Hanoi
Trip Start
Aug 28, 2008
1
22
29
Trip End
Nov 11, 2008
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Friday, October 10, 2008
So in the morning I went to find a hotel that is a little cheaper than the current one, for the wo nights that I am between tours. Found one that is recommended in the lonely planet guide, it is good value and in a great location although very basic.
After lunch I went to the "Hanoi Hilton" prison that was built by the French and served as a prison for POW's during the Vietnam war. They had a couple of photos of John Mccain whilst he was held there. In the evening the group had one last dinner. We went to a restaurant that was a training school for street children. THe food was excellent and by far the best food I have had in Vietnam, plus the service is great. On the way back to the hotel there was a performance going on in the centre of the city so I watched that for a little while (I later found out that it was probably to celebate independence). At about midnight I thought that it would be a good time to get some sleep but it was incredibly loud outside (even though the hotel was down a side street). When I went down to reception to find out why I was shocked to hear that there was building work going on and they work through the night. What kind of country allows building work to go on in a residential area, Im glad I was only spending two nights there, it must be hell for the residents. Fortunately I had some ear plugs.
11/10
In the morning I went to the bookshop section of town because Im running out of reading material, unfortunately there was any good english books so I will just have to hope I dont run out before Hong Kong. In the afternoon I wen to the Ho Chi Minh mausouleum complex. The main attraction is the mausoleum where HCM body is kept, it was losed to the public today but I wasn't bothered because I didnt really fancy going in and seeing his body anyway. Here I did visit HCM's house which was very basic and small, although I guess that does make sense considering he was a communist leader and also the HCM museum which was just a bunch of propaganda about how great he was. Im sure he was a good bloke but the museum seemed to make him sound a little bit to good to be true. In one part if they change HCM for God, it would have made sense!!!
In the afternoon it absolutely chucked it down and I got caught out in the rain. The street outside the hotel was knee height in water so I almost had to swim to the hotel. After changing clothes and waiting for the water level to drop (which took about half an hour) I jumped in a taxi and headed to the cinema. I watched Love Guru with Mike Myers which was quite funny (in case you were wondering it was in English with Vietnamese subtitles). On the way back I bought a couple of cans of beer and watched the England - Kazakstan football match in my hotel room. The 5 - 1 result was a great end to the day :)
12/10
In the morning I had to change hotels again. The first taxi I took hadn't a clue where he was going and he didnt understand when I told him that he was going the wrong way so in the end I jumped into another taxi who was better at navigating the city. In the morning I headed to the army museum. Spent a couple of hours wandering around the exhibition rooms and random collection of things captured from the Americans. Before I left I decided to have an ice cream in the museum cafe where there was also a group of Vietnamese soldiers, I think new recruits, who had also been visiting the museum. The person in charge of these soldiers (commandor or sargeant or whatever he would be called) joined me on my table and was trying to speak to me in English although I couldnt understand what he was saying because he was speaking very mumbled and kept repeating the same thing. Its only when he stood up and tried to walk away that I realised that he was absolutely wasted. Im sure its comforting for Vietnamese people to know that there army is always in top form!!!
In the afternoon I headed to the temple of literature, which was the first univesity in vietnam, and then back to the hotel. This is the first day of the Hanoi to Hong Kong tour and unlike the previous ones I will be sharing a room. My room mate is a guy called Gavin from Northern Ireland and first impressions seem to indicate that we will get along well.
In the evening I met up with the rest of the group. There are only six of us, four other girls from Germany and a British tour guide. For dinner we went to the training restaurant and once again the food was delicious. Afterwards we walked into the town and Mark, the tour leader, took us to a beer hoi stand where they sell a glass of beer for about 10p, BARGAIN.
