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Published: March 12th 2007
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We pulled in to Hanoi about an hour before sunrise after enduring a really ugly bus ride. I didn't manage much sleep at all, which is not surprising since they had so many people on the bus that people were sitting in the aisle. I ended up at a really dodgy guest house, but I was too tired to care even when I paid the outrageous $7 the owner wanted for the room. I slept until noon and then set off to find the Chinese embassy. Once I arrived, I was shocked to learn that the embassy was closed for the entire week due to the new year. It wasn't due to reopen until the following Monday, which resulted in me having to rethink my entire plan for leaving Vietnam. I trudged back to the guest house and spent most of the day hanging out and trying to figure out how to proceed. I also managed to discover out where the only hostel in Hanoi was located and so I went to bed hoping that the next day would be brighter once I moved to the hostel.
I slept in pretty late and then checked out. The owner of the
guest house was a real pain and kept trying to get me to do a tour or stay for more nights, but I finally got settled up and walked out. I made it to the hostel without too much trouble and checked in. It was a very inviting place and I was happy to have found it. I took care of some errands and then I did some reading in the guidebook and decided that it would be fun to go see the air force museum, so I hopped on the back of a moto and set off. Hanoi's traffic can only be described as "chaotic", and the 15 minute ride alternated between thrills and near peril. We arrived intact, only to find that the museum seemed to be closed. After a couple of minutes, though, a guard appeared. My moto driver did some negotiating and after a minute or two the guard waved me into the sprawling compound. I ended up walking around the entire musuem complex, although I wasn't able to go inside the actual building. It didn't matter, though, as all of the main attractions were outside. They had all sorts of aircraft left over from the
war and it was fascinating seeing the soviet MiGs. They also had the wreckage of an American F-4, which was a bit sobering because it was relatively intact making me wonder if the pilot ejected safely and what became of him.
When I was done seeing the planes I headed for the gate. When I got there the guard motioned me over and showed me a stack of money, so I pulled out 20K dong ($1.25), but he shook his head and wanted more. I ended up parting with 50K for the privilege of seeing the museum. Bloody hell, I hate having to cough up money like that just because my skin is white. There certainly was no mention of it when I went inside. Of course, I wasn't going to argue that the admission price was supposed to be 10K because the guy wasn't exactly friendly and he had a rather large automatic rifle slung over his shoulder.
I took the moto back to the hostel and spent a very lazy afternoon watching some movies. I also discovered while wandering around the old quarter that Hanoi has a very european feel to it, at least architecturally. I
ENORMOUS helicopter
Check out my guidebook sitting next to the wheel (lower right) for perspective. generally liked the feel of the city, although it could do with more orderly traffic!
The next day I booked a ticket to go to Sapa (although I later learned that the hostel charged double the normal ticket price). After sorting that out I walked over to see Uncle Ho. Ho Chi Minh's preserved body is entombed in an immense masoleum guarded by soldiers in dress whites. I waited for about 30 minutes to get in, and once inside we were paraded around the perimeter of the body at a slow, steady pace.
I spent the afternoon hanging out until happy hour started. There were quite a few people at the hostel that evening, including a bunch of swedes, some english, another american, and a canadian. The swedes led the charge and we managed to polish off almost all of the beers they had on ice before happy hour ended (something like 5 each). Then they started up the barbecue and we all had some great burgers, which made for an awesome start to the evening. As an aside, I can say that our happy hour antics were directly responsible for the subsequent 50% increase in happy hour
prices that I discovered when I returned to Hanoi 4 days later. Apparently they decided that since we drank all the beer during happy hour and none otherwise, the prices were too low. Maybe they should have considered that the prices were just too high otherwise!
Because happy hour was over, we decided to head out to an irish pub. Once again I was hoping to find Guinness, and this time I did, but it came in a can and they wanted $8 for it so I said screw it. I ended up getting the amber stout again and we spent a couple hours playing pool and darts before calling it a night and heading back to the hostel. I had to get up early to go to Sapa so I set my alarm and passed out.
Stay tuned for more.
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