What a contrast to Saigon and a wonderful capital city. I didnt particularly like the throng of Saigon itself and whilst Hanoi is busy it has a little old quarter by a lovely lake where you will find most of the backpacker hostels and is a nice place to chill out. High on my priority when its comes to new places is whether or not i can walk around and Hanoi is easy to do so without the need of a moto or taxi (which i am not keen on). I much prefer to get a feel of a new town by just wondering around the streets and lanes.
Nearly fell over myself when i found an international youth hostel here. Around much of cambodia and south vietnam hostels are non existent with only hotels and guesthouses being available. They are fine but its a lot harder to meet people as they dont have dorms or communal areas to meet people. Whilst i normally meet people when on a tour or in a coffee house, now and again staying in guesthouses on your own in a room can be quite lonley so this hostel was very much welcomed and i have to say its brilliant. There are swarms of backpackers milling around and its got a great vibe and a very sociable atmosphere. Not long after arriving i met some other girls i was sharing a dorm with including another girl from Hounslow, England which my mum was pleased to hear.
Thankfully i got a lower bunk so there was no fear of breaking the whole bed trying to get down from the top bunk as in China!!
Apparently there is a mausoleum (sp) with Ho Chi Minh's pickled body in it. Poor guy actually asked in his will to be cremated!! Decided to give it a miss but it turned out it was closed anyway and there was some doubt as to whether he was in there anyway as my guidebook said that he is sent to Russia for a 3 month "holiday" every September - very weird.
So i spent most of the day just wondering the streets with me new found friends. The Women's museum here is great and has a great exhibition on the street vendors who clog up the pavements. i didnt even think about where all these women came from selling fruit, plastic, you name it ...it seems that they travel for miles on buses to get to hanoi carrying their heavy loads to try and earn enough money to take back to their peasant farming villages at the end of the week just to feed their families/educate their children. They earn no more than one pound sterling a day and often endure a lot of abuse from the locals who just seem them as unsightly litter bugs. After the exhibition i felt guilty having early haggeled the price of some oranges to 10,000 dong from 20,000 dong and we all resolved to try and make an effort to buy from the street vendors!
