In touch with the locals ... an open-air barber shop does a brisk trade.Credit: AFP
Hanoi is a captivating mix of ancient and modern, parochial and cosmopolitan, the spiritual and the pragmatic. On any given street you're likely to find a Buddhist temple, a French-style colonial mansion, a statue commemorating a Communist hero, a mobile-phone store, a silk merchant and an internet cafe.
Giggling schoolchildren weave their bicycles through a sea of motorcycles, while women in bamboo hats balance baskets of fruit on shoulder poles and old men share newspapers and coffee at a footpath cafe.
The bitter struggles of the past have not been forgotten but neither are they at the front of anyone's mind. With a young, optimistic population (more than 60 per cent are under 25) and serious money flowing in from foreign investors, Hanoi - which celebrates its millennium next year - is a vibrant, bustling city filled with proud locals and ever-increasing numbers of smitten tourists.
There is, however, a down side. Most Vietnamese people live outside the major cities and half of them live below the poverty line. Hanoi, as the political and economic capital, is a magnet for young, rural people seeking education, work and adventure. Despite economic growth, tens of thousands of young people are living on the streets, selling sticks of chewing gum or postcards to tourists.
They're often exploited by unscrupulous business owners and tour operators or recruited into prostitution or drug dealing.
As a visitor, you don't have to turn a blind eye to the poverty or smother your conscience. Armed with the right information, you can see the best sights, eat the best food and shop up a storm while improving the prospects of the city's people.
With its labyrinthine Old Quarter, bizarre street-numbering system and heart-stopping traffic, Hanoi can be overwhelming to the first-time visitor. A great way to get your bearings is to organise a tour with Hanoikids (hanoikidsclub.org). The guides are enthusiastic university students who offer insider tours in exchange for the opportunity to practise their English (an essential language for young job seekers). The service is free but the guides will let you shout them lunch if you offer - and you should. Sharing a meal is the best way to learn the ins and outs of eating bun cha and pho the Vietnamese way.
Once you've mastered the art of slurping noodle soup while balanced on a tiny plastic stool, you can eat your way around Hanoi on a handful of small change, supporting family businesses as you go. But if you're craving comfortable seats, air-conditioning and a Western-style menu, there are several great restaurants and cafes that exist as much to help disadvantaged kids as they do to satisfy hungry foreigners.
KOTO (59 Van Mieu, opposite the Temple of Literature) is a welcoming four-storey restaurant serving a mix of authentic Vietnamese and cafe-style Western dishes as well as heat-beating juices and cocktails. The staff are graduates of the KOTO training program, which takes on a class of poor 16- to 22-year-olds every six months. Trainees are given vaccinations and health checks and are provided with a cash allowance, accommodation, food, health care and clothing for the duration of the two-year hospitality and English language training scheme.
Up the other end of Van Mieu, near the Fine Arts Museum, is Cafe Smile (5 Van Mieu). Run by the Vietnamese charity Hoa Sua - which, like KOTO, provides training and employment for disadvantaged young people - Cafe Smile serves cakes, pastries, sandwiches and the best croque monsieur outside Paris.
For the full fine-dining experience, head to the Hoa Sua Training Restaurant (28A Ha Hoi). It's in a restored French-colonial mansion decorated with black and white photos of old Hanoi and serves French and modern-Vietnamese cuisine. Oh, and if you fancy the hand-embroidered napkins, tablecloths and curtains - made by hearing-impaired youngsters - you can scoot down the road and buy some at the Chef Collection shop (21D Ha Hoi).
Just a few steps away is another Hoa Sua outlet, Le Croissant (21 Ha Hoi) - the perfect place to pick up some crunchy baguettes, delicate tarts and imported cheese to make a cheap picnic you can enjoy in Lenin Park a few blocks south.
Hoa Sua also has a restaurant in the grounds of Hanoi's best museum - The Museum of Ethnology (Nguyen Van Huyen, Cau Giay District). Spend the morning learning about the lives of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups, grab a noodle salad, super-cheesy vegetarian lasagne or bowl of pho in the restaurant, then spend the afternoon checking out the full-size Ede, Tay, Yao, Hmong and Viet traditional houses in the grounds. Finish up back at the cafe for a thick, creamy hot chocolate or glass of rich Vietnamese coffee mixed with sweetened, condensed milk.
A visit to the Museum of Ethnology will likely leave you thinking about the many Vietnamese people who live far from the cities and even further below the poverty line.
One organisation formed to help struggling rural folk is Craft Link, which pays fair prices to traditional craftspeople and artists and then re-invests the profits back into their communities. There's a small store in the grounds of the museum but for the true Craft Link experience you need to head back to Van Mieu where you'll find two stores crammed with unique, reasonably priced goodies. The smaller store (51 Van Mieu) stocks traditional laquerware and home furnishings, while the other (43 Van Mieu) offers three floors of handmade bags, clothes and wall hangings.
Make sure you save some spending money for a visit to Vietnam Quilts (16 Hang Tre), which provides a regular income, employment and training to women in rural Vietnam. Profits from the sale of these exquisite hand-sewn quilts have also been used to fund health education programs, pay school fees and buy books for children in isolated villages. (And don't let the thought of packing something so bulky stop you - the staff will ship your purchases home for you.)
When you're all shopped out, take a day trip or overnight excursion to the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre (EPRC). At the entrance to the mighty Cuc Phuong National Park, 120 kilometres south-west of Hanoi, the EPRC is home to more than 140 primates belonging to 15 species.
The centre's mission goes beyond rescue and rehabilitation; it also runs a successful captive breeding program and provides the international research community access to rare and endangered species not found anywhere else in the world. The interaction with international scientists, zookeepers and veterinarians is enormously beneficial to staff, most of whom are locals. The advantages they receive - a steady wage, professional training and experience - benefit their entire community.
Back in Hanoi, you may find the bumpy road from Cuc Phuong has left you a little sore. Relief can be found at Just Massage (12 D2A Van Phuc), which offers divine swedish, aromatherapy or shiatsu massages performed by professional masseuses, most of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and all of whom are visually impaired. The clinic pays a living wage to all the staff and profits are spent on further training and development.
Hanoians are notoriously hard-working and wonderfully generous to visitors, so it's easy to forget that most of them earn less in a year than you'll spend on the airfare to get here. And for those who can't earn even that small amount, there's no social security safety net. You can help by giving your custom to organisations that help the disadvantaged and disabled make a living. And since all of the places mentioned offer genuinely great experiences, products and services, you won't be sacrificing a thing.
The writer travelled courtesy of an Asialink Literature Residency Program, funded by the Australia Council.
TRIP NOTES
Vietnam Airlines and Qantas fly from Sydney to Hanoi (via Ho Chi Minh City) daily. Other airlines offer less direct routes. Return fares start at about $1300.
Hanoi has an abundance of locally owned budget and mid-range hotels, most of them clustered in the Old Quarter. See vietnamtourism.com.
For tours of Hanoi and surrounding areas, visit Go Differently (godifferently.com), a British-based travel company committed to "responsible, ethical and sustainable travel"; or Footprint Vietnam, a local operator running tours that "respect culture, protect our environment and support the communities we visit". See footprintsvietnam.com.
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