Hanoi... a little over it!
Trip Start
Apr 01, 2008
1
8
20
Trip End
Jul 24, 2009
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Thursday, May 1, 2008
First day we decided to go visit the Ho Chi Minh Mauseleum. This was an experience I wont forget in a hurry, but largely because I struggled with heat exhaustion! Out of respect, legs and shoulders needed to be covered, and unfortunately, I only had 1 pair of jeans in my backpack! So jeans and jacket later, as well as queuing for seriously ages (first time Ive seen a queue in Vietnam and it happened to be one of the longest of my life as we later found out it was a public holiday...), I wanted to collapse in the heat! Doesnt help when youre getting leered at by Vietnamese men either... But nonetheless, Im glad I went. Uncle Ho has been kept in pretty pristine condition considering he died about 40 years ago.
Our time in Hanoi also consisted of a visit to the Water Puppet show, which at about a $1.50 for entry, was pretty good value
Hot and Humid in Hanoi (by the mauseleum)
. It was all in Vietnamese, so no idea what was going on (although Paddy managed to find the symbolism...) but the music, puppets, and just general atmosphere was enjoyable. 2nd day we went in search of open banks... but nope, another public holiday! As you would probably know, its extremely easy to lose track of days and dates when youre no longer at work counting them down.... So headed to the Hanoi Hilton (which from memory is officially called the Hoa La Prison) which is where the French imprisoned the Vietnamese nationalists before their independence, and which was later used to house American POW pilots that had been shot down (of whom, Senator John McCain was one...). Despite any bias, there was an obvious disparity between the treatment of the Vietnamese by the French, and the Americans by the Vietnamese... in fact, from the looks of the photos, it looked like some of the American pilots were having more fun being *safe* in the prison than in combat! The highlight of our 2 days though would definitely have to be our experimentations with street stall food. After over 2 weeks in Vietnam, Ive got to admit that weve become pretty relaxed about sanitary conditions... well not completely relaxed, but not so paranoid about ice, what, or where we eat. But our last night in Hanoi, we had the best meal yet, on a street corner, filled to the brim, all for about $2.25 each! Ive attached a photo of the *kitchen*. We also found a local icecream stall that had the best icecreams on stick..
Where Uncle Ho is kept -& he wanted it modest
. no english understood, but with enough hand signals you could get a decent coconut and chocolate icecream for about 25 cents... obviously I was happy! Oh and I finally got my hair washed and straightened... I know I know, what sort of backpacker am I, but my frizzy greasy mop was driving me insane, and for about $4 it was too hard to refuse! And thats about it for Hanoi! We are definitely not big fans of the cities after much more relaxed times in the towns, but of course Hanoi is a place you should spend a day or 2 in for the experience nonetheless. After a very tense taxi ride to the airport (I had my eyes shut in parts, tried to put on the seatbelt but there was none...) followed by a bumpy landing at Luang Prabang airport (again eyes shut... as if thats going to prevent anything!), we are finally in Laos and love it so far!
