Hi all, we are enjoying a lazy day at La Place, a comfortable little cafe/restaurant in the center of Hanoi's old city. Lonely planet mentioned that it had tasty food (which is true), but left out the fact that there is a great little rooftop deck, wifi, and a comfortable airy second floor lounge with lots of outlets. It is the perfect spot for us to spend a few hours relaxing and catching up on some blogging, banking, and assorted other e-activities (e-tivities? That sounds too much like nativities...).



The bells of St. Joseph's church are ringing across the square. St. Joseph's is a pretty catholic cathedral in the center of the old city. Vietnam is about 10% catholic, the second biggest catholic population in asia (after the phillipines). On our second day in Hanoi, we decided to attend the 6pm mass there.

Lonely planet mentions that the congregation spills out into the streets, so we arrived a healthy 45 minutes early. We were greeted by an enormous crowd of people in the square watching some type of nativity play.



There was dancing, singing, wisemen (with pasted on mustaches), and more girls in blue waving flowers and fans than you can shake a stick at (also, it is rude to shake sticks at people in church). I joined in some of the vietnamese hymns by peaking over the shoulder of the girl in front of me. Every now and then she would fan herself with the lyrics and I would have to make up words.

I loved the spectacle and the feeling that we were participating in a local event, as opposed to having something staged for our benefit. But I was also hungry and hoping that things would move along quickly, so I was glad when the play ended and the altar boys arranged themselves to pick up the huge palanquin with a statue of Mary that was the center piece of the play.



I thought we would be headed into church soon. I was incorrect. Instead, the altar boys tried very hard not to drop Mary while several orders of nuns, monks, flower girls, and assorted others lined up for a procession around the church. The procession became a parade when a military band started playing and joined in the march.


Eventually, everyone worked their way around the block, returned, and the monks, nuns, and assorted others followed Mary into the cathedral. Then the crowd started to line up at the doors, some people running and pushing, trying to get inside for a seat. This process was complicated by the people trying to carry stacks of plastic stools outside through the same small doors.
We eventually worked our way inside and found seats in a not-too-crowded pew towards the back. There were several fans nearby, but none were pointed in our direction. The little old vietnamese women on either side of us were kind enough to fan both of us periodically with their large (and effective) hand-held fans.

Mass was ... long. The sermon was (I believe) deep and meaningful. It was also in Vietnamese. I lost track of what exactly what was happening. There was a great deal of singing, including something that I think might have been a national anthem (or at least a prayer that included the words "Vietnam" with some frequency). We left during communion (along with a lot of vietnamese) and got to see a crowd of people sitting in the square on their motorbikes, all wearing ponchos against the rain, listening to the mass on the loudspeakers. It was a very different and cool experience.



After Mass, we had some pretty good tapas at "La Salsa" across the street. We ordered a cheese plate that came with blue cheese and goat cheese. It was twice as expensive as the other dishes and only had two small pieces of cheese. We both thought it was the most delicious thing we had eaten in weeks. It turns out that there isn't a lot of cheese in asian food (i.e. none). Then we met up with our Irish friends from Gibbon and joined them for a "last supper" (and drink), since all of us were heading off to Halong Bay with separate tours the next day. It was fun and a bit sad.