Hanoi Hotels
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When in Hanoi, do as the Romans do
Entry 127 of 194 | show all | print this entry |
(Jim)
Tonight we went back to Pane e Vino in Hanoi for another Italian meal, at the kids' strenuous request.
The restaurant does quite a nice job of creating the atmosphere of an Italian trattoria, or at least of creating the atmosphere of an American restaurant pretending to be an Itialian trattoria. This made the music even more incongruous. When we were seated upstairs, Gordon Lightfoot was playing on the sound system.
This is a phenomenon we have often observed here in Vietnam. Most of the music in the restaurants is mid-70s easy listening music. Think Gordon Lightfoot, Bread, Roger Whitaker, Neil Diamond. It is as though they took all of the old vinyl LPs captured during the fall of Saigon in 1975, put them in storage for thirty years, then took them out, transcribed them to CDs, and made them the sound track for the local restaurants.
Perhaps it is simpler than that. Many of the U. S. visitors are former American soldiers who fought here in the 60s and 70s. Perhaps they bring their CDs with them and leave them behind. Or maybe this is just what they prefer to listen to, and the private restaurants that flourish under the free-market doi moi reforms simply respond to the wishes of their patrons.
I actually kind of like it myself. I was held in wide contempt for my middle-brow tastes during my high school years. I even owned a Frank Sinatra album at age 16.
At tonight's dinner, we observed one of the small moments that make our trip so special. Jack needed to use the bathroom. Without thinking, he said to the Vietnamese waitress, "Scuzi, dove e il bagno?" (Italian: Where is the bathroom?)
Of course she had no idea what he was saying, though she certainly should have taken it as a compliment to the quality of the Italian food and the realism of the décor.
This was a moment that would never have happened in our usual lives back home. And kudos to Jack, the only one of us who actually stuck with the Rosetta Stone Italian computer program on my laptop. Jack is now studying Mandarin Chinese through Johns Hopkins' Center for Talented Youth distance learning program. He has already informed me that I had better be nice to him between now and Beijing, or he will use his new language skills to order me Moo Shu Dog, and not tell me what I've eaten until later.
I don't think he'd really do that. Still, perhaps I'd better watch my step.
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| 127. | When in Hanoi, do as the Romans do - Hanoi, Vietnam Mar 03, 2008 |
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