February 2, 2009
Today was…….long. I woke up at 4am with a terrible Bah Bah Bah Headache. It’s my first one of the trip and it’s a doozy. Luckily misery loves company and I think everyone was feeling the same way. No more Bah Bah Bah for this group! In the middle of the night we had docked in Chau Doc, a boarder town in Vietnam. After a terrible breakfast and some yelling at our guide by an unpleasant guy on our tour, we set off on smaller boats for Cambodia.
Before crossing the border, we stopped in another shopping “village” with many weaved silk products. This was a great stop for souvenirs as you can buy beautiful silk scarves very cheaply. As you walked through the village, all these little kids would surround you and ask you to buy little cakes or candies from them. I’m sure they don’t speak any English but they know. “Hey Mister, you buy from me. I need money for school. $1 for 3.” It’s hard to resist them so I bought some cakes from one little girl. I don’t trust eating the cakes so I basically bought a chance to photograph her and her friends.
After our shopping we done we started the long journey to the border. This was hot and miserable. 2 boats, 3 border stops and one very hot and crowded bus ride later, we arrived in Phnom Penh. Yeah we’re in Cambodia! It is so surreal to think I am across the world in Cambodia. This country has only been reopened to the West for 15 years so it’s very surreal to be here. Phnom Penh is very different from HCM or Saigon. The city was abandoned during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, so after Pol Pot was defeated the city was basically rebuilt….or better described as repopulated. The main street in town, Monivong Blvd , and the riverfront have large French styled buildings that look fairly modern and almost European. Once you go off these streets, it is basically slums. There is garbage everywhere and the homes look dirty and old. It’s really sad and distinctly shows the huge gap between the rich and the poor here. As I mentioned before this is the most “foreign” place I have ever been so I found it comical that upon arriving to Phnom Penh I found out our hotel is called “The New York Hotel”. The hotel is, of course, nothing like any New York hotel I’ve bee too, but the rooms are big and it feels safe.
After dropping off our luggage, we quickly grabbed a motortaxi…basically a tuk tuk pulled by a motorcycle….to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Tuol Sleng is the prison where the Khmer Rouge tortured over 2,000,000 Cambodians during Pol Pot’s reign. The prison was basically used as a stop over for torture before victims were taken to the killing fields and murdered. With a populated of only 7 million people, Cambodia was decimated by the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot’s goal of a Maoist society, complete devoid of any western influence meant death to any and all educated people. Most doctors, professors, teacher and lawyers were killed by the Khmer Rouge in order to create the agrarian society Pol Pot desired. Because it only happened 30 years ago, anyone over 40 remember it vividly and there are relatively few Cambodians living between the ages of 45 and 65. The country is filled with orphans whose parents were killed or died due to the Khmer Rouge.
After that uplifter, we took a tuk tuk to the riverfront for dinner…amazing how learning about national genocide increases your appetite. On the way we passed the royal palace. The King of Cambodia still lives there and the grounds and buildings are immaculate. We ate at the recommended spot from Lonely Planet and enjoyed our first Cambodia meal. The food was delicious but not cheap. Cambodia is much more expensive than Vietnam and everything is priced in US Dollars. In fact, the ATMs dispense American dollars…not Cambodia Riel! After dinner we headed straight back to the hotel and passed out after a very long day.
Friday, February 27, 2009
SE Asia Day 9
February 1, 2009
Today we began our journey to Cambodia. We will be traveling on a tour through the Mekong Delta from Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We left Saigon at 7:30 on a mini-bus with about 10 other people. We drove 3 hrs south to My Tho, where we boarded a boat that travels up the Mekon. Our guide explained that life on the Mekong focuses around the tributaries and rivers that make it up. While on the river we stopped at numerous little “village” where the goods were made. My personal opinion is that these villages are staged for tourists and that the people working there travel from other areas to work here, but regardless the experience was one of a kind. First up was the Candy Village. The village consisted of an open air tent where the locals make all the candy that is distributed around Vietnam. We saw them make coconut taffy mixed with chocolate. The candy was great and cheap too.
