Hanoi

With a comfortable and pretty quick night bus we arrived in the capitol Ha noi early in the morning. This left us some time to plan our visit to Halong Bay and the onward travel to Laos.
Then we had time to get lost in Hanois small alleys. The city has a bit of backcountry charm compared to the bustling Ho Chi Minh City. There's still a lot of traffic going on but less chaotic... First we wanted to visit Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum but the signage and opening hours are so bad that we didn't manage to get inside. We enjoyed that all the sights are in walking distance to the old city where most hotels are located. So we visited two churches, a temple area and later the mausoleum of Jo Chi Minh without getting inside.
Later in the afternoon we went to Hao Lo prison, also called the 'Hanoi Hilton' by the US prisoners held there. It tells stories about the cruelty of the French colonialists and their vietnamese helpers. One section is reserved to tell how well the US soldiers were treated there but I guess that's a bit of propaganda. In the evening we "enjoyed" free beer for an hour at our hostel :)Read more