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Published: December 6th 2007
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On the wrong side of the tracks
On our way to Temple of Literature Day 2 What is the first thing that guys think about when we wake up? Wait. No. Whats the second thing that guys think about when we wake up? Right, Food! So upon leaving our hotel we were out looking for food. But to cut down on time we decided to find food that is on our way to the Temple of Literature. (BTW Baguette au Chocolate is no where to be found at least not where lonely planet puts them.) What we stumbled upon whats a culunary pleasure! Outside on a random corner are these Vietnamese eateries that set up kiddie stools and tables out on the sidewalk. We decided to eat at one of these places since there were a decent amount of locals eating and the menu was posted on the wall. 12,000d for pho, sure lets give it a try. ::drooling just thinking about it:: Chicken broth, rice noodles, chicken, and pork. Add a little lime, a little basil, and youre good to go.
We've devised a system when it comes to looking for food. Jeff spots a restaurant. Tells Qing it looks interesting. Qing goes inside to look at the menu, while Jeff waits
Pho!
Best pho ever! They use chicken stock instead of the beef stock Im used to outside because he's ashamed to ask to look at the menu. (Jeff has no cajones)
After brekkie, of we went to the temple of Literature. This was put up in the 11th century by the emporer at the time to honor Confucious. I really cant tell you much about it but it is a pretty nice place to spend a few hours and escape the carbon monoxide of the city.
Off to see uncle Ho!
Visiting Ho Chi Minh's mausaleum is a straight foward process. Confusing at first though. Drop your bag in the front, drop your cell somewhere else, and again your camera in another place. At that point I just wanted to give up and just collect all my items, but we have come too far. You must also take care not to go on the wrong side of the white lines. Easy at first when they are ushering a group through the process.
It was a somber experiance seeing the body of the vietnamese leader. Can't think of anything else really to say except that I would not want the job just standing there making sure tourist do not take any pictures.
Temple of Literature
What are they looking at? At this point we did not want to see the rest of the complex, which included the museum and the park. Mainly because the park was closing in a few minutes to have their daily lunch break, and we did not want to rish losing all our stuff.
On the way to pick up everything we ran into a German girl Birtet. Sweet girl, but not one to you would follow around town as she gets lost pretty easily. It was after meeting her that we lost track of where the white lines are and where we were supposed to go. The first time we crossed over the lines, one of the tourists screams, saying "YOURE GOING TO GET ARRESTED! GET OUT OF THAT AREA!" So we backtracked our steps and right before we were out of the area a bull horn goes off, in which I can only imagine the guy saying "Get the F out of that area!!" Of course when we get out of the forbidden zone, one would assume that we would start looking where we would be going. Nope! It happened again. And again another bull horn, this time maybe they said "Stupid tourist,
do you not understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?!"
Well once out, and we got our stuff we headed over to the Ethnology museum, 6km outside the main part of the city.
A lot of people here try to learn english. While in the Ethnology Museum I noticed a few groups of kids conversating in english. A few botched sentences, a few pauses, but clearly talking to each other just so that they can practice. It was also here that I ran into a fun wild group of kids. They greeted Jeff with a "Welcome to Vietnam". From there Jeff was hooked on these kids. They would pass the barriers of the displays to pose next to any of the artifacts, run and even tresspass on some grounds even if its clearly marked that it was closed for the time being.
The language of love, French. The language of business, english. And the Vietnamese mastered both. It is clear that the more english and french that the vietnamese know the more successful one would be, especially in retail and transport. This became evident the first time Qing and Biajet negotiated the price for
What does it say?
Viet, need translation. transport.
The motorbike ride must be the highlight of Jeff's day. 20,000d each, after Qing and Biajet negotiated down from 30,000d for a 10km ride back into the Old Quarter. Its exhilerating, at least for the first time, to ride on a motorbike (read moped) with no helmet going at most, 25km an hour. Yes, Jeff is a wuss, but who cares, he's in Vietnam. To ride as the locals, with one of the locals, on the street along side with the other locals is amazing. Ear to ear smile through the city of Hanoi.
Side note, for those who care, Saw an apple store being built here.
After wandering around a bit, we stumbled onto one of the copies of the Kangaroo cafe's. Here we met Quyen, the sales person for our trip to Halong bay. I must say she was very helpful in helping plan out the rest of our trip in Vietnam. If everything that she tells us about the trip I will report and I hope future travelers use her for their bookings.
What Jeff has learned about himself so far:
(1) It's impossible to have bowel movements in a plane going
through turbulence
(2) Jeff feels ashamed to bargain.
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Sam
non-member comment
Apple store!
WOO HOO! Everyone should get a MacBook Pro. It's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!