Yesterday we had a full free day in Hanoi. I was excited to get a little bit of a sleep in. I stubbed my toe, for something different, and my nail broke off so