Walk, don't get run down
Trip Start
May 03, 2008
1
6
44
Trip End
May 02, 2009
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Thursday, May 22, 2008
On our first night in Hanoi we were fairly wrecked from the traveling so after a shower and a nap we went down to the bar in the hostel for a happy hour drink - 2 beers for 20,000 Dong (about 80 cent!!). There was a BBQ on the roof so we went up to that and had burgers which was a nice reminder of home. We decided to go to the famous water puppetry show that night as it was recommended by a few people
Hanoi
.Water puppetry is performed with wooden puppets and a man-made watery stage. It's grand for about 10 mins but then it starts to get old and lasts almost an hour!! We got the more expensive tickets were still stuck up near the back. Simon got to sit in an aisle seat though so maybe that was the VIP treatment? The seats were tiny, I was even struggling to find space and some poor chap beside me was all squashed up!!
Anyway, we had a fairly quiet night after that and went to bed early to catch up on some sleep.
The second day was a bit more productive. We went to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum which was the old prison used during the war for captured American soldiers amongst other things. Only a portion of it is left but we saw some of the cells the prisoners would have been in and the shackles. There was a lot of historical information and photographs from that time on display. John McCain, currently running for US president, had been a POW here.
When we left the museum, we were looking at our map trying to decide where to go to next when a random Vietnamese woman went onto the street, dropped her pants and peed on the ground. I suppose when you have to go, you have to go....
The next day we set off for Ha Long Bay which is the highlight of North Vietnam. It consists of about 3,000 islets and is a UNESCO heritage site. Unfortunately it also has a reputation for unpredictable weather. It was a nice day though when we got there but a bit cloudy
Fishbowls
. We went to see some caves and then sailed around the islets. We went to a floating fishing village. They had little sharks! From there we went kayaking around the islets and went into some more caves in the kayak. My kayaking isn't great (crashed into our boat while trying to leave the dock!!) but managed to get around well enough though apparently that's because Simon was compensating for me.Back on the boat and cleaned up it was time for food. We had a variety of fish related dishes - not sure what all of them were but it was very nice. Had a few beers with the group afterwards and we all went to bed at a respectable hour! Some of the group were going for a trek the next day but that sounded like too much work to me so we opted to go back to Hanoi. It was lashing rain anyway so no sunbathing even :(
For our last day in Hanoi we decided to go to see Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh) who is embalmed in a Mausoleum that was not too far away from us. But they wouldn't let us in!!! Lonely planet was wrong about opening times and we were a bit late. We did go see his house and the museum though so not all bad.
I didn't think Hanoi was great as it is full of touts and after the relaxing feeling of Laos it was kinda hard to build that resistance back up again. No, thanks quickly turns into plain NO!! I did get caught on our last day though with a banana lady putting her hat and balance on me - I was too weary to stop her! The bus is at 18.30 and next destination is Hue....12 hours away!
