Goodbye Vietnam

We ended our tour of Vietnam in Hanoi. We parked ourselves for awhile to really see the city and take a break from constant bus-train-plane-taxi-cyclo-boat hopping. We were lucky enough to find a local club called Hanoi Kids. They are university students who want to be professional tour guides. They give free tours around the city so they can practice their English. Since they are in school to become tour guides we asked what some of the dos and don’ts are when dealing with Americans. After a long laugh, they showed us their class notes. Apparently, American’s like bananas and bottled water. We had to agree with the bottled water since we were both carrying some, but the bananas made no sense. Also the notes said, American’s complain about food when visiting and eat a lot of it. We also like to shop for food in bulk and buy handicrafts. Vietnamese people like to shop for food everyday so it is always fresh. They thought our stories about Costco were funny.
We met with them over a period of four days so different students had a chance to practice their English. They took us to all of the main sights like Hoa Lo Prison (where John McCain was held), Museum of Ethnology, the Old Quarter (where Woodley was introduced to local candy), pagodas, and the Temple of Literature. We also met them out one night for some ice cream and coffee. I think Jason’s favorite part was that all of this sightseeing took place on their motorbikes. It is pretty fun to watch a 5 foot 80 pound girl driving around a 6’2” 199 lb (he claims to have broken the 200 barrier) guy like Jason.
Everywhere in Vietnam you are reminded about the legacy of Ho Chi Minh. But it is most prominent in Hanoi. It is very interesting to see how much the kids we toured around with and everyone else respects him. The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum complex is amazing with parks, memorials, and pagodas everywhere. In front of the mausoleum there are guards posted at all times and a formal ceremony everyday at 6am and 9pm when they take down/raise the flag and change the guard. Somehow we managed to see both.
We had a great time in Vietnam. The sights are amazing but for us the highlight was meeting all of the great people and learning the history and stories of Vietnam from them.

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