After buying a bunch of candy….great souvenirs… we sat and enjoyed some tea and samples of the other candies them make there. At this point, our guide brings out a large jar that was filled with wine, 7 snakes and a scorpion, smartly called….snake wine. This wine is considered a delicacy in Vietnam and is supposed to be a good source of vitamins and virility. Now this is something I would never buy, but luckily for us, he was giving free samples J The bottle he presented actually contained what looked like a small cobra that was positioned with the tale of a scorpion laying in it’s open mouth, pretty sweet. Being free and something we would never have the chance to do again, Jen and I volunteered to taste some….bottoms up. The wine was actually not bad, it weirdly tasted what I thought snake wine would taste like. I once had rattlesnake sausage and the wine tasted very similar to it. Supposedly the wine can make you hallucinate or feel drunk after just a shot of it, however Jen and I felt no side effects from it….except the urge to swallow small rodents whole.
Next up, we visited another village where they make popped rice and corn cakes. They were not as tasty as the candy we had sampled before, but it was still interesting to see them make. After buying and tasting everything we could we headed to an island called “Beach Pool” for lunch. Here we boarded smaller boats where tiny ladies, under 100lbs, rowed us up a small tributary to the center of the island to our lunch spot. Our tiny lady was definitely huffing and puffing rowing the 3 of us up the river. I felt bad, but we gave her a good tip. Once at the restaurant we ordered the specialty of the island, Elephant Ear Fish spring rolls. When the food arrived we were treated to a yellow, spiky fish that looked somewhat like a piranha, cooked whole. To make the spring rolls we would grab some rice paper and fill it with meat pulled off the fish, rice noodles, basil, mint and sprouts. Then after wrapping it all up, dip the roll in fish sauce and enjoy. It was so good! The fish was very mild and I think I am now addicted to fish sauce. After lunch we hopped on some local bicycles and rode across the island in the 90+ heat. Very fun but hot hot hot!
Meeting us at the other side of the island was our boat, which we rode to another dock, them boarded our bus again and headed to Can Tho. There we took showers in what seemed like a random Buddhist monastery and then boarded a larger boat bound for the boarder town of Chau Doc. We are actually sleeping on the boat tonight as it floats up the Mekong towards Chau Doc. We had a great night on the boat! We all drank entirely too much of “Bah, Bah, Bah” Beer aka “666”. Oh my god, terrible beer that causes the worst headaches. As we all know, alcohol is a great social lubricant and as a result we made some new friends on the boat. We met a really nice couple from Wales that are following the same path as us for the next few days. Unfortunately we haven’t found the Vietnamese people to be overly friendly. They are polite and helpful but not really conversational. I’m sure one of the main reasons is the language barrier, but I just don’t get the feeling that they are really interested in conversing. Oh well, overall our experience in Vietnam was phenomenal and I would highly recommend it as a necessity when traveling to SE Asia.
Today we began our journey to Cambodia. We will be traveling on a tour through the Mekong Delta from Vietnam to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We left Saigon at 7:30 on a mini-bus with about 10 other people. We drove 3 hrs south to My Tho, where we boarded a boat that travels up the Mekon. Our guide explained that life on the Mekong focuses around the tributaries and rivers that make it up. While on the river we stopped at numerous little “village” where the goods were made. My personal opinion is that these villages are staged for tourists and that the people working there travel from other areas to work here, but regardless the experience was one of a kind. First up was the Candy Village. The village consisted of an open air tent where the locals make all the candy that is distributed around Vietnam. We saw them make coconut taffy mixed with chocolate. The candy was great and cheap too.
After buying a bunch of candy….great souvenirs… we sat and enjoyed some tea and samples of the other candies them make there. At this point, our guide brings out a large jar that was filled with wine, 7 snakes and a scorpion, smartly called….snake wine. This wine is considered a delicacy in Vietnam and is supposed to be a good source of vitamins and virility. Now this is something I would never buy, but luckily for us, he was giving free samples J The bottle he presented actually contained what looked like a small cobra that was positioned with the tale of a scorpion laying in it’s open mouth, pretty sweet. Being free and something we would never have the chance to do again, Jen and I volunteered to taste some….bottoms up. The wine was actually not bad, it weirdly tasted what I thought snake wine would taste like. I once had rattlesnake sausage and the wine tasted very similar to it. Supposedly the wine can make you hallucinate or feel drunk after just a shot of it, however Jen and I felt no side effects from it….except the urge to swallow small rodents whole.
