Travelling – March 23-26... Hanoi and Ha Long Bay
Sooo it’s been quite a while since my last post. I have been
traveling around since March 23 – basically 6 weeks. I’m now back in my
apartment/Thai home, and it’s time to play catch up. I think the best way to go
it to go week by week. Starting at the beginning:
On March 23, I flew from Bangkok to Hanoi, the capital of
Vietnam. I arrived in Hanoi at 9 or so in the morning and even though the
flight was short, I was already feeling pretty frazzled. Getting my visa took a
long time and my bag took forever to come up. I had arranged a pick up from the
airport to my hostel – I figured it would be easier than taking a taxi, seeing
as I had no idea where I was going. Unfortunately, the person picking me up was
nowhere to be found (they were supposed to have a sign with my name). So after
wandering around for about half an hour, I found a phone and called the hostel.
Eventually, the driver found me. Not the smoothest start to my travels.
Driving in Hanoi is a nightmare – i’m just going to say that
right there. When I first got to the car, I was very disoriented as we were
driving on the right again. In Vietnam, people use their horns CONSTANTLY. It’s
usually a way of alerting people around them they are passing or what not, but
a lot of the time, I couldn’t see any reason... Signs and traffic lights are
seen more as suggestions – at one point our driver was driving in the on-coming
traffic lane for quite a while. It was slightly terrifying, but made it to the
hostel in one piece.
On the first day, I just wandered around the city with a map
from the hostel. This is my favourite way to explore a new place. Hanoi is a
very nice city – many old and small buildings. Many of the streets have massive
trees on the sidewalks. Although it is the capital, it had a bit more of a
small city feel. Except for the thousands of motorcycles...
The first place I stopped was the Hoa Lo Prison, also known
as the “Hanoi Hilton” among American POWs during the Vietnam War. The prison was
originally built by the French, and used to hold Vietnamese while the country
was a French colony. During the Vietnam War, the north Vietnamese used the
prison to house American POWs, mostly pilots who had crashed in the north. One
of the most famous Americans to pass through was Senator John McCain. However,
the museum focuses mostly on the Vietnamese held there by the French. One thing
that is fascinating about Vietnam is you realise how subjective history is. For
example, the museum described the Vietnam War as an attempt by the Americans to
take over the country, like the French imperialists. It is also very one sided
– at one point, I was watching a video that LITERALLY said the American POWs
should have considered themselves lucky to be held prisoner in this prison, as
they were treated so well. However, while I was there, a guided American tour
group was there. I followed them around a bit to get some free info: the guide
was ONLY talking about the Americans who had stayed in the prison. History is a
funny thing...
How the prisoners were held
Senator John Mcain...? McCain?
After that, I continued to wander around, past the Opera
House, and Hoan Kiem Lake. On the lake, there is a small island which has a
temple on it, Ngoc Son Temple. It was beautiful – temples in Vietnam have much
more of a Chinese influence than those in Thailand. I then sat on a bench to
enjoy the view. While I was there, a few young Vietnamese people came up and
asked if they could chat with me for a while (so they could practice their
English). They were very friendly – although, like many Vietnamese people I
would meet, they kept asking “Are you married?”, followed by “Why aren’t you
married?”. Haha.
Opera House
Traditional dress for women
That night, my friend Anna and I went to dinner and beer in
a nearby restaurant. Beer and food is pretty cheap in Vietnam. Beer Hoi is
super cheap... but super gross... In the evening, we wandered around the city
some more.
Sunday the 24th was much the same. In the
morning, I wandered over to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The line was
ridiculously long, so I decided I didn’t want to see it that badly. After, I
wandered through the city back in the direction of the hostel. I found the old
citadel of Hanoi, which was really neat to walk around in. In the afternoon, we
met up with a friend Anna had met who lived in Hanoi (a Norwegian working at
the embassy). So it was fun to meet up with someone who knew the city. He took
us to a nice restaurant and showed us some good things to order. We then went
to his apartment, and drank a few beers on the roof. The view was amazing!
After, we found a bar and hung out there for a while. For street food in Hanoi,
everyone sits on these tiny little plastic stools on the sidewalk/spilling onto
the road. Everyone also eats a ridiculous amount of sunflower seeds. So we
followed their example. Fun times!
Temple of Literature
Ha Long Bay:
Monday morning, I left Hanoi for a tour of Ha Long Bay. I
signed up with the tour offered by my hostel, Central Backpacers. The tour
started with about 4 hour bus ride from Hanoi to the coast. Not especially
exciting. There were about 16 people on the tour I believe: a family from
Malaysia, a group of teachers (American, Scottish, Welsh) from Korea, 3 Danish
girls, a British pair, and 3 other Canadians, 2 parents and their daughter. We boarded
our ship, “The Imperial Junk” (haha), and set off towards the bay. For those of
you that don’t know, Ha Long Bay is considered one of the natural wonders of
the word: it consists of 3000+ limestone islands in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Although the weather was overcast, it was still amazing! You don’t feel like
you are on the ocean at all...We cruised around the islands for a while, then
stopped at the main cave in the Bay... Can’t remember the name. It was massive
though and had many neat rock formations. After that, we paddled around on
kayaks. It was lovely.
The next day, they took us back to the Harbour. On the way,
our guide gave a demonstration on how to make Vietnamese spring rolls, one of
the most popular Vietnamese dishes. MMmmmm...
I stayed the night of the 26 in Hanoi – I was departing
early on the 27th for my trip to Ba Be National Park, which you can
read about in my next post! This one is long enough alrea
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