Its Cheesy but... "Good Morning Vietnam"!

Landing in Hanoi from Taiwan it was immediately clear I had jumped back in the level of country status (putting it as politely as I can think). The international airport was similar to a country Australian airport with almost no security and the oldest of old equipment.

From the airport I took a cab ride to the city directly to my hostel. It was now dark and it was pouring with rain, harder than I had ever seen before. But it didn’t stop me from exploring my first evening.

The rain eventually stopped and I found a street corner to stop and grab a beer and something to eat. The beer was the cheapest I had seen in Asia so far a whole 25 cents Australian, it was also some of the best I had tasted, it wasn’t light like the Chinese or Korean beers but not as heavy as the Australian carb beers. It was perfect. The street corner also made a perfect place to sit and watch the motorbikes and street vendors walk past and all the noise and excitement that goes with that. It turned out to be a famous corner in Hanoi known to the backpackers and the locals as “the beer corner”.

The following morning I started to explorer Hanoi. I headed to the Hoan Kiem Lake to see the Ngoc Son Temple. The Lake was a large round lake with a small island in the center, this island had a temple with lots of bonsai’s on it. The artwork and carvings were also very noticeable of a turtle and a tiger.

I walked around the lake and then double back on the old quarter of Hanoi.

I headed past what appeared to be the fabric and textiles trading section of the town, a old official building with a fountain in the middle and 3 stories high was jam packed with vendors of all types and colors. Even the center floor was packed with people.

Continuing on I was heading towards a larger lake called the West Lake.  It took me a good hour of walking before I reached the lake, the lake was much larger than I imagined, my map only showed a ¼ of it as it ran off the edge of the map. There was a small island on the edge of this lake as well with a small temple, this temple had a pagoda with 11 stories and small Buddha’s at each level. Sadly the temple was in pieces as it was being reworked.

Along the edge of the lake were 20+ men fishing, they were using a stick and a hand reel. I stopped for a while to sit and watch them, they appeared to pull a fish from the murky water every 2-3 minutes, the fish were small granted but there success rate was very very high, they also appeared not to be using any bait. Very impressive.

I continued on my walk along the edge of the lake towards the presidential palace, and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  


Along the way the guards on the roads grew in number and the flags changed from the typical Vietnamese Yellow star on red to a mix of it and the communist Flag. 
The buildings also seemed to start to display more and more communist pride and markings.

The palace seemed to come out of no where, with the large iron gates and a fountain in the front. I had seen it on a documentary (Danish Royal Family) once before so instantly recognized it.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was just next door and a giant flag pole with the Vietnamese flag was in front of this. The guards were in more official uniforms protecting the mausoleum than they were in the palace.

I headed in and did a walk around the palace grounds that was open, there were a few old houses that were open as exhibits for how the people use to live and war time items. There was also some old soviet cars on display which were very rare. They were used by Ho Chi Minh post and pre war times.

Following the palace I proceeded to a old fort/flag building it was built by the French long time ago as a observation tower, but now is a flag pole and a old military museum.

The museum had tanks and planes and helicopters all from the Vietnam war.

One tank was of particular significance, it was the tank that raided the palace and smashed down the gates during the take over of Hanoi.

That evening I headed back to “the beer corner”, and relaxed. It was Halloween weekend so everyone young and old were dressing up in costumes. great night to be sitting on the corner with other backpackers having a yarn.

The next day I decided to organize my trip to Sapa and Ha Long bay. The city was full of tour offices, and I had talked to a few people the last 2 nights of how best to see the places. 99% of people insisted on taking a tour, as you got to see much more, and people kept raving about this particular group where you got to do home stays and travel on the back paths away from all the other tourists… so I headed to the tourist office of “Ethnic Travels” and booked in, I was to leave that evening for 8 days (4 days in Sapa and 4 days in ha long).

The rest of the day I just walked around the city and checked out random shops, nothing overly special. 

That evening with my bags packed I headed to Sapa not sure what the "tour" would offer but had to give it a go.

Till next time, HAVE FUN!   

Steffen