Next up, we visited another village where they make popped rice and corn cakes. They were not as tasty as the candy we had sampled before, but it was still interesting to see them make. After buying and tasting everything we could we headed to an island called “Beach Pool” for lunch. Here we boarded smaller boats where tiny ladies, under 100lbs, rowed us up a small tributary to the center of the island to our lunch spot. Our tiny lady was definitely huffing and puffing rowing the 3 of us up the river. I felt bad, but we gave her a good tip. Once at the restaurant we ordered the specialty of the island, Elephant Ear Fish spring rolls. When the food arrived we were treated to a yellow, spiky fish that looked somewhat like a piranha, cooked whole. To make the spring rolls we would grab some rice paper and fill it with meat pulled off the fish, rice noodles, basil, mint and sprouts. Then after wrapping it all up, dip the roll in fish sauce and enjoy. It was so good! The fish was very mild and I think I am now addicted to fish sauce. After lunch we hopped on some local bicycles and rode across the island in the 90+ heat. Very fun but hot hot hot!
Meeting us at the other side of the island was our boat, which we rode to another dock, them boarded our bus again and headed to Can Tho. There we took showers in what seemed like a random Buddhist monastery and then boarded a larger boat bound for the boarder town of Chau Doc. We are actually sleeping on the boat tonight as it floats up the Mekong towards Chau Doc. We had a great night on the boat! We all drank entirely too much of “Bah, Bah, Bah” Beer aka “666”. Oh my god, terrible beer that causes the worst headaches. As we all know, alcohol is a great social lubricant and as a result we made some new friends on the boat. We met a really nice couple from Wales that are following the same path as us for the next few days. Unfortunately we haven’t found the Vietnamese people to be overly friendly. They are polite and helpful but not really conversational. I’m sure one of the main reasons is the language barrier, but I just don’t get the feeling that they are really interested in conversing. Oh well, overall our experience in Vietnam was phenomenal and I would highly recommend it as a necessity when traveling to SE Asia.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
SE Asia Day 8
January 31st, 2009
Today we woke-up with plans to explore Saigon! We decided to only spend on day here, the cities in Vietnam are so busy and dirty that it’s really all you can take. We hired a car to bring us to the Cu Chi Tunnels, 20 miles north of town. The Cu Chi tunnels are famous as the heart of the Viet Cong resistance against the US and the South Vietnamese Government. The tunnels were used by the North Army and the Cu Chi villagers to kill and trap the opposition, mainly Americans. The first things we saw upon arriving was a documentary glorifying the killing of the American Invaders…..#1 American Killer Hero…is what the video called the 16 year old female village that killed 11 Americans. It’s hard to watch as you can imagine all the 18 year old Americans who were sent to fight here and the died or were mortally wounded by the terrible traps the Viet Cong set up. Along the tour we saw all the terrible traps with rusty spikes meant to capture the opposition and an abandoned tank sitting in the middle of nowhere. We were even able to walk through a small section of the tunnels themselves. It was freaky; small, dark and claustrophobic. I could not imagine living in them as many of the Viet Cong did. Best transition for the terrors of the tunnels…firing an AK47 or an M60. That’s right, there is a stop on the tour where you can pay a dollar, grab a gun and fire. It’s every 12 year old boys dream! And of course seeing all the torture and killing of war, we worked up an appetite, so we grabbed some very good food at the restaurant by the tunnels. Meals generally consist of spring rolls, friend rice or noodles with chicken or beef, pho and then fresh fruit for dessert. I love it, but if you don’t like Asian you’d be screwed.
