Hanoi 2

Our first full day in Hanoi started out with breakfast on the 8th (top) floor of our hotel with a nice view overlooking the local neighbourhood. We are staying in a little boutique hotel in the old quarter of Hanoi. A large room for the 4 of us, ridiculously friendly staff, and breakfast included, all for about $70 per night. Fresh fruit juice, fruit (fresh passion fruit- yum), yogurt, coffee, then your choice of entree - pancakes/omelettes/pho/rice or noodle dishes. With table service to boot, it really can’t be beat.

We headed out exploring after breakfast and it was already stifling hot at 10:00 am. We walked for 1/2 an hour or so to a local lake/park area and were pretty much done after that. It’s amazing how quickly your ass starts dragging in this heat. So we did something that, like eating at McDonalds, goes against what we normally would do. We bought tickets for a hop on/hop off bus tour. Really good decision on our part. Braeden had some sights he wanted to see, the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, the Hanoi Hilton (where John McCain was imprisoned) and a couple other museums. The bus took us to all of them. One of the best parts about the museums was that for the next to nothing entry fee you could enjoy the air conditioning. Even if nothing about the museum was of interest, there was the a/c to enjoy.

Dinner tonight was at a little place I had read about, Cumulus. The proprietor is a former street kid who wanted a better life for himself and worked his butt off to save enough money to rent a space to open his own place. His restaurant is tucked away in a hard to find space on the 2nd floor of a small building. We had a general idea of where it was but were stumped as to exactly where to go. Along came a young boy of maybe 8, carrying a little baby girl. He lead us down an alley and up a flight of stairs to a sparse restaurant. This was the place, excellent home style Vietnamese cuisine at a dirt cheap price. William, the owner, was justifiably proud of his food and himself.

A few things about Hanoi:
- Hanoi is unlike any place else we have been. There is the constant traffic noise of scooters buzzing by, and horns blaring, and the different smells as you walk along. There are food vendors and tiny restaurants everywhere. A lot of the cooking seems to be done out front at the entrance or on the sidewalk.
- Sidewalks are a combination of scooter parking, restaurant seating, restaurant kitchen and storefront. There is never a clear path to walk, a lot of the time you have to walk on the road to get through.
- Crossing the street is an adventure. There are very few controlled crossings and those are ignored by drivers. Nobody stops to allow you to cross. You just have to put your big boy pants on and start walking across. It’s intimidating to step out into traffic with an onslaught of vehicles coming at you but it’s how it’s done. Cars will honk at you, scooters will zip around you, but it all seems to work.
- The people will go out of their way to help you, but they will also go out of their way to try and sell you something.
- Hanoi tap water is not safe to drink, apparently the water is great but the pipes carrying the water are old and full of lead and other lovely things. Bottled water though is everywhere and cheap - 65 cents for a 1.5L bottle.

Some explanation on the pictures below:

Street scene near our hotel.

A jackfruit tree near the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. We thought it may have been immature durian but someone told us jackfruit. For perspective, each one is slightly larger than a basketball. Apparently jackfruit can grow as large as 55kg.

Near the the jackfruit tree. At the time of the picture the heat index was 42 C (it topped out at 47 today) and this group was wearing long pants and jackets including the girl on the left who was wearing a thick furry/fuzzy thing. WTF?!!!

This pagoda is called the one pillar pagoda and is regarded as one of Vietnam’s most iconic Buddhist temples. Natascha was posing for a picture on one of the steps when a lady yelled “Miss Sexy, no!” at her to tell her to get off the step. No picture posing on the steps I guess Miss Sexy.

On board the bus. There was no seating left downstairs so we had to go up top. They supply you with these hand woven hats for some sun shade. The boys are going to hate that I posted this picture.

Keegan and I enjoying the a/c at Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton).

Tomorrow we head off on our Halong Bay overnight cruise.Read more