9/3/10 – 9/5/10 (vinh)
Annie Lin
Vinh – Hanoi
Good morning, Vietnam! And what a morning it was as we were jolted awake at 5am by a loud bang. It sounded as if the train hit something but it was just the train stopping at the Ha Noi train station. As we exited the train we were accosted by taxi drivers and were they aggressive. We were duly warned by fellow travelers but many of the drivers grabbed my arm which took me by surprise since in other countries they will follow you but not make any physical contact. After we located a reliable taxi driver we headed off to a hotel recommended by our friends, Pete and Danielle. Unfortunately, the hotel was full and after traveling for 24 hours we were too tired to think. A guy approached us about his hotel and presented a business card with a name of a hotel in Lonely Planet. We were skeptical it was the actual hotel but since he offered us a good deal we decided to take our chances. The hotel turned out to be a small family run place centrally located in the Old Quarter of Ha Noi.
After a quick nap to refresh ourselves we walked around to familiarize ourselves with the city. It was crazy. There were motorbikes, bicycles, and cars everywhere and everyone beeped their horn constantly. We thought it was bad in Bali but the Vietnamese took it to a whole new level. Each night I counted my toes to make sure I still had all ten. The constant stream of traffic and beeping doesn’t stop regardless of the time of day. There doesn’t seem to be any traffic rules but it is a system that works for them and eventually traffic does move along.
To take a reprieve from the frenetic streets of Hanoi we treated ourselves to a matinee movie one afternoon. There weren’t a lot of choices so we settled on the movie, Salt. It was entertaining though a bit over the top in terms of dramatic effect. Overall, we give the movie a C.
We also visited the major sites, including the Temple of Literature and Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex. The Temple of Literature is dedicated to Confucius and noble scholars from all over Vietnam came to study here. We weren’t able to go into the Mausoleum to view Ho Chi Minh’s corpse but it was an impressive building even from the outside. They strictly enforce the boundary surrounding the mausoleum and anyone caught passing the line was asked to immediately step behind the line again. When we first arrived at the mausoleum we weren’t sure where to go so I walked to a guard to ask for directions. He didn’t even allow me to walk up the steps to the mausoleum to speak with him. We visited Ho Chi Minh’s humble home, which gave us a glimpse into his simple lifestyle.
Another highlight was the water puppet show. The puppets are carved from water-resistant fig tree timber, which are then attached to long poles floating on water. The puppeteers stand in water behind bamboo screens orchestrating the show. The show depicted scenes from legends and though it was in Vietnamese we were still able to understand the story. It was amazing how graceful the puppets moved on water and there was even fireworks for special effect. The band using traditional instruments provided a nice compliment to the show. It was one of the more enjoyable things we had done in Hanoi.
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