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Today we woke late at about eight ish after a very restful sleep. We got up and dressed before we headed downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast was delicious and consisted of a huge menu of which you could order as little or as much as you want. I had bacon and scrambled eggs, followed by American pancakes with juice and tea (with fresh milk... Luxury). Jack had a club sandwich and pancakes with a Vietnamese coffee, which was a new experience. Its such a thick chocolaty luxurious coffee and pretty much a meal in itself. We enjoyed our breakfast while chatting with Martin before heading back to our room... We were being moved to the deluxe room that we had booked as a family were arriving today. We packed our things before they gave us a key and asked us to check it was okay... I didn't see the relevance as our room was taken but it was a sweet gesture. We headed up to the sixth floor where we found our room and wow I couldn't believe it, they had up graded us to the honeymoon suite for free. We now had a similar room but with a round bed?! (Still not getting the logic of a round bed in honeymoon suites lol) as well as a large balcony terrace overlooking the cathedral and a whirlpool bath... Aww amazing!
After we had settled in we decided it was time to hit the craziness of Hanoi. We first headed to the Han Lo prison museum. This is a museum formed from the remnants of a prison first built by the French when they ruled the colonies of the former Indochina. The prison was primarily used to hold Vietnamese revolutionaries who were deemed dangerous to the colonial regime. The prison depicts torture methods used and even execution tactics such as a guillotine. They had even placed mannequins to show how prisoners were held in the dank cells.
The second part of the tour concentrated on how the prison to used to hold American POWs during the Vietnam 'American' War. The POW nicknamed it the 'Hanoi Hilton' and it even held Senator John McCain who was shot down in his fighter jet during the war. Photographs showed the soldiers smiling, decorating a Christmas tree and sitting down to their self prepared Christmas dinner. We think this needs to be taken with a pinch of salt as there are well documented accounts of torture which occurred here. You could say the general feeling is of a very bias viewpoint being presented.
Our next stop was the highly rated but much missed, Women's Museum. It does sound slightly bizarre but basically it is dedicated to the lives of Viet women. You are led through areas on parts of life such as birth, marriage, working life, warfare and family duties. It was very informative and well presented and gave a great insight into how women have developed in Viet society. After this impressive museum we headed north to enter the famous Old Quarter of Hanoi. The old quarter is a maze of narrow streets filled with cafes, bars, shops, street vendors, hawkers etc. Also take into account hundreds of motorbikes which literally come from any direction with the constant sound of horns. Basically in Hanoi you just need to step out into traffic and maintain the same pace, 'Keep calm and carry on' Sarah and I have come to call it! Our orientation walk saw us meander through the streets but the humidity was stifling. Our search for famous Hanoi street food was proving challenging as it was obvious we were getting ripped off! We eventually found a woman near our hotel who sold me 'pho' (flat noodle soup) which what appeared to beef, can't be too sure?!
After our long day walk we headed back to the calmness of our room to indulge in a jacuzzi bath. The evening time brought the challenge of trying to find food. Our quest led us back into the Old Quarter and we stumbled across a BBQ outside a bar named 'half man, half noodle' We got a lovely chicken breast with rice, vegetables and soup. It was really good value and made us feel much better!! A free beer was included which was a good bonus and a steal at thirty five thousand dong all in each (just over a pound).
On our way back we found a street with loads of people (both western and local) sitting on small stools drinking glasses of beer. This practice is famous in Hanoi and involves people selling beer from a keg on the side of the road for roughly 20p. It isn't great beer and has a rather funny after taste but all in all wasn't bad. We were told it tastes strange as there are no preservatives in it and they discard the left over beer every night.... Or not given the taste of this one.
We sipped our beers and people watched before we strolled back through the chaos of the narrow and humid night streets avoiding getting mowed down by bikes and taxis before finding the serenity of the hotel.
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