Howdy Hanoi

After our couple of days in HCMC, we jetted off to Hanoi. The alternative was a 41 hour train journey, so we were quite happy with another decision to fly instead.

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, but you knew that.

A random picture of some particularly nice spring rolls

We arrived, and were pleasantly surprised to find that whilst yes, it was busy, it didn’t seem quite as manic as HCMC or Bangkok. Hooray! We stayed at a very comfortable hotel in the Old Quarter of the city, set amongst mazes of stalls and restaurants, near a famous lake. On our first night, we wandered down to the lake, and got our bearings - the story goes that an ancient Vietnamese emperor was given the gift of a sword from the gods, which he used to defeat the enemies of his country. Afterwards, when he had finished with it, a giant golden turtle snatched it from him, and took it to the bottom of the lake, back to the gods. Since then, there have been a couple of small temples on the water. It was very pretty at night (and so was the lake).

Pesky turtle

For our first full day, we explored the national museum (interesting if a bit on the dry side), and Zoe had a nosey in to some art galleries. We then joined the crowds exploring the lake temple, and afterwards got slightly, err, scammed.

So! Picture this. You’re walking along the busy streets of Hanoi quite happily, when all of a sudden someone shouts, points at your feet and rushes after them with glue. This happened to Zoe, and came as quite a shock, at first we were both wondering if there was some particularly poisonous bug on her person. Essentially, her shoes are older than time itself, and are starting to fray at the edges quite a bit. In a flash, he had taken off her shoe, and was polishing, filing, gluing, and... replacing the sole with a piece of car tyre? After he had finished, he asked for a king’s ransom - 700,000 Dong, to be precise, or $35. In the real world, this isn’t a huge amount of money, but when you consider that a beer here is $0.50, a massage is $5 for an hour, and a decent hotel room is $15 for a night, this was literally daylight robbery, and he was very loudly adamant that he was owed it. In the end, we haggled him down to less than half what he had originally asked for, but we know it was still astronomical in local terms. Grr.

Tyre-riffic, right?

Oh yeah, and all the while, a friend of his had wrestled my shoes from me, and was furiously polishing them, demanding equal recompense for his labours. Some more frustrating negotiation later, and we were slightly lighter of pocket and heavier of spirit - this sort of thing happens every now again, all around the world, but it certainly leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. If we’d had the energy, we might have refused to pay anything, but in the end we opted for a quieter life, whether that was right or wrong.

So! We let off steam for a little bit, and then were back at it (I think finding a Kinder egg that afternoon made a big difference to our spirits - it was Easter after all!!). Later, we went out for tasty beef noodle soup at a place full of locals (which is always a good sign). The menu was small (another good sign!), and we were served quickly. Interestingly, this was the first place we’d been after nearly a month in Asia where chopsticks were the only utensils available, which was a slight hurdle, but we persevered and thrived!

The girl's toy was a hairclip, and the boy got a transforming car. How is THAT fair? Needless to say, Zoe got the car.

The recommended viewing for that night was Apocalypse Now, a much darker take on the Vietnam war (or as it’s called here, the American War). Zoe didn’t fall asleep, so it must have been good.

For our last full day in Hanoi, we went hunting for culture! In the morning, was the “Hanoi Hilton”, the prison where American POWs had been held during the war (in very comfortable conditions, from what we saw). Interestingly, this place had a much darker history, and had been used to imprison Vietnamese people who were seen to be a threat to the French rulers at the time. The plaques were particularly interesting, describing how even the inhumane conditions imposed by the oppressors did nothing to stifle the spread of revolutionary teaching through the cells amongst the righteous. Perhaps true, but I imagine also a significant degree of history being told by the victors? In those conditions, I don’t think I would be very interested in my further education.

Guillotine

After that, we hopped across town, to Ho Chi Minh’s district. Remember how I said I’d go into more detail on just how much the Vietnamese loved him? Well, it was so much that when he died, they ignored his wish for a simple burial, and instead stuffed and embalmed his body, erecting a grand mausoleum to keep his pickled person prominent, in the fashion of Mao, Lenin, Stalin, Kim Il Sung, and Kim Jong Il. Notice a theme? Anyway, my favourite fact about this particular mausoleum was the fact that Uncle Ho spends 2-3 months a year on holiday in Russia, getting a thorough servicing!

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

We weren’t interested in seeing that grim exhibit (particularly as it was against the man’s wishes!), so steered clear. We tried to learn more about him in a nearby museum, but it was closed, boo! Still, nevermind, that’s what the internet is for. Instead, we saw an interesting ‘One Pillar Pagoda’ nearby, and met an enthusiastic cyclo-taxi driver, who offered to show us some more of the sights.

One Pillar Pagoda

After some negotiation, we lurched into the busy streets to our next destination, a famous site where a B-52 bomber had crash-landed after being shot down in the war. It left an impressive carcass, so was left in place, and we were amazed to see just how big the bones of this thing were - truly, we can see why it was called a ‘Sky Fortress’, and it struck me (as it has many other before) just how interesting a conflict this had been - despite infinitely overwhelming firepower, in the end the USA failed to overcome the power of an idea.

The B-52 carcass, looking from the cockpit

Big numbers for big nerds

We ended our day of culture with a water puppet show, which is an ancient artform which emerged from cultures centred around rice paddies. It was impressive, though neither of us feel the burning desire to seek out any more - one was enough! That night, we drank tasty wine in an Italian restaurant, because home comforts are needed from time to time.

The next day, we were off on a cruise!