What a view...

Here is just a taste of what we got to see at Ha long Bay. We were both blown away by the beauty of the place. One of us will write a post about it soon.

Da main homies palace yo!

13th Aug.

One of the more notable places of interest in Hanoi is the Ho Chi Min Mausoleum so we thought that would make an interesting trip. Being the distance it is from where we were staying we consulted the lonely planet bible for the plan to catch a taxi and their list of reputable taxis. Given that none of compaies on the list we had seen before we decided to walk in the general direction. I'm glad we did as we found beautiful tree lined steet along the way whick was so different to the ones we were used to seeing.

By the time we got there it was just after 10 which left us 45 mins to visit. First we needed to check all bags and water but we had to take our camera and phones with us. Then we had to follow a bee line to security where we had to walk through metal detectors and get what stuff we had with us x-rayed. Everything that was x-rayed was put into special red bag with some engrish written on it. Once we had cleared that check point there was another bee line to check-in our cameras from our little red handbags, which we were told we could collect from the exit of the mausoleum.

One more bee line and were entering the mausoleum with guards in white every 5 metres, making sure no one was disrespecting the man by wearing hats or sun glasses, laughing or talking too loud or stepping off the red rubber "carpet".

Inside was incredible. The temperature dropped about 10 degrees as soon as you get the door and the light was very low and reverant. Every where you looked was beautiful, absolutely spotlessly clean marble and granite in sharp, angular and somewhat modern design for it's period. The guards made sure no one stalled and kept people moving if they we too slow by grabbing your elbow and giving you a push or a pull. The main chamber where Ho Chi Minh is kept was really surreal. Very dark with his body in a glass sarcophagus on top of a high mable ledge, with guards below in all four corners in a moat without warer for lack of a better description. He was lit in soft yellow light, I'm guessing as some attempt to give his skin a more natural colour, yet he still looked like he was carved out of soap due to the enbalming and at the same time it looked like this guy was lying there asleep. Very bizarre! (By the way he was enbalmed against his burial wishes. He wanted to be cremated. I guess they figured there was no point fearing the wrath of a dead guy.)

After exiting the mausoleum, there was a pickup booth for our camera's, and we were able to visit the presidential palace (see pic coming of a yellow french looking building.) I think it was called were he lived and worked for a period as well as his stilly house which was really beautiful house finished almost entirely in dark varnished wood. (No pics cos the iPhone camera is a piece of crap, especially in poor light)

Oh and they had a garage showing all his cars. He had a Peugeot 404 like yours dad, except a sedan, not a wagon. =]

More coming very shortly.

Day 2 in Hanoi...

Today we spent exploring the city. We found the most western looking cafe we could for breakfast as we weren't up for noodles surprisingly. Breakfast is probably the most difficult meal to find here. A lot of western places have what they call an American breakfast, which is basically bacon and eggs. Finding something like toast or cereal can be a little harder.

After breakfast we set off for market which was set in the top part of the old quarter. What you soon start to notice as you wander around the streets is that all the shops are kind of grouped in categories. You can walk through the 'electrical district' and there will be many shops selling similar products. It's the same for hats, shoes,
clothes... pretty much anything you can think of.

So we began strolling through the clothing district. It was pretty much like walking past 200 of those cheap Asian stores back home. They all seemed to be selling pretty much identical clothing; cheap looking studded jeans and tshirts, some sporting fake brand names. We had grand plans to buy a light pair of pants to wear inside temples though finding something like that was SO hard.

We found the market after much walking. Set inside, this market was like a 3 story $2 shop. Everything you could imagine was sold here (well apart from the pants we wanted, LOL). Unlike the market back home this place was like a rabbit warren with the aisles only wide enough for 1. Every now and then there would be an enormous hole in the floor that you had to climb over precariously.

After our market exerience we continued to look around the streets. Walking the streets can be challenge enough in Hanoi but I seemed to have a knack for getting dangerously close to the boiling pots the street venders were using to cook. That seems to be on par with walking to close to the exhaust of a motorbike.

After much walking we caught our first cyclo back down towards the lake. Settling on a price first is key to not being ripped off. I think we agreed on 20 000 dong for the trip which is about $1.50. We sped through the streets with motor bikes and cars coming at us from all angles. With no horn on our cyclo the driver simply went 'beep beep' to alert of our presence.

We arrived at the lake and decided to pay a visit to the temple in the middle of the lake. It is said that giant tortoises live in lake though they haven't been seen for years. On the island they displayed one that was from the lake that had been embalmed. It certainly lived up to the 'giant' name. Inside the temple it was interesting to see the offerings surrounding the figures of worship. Coke, beer, cakes, cigarettes and money. People seemed to be offering plates to the figures as well containing similar things.

Next on the agenda was to find a tour for Halong Bay. With scams being so abundant in Vietnam it isn't as easy as walking into the first place you see. After much walking, talking and assessing (with a little lunch in between) we decided on and booked a tour for later in the week.

After visiting another small temple in the middle of town we began walking again. Strolling back to our hotel Andy spotted a skateshop! Not something that either of us expected to see here. I still can't figure out where on earth they would be able to skate! Filled with of the same sorts of things you would see back home I spotted a jumper and fell in love. LOL. Designed and made here I decided it would be the most perfect imperfect souvenir and bought it.

