A Batman & Vietnam
Shreyasi Chakraborty
August 12, 2024 . 6 Minute read
One Lazy Afternoon
Groggily, I sit at my desk and look around trying to make sense of the weekend ahead of me, as my eyes fall upon the clay figurine on the window sill — the Batman!
I fixate on its face — squiggly lines painted as eyes, a frown instead of supposedly straight lips. I am still unsure how it would have looked if it was “correctly” painted — and seriously I don’t care.
The imperfectly painted Batman buddy opens a portal to my fond memories of Vietnam, the beautiful country we (my husband and I) visited in October 2023.
Hanoi — the capital of Vietnam — decked with pretty lights, historic monuments, beautiful lakes, intriguing narrow alleys that lead to huge buildings (still a mystery to me!), souvenir shops, roadside eateries, restaurants; the lingering smell of Banh Mi, Bun cha, Pho, Banh cuon, and other local delicacies as you navigate the streets; friendly locals smiling and nodding at you… and much more!
The Exploration
Tourists are everywhere in this city, or at least in the “touristy” areas of the city — the famous Train Street, Beer Street, the Hoan Kiem Lake, the cafes and spas in the Old Quarters… The streets are filled with only a handful of people strolling around in the daytime, but come evening, and lo and behold! Those streets transform into huge sitting areas filled with people sitting and dining on tiny chairs and tables, an amusing thing to watch!
As we walked around the touristy parts of the city and bought a few things — the Vietnamese conical hat, or Non-La, beautiful oil paintings of the Vietnamese countryside, we suddenly had the same realization.
We had ticked a few boxes as a tourist but have always felt the urge to explore the life of locals beyond their encounters with tourists. So, off we set to explore the city ‘the local way’- on foot and by bus.
We turned on the map to the nearest bust stop and it guided us through a wet market-cum-grocery market- a real local experience!
Markets are a delight, wherever you visit. You can feel a city’s pulse in these markets — locals haggling, children trying to check out every item in the shop, vendors trying to convince people to buy their goods.
We bought a few tropical fruits — rambutans, a moderately-sized pomelo, and mangoes. Munching on the rambutans, we reached the bus stop and boarded the bus, without any concrete tour plan. When the conductor asked us about our destination, we just looked at the bus map and asked for tickets to a random stop we had no idea about.
We got down at our stop and started exploring the place — tall skyscrapers, people on bicycles and motorbikes on the road, probably returning from their daily jobs, elderly people exercising, children playing, and young artists practicing hip-hop in a park, as the sun set on the city coloring the sky in shades of orange, yellow, and red.
The First Sight
As we walked around the place, we looked at the other side of the road lined with fancy restaurants, stores, cafes, and a juice bar-cum cafe with neatly stacked cute figurines on shelves, a few bigger ones stacked on the floor.
The figurines caught my eye and we entered the cafe to explore what these were. We were thirsty after walking for a while, so we ordered juices and scanned the intricately sculpted mini statues while waiting for our juices to be served. The cafe owner’s cat seated in a corner decided to say “Hi” to us and walked over to sit beside us on one of the tiny chairs lined on the pavement. We petted her and she purred in joy.
Soon, a bunch of kids on their bicycles, aged 4 to 5, arrived at the shop; their parents walking while chitchatting behind them. The kids excitedly chose a sculpture from a shelf, then chose watercolors kept in a corner, sat at a table, and started painting the sculptures. We sipped our juice and observed them; they were painting with whatever colors came to their minds. I looked at one of the kids, probably aged three, beaming with happiness as she painted her sculpture in all possible colors she could. The sculpture looked funny and yet so pretty. It made me realize the beauty in the randomness of life. Paint it with colors your heart wishes! Our eyes met with her mother’s and we smiled. She laughed and said, “My daughter is probably painting for Halloween;” we laughed.
We further decided to continue our little exploration and bid them goodbye. But my heart was fixated on the joy in the child’s eyes, I wanted what she was experiencing.
And The Adventure
We moved on and there were more such similar cafes, so we finally entered one, bought a figurine, ordered ‘Ca Phe Sua Da’ — Vietnamese iced coffee, picked up watercolors, brushes, a cup of water, and sat down to paint.
Initially, I was hesitant to paint, my mind questioning my abilities, What if I ruin it? So, I asked my husband to start since he was better at painting than me. Later I realized that if I didn’t paint, I would never know. So I picked up another brush and started painting, as he took a break. Occasionally, we glanced around — the locals engrossed in painting their sculptures, the shop owner running around serving orders while occasionally rushing to the street and calling out to people on vehicles passing by.
We gossiped with two college students who had come there to relieve their stress and find their childhood, away from the clutches of modern technology.
Kids were running around, often getting watercolors, or a new sculpture to paint.
Two hours and two glasses of coffee later, we gave our sculpture a final look and decided, yeah, it was done.
We went to the counter, where the lady offered to spray the sculpture with varnish to protect the paint and make it shine. Two rounds of spray and it looked perfect.
We thanked her and left for our hotel, this time, knowing where to go. Our stomachs were crying for food but our hearts were happy with this short adventure.
As I come back to the present, and recollect more such adventures in Vietnam, I ponder the question — What is it to be a traveler and not a tourist? Probably a short unplanned adventure rather than just checking items off the bucket list. Yes, people go off the grid, camp in the wild, and explore dark, hidden caves. Maybe my experience doesn’t even come close to that of being a true traveler, but this might be just a beginning.
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