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15th-16th July, Hanoi, Sightseeing and Snakes!
We awoke around midday after an epic sleep caused by the bouncing around from destination to destination. We left our hotel around midday in search of Hoa Loa Prison refereed to by the past inmates it contained as the Hanoi Hilton - a sarcastic jibe at the appalling conditions they were subjected to. The prison was first used by French colonists to imprison Vietnamese political prisoners, and later by the North Vietnamese during the war with the Americans to hold POWs. The walking tour was very informative with masses of pictures and anecdotes from past prisoners supplied. The museum it must be said was heavily bias towards the Vietnamese focusing primarily on the torment they received at the hands of the French (which to be fair was barbaric!) rather than their use of the prison in later years. I can only imagine the hardship and struggle the early prisoners went through in that place. The main holding rooms consisted of a room which could accommodate ten or so individuals to live uncomfortably and they were said to hold thirty prisoners all chained by the ankle to the floor for the majority of the day side by side, with a toilet at the far wall on a podium as if to shame the inmates further when they needed to do their business. All I knew of the Vietnam war with America before I came here was that of American cinema which too was hardly neutral. I found it interesting to see history from a different perspective. On our tour we saw a menacing looking guillotine which we told had been in use during the French's time in charge and it looked savage. Furthermore we could hardly believe the size of the detention cells used for badly behaved prisoners - they were essentially boxes three feet tall and not long enough for a small person to lye out fully. Something else I learnt during our visit was that of the Americans held in the prison from 1967 onwards. Most notably that John Maclean (not John McLean from Die Hard - we had a long debate about this and he could never be captured yippee kayay!) who ran against President Obama was in fact held in this prison for a substantial amount of time after his capture!
From the prison we made our way to the train station where we decided to book our tickets onwards from Hanoi to Hoi An on the 19th. We had heard that the trains were pretty busy and booking in advance was advised! Trains were our preferred mode of transport throughout our stay in Vietnam and I'll describe them to you in a later blog I'm sure! The process was pretty simple we wrote down where we wanted to go and a date and the attendant did the best she could to get us on a train we wanted. Train tickets sorted we made our way back towards our hostel via the rather unimpressive Hanoi Tower which sounds grandiose but was in fact a glorified shopping mall. From here we started to make our way back to the hostel. On our way home we past a variety of local shops and food stalls and eventually decided that we should shun the commercialised restaurants tailor made for the tourists and indulge in a bit of street food. Unsure of what to make of the menu written entirely in Vietnamese we pointed to an item on the menu called Bun Cha and we directed to sit on two little plastic stools which were scattered all over the city on various street corners outside food stalls and lite beer dispensarys. A short while after the lady who quite amused at our request for food produced two plates for us each. The first contained plain rice noodles and the second contained a soupy broth containing the most delicious meat (what meat it was I will never know I kept telling myself a t the time pork!) greens, chillis, beansprouts amongst other perfectly infused ingredients. The meal itself was truly delicious. We were of course given chopsticks to eat with and the street vendor used scissors to cut the noodles up to make it easier for us to eat the meal. She showed us how they eat the Bun Cha picking up the noodles first before dipping them in the broth picking up veg and meat along the way. Scott's chopstick prowess was superior to mine and after a quick tutorial the two of us dug in! The lady actually gave Scott the thumbs up for his technique and gave me a bit of encouragement too! Whilst eating I chatted to a local man named Brian who initiated the conversation to practice his English which he had been learning over the previous year.
We had planned to go to snake village that day but in the end we decided to put off the trip to a later date. Instead that evening upon arriving back at the hostel we went across the road to the backpackers main booking office and booked a trip to Halong Bay. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Halong Bay ask your friend Google images and Wikipedia they know it well, and those top gear fans among you will instantly recognise it as the breathtaking world heritage site where James, Richard and Jeremy finish their epic adventure from the South of Vietnam to the North aboard a floating bar amongst a scattering of small floating grassy mountainous islands. Needless to say we were a little more than excited about seeing this place. The tour we had booked on in all honestly sounded like more of a party and a piss up with drinking games and nakedness seeming the highlight of the man that sold it to us - not quite the way we had expected to visit the bay! That night we packed our bags had another slap up meal before returning to bed so to be ready for our early start off to Halong Bay the next morning.
