Hanoi !

The flight landed in Hanoi below a huge red sunset. It took hours for the airport bus to find our hostel, but Steph and I were mesmerized by street life. Traffic in Vietnam kind of creeps constantly. The seas of mostly scooters and bikes just slip by smoothly, never stopping. I've never seen anything like it. We also saw that the sidewalks were packed with residents sitting on tiny stools, chatting, eating or drinking a beer. Steph and I dropped our bags at the backpacker hostel and immediately went to check this out. We sat on these mini stools by one of Hanoi’s big lakes and exchanged what we both knew about Vietnam (very little) and the Vietnam War.

The next day began with no particular direction. I woke up early for a coffee and watched the women walk by with conical straw hats. The Vietnamese pedestrians also seemed to glide graciously as they went by. When Steph joined me we decided at the last second to ask the taxi driver to take us to the famous Hoa Lo prison, aka the 'Hanoi Hilton'. Captured American soldiers were treated quite well here (compared to previous residents) with real beds, full meals, volleyball and even a basketball hoop.

John McCain's flight suit from when he was shot down and captured here.

Our second stop was to check in on Uncle Ho and pay our respects at his mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh is pretty much the founder of modern Vietnam and we had to see what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately he’s being touched up by the Russian mumifiers at the moment, so we had to settle for visiting his museum instead. The building is pretty much a brutalist blast from the past, and filled with interesting texts and propaganda posters which can still be found painted on the walls in small and big towns across the country. Check out this collection of Propaganda Posters of Vietnam.

After a morning of museums, Steph then suggested we search of some peace and tranquility in the parks at the Temple of Literature to read our books for a while. Not only was the park packed with activity, Steph was fascinated how many old people were playing badminton while others were walking backwards to presumably exercise their hips.

For our first out in Vietnam we took the Backgammon set to the plastic furniture at a street stall where a crowd swarmed around us. The local men were all scratching their heads. Steph and I tried to make this interesting for them by me thrashing her on purpose - but somehow I don’t think they got the hang of it. Now you must understand that this does qualify as a big night out for us these days... We even moved on to the famous “Bia Hai” intersection in the old quarter. Here you can sip draft Bia (beer) for 3000 dong (about 16 cents) from mini stools that spill into the street. It’s a backpacker mecca.

After a few fun days in Halong Bay we changed our plans to stay another day in Hanoi with friends, Luke and Danielle. They suggested we take in a Puppet show. Water puppetry (roi nuoc) is Vietnam’s ancient art, originating at least 1000 years ago by rice farmers. Performances are accompanied by music played on traditional instruments and I would say the entertainment factor is closest to the humor of a British Pantomime.

The next day started off right with some Vietnamese “pho” noodles for breakfast before we all decided to take up zorbing in the park. What is zorbing you ask? This is (not so) easily demonstrated in the videos on youtube. After making fools of ourselves we retreated to Hang Manh street for some famous Hanoi “Bunh Cha” - pork three ways: in spring rolls, meatballs, and sliced in broth with noodles. I must say it would have been nice to spend a few more days in Hanoi with our new Australian friends. Yet we were behind schedule and boarded our night bus to begin the long journey from the top of Vietnam to the bottom!