After arriving back in Saigon and hit up the open market. You can buy anything in this market. For example I bought a Gucci wallet, Adidas flip flops, 2 t-shirts and a Rolex for $43! All fake…but convincingly so. The sales ladies are very aggressive; to the point of grabbing your arm when you try to walk away. After an exhausting day we showered and headed out for first dinner J….drinks and spring rolls. The place was unremarkable but Kevin did buy a photocopied, yet bound and genuine looking, Lonely Planet Thailand book for $8 for a street vendor. Danny bought two books about Cambodia for 1200 dong, roughly $6. We then took motorbike taxis to second dinner…this was one of the best experiences of our trip! We were all riding bitch on the back of a bike zooming…quickly…dodging other bikes and cars by inches. I think the best part of the ride is the danger and the hope that you won’t run into anything. I’m sure the few beers we had had contributed to the fun of it, but we decided that that’s the only way to travel in Saigon.
We had second dinner at a “Jamaican” grill where you cook your own food on a grill in the middle of your table. While the only thing Jamaican about the place was the 4 Bob Marley songs playing on repeat on the sounds system. The food was good and the beer was cheap! We had apps and dinner for 5, roughly 4 large beers each and a couple desserts for 400,000 dong….$40!. One the way back we had so much fun on the ride there, we paid 5 more motorbike taxis to take us on a 30 minutes tour of the city. This time they went very slow, so not as exciting, but it was cool to see the city by night.
There are so many motorbikes on the streets of Ho Chi Minh that you feel like you’re at a scooter rally! The main drag of the city has an LCD light tunnel over the street. The lights form white lotus flowers that float on a bead of blue lights that represent water. After the ride we walked to what Dan thought was an Irish pub called Long Pe…he he he. It turned out to be a seedy, jazz bar where old white guys can pick up 13 year olds. Not an awesome end, but still a great night! Hangovers for everyone tomorrow.
Today we woke-up with plans to explore Saigon! We decided to only spend on day here, the cities in Vietnam are so busy and dirty that it’s really all you can take. We hired a car to bring us to the Cu Chi Tunnels, 20 miles north of town. The Cu Chi tunnels are famous as the heart of the Viet Cong resistance against the US and the South Vietnamese Government. The tunnels were used by the North Army and the Cu Chi villagers to kill and trap the opposition, mainly Americans. The first things we saw upon arriving was a documentary glorifying the killing of the American Invaders…..#1 American Killer Hero…is what the video called the 16 year old female village that killed 11 Americans. It’s hard to watch as you can imagine all the 18 year old Americans who were sent to fight here and the died or were mortally wounded by the terrible traps the Viet Cong set up. Along the tour we saw all the terrible traps with rusty spikes meant to capture the opposition and an abandoned tank sitting in the middle of nowhere. We were even able to walk through a small section of the tunnels themselves. It was freaky; small, dark and claustrophobic. I could not imagine living in them as many of the Viet Cong did. Best transition for the terrors of the tunnels…firing an AK47 or an M60. That’s right, there is a stop on the tour where you can pay a dollar, grab a gun and fire. It’s every 12 year old boys dream! And of course seeing all the torture and killing of war, we worked up an appetite, so we grabbed some very good food at the restaurant by the tunnels. Meals generally consist of spring rolls, friend rice or noodles with chicken or beef, pho and then fresh fruit for dessert. I love it, but if you don’t like Asian you’d be screwed.
After arriving back in Saigon and hit up the open market. You can buy anything in this market. For example I bought a Gucci wallet, Adidas flip flops, 2 t-shirts and a Rolex for $43! All fake…but convincingly so. The sales ladies are very aggressive; to the point of grabbing your arm when you try to walk away. After an exhausting day we showered and headed out for first dinner J….drinks and spring rolls. The place was unremarkable but Kevin did buy a photocopied, yet bound and genuine looking, Lonely Planet Thailand book for $8 for a street vendor. Danny bought two books about Cambodia for 1200 dong, roughly $6. We then took motorbike taxis to second dinner…this was one of the best experiences of our trip! We were all riding bitch on the back of a bike zooming…quickly…dodging other bikes and cars by inches. I think the best part of the ride is the danger and the hope that you won’t run into anything. I’m sure the few beers we had had contributed to the fun of it, but we decided that that’s the only way to travel in Saigon.
