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Published: January 15th 2009
Taxi
Steph's driver taking a detour on the sidewalk!!!!Day 6/7 - Hanoi
WARNING: If you the mother of either Genevieve or Stephanie, you may want to skip this entry (JK Moms!!!)
We woke up early on Wednesday to make it to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in time (closes at 11AM). Our German friend, Anette, joined us for the day again. The mausoleum is across town, so we all decided against better judgment and got a motorbike taxi to the mausoleum since it was early and the trip would only cost $0.90. A bit nervous as we straddled the bike, we had no time to rethink our decision, as we quickly spend off straight into oncoming traffic. The motorbikes don't actually go that fast, but there is still an unwelcoming feeling in your stomach as you weave in and out of traffic. After Steph's driver got cut off by a van, he did the only the sensible thing and decided to drive on the sidewalk for the next block or two. But all in all we got to the mausoleum in one piece, but of course the driver didn't have any change so we ended up paying a bit more (but by bit we mean like
Taxi Number 2
Genevieve leaning off the bike to capture this self portrait! $0.30 more)
The security was quite tight at HCMM, they manually checked our bags, then put them thru a metal detector, then took our cameras for safe keeping. All hats, sunglasses must be off as well as hands out of pockets, walking in two single file lines and mouth shut while walking up to see the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho as the Vietnamese call him). Genevieve the chatter got told off for cracking jokes right before we walked in. The line makes it thru a small room where there are 4 men guarding his body. To be honest it just looked like a wax figure in a glass case - for all we know we could have walked into Madame Tussauds.
After the viewing, which lasted a whole 2 minutes, we went to walk the grounds of the Presidential Palace, the garage where HCM kept his car collection, the house he resided in for many years and the One Pillar Pagoda. The Pillar was actually just a replica, but none the less it was impressive.
Next, the three of us headed over to the B-52 museum which is a bit off the beaten
track in the West part of town. It was less of a museum and more of a junk yard for old US B-52 Stratofortress that had crash in and around Hanoi. It quite cool since there was no guard and you could walk right up and touch them.
As we walked back into the busier part of town (brace yourself), we stumbled upon DOG!. Genevieve was quite sly about pointing is out to Stephanie and Annette, but once Stephanie laid her eyes on the dead cooked dog for sale, she had to scream "OH MY GOD, that's a DOG!!!". After that outburst, we were quickly shooed away by the cook (followed by disapproving looks from the locals).
We shook off the terror we had just seen right before out eyes and walked on towards the Temple of Literature. The temple was dedicated to Confucius and divided by 5 courtyards that are linked by paths and gates that were originally reserved for the emperor and walkways on each side for the administrators and mandarins. The three of us stopped for a quick rest inside the peaceful temple and ran into a guy from our hostel - Mike (UK).
One Pillar Pagoda
Replica of the one built in 1049 by Emperor Ly Thai Tong. After a quick chat, the four of us went to lunch at Koto, which is a training restaurant for underprivileged young people. The price was just slightly higher then normal, but the food was amazing (we were so full, we skipped dinner that night)! There was even a picture of Bill Clinton at the restaurant up on the wall in the bathroom hallway. Again, by expensive we are talking $6.00)
Genevieve was persistant on riding the motobikes again so when we finished up our meal we haggled a bit with some motorbike drivers for a ride up to the West Lake. The drive was awesome as well this time, with load of weaving in and out of traffic. The drivers were quite nice and let us hop off at the lake and take some pictures. They tried to show us other sites as we were driving back, but all we could understand was the finger-pointing. Instead of a taxi drive, they ended up being mini tour guides for a half and hour or so. Video was taken!
The four of us got back to the hostel and grabbed a beer on the roof. Our friends, Anna (AUS) and
B52 Museum
Some remains of bomber planes shot down over Hanoi area along side anti-aircraft weapons Folkgert (HOLLAND), we're just getting back from Cat Ba Island and joined us as well for some beers. We all exchanged stories (Mike about this close call with a happy ending massage) and had a great laugh. The two of us recalled our horrific ordeal of coming close to setting our flat on fire when we lived in London. The whole group was roaring in laughter as we told them how we threw water on a grease fire.
After most of our newly made friends had to catch overnight trains to Hue, we made ourselves comfy on the couch and laughed all the way through the movie "Tropic Thunder". We knew we had to check out early the next day and we had a busy 3 days of hiking in Sapa Valley.
Today (01/15 Thurs), we took it quite easy today, sleeping in till 8:30AM, packing our bags for our 3 day Sapa tour that leaves tonight and eating a nice Indian lunch, etc.
We get back from Sapa (NW Vietnam) on Monday and we'll be sure to write then and post new pics!!
xxx
G & S
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JJ
non-member comment
Hot fun!
I love this latest leg of your trip. Granted, the motor bike trip through the city sounded a little crazy and worrisome. The naked baby porn statues has me cracking up!!! Uncle Ray and my Mom both went through the shock of Dog in the meat market on their trip to Asia back in the 60s! they still remember it!!! So, you all sound like you are having quite the adventure. Keep up with the details even if they seem mundane to you. I am looking forward to the next chapter!!!! Have fun!!! be safe!!!!