Vietnam. Hanoi.

We arrived in Hanoi and checked into our really nice hotel! I got my own room as we had to leave Steph behind in Laos as her visa was dated the wrong date so she would be coming the following day. We arrived in the afternoon so just relaxed and then went out in the evening for dinner. Hanoi is crazy! We were told that there are half as many scooters as their are people and I think they are all on the roads at the same time! We were explained that when you cross the road you just have to go and keep going and let the bikes swerve around you! Road one and two and three were all very scary! You just go and don't look and hope for the best!

We had a walk around the lake which was very glitzy and lit up and had lots of couples walking around it. 

We went out for dinner and it was amazing to have some flavour in food again!! Laos food had got so repetitive and it was amazing to have some new foods. I love Vietnamese food so it's all delicious! We went to the beer square and went our for drinks. It was so busy and had a fun boozy night. 

On day two in Hanoi we went on a tour of the city. We were going to see Ho Chi Min's mausoleum, but when we got there the queues were crazy long. It turns out that as it's a five day holiday in Vietnam as it's the annual celebration of the date that the north and south joined after the war and this year is the 40th anniversary. Because of the holiday everyone wanted to see Ho Chi Min it seemed! 

WWe couldn't face the queue and went to the museum instead, which was still really busy. It was the most bizarre museum ever and was very abstract! I don't think I learnt anything as there was hardly any information. Just lots of artefacts with very little explanation. I was asked to fill out a questionnaire at the end to help with improvements, so has plenty to say! My favourite parts was watching people have their photos taken with Ho Chi Min's things and statue and photos. He is obviously a very popular man still in Vietnam. I'm not sure exactly what he did, as the museum was rubbish, but I feel I need to Wikipedia him and the Vietnam war. I'm so uneducated!

After the museum we had a walk to the Hanoi prison, but thankfully stopped on the way for coffee. The coffee was amazing, partly because it was better than all the crappy Nescafé 3 in1 that was all that was on offer in Laos and partly because I love Vietnamese coffee! It comes with condensed milk and I had it iced. It was fantastic. We got to the old prison which was what houses the Vietnamese rebels when France was ruling the country and housed American POWs during the Vietnam war. It was a very strange place, and I'm not sure how accurate the accounts were. It was obviously a horrible place to be in during the French occupation but they made our that it was a great place for the Americans to be. It was dubbed the Hanoi Hilton, but I'm not sure by who. The museum definitly made out that all the Americans were treated amazingly well and had lots of photos of then all smiling, but the strange thing was that in the photos of them all leaving after the war thet all looked really miserable and like prisoners expect to look. Very strange and I can't believe their living conditions were exactly as the museum makes out. 

As we were leaving the heavens opened and chucked it down! Definite monsoon downpour.  We took shelter in shop fronts and slowly made our way down the streets. We made our lunch spot, a great place that was a speciality pho restaurant. Pho is a noodle soup and there is no veggie option so I had the famous pho bo which is beef. It was delicious. Is is rice noodles in broth with thin slices of beef and it comes with coriander, been sprouts, lime and another bad tasting herb on the side. It was delicious! I'm not normally a fan of soups but this was great. 

In the afternoon we had a real treat, so we were told. We had tickets to a water puppet show. We got there and it was so busy. Completely overran with tourists. We got to out seats and the show started.  There were some musicians and they states signing and playing their traditional instruments which was lovely. Then the puppets came out. I was a bit shocked as I had been confused and expecting shadow puppets but these were puppets on sticks going on the top of water. Beyond bizarre! It was really creepy! It was like Punch and Judy on water but with nice music. Never again!

After the bizarre show we needed some drinks! We found a nice bar overlooking the lake and a crazy road junction. It was hypnotic to watch the cars and scooters and people all make their dance around each other very safely, but with lots of beeping! 

We ditched out tour guide and made our own plans for dinner as it was our last night we would be together as a group as we have a new group starting tomorrow. We took a walk to the market but is was full of shit. All tat and chavvy clothes and phone covers! It was just setting up when we got there and the road was still open so the battle between scooter, stall and pedestrian was interesting and very fumy!

 

We went out for a fantastic meal in an amazing hotel. It was voted the best restaurant on trip advisor and it was great. I had to be a total food to uist and take photos of all my courses!

Essentially spring told for all three courses!! It was fantastic. Need to go to their restaurant in Hoi An for my next fix! All that and some beers for £8. Unbelievable! 

We had to make our goodbyes to the members of our group who were leaving and then meet our new members. It was really sad to say goodbye to them but I was really ready for a new mix! And the new group seem really nice too. A bit older and a totally new dynamic which is great.