We had second dinner at a “Jamaican” grill where you cook your own food on a grill in the middle of your table. While the only thing Jamaican about the place was the 4 Bob Marley songs playing on repeat on the sounds system. The food was good and the beer was cheap! We had apps and dinner for 5, roughly 4 large beers each and a couple desserts for 400,000 dong….$40!. One the way back we had so much fun on the ride there, we paid 5 more motorbike taxis to take us on a 30 minutes tour of the city. This time they went very slow, so not as exciting, but it was cool to see the city by night.
There are so many motorbikes on the streets of Ho Chi Minh that you feel like you’re at a scooter rally! The main drag of the city has an LCD light tunnel over the street. The lights form white lotus flowers that float on a bead of blue lights that represent water. After the ride we walked to what Dan thought was an Irish pub called Long Pe…he he he. It turned out to be a seedy, jazz bar where old white guys can pick up 13 year olds. Not an awesome end, but still a great night! Hangovers for everyone tomorrow.
Monday, February 16, 2009
SE Asia Day 7
January 30th, 2009
Today is a big travel day. We travel to Ho Chi Minh(Saigon) via Jetstar Airlines. Jetstar is owned by Quantas so the plane is fairly new, but it is packed and all the seats are closer together, but we felt safe. We arrived in HCM and were so happy that it was finally warm! My one pair of jeans can probably stand on their own by now. We met up with Danny and Charlotte at the guest house Char had booked for us, Ngoc Thou. It was perfect, clean, ac and good location and best of all $15 a night! Saigon(most southerners still call the city Saigon and not Ho Chi Minh) seems much less chaotic and the architecture is less standard than in Ha Noi, The streets and streets of tube housing has been replaced by everyone type of architecture you can think of.
We arrive at the address our guest house is supposed to be and immediately this guys starts following us and asks us if we need a place to stay, or want to sign-up for a tour. We continually say "No!" but he keeps following us. So we are immediately on guard in Ho Chi Minh, what doesn't add to this is that we can't find our hotel, there is an alley in the spot that the hotel should be. At that point the guy that has been following asks "Where are you going? Where are you going?" We finally break down and show him the address...and he points down this alley. We say "Thank You" and head down the alley. It's sketchy...there are people hanging out of their homes just staring at us, a dirty Indian restaurant and the smell of poo is in the air. Kevin actually stops about 20 feet in and says "Yea, I don't think this is right" but we keep pushing. And finally we see a sign for the Ngoc Thou Guest House. Sweet! We arrive and the family that runs the guest house is expecting us. They are very friendly...kind of speak English...and the guest house is clean, cheap, has AC and funny enough, each room has a tv with HBO! We dropped off our stuff and met up with Dan & Char to catch-up on the last week. They went to Hoi An, a beach town in the middle of Vietnam known for it's tailors. They had a bunch of clothes made for them, cheap and perfectly fitted for them. They look awesome!
After a much needed Happy Hour....discovering a new favorite beer Saigon Red(5% alcohol!) we headed to dinner. Chad & Dan had met a couple Swedish girls who had recommended a really good place that had authentic Vietnamese. We walk up to it and it's called....Quan An Ngoc...the same place we loved the day before in Ha Noi, looks like we really will get to eat here again. How funny, it's a chain! The place has a long line of people outside waiting to get a seat, with most people being Vietnamese, so that's a good sign. Apparently if you are a foreigner you don't wait in lines as they ushered us in and gave us a seat in front of everyone else waiting. The food was great again, mine was decent, however I did get a blended strawberry shake that was probably the best fruit snake I have ever had. After dinner we decided to walk up a few blocks and....eat again..specifically desert and drinks. Here was born a new tradition the 5 of us are calling second dinner. Hey we're on vacation! We drank a fair amount of Red Saigon until we were ready to pass out, wondered back to the Guest House and collapsed in bed. Not before Danny decided he wanted third dinner, which was a fertilized duck egg. Considered a delicacy in Asia, he said it didn't taste like much but did crunch when he bit into it...yum how appealing.
