They couldn’t have been nicer.

Back at the van and still waiting for the repair, a husband and wife team who also raised mung beans invited us to look at their operation. The husband even showed us the wad of cash he was carrying- I think he was proud of their success.

Once on the road again, we strolled the village and met the all-female owners of a 400-year-old home. They were all widows, and the proprietor also worked in helping women who were victims of abuse. (She took a liking to Jim and snuggled up to him for our group photo.)

Once again, we had to work for our meal, rolling the spring rolls we had as part of lunch. This is the most cooking I’ve ever done! Luckily I only had to do the rolling, not the actual cooking.

I have to admit, the visit to the village wasn’t as rewarding as that unplanned stop that resulted in a surprise connection with the lovely locals.

That was the official end of that day’s tour, but given the cold, one of our fellow travelers (who is from Alaska) wanted to shop for a warm coat, and we tagged along since Jim wanted something warmer also.

That ended up in about three hours roaming the streets of the Old Quarter. It’s jam packed with vendors, scooters and people and was a ton of fun. I’m a little sorry I already bought a $12 jacket because we ended up in a store selling cheap North Face items. Jim got a fleece and I got a backpack. The guy from Alaska got a huge parka. Guess a good jacket is always useful there.

We ended the night with dinner at a rooftop restaurant and a bus ride back to the hotel. Our guide Thai was kind enough to hang with us the whole night. Undoubtedly, we would have more adventures to recount if we were on our own, most likely involving getting lost! This way we had a local steering us.