Hanoi

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We arrived in Hanoi yesterday morning at 9am after a pretty uneventful but uncomfortable journey on the night bus from Hue. Once the bus pulled in we were welcomed by swarms of touts offering hotels and transport, fortunatley we had the foresight to book in advance as we knew making the important decision about where to lay our heads was not something we fancied doing after a 14 hour journey. However now, I almost wish we had put our faith in the touts rather than our previous hotel. As we got off the bus I noticed a sign that said 'Mr Helle Triben', I assumed it was meant for us. The sign was carried by a very friendly man who insisted on carrying our bags whilst we followed him down a narrow alley, immediatley suspicious I kept a close eye on him and was never more than a few feet behind. After a short walk we were led to our hotel only to find the the Hanoi guesthouse that we were promised was in fact called something entirely different, we were assured that they were in the process of changing the name and that we were definately in the right place. At first I thought we had been duped, I knew there was a guest house with this name in Hanoi as our travelling friend Khaleel had stayed there and strongly reccomended it, this was certainly not it. I then remembered something Hanh had said to us about copyright infringhements not only applying to knock off clothes and watches but to busines' aswell. Apparently it's not unusual to find hotels or restaurants within yards of each other with the same name, probably with the fake one using it to steal the reputation of the original; that would certainly seem the case here. The owner is actualy sat next to me as I write and believe it or not he is actually writing reviews for his guest house on travel websites. Is this ingenuity or down right arrogance? I think the latter and I think thats what bothers me so much, the place is alright but not up to his inflated claims. His business card notes that they are 'working to make it into the lonely planet' of which I can see no other evidence other than through extortion and libel.


As you can probally tell I am not that impressed with Hanoi. After we settled into our fake hotel we took a 3 hour nap before heading out into the big wide world. Did I mention that our 'hotel' is down a narrow road that also doubles up as a street market? The statement on the 'hotel's business card about the rooms quietness needs a little footnote along the lines of...'but only between 8pm and 4am'. As you can tell I am less than impressed. To be honest I don't think I would be that bothered if the hotel didn't claim so much and the guy in charge wasn't so bloody smug and happy with himself. More ranting I know, I haven't really moaned so far so you'll have to forgive me. Anyway where was I, oh yeah, the big wide world.

Once we navigated the market we decided to explore Hanoi's old quater in search of food of the cheap variety, especially after our extravagances of the past week or so. As is typical in Asia this was not a difficult challenge and within 10 minutes we were sat on a street corner with the locals sampling the delights of cured beef and pork salad, which at 20,000 dong ($1.20) was delicious. Things were looking up. We later found some tasty corn-on-the-cobs for 5,000 dong a piece while wondering around the narrow streets and alleys of the city and then a bar where after a few beers I was in a much better mood. We headed back to our 'hotel' at abot 10:30pm, on the way we realised we could do with some water and so stopped a street seller for a couple of bottles. Once we communicated what we wanted he demanded more than double the going price which we were'nt willing to pay, I took out 10,000 dong and explained that was all we would pay, he snatched it from my hands and demanded more. In the end we decided to give up, take our money and try somewhere else only he wouldn't give us our money back. It was a stand off.

In the end as he wouldn't give us our money back I just took the bottles and we walked away which actually worked. He was trying his chances, I guess if he was really that bothered he would of made more of a fuss when we walked away. Once again I was shown a less than positive side of Hanoi and as it turns out over-pricing here seems to be the norm; we have eaten in a few places now and have paid more the we would of for the equivalent in Saigon, we also took a taxi to the museum where the drivers meter had the habit of jumping up 1000 dong every 7 seconds. I also feel that the people here are no where near as friendly as those we have met in other parts of Vietnam. Lonely planet does note that northerners tend to be a bit more conservative and subdued which I at first thought to be a harsh generalisation but it seems correct on this occasion. Reading some of the other blogs on this site have also confirmed that other travellers are having poor experiences in Vietnam's capital as well which is a real shame, I am just glad we did our tour from the south up so that our first experiences were good ones.

There are positives of course and as Helen as pointed out to me, Hanoi is like how one would expect Asia to be - busy, noisy, colourful, pungant, hard to navigate etc... so I suppose in a way we are experiencing the real thing. In contrast Saigon is so accomodating and modern that it almost felt like any big metroploitan city, at least Hanoi has kept much, if not all of its tradition and original chaos.

Our main purpose in Hanoi is as a means to get to Ha Long bay. We have reluctantly booked a tour with our 'hotel', mainly because of convenience; as much as I disagree with their business practices exploring the city in our tired state and negotiating prices wasn't going to happen. We have been promised, several times, that our tour of Ha long is at a competive price and will be worth every penny. Fingers crossed. Our trip doesn't start for a few days so today we visited the Mausoleum of president Ho Chi Minh via a very expensive taxi which I mentioned before.

We arrived pretty early as the Mausoleum is only open during the morning, it was raining but the whole area was packed full. At first we thought we wouldn't be able to get in but the queue seemed to be moving pretty fast, we picked up our tickets, stowed our bags and were outside the Mausoleum in less than ten minutes. The grounds were strictly guarded with armed soldiers in white uniforms carrying bayonated rifles and signs were everywhere instructing us to keep to the paths which we obviously adhered to. My camera was also stored away in a small kiosk which I collected after leaving the mausoleum. When it comes to uncle Ho these guys are very serious.

We entered the Mausoleum which is dimly lit and were ushered up the stairs to the entrance of the main chamber, everyone was instructed to keep moving. It all felt quite eerie and a little intimidating. Ho Chi Minhs body was in the centre of the room encassed in glass, his face and clasped hands were spot lit and two guards stood either side of him; behind the glass cabinet set into the marble was the sickle and star of former soviet Russia and to its left the communist star of Vietnam. Before we knew it we were in daylight again and the experience was over. No wonder the line moved so quickly!

It really was weird, Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body looked like a frail old man on his death bed, the reality that it was his real body didn't hit home at all. I found it curious that so much has been dedicated in the name of uncle Ho, the famous socialist leader, after all, we're all equal right? Interestingly Ho Chi Minh wanted to be cremated and not embalmed and stared at for centuries but his successdors clearly had other ideas and chose to follow the tradition of Lenin and Mao. The grounds of the Mausoleum also pay homage to uncle Ho; there is a museum which for the most part advocates his teachings as well as depicting the story of modern communism in Vietnam. You can also view the properties he lived and worked in as well as a selection of his 1950's cars.

The whole area is a very respectful homage to the great revolutionary leader and is set in some beautiful grounds but I can't help thinking it elevates him to almost god like status which seems contrary to his socialist beliefs (he is even refered to in the pamphlet with a capital H for He and Him).

Regardless of what I think it was a unique experience and made even more so by the hoards of Vietnamese who it seemed had genuinely come to pay their respects and demonstrate their patriotism.

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