Đống Đa

Our first morning in Hanoi started off like any good morning should, with a early morning run. We chose a nearby lake to run around, but had to negotiate the narrow streets within the old town which were already buzzing with millions of scooters. We set off from our hotel with the receptionists laughing that we were already too late at 7am, but we went anyway and when we finally got to a street that was wide enough for us to run down without being mowed down, we started a slow jog. 30 seconds later I had pulled my hamstring but not wanting to prove the receptionists right we decided to "walk it out". We got back to the hotel about 1 hour later and thanks to the humidity, it looked like we had just done a hard out work out. This is now my third injury of this holiday... travelling is hardcore or I am just an extreme gump.

After a delicious buffet breakfast complete with rice noodles and papaya galore we headed towards Hoa Lo Prison (otherwise known as the Hanoi Hilton) and on the way made a quick stop at a local coffee shop where we tried Vietnamese coffee delicacies. Jamie had "Egg Coffee" which consisted of raw whipped eggs, coffee and condensed milk and I had a special coffee made with coconut milk, condensed milk and coffee. Both were absolutely delicious and we had the added bonus of making friends with the cutest cat ever, who I named Zeus. I wanted to steal him as much as I have wanted to steal Chinese and Vietnamese babies, but Jamie keeps ruining all my fun. At least I am moving in a more acceptable direction by wanting to steal pets instead of children.

When we finally got to the Prison, I was disgustingly sweaty (im so sexy) so a beeline was made for the nearest fan while reading up about the Prison's history. It was incredibly sad learning about the atrocities that have been committed here by the Chinese, French and more recently and famously the Americans. Roaming around the city, you can certainly see the Chinese and French influences remaining from their respective occupations here but impressively the strength of the Vietnamese culture shines through and their hard fought resistance against the respective revolutions has certainly won out.

After the Prison we decided to wander down to a big park and lake located south of the old town. The park was like a desolute creepy childrens themepark with old uninhabited rides dotted throughout. There was however, an outdoor gym with a few shirtless Vietnamese men working out. Oh la la. We decided to join them for a few minutes as running was now out of the question. After our brief workout we decided to reward ourselves with a lunch of champions - ice cream and beer, whilst discussing our plans of what to do when we are back in good ol NZ. Im not the biggest beer drinker but this weather makes me want to drink anything cold and the beer is so cheap.

Our next stop was another bar, but more importantly - a bar with a view of the Hoam Kiem lake. So, we headed north until we reached the lake and made our way up the tallest building that we could find (about 6 stories) to have more beer and mojitos. Mojitos here are about 3 pounds so I am in Mojito heaven. After our stop we decided to go check out the Dong Xuan market near our hotel where they sold lots of cheap chinese merchandise, food and animals for pets or eating including big turtles. I wanted to buy one to set it free but couldnt think of anywhere that the turtle would actually be safe to live a carefree happy turtle life without being recaptured for culinary purposes.

All this walking was making us hungry, so we decided to have a snack and went to a restaurant nearby our hotel. I ordered normal things like vegetarian rice noodle fresh spring rolls and Jamie decided to eat some locusts. Disgusted, I told him he wasn't getting a kiss for the rest of the night. I decided to put some distance between me and locust breath man and went for a 60 minute foot massage which only cost £10 pounds. The massage man had hands of a genius and it was bloody amazing.

I didnt want to walk ever again because my feet now felt so amazing but we had made plans to meet up with Aisha and 1 hour later we were walking to her hostel to hit the beer street for a few drinks before heading for dinner. We found a bar that was having a happy hour where we could get two gin and tonics for just over £2 pounds, this was even more incredible when we got the drinks and discovered it was mainly gin with very little tonic. After two of these I was feeling incredibly drunk and hungry, so we went to a nearby restaurant for some bun cha. As we were eating our meal we overheard a group of Indian men behind us doing rounds of shots. It wasnt long until we were joined by two very drunk Vietnamese men who were with the group of Indian Men (doing "business") and who had the biggest bloody hipflask I have ever seen filled with Vietnamese Vodka. They took an instant liking to Jamie and offered all of us some shots. Jamie and Aisha were game but I was a little suspect so had already come up with my "Im Pregnant" excuse and discretly pushed my beer over to Jamie's side of the table. Aisha let me smell hers and it certainly had a strong smell and it apparently tasted as bad as it smelt. Jamie, forever polite, said how much he enjoyed it and they proceeded to pour him a few more. After telling us that they were now marble traders after being kicked out of the UK for the illict trading of weed, they left the table to return to their Indian friends who they were doing "business" with. We decided to try and make a quick get away before they came back, but they caught us and convinced Jamie to come and join the group for some more shots.

My poor little Jam was now feeling a bit drunk, so we decided to walk it off and headed to the Friday night markets where the middle of town was shut down to sell everything from Street Food to Clothes. At 11pm or so, I started to feel incredibly tired so left Aisha and Jamie to head to another bar while I headed back to the hotel to get my beauty sleep and an Ice Cream (dont judge me its hot).Read more