I know its been a little while since my last post but I've been busy! I'll start from Hanoi, a crazy big city with so many motorbikes that when you first get there you wonder how you'll ever cross the street. The traffic in most of the cities that I've been to so far in Asia have been pretty nuts, but nothing compared to Hanoi. The streets are packed full of bikes and cars and there don't seem to be any stop signs and very few lights. This means that everyone just goes. When a driver gets to an intersection they just keep going and weave through the traffic going in the other directions. Its like nothing I've ever seen before. A Vietnamese guy told us that in Hanoi there is one bike for every 2 people. Not sure if that is totally true but there are 6.5 million people in Hanoi and it seemed like everyone was on a bike. Crossing the street is an adventure all its own. Just like the cars you just have to go. I took a couple days to get used to the fact that pedestrians don't have the right of way. When you do cross the traffic just weaves its way around you and you find yourself on the other side of the street totally unharmed.
After my adventures in Bangkok left a pretty bad taste in my mouth I thought that I wasn't the city boy that I thought I was. That changed in Hanoi. After spending about 5 days there it really grew on me. It was such a fun place. Nice streets, good things to see, great food and even better beer. Mondays all the museums are closed so we didn't really have much to do so we just started walking. We walked out of the old quarter where we were staying and into the part of town that seemed much more European. Wide streets big sidewalks, lots of parks and green space along the way. We weren't really walking anywhere in particular but Brent had read online about a place that was supposed to have some good beer. When we finally came upon it we were in awe. The story is that a few Vietnamese guys moved to the Czech Republic (or Czechoslovakia not sure the time frame here) to learn how to make real Czech beer and then came back to Hanoi and opened their own Brauhaus. Basically a micro brew bar and restaurant. We were the only ones there (it was 3 in the afternoon) but this place was unreal. The room was huge and it was all wood paneled with German style tables and chairs there. Now I really felt like I was in Europe. We ordered a couple dark beers and were amazed and how great they tasted. 95% of the beer that you can get in Southeast Asia are light lagers, so it was so nice to have a dark beer and one that was so tasty. Actually one of the best beers I've ever had. It was very similar to Fort Garry Dark.
Still in Hanoi we checked out a few museums. Most of them were pretty bad, except for the fine art museum, which was just Vietnamese art, but it was all really nice and the museum was also just a nice museum so it was a pleasure to walk around in. The Ho Chi Minh museum was probably the craziest museum I've ever been to. It was mostly just pictures of Ho doing different things and then the rest was symbolic displays that were supposed to represent parts of Ho's life. Its worth going to this museum just because I can't imagine a weirder museum. I didn't learn anything there and for that reason it wasn't very good. The highlight of the sights that we saw in Hanoi was the Hoa Lo Prison or as the American POWs interred there during the Vietnam war called it, the 'Hanoi Hilton'. This prison was first used by the French against Vietnamese revolutionaries and then by the Vietnamese against American POWs. John McCain is the most famous POW that spent time there. Most of the prison was torn down in 1993 in order to build a high rise apartment building, but there was still some really interesting exhibits. One of the weirder parts of the prison was the fact that the Vietnamese have never admitted to torturing the American prisoners. So knowing that they were tortured but reading through the exhibits and them failing to mention this rather large part of the history of the Vietnam war was a bit off putting. One of the other weird parts was the eerie horror music that they were playing through the prison. Lastly one of the most gruesome parts was the guillotine used by the French thats on display. I'd never seen one of these before and I'm not sure I want to see one again.
A word about the food in Hanoi. Pho for breakfast is just about the best thing ever. I asked my hostel where there was good pho and they told me just down the street so off I went to seek my first bowl of real pho. When I got to the place I realized I was the only white guy there and that it was packed so it must be good. It was basically a street stall with an indoor seating area. Everyone just there to eat breakfast and then start their days. Everything was made fresh and it was just delicious. There are also places that sell fresh beer for really cheap. The beer is delivered every day and while its not the strongest beer out there, its cheap and cold and thats all that matters. These beer halls also have some great food. Pork ribs, duck meatballs with dill, goat with lemongrass and garlic, fried rice and deep fried squid is what I was fortunate enough to taste over my two visits there. The ribs were the best part.
After Hanoi it was off to Ha Long Bay on a 2 night 3 day trip. The first day consisted of hanging out on the boat, eating some good seafood, caving and kayaking. The cave was a really giant cave with stalagmites and stalactites. And the kayaking was just around our boat and a few houses on the water. It was really fun. Ha Long is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Limestone cliffs rising from the green-blue water, junk boats quietly sailing from place to place, it was really somewhere that I could stay forever. That night we slept on the boat, and after a great night of karaoke it was off to bed. The next day we were taken to Cat Ba island where we did a hike and then just chilled out around the town. It was cool, but not so much going on. The next day was back to Hanoi to catch an overnight bus to Hue.
Now I know what you're thinking, he took another over night bus? I couldn't believe it either but this one was actually much better. It wasn't packed full of people, no one in the aisles and here were even a few empty seats. I actually managed to get some sleep and was ready to go when I got to Hue. Hue is a cool city with a nice backpackers area. The thing to see there is the ancient citadel that was partly destroys during the wars here but still retains some really impressive building. I spent a couple days walking around there and rented a bike one day to see the city a little more. It was a pretty good time. The highlight had to be meeting an almost Winnipegger from Calgary (He lived in Winnipeg and has a cottage at Victoria Beach). Turns out we know lots of the same people which was really nice. Felt a little bit like home in Vietnam.
Now I'm in Hoi An which is the place to get clothes custom made. I already got a suit made in Thailand so I'm not going to get one here but I am getting a really nice fall jacket and I picked up four ties for about 2 bucks each. I'll be here for a few more days and then off to Dalat I think.
My Birthday was great. Spent it with some good friends and it was certainly memorable. Thanks for all the Facebook messages, it means a lot to read them from this side of the world.
Here is the link to my facebook pics if anyone who isn't friends with me wants to see them.
Thats all for now. Talk to you soon.
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