I awoke first the next morning leaving Scott to stir and went across the road to see if everything was still go for our trip. Scott it seems takes longer to wake than myself as I can switch from asleep to awake pretty early whilst he takes a bit of encouragement. I went across the road and what greeted me was a sizable chalkboard with a message inscribed across the front "HALONG BAY TRIP CANCELLED _ TYPHOON." Now the initial feelings was a mixture of sorrow and anger. We had come all this way to Asia and Halong Bay was suppose to be a highlight of our time in Vietnam and it looked like it wasn't going to happen - gutting! It is however very hard to feel sorry for yourself that apart our your trip hasn't gone to plan when you hear of the destruction the typhoon caused killing 32 people in the Philippines and caused thousands living in the Halong Bay area to be evacuated from their homes - I think they call it perspective! Disheartened but determined not to let it get us down we accepted the trip wasn't going to happen and considered it a reason to return to a country we were becoming quite enamored with. Alternative trips were offered by the Booker such as day trips to Sapa, a city tour, snake village in the afternoon to mention a few, but Scott and I opened the guide book and devised our own walking tour of the city and trust me there is a lot to see!
Along our route we visited the Ho Chi Minh Museum dedicated to one of the most revered men in modern Vietnamese history - a prime minister responsible for leading the Viet Minh independence movement. We spent the majority of this trip arguing when the man died and looked at a majority of the exhibits after our debate merely to find a date of death. Scott thought he found a photo corroborating his argument that he was 109 when he died although we later found out that I was correct! After the museum we passed by the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where you can enter and apparently walk past the famous mans preserved body- pretty creepy! Unfortunately it was closed to visitors by the time we arrived and it was heavily guarded by armed guards! We walked through Ba Din square to the impressive Presidential Palace a big yellow structure also gated off to tourist. It just so happened that our walking tour coincided with the hottest day of our travels so far and all the walking in the heat and humidity was killing us! We stopped off at a cafe which was situated in between the war museum and the Hanoi Flag Tower both popular tourist destinations. Our last stop before heading back was the temple of literature, beautifully decorated gardens which used to be home to the first university campus in Hanoi. The information here wasn't that interesting but there were definitely a fair few photo opportunities!
After our city tour we decided to check out the rooftop bar at the backpackers across the road. We were the only two there when we arrived, half an hour before happy hour. We had planned for just a few quite drinks but when happy hour kicked in the drinks started flowing. We were slowly joined by more and more backpackers until the bar was eventually heaving even with the rain pouring down. We spoke primarily to a group of 5 or 6 of which due to time and lager some names I forget. There was Tim a British man who had been working in S. Korea, Tim an enthusiastic English guy with a keen eye for quirky observations most notably pointing out the use of the Nazi swastika symbol in Buddhist countries including Vietnam which apparently insinuates a completely different way of thinking to Adolf - as Tim put it he had a wicked sense of humor! Apparently the translation speaks of good luck and well being (you learn something new everyday!). Also among our group was a Dutch man traveling with his girlfriend, and a further two more British guys and an English Female. I'm not good with names at the best of times but trying to recall a lager filled happy hour the best part of 3 weeks ago is not easy! Eventually the rain became heavier and one of the Aussie staff that was running the bar announced now that happy hour was over we would be celebrating typhoon hour which in all essence was the same thing. I woke up out of my drunken stupor at a disappointing restaurant which had amazing views of the nearby lake but rather unimpressive foods both in portion size and taste. Afterward we stopped at a few different bars before ending up at a street bar. These places were set up all over the city and consisted of a big collection of plastic stools (the kind you make the children sit on at Christmas because you can't accommodate everyone round the dinner table!) whilst waitresses serve lite beer to customers at all times of the day. The lite beer isn't the same as the western equivalent but more a refreshing pick me up drink and both Scott and I agreed it tasted great.
DC & Scott xxx
- comments
Paul (scotts dad) the alcohol theme has returned!
Ga Ga & Nan Have a beer or 2 for me boys, another great account of your adventure looking forward to the next instalment. Luv G &N XXXX
Gem It seems you've spent a sizable amount of time drinking, back to the student days! Can't believe your back soon (not that you want to think about coming home) it's gone so quickly. Sounds like Vietnam is a must do. I'll look forward to your travelling expertise when you back, I need it. Take care xx
Di (Dan's Mum) And there's me thinking you'd given up the booze!!!! Have noticed Top Gear Guys getting quite a few mentions. Vietnam sounds fab - glad you enjoyed it. Europe will seem so boring after all your adventures. Take care Luv mum xx
Martin (Dan's Dad) Love the sound of Vietnam, shame about the Halong Bay trip, but as you say you can do it next time. Well done for trying the authentic street cuisine. Stay safe. Dad x