Today is a big travel day. We travel to Ho Chi Minh(Saigon) via Jetstar Airlines. Jetstar is owned by Quantas so the plane is fairly new, but it is packed and all the seats are closer together, but we felt safe. We arrived in HCM and were so happy that it was finally warm! My one pair of jeans can probably stand on their own by now. We met up with Danny and Charlotte at the guest house Char had booked for us, Ngoc Thou. It was perfect, clean, ac and good location and best of all $15 a night! Saigon(most southerners still call the city Saigon and not Ho Chi Minh) seems much less chaotic and the architecture is less standard than in Ha Noi, The streets and streets of tube housing has been replaced by everyone type of architecture you can think of.
We arrive at the address our guest house is supposed to be and immediately this guys starts following us and asks us if we need a place to stay, or want to sign-up for a tour. We continually say "No!" but he keeps following us. So we are immediately on guard in Ho Chi Minh, what doesn't add to this is that we can't find our hotel, there is an alley in the spot that the hotel should be. At that point the guy that has been following asks "Where are you going? Where are you going?" We finally break down and show him the address...and he points down this alley. We say "Thank You" and head down the alley. It's sketchy...there are people hanging out of their homes just staring at us, a dirty Indian restaurant and the smell of poo is in the air. Kevin actually stops about 20 feet in and says "Yea, I don't think this is right" but we keep pushing. And finally we see a sign for the Ngoc Thou Guest House. Sweet! We arrive and the family that runs the guest house is expecting us. They are very friendly...kind of speak English...and the guest house is clean, cheap, has AC and funny enough, each room has a tv with HBO! We dropped off our stuff and met up with Dan & Char to catch-up on the last week. They went to Hoi An, a beach town in the middle of Vietnam known for it's tailors. They had a bunch of clothes made for them, cheap and perfectly fitted for them. They look awesome!
After a much needed Happy Hour....discovering a new favorite beer Saigon Red(5% alcohol!) we headed to dinner. Chad & Dan had met a couple Swedish girls who had recommended a really good place that had authentic Vietnamese. We walk up to it and it's called....Quan An Ngoc...the same place we loved the day before in Ha Noi, looks like we really will get to eat here again. How funny, it's a chain! The place has a long line of people outside waiting to get a seat, with most people being Vietnamese, so that's a good sign. Apparently if you are a foreigner you don't wait in lines as they ushered us in and gave us a seat in front of everyone else waiting. The food was great again, mine was decent, however I did get a blended strawberry shake that was probably the best fruit snake I have ever had. After dinner we decided to walk up a few blocks and....eat again..specifically desert and drinks. Here was born a new tradition the 5 of us are calling second dinner. Hey we're on vacation! We drank a fair amount of Red Saigon until we were ready to pass out, wondered back to the Guest House and collapsed in bed. Not before Danny decided he wanted third dinner, which was a fertilized duck egg. Considered a delicacy in Asia, he said it didn't taste like much but did crunch when he bit into it...yum how appealing.
SE Asia Day 6
January 29th, 2009
Today we woke up for a very full day of exploring Ha Noi. After a good breakfast with Vietnamese coffee, so good espresso and condensed milk, we braved the streets. The city is pretty chaotic and dirty but has lots of charm. When you cross the street you basically have to start walking...don't stop..and hope that the scooters swerve to miss you. Our first stop was an electronics vendor, I had forgotten my camera charger and needed to buy one. Let me say I am an excellent bargainer, here was my conversation with the shop owner.
Saleslady: New charger costs 175,000 dong ($10)
Me: No, no too much, how about 100,000 dong
Saleslady: No
Me: Ok, I'll take it!
I would like to think I got better after that, but I just had to laugh at my first attempt.
