Swan Boats in Love

One of the more endearing things we've observed about Vietnam so far has been the large number of giant swan love boats. Let me explain.

Hanoi is a city full of lakes. Walk more than five blocks in any direction and you're likely to run into one. Granted, it may be surrounded by apartment buildings and have bits of trash and dead fish floating in it, but it's nice in that it breaks up the city a bit and gives a convenient place to go exercise or just hang out.

One particularly scenic lake is just down our alleyway and across the main avenue. (Our lake is especially cool in that it has a zoo on the far side.) The common denominator in all of the truly cool lakes in Hanoi is this: giant swan paddle boats. These aren't your everyday, run-of-the mill paddle boats. No, they are giant swan paddle boats and therefore they are romantic.

It was explained to me on one of our first days in Hanoi that a truly heartfelt gesture of love for my sweetheart would be to take her out for a paddle in one of the swan boats. And though we haven't quite gotten to that point yet, we've enjoyed watching them on several of the lakes around town.

Most days, perhaps a third to a half of the available giant swan boats are being pedaled around our neighborhood lake by lovestruck couples but today was different. Not only was it a Saturday, it was International Women's Day (an apparently worldwide holiday that I didn't realize existed until earlier this week). On International Women's Day--much like on Valentine's Day in the US--it is a man's solemn duty to do something over-the-top romantic for his sweetheart. So today, to the surprise of no one, every single swan boat was in use and there was a line-up of folks waiting on the dock for their turn to pedal/paddle their very own Fowl of Love.

We took a walk down by the lake this afternoon and decided that this was a phenomenon that simply had to be recorded for posterity. Steven took some time-lapse movies of the swans from various locations around the lake, as well as a few still shots and regular video. The compilation video below should give you a fairly good idea of just what this little piece of Vietnamese culture is all about.