Hanoi, Vietnam: I’ll get to the headline in a minute.
I got up early to get a start on the day and headed over to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum. It was very well organized and the guards dressed in white made sure that you took off your hat, removed your sunglasses, stopped talking and left all photographic equipment at the kiosk. We then solemnly walked by his corpse (He died in 1969) and despite his wishes to be cremated, he is on display. He is not on display for the months of November and December since he gets an annual touch up in the USSR. Afterwards I walked 5 miles (getting a workout here) to the War Museum. When I got there, I saw the Mausoleum again a few blocks away. I guess I should have taken the shortcut. They had a unique pricing structure here at museums. The entry for you was 30,000 VND ($1.50 USD). If you wanted to bring your camera, that was an additional 20,000 VND ($1 USD). I felt sorry for my camera so I paid its entry fee. I then grabbed a taxi…and let me tell you not all taxis are equal even though they have meters. I either paid $10 or $100 for a $1.00 ride. There are just too many damn zeros for me to keep everything straight. Last night the receptionist told me to use only one of the 3 cab companies in Hanoi: Mai Linh Taxi, Hanoi Taxi or CP Taxi. I like an idiot took the “Here’s a stupid tourist taxi cab”. I must admit, the air conditioning was worth a $100 to me at that point. By that time, I was on my 4th liter of water. It was then onto the Hao Lo Prison which was where the French kept all of the political dissidents starting in 1886 during their colonial rule. This is also where John McCain and his fellow pilots stayed when they were shot down (aka Hanoi Hilton).
Overall, the city is lovely, the people are nice for the most part but the traffic is HORRENDOUS. You literally cannot cross the street without putting yourself in danger. There is no such thing as pedestrian right of way. The guide books recommend you just keep walking and NEVER stop. You are supposed to leave it up to the good will of the drivers to veer around you. So far it is working but I really believe I am pushing my luck a little too far. All of the sidewalks have been converted to parking lots for the motorcycles. I am shortening my trip to Hanoi by one day just for this reason. Hopefully Hoi An and Hue will not be so wild.
Tomorrow I am catching a boat and doing an overnight in Halong Bay so there might be a day or two of no blog entries. As soon as I get back into town on Friday, I will be catching a night train right away to Hue. Well…I am off to see the water puppet show now so I bid you adieu.
Opppss…I almost forgot about the above headline. When I was exiting Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, there were four women in their sixties looking at my arm and were really fascinated with it. I couldn’t understand what they were saying but they were gabbing away for a long time. Then one of them reached out and touched the hair on my arm. Now I don’t believe I have overly hairy arms but I guess the ladies did. I started to look at the men and sure enough, there was not a hair to be found on their arms! Now I don’t know if this holds true for all Vietnamese men or just those from Hanoi. So any single guys out there with hairy arms, you will be a sensation over here in Hanoi! Book your tickets now.