Hanoi is full of two types of buildings, the first are "tube" homes which are very skinny tall concrete buildings that house commercial on the first floor and residential on the upper floors. They are usually colored brightly in the front and pure concrete on the sides. As land prices are expensive, houses are generally very narrow with numerous stories. The second type of building in Ha Noi are government structures. They are usually very large, nondescript buildings that are guarded by communist soldiers. The soldiers seem friendly but freak out if you try to take their pictures....of course Jen found this out :)
We walked about 3 miles to Ho Chi Minh's tomb. The mausoleum is grand and sterile. Constructed in marble in a roman style, it is supposed to represent a lotus flower. Personally I don't see it at all. It has black marble and sharp edges. Before Ho Chi Minh died, he has said he wanted to be cremated and his ashed spread in the four corners of Vietnam, to represent a unified Vietnam. The one thing he didn't want was a mausoleum. he said he'd rather take the money and give it to the schools of Vietnam. Unfortunately the Communist government that survived after he died didn't feel the same way...under the influence of the Russians. We weren't able to go inside but you can view the preserved body of HCM.
Next to the HCM Mausoleum is the HSM Museum. Built in 1990 it is meant to document Ho Chi Minh's life and goals. It is the craziest museum I have ever been to. It's like a weird mix of communist propaganda and a modern art museum. For example they will have a section with random newspaper and leading snippets about Ho Chi Minh's struggle to liberate the south from the oppressive foreign government and then next to it have a huge art piece that is a giant bowl of fruit meant to represent the fruits of labor created if the Vietnamese people collectively work together. I wouldn't actually recommend the museum. There isn't really any flow to the museum and the content is limited, so it's difficult to get a picture of who HCM really was.
After the museum we walked...starting to get used tot he crazy moped, no rules, driving in the city. Next up was the Hoa Lo Prison aka Masion de Central aka the Ha Noi Hilton. It's a prison built by the French in the late 1800's, however it is more famously known in the western world as the prison of the American POW's of the Vietnam War. The museum, while interesting, again provides a one sided view of the war. There is an exhibit that shows photos of the American "Guests", including John McCain, "celebrating" at Christmas, receiving packages from home, watching movies and hanging out in their "rooms". It's very interesting since we know that the prisoners were tortured nightly for the 6 years they were kept there. There are also many exhibits about how the French government oppressed and tortured the Viet Nationals. It's depressing but interesting to see.
After working up an appetite seeing the torture devices at the prison we headed, for a second try, to Quan An Ngoc. This time they were open and it was worth a second try. The restaurant is set-up with tables in a large courtyard covered by a tent. On the edges are all the food stations that feature regional food from around Vietnam that you can see being made before eating. We ordered a bunch of stuff and it turned out to be our first very good meal of the trip. I had a beef stir fry w/ spinach and green beans on something like a fried noodle cake. It was really tasty. Jen ordered some ice drink that everyone around us was drinking. When it comes out it looks like a glass full of ice and milk with green peas and black worms in it. Yum right?!? The "worms" and "peas" where actually Tapioca gel and the drink was pretty good actually. Very refreshing. Overall we had a great experience at the restaurant and wanted to visit it again. Plus the whole meal was $7 for all of us.
To work off our meal, we opted to walk back to the hotel, about 1.5 miles. and see the park around Hoan Kiem Lake. With luck on our side, we happened to walk right into the New Year's Parade, 1/24 was the Chinese New Year; it is now the year of the Buffalo. The parade had 100's of people in many colorful, traditional outfits, dragons and dancers marching down the street. After snapping many photos, we made it back to the hotel and basically collapsed from all the events of the day. Jen slept while Kevin and I grabbed a quick dinner down the street and then went back to the hotel and fell asleep. I have a feeling we are going to miss most of the night life of SE Asia as we continue to be sleeping by 9:30.
Today we woke up for a very full day of exploring Ha Noi. After a good breakfast with Vietnamese coffee, so good espresso and condensed milk, we braved the streets. The city is pretty chaotic and dirty but has lots of charm. When you cross the street you basically have to start walking...don't stop..and hope that the scooters swerve to miss you. Our first stop was an electronics vendor, I had forgotten my camera charger and needed to buy one. Let me say I am an excellent bargainer, here was my conversation with the shop owner.
