Hanoi, Vietnam

View from one of the hotels we stayed in

We spent the rest of our time in Vietnam in the big city of Hanoi, which is also the capital of the country. We stayed in the Old Quarter, which is where most of the tourists stay.  It is a literal maze of small streets – there is no one main area.  It is very easy to get lost there, which we did a number of times.

One of the sites we saw while in Hanoi was the prison used during the Vietnam War, affectionately known by U.S. POWs as the Hanoi Hilton.  Part of the prison was torn down to make room for a nearby skyscraper, but parts of it have been preserved.  Senator John McCain was incarcerated here, and there are a few photos of him on display, as well as the flight suit he was wearing when he was captured.  The exhibit on the American soldiers imprisoned there is quite strange – it’s made to look more like summer camp than a prison.  There are pictures of Americans decorating a Christmas tree and playing sports, etc.  I’m sure it wasn’t all fun and games – just more Vietnamese propaganda. 

Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum

On another day we tried to see Ho Chi Minh’s body, but arrived five minutes too late.  It’s only open for a couple of hours each morning.  Ho Chi Minh had asked for his body to be cremated when he died, but the Vietnamese decided instead to embalm his corpse and place it in a glass sarcophagus for viewing.  The mausoleum is closed three months of the year when his body is sent to Russia for maintenance.  From what we heard, he looks more like a wax figure than anything else – there are rumors that his body has been replaced with a wax dummy, but who’s to know?  He is definitely revered amongst the people as the liberator of the Vietnamese people from colonialism, as well as respected for his communist ideology.    

Our favorite crazy traffic corner!

We spent a few evenings hanging out on “Beer Corner” in Hanoi.  This is a corner where the bars serve “fresh” beer, or freshly brewed draught beer, for only 25 cents a glass!  Believe it or not, the beer is actually pretty good to boot!  It’s a popular spot for tourists – we met up with a bunch of the folks on our Halong Bay tour there after we all arrived back in Hanoi.  Another time we were there with friends and we bought a round for a group of young Vietnamese guys who were friendly and fun.  They returned the favor by buying our group some dried squid.  Yuck!  I suppose it’s the thought that counts.

Pineapple vendor

The rest of the time we spent taking it easy – both of us caught minor colds and needed the rest.  Our favorite way to pass the time is to watch the traffic – we did a lot of that.  No matter how many times I see it, I’m still amazed that it somehow all works.  It looks like total chaos, and yet we have never seen an accident.  We rode on the back of a couple of motorbike taxis, whenever we needed to get to another part of town that was too far to walk to.  It is scary and fun at the same time – they definitely know what they’re doing. 

Hanoi was nice, and definitely has a much different feel than Ho Chi Minh City in the south.  The north didn’t feel as friendly to us as the south did – and the south had a much more modern feel to it.   I guess that’s what happens when a country is split for so long – Vietnam was divided into two parts for 21 years.  We preferred the south to the north and wished we had spent a little more time down there before rushing up here.  Oh well, live and learn!