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Published: December 21st 2006
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Hello again from Hanoi...
Well Hanoi has been a eye opener... Ive see things here that will be in my mind forever.... But let me start at the Beginning...
I got on the train around 4:30pm from Hue... In my compartment had a Vietemese family in it... can you say this was going to be a long trip...lol... One of the family members was sleeping in my bed when I got on the train... Had to get the porter to get me some new sheets... but just incase I brought out my sleeping bag... I met acouple from Brussels and hung out with them for awhile on the train.... Every once in awhile going bye my compartment and seeing the family sitting on my bed...LOL... what are you going to do...LOL I finally went to bed and at 4:30am the porter woke us up at the train station... The couple from Brussels and a guy from Swiserland and I decided to check out a hotel that they had a pathlet for and so we jumped into a taxi and got royally screwed... I trip to the hotel should of cost us 30,000D but this guy took us all around and
at the end it cost us 100,000D...LOL... when we went into the hotel they were all filled up and then we decided to stay at a place that I knew about from some nice Aussie girls I met in Nha Trang...Hanoi Blue Sky Hotel.... We had to wait until about 9am before we got a room but for $10us a night I think now that i have stayed here at the hotel that i don't like the staff as much and feel pushed about what I should do about my travel plans... I would say that I would not recommend this place to others.... I got into the shower and then talked to the hotel lady about getting my Chinese Visa... The rules was that i would lose my passport from Wed until Monday and the cost was $40us... I wasn't to happy about losing my passport for that long but China was some where I would love to go to and to see the great wall for Xmas seems so right... So I said Ok... I then went out to see the city Hanoi... I basically just looked around without any idea where i wanted to go... I found
one of the lakes called Hoan Kiem.... What a nice place to just relax and enjoy... Also there was the Ngoc Son temple...Not much to there... I then went to one of the Cafe Restaurants that was at the lake and had a bit to eat and read abit of my book... I latter met up with the couple from Brussels and we all went out for dinner... then it was off to bed for an early wake up to see Uncle HO.... I woke up to get to the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh... Thats right... His body can be seen for a small price... Its very strict, you have to go through metal detectors( forgot about the knife I had in my pocket and had to go back to the end of the line to put it in my day pack that I had to store at the entrance)...You also cannot take Photos of him... There was a lot of military around the whole place... Going through the line to view his body was a bit fast.... the guards are always looking at you and making sure that you keep moving... His body was very white.... A little
fact is that Uncle Ho goes to Russia for three months of every year for a tune up on his body and also that his wishes was to be cermate and his ashes to be scattered over Vietnam... So out of the Mausoleum and over to the Presidential Palace and to see some of the other Uncle Ho things... I then went to see the Lenn park where there was a big statue of the man himself Lenn... Then went to a lake called Then Quang lake... I hade some lunch which was some of the worst I had ever had... Then went to the Lao embassy to get so Info on my visa... but the place to get visa info is actually at another place which was 10mins away... I then went to check out the famous Hanoi Hotel or hanoi Prison... But on the way i found the Iraq Embassy... I just had to take a pic but found out that you shouldn't but it was to late and I just said OK and good bye and that was that... But at the prison you saw the flight gear that Senator McCain wore when he was shot down
and a few other things... The prison is smaller now because they wanted to put a hotel there...LOL... Went back to the Hoan Kiem lake and relaxed again and then went to dinner with Stephen from Swiserland... We decided that a nice relaxing day was going to be instore for us tomorrow... The next day we went for breakfast and then went to see a market.... well in that market you can buy Roasted Dog Meat...LOL all over the place was dog...LOL and Stephen had to try the meat....LOL... I now have become a total VEG HEAD... And they charge alot of money for this meat... I also now know why there is a lack of dogs in the streets....lol... We then went to the park to chill out... I brought out my chess board and set it up to play with someone that wanted to play... one guy came by and we started a game ...Then some security guard told the the guy something and the guy said that we couldn't play here...LOL BULLSHIT.... I see all kinds of people playing their chinese checkers or whatever it was they were playing in the park... but the guy was scared
Mc Cain
Possiblely the next President of the United States... Shot down and stayed at the Hanoi Hilton... and that was that... Some of the other people that was around said that the guy was just scared of the guard and that it might of been because I was a tourist... I then went to another place in the park and did the same... Some guy saw I had a chess board and then we started to play and then half way through the game the security guard comes back and start bothering the guy.... I tell the security guard that I a tourist and that we can play here and to go bother someone else...LoL... While were playing I even think that the security guard was helping the guy play...LOL... But I still won... I brought my chess game with me because I thought that it would be a good way to meet the people and chess is such a international game that you can't change the rules.... Stephen and I later went to dinner and then checked out the Water Puppets. Well the cost was 40,000D for seats that were 4 rows up... The seats were to small and there was no leg room at all... You also had to pay 15,000D if you wanted to
take pictures and trust me it wasn't worth it... the puppets move to fast to take a pic and all I got was the top of other peoples head... Also no one even checked if we had a ticket to take pictures... I think that if you are going to go get the front row seatting or the 2nd class seats up top... Also you might find it hard to understand the story line because its all in Vietemese... The next day I booked the trip to Ha Long Bay for three days. One night on a Junk and another on Cat Ba Is... I ve seen all Im going to see here in Hanoi and need to move on ... But I will still have to come back to pick up my passport and spend another day here... So again all thank you for reading my blogs and If I don't get the chance to say it I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas... And for the chosen few I will give you a call to wish merry christmas personally...
Michael
Ps... Im in China right now and having problems with up loading all my photos
and writing my blog...I wil try and get caught up with all... Thankyou...
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Ellen
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Right back at yaa!
Wish u a Happy Christmas n a Brilliant new year! Can see that your getting along just fine without the Swedes by your side : ) In Kuala Lumpor, the final count down, we're leaving for Sweden in just a few hours, all mixed up feelings, happy n sad at the same time. Wish u could stay like this forever, I really enjoy this way of living but I guess the people around u is what really makes the trip...that means u and a few others. Glad that we met u!! I'll be checking your blog...be sure t take good care and have the time of your life!