Saleslady: New charger costs 175,000 dong ($10)
Me: No, no too much, how about 100,000 dong
Saleslady: No
Me: Ok, I'll take it!
I would like to think I got better after that, but I just had to laugh at my first attempt.
Hanoi is full of two types of buildings, the first are "tube" homes which are very skinny tall concrete buildings that house commercial on the first floor and residential on the upper floors. They are usually colored brightly in the front and pure concrete on the sides. As land prices are expensive, houses are generally very narrow with numerous stories. The second type of building in Ha Noi are government structures. They are usually very large, nondescript buildings that are guarded by communist soldiers. The soldiers seem friendly but freak out if you try to take their pictures....of course Jen found this out :)
We walked about 3 miles to Ho Chi Minh's tomb. The mausoleum is grand and sterile. Constructed in marble in a roman style, it is supposed to represent a lotus flower. Personally I don't see it at all. It has black marble and sharp edges. Before Ho Chi Minh died, he has said he wanted to be cremated and his ashed spread in the four corners of Vietnam, to represent a unified Vietnam. The one thing he didn't want was a mausoleum. he said he'd rather take the money and give it to the schools of Vietnam. Unfortunately the Communist government that survived after he died didn't feel the same way...under the influence of the Russians. We weren't able to go inside but you can view the preserved body of HCM.
Next to the HCM Mausoleum is the HSM Museum. Built in 1990 it is meant to document Ho Chi Minh's life and goals. It is the craziest museum I have ever been to. It's like a weird mix of communist propaganda and a modern art museum. For example they will have a section with random newspaper and leading snippets about Ho Chi Minh's struggle to liberate the south from the oppressive foreign government and then next to it have a huge art piece that is a giant bowl of fruit meant to represent the fruits of labor created if the Vietnamese people collectively work together. I wouldn't actually recommend the museum. There isn't really any flow to the museum and the content is limited, so it's difficult to get a picture of who HCM really was.
After the museum we walked...starting to get used tot he crazy moped, no rules, driving in the city. Next up was the Hoa Lo Prison aka Masion de Central aka the Ha Noi Hilton. It's a prison built by the French in the late 1800's, however it is more famously known in the western world as the prison of the American POW's of the Vietnam War. The museum, while interesting, again provides a one sided view of the war. There is an exhibit that shows photos of the American "Guests", including John McCain, "celebrating" at Christmas, receiving packages from home, watching movies and hanging out in their "rooms". It's very interesting since we know that the prisoners were tortured nightly for the 6 years they were kept there. There are also many exhibits about how the French government oppressed and tortured the Viet Nationals. It's depressing but interesting to see.
After working up an appetite seeing the torture devices at the prison we headed, for a second try, to Quan An Ngoc. This time they were open and it was worth a second try. The restaurant is set-up with tables in a large courtyard covered by a tent. On the edges are all the food stations that feature regional food from around Vietnam that you can see being made before eating. We ordered a bunch of stuff and it turned out to be our first very good meal of the trip. I had a beef stir fry w/ spinach and green beans on something like a fried noodle cake. It was really tasty. Jen ordered some ice drink that everyone around us was drinking. When it comes out it looks like a glass full of ice and milk with green peas and black worms in it. Yum right?!? The "worms" and "peas" where actually Tapioca gel and the drink was pretty good actually. Very refreshing. Overall we had a great experience at the restaurant and wanted to visit it again. Plus the whole meal was $7 for all of us.
To work off our meal, we opted to walk back to the hotel, about 1.5 miles. and see the park around Hoan Kiem Lake. With luck on our side, we happened to walk right into the New Year's Parade, 1/24 was the Chinese New Year; it is now the year of the Buffalo. The parade had 100's of people in many colorful, traditional outfits, dragons and dancers marching down the street. After snapping many photos, we made it back to the hotel and basically collapsed from all the events of the day. Jen slept while Kevin and I grabbed a quick dinner down the street and then went back to the hotel and fell asleep. I have a feeling we are going to miss most of the night life of SE Asia as we continue to be sleeping by 9:30.
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