Walking back to the hotel we seemed to notice things that we'd never seen before. Like the supermarket type store at the end of our alley way. Having seen these cakes called Custas being an offering in the temple I wanted to try them myself. Yum! I can see myself craving these back home.

After resting we consulted our LP guide for dinner suggestions and chose New Day restaurant in the top part of town. We caught a cyclo but even with a map we seemed to be no where near the restaurant. A short walk and we found it. More yummy food a stroll back to the hotel and our second day in Hanoi was done.

Sent from my iPhone

H Silk Restaurant

This is were we had lunch today. It was a tiny little restaurant above
a silk shop with a beautiful French balcony for two.

The next 24...

Ok so we left bangkok after a 1 hour delay and arrived in Hanoi after
what seemed by comparison a short 1.5 hour flight. OMFG were we in for
a surprise.

By comparison the airport was ancient, looking like it was built about
30 years ago (a quick google shows it was built in 1975. Bangkok
airport was amazing, like something out of a sci-fi movie.) After
getting through customs and baggage claim pretty quickly, we found our
escort to our hotel and got some money changed. (Hot Tip: Get your
money changed in Hanoi at Vietcombank on Cau Go at the north end of
Hoan Kiem Lake for a WAY better exhange rate)

Ok the trip in from the airport was much like what I had seen before
in my stay in Beijing, but a a fair bit more dirty and third-world
than I was expecting.
Both being very nervous about whether we are being taken for a ride to
donate our organs to black marketers or actually being taken to our
hotel, we were more than on edge by the time we hit the outskirts of
Hanoi. The car pulled up outside a tiny little alley packed full of
bikes and people, with no hotel to be seen. A lady came out of it to
meet us a took us down said dingey, now sinister looking alley. I
though for sure we had been taken for a ride as I couldn't see our
hotel. Fortunately for us it was just around the first dogleg in the
alley and we were shown to our room. We were pleasantly surprised
about how well appointed our room was for $15US a night. AC, H&C water
with private bathroom and satellite tv. Oh and the topper is FREE
WiFi! So far so good.

We had just driven through the traffic to get here but nothing
prepared us for the culture shock of our first walk around Hanoi.
There is SO much unrelenting traffic and noise we both were having a
very hard time getting comfortable. You couldn't walk on the footpath
because there were either people or bikes that weren't going to move
and everywhere you looked there were people wanting to take you
somewhere, sell you some nasty trinkets at poisonous prices or run
over you with their bike! We both were thinking this is the biggest
mistake ever and were dreaming of home and our bed. (our nice soft
bed. The one in our room was just a slab of hard foam. Nothing you
could sink into and escape reality with.)

I was getting a serious case of the emo's and I didn't see the light
at the end tunnel. I wasn't even sure if any of the food was safe for
us to eat without getting a case of the squrts for a few days. ARGH!
Get me out of here.

We somehow ended up out front of a cafe that looked a clean a western
as we had seen anywhere and decided to take a seat and collect
ourselves with a drink and a bite to eat. I saw another whitey (that's
what I'm calling us folk) eating some apple thingy and thought it must
be safe for my delicate whitey digestive system.

As we were eating our cake and sipping our cokes, Katie mentioned how
comforting it was to hear our accent from the ladies who I used as my
justification for the cake we consuming some what gingerly. I think
they overheard Katie mention it to me and they turned around made
conversation. I think it was written all over our faces that we were
both shit scared when they asked us how long we have been here. "Just
got here". Both ladies looked sympathetic, reminiscent and excited at
the same time when they asked if we were "shell-shocked". Boy! What a
relief that was to know we weren't the only ones. They started raving
about the wonderful time they have had and reassuring us that we will
have same. It was very comforting for both of us.

It's been all up from there! We are both now pros at parting the
torrents of bikes and cars when we step put on the road and happily
and politely wave off the the street hawkers and the
"students" (read:con artists) we have just recently encountered too.
Our Lonely Planet has been our safety blanket and has held us in good
steed. We have done plenty of walking and I can now safely say we are
both having a ball!

That night night we ate at a soup retaurant called Pho which was
really tasty. I've quickly aquired a taste for the spicy food that is
so popular. After we went and saw the water puppets which blew us both
away at the colour and sounds and the technology if I can say that
about a 1000 year old artform. Video and pics to come.

If by now it isn't abundantly clear, I take back all the negative and
skeptical things I have said about Hanoi. Everyone is just beautiful,
so friendly and helpful now that I have learnt to view this place from
a better perspective. There is just so much spectacle and life to be
enjoyed here. It's like nothing you will ever see in the western world.

Before we left, katies mum showed us both some scrapbooking she had
done that had a quote that she pointed out and stuck in both our
minds. It was something like "a journey isn't about the destination,
it's about a new way of seeing things" I couldn't agree more.

Lights, switches and penises

We saw this while killing time at Bangkok airport.

That's right, you turn him on by playing with his peepee. (he's called
Mr P too by the way)

Oh and you will have to excuse the strange formatting. It seems
mailing from my iPhone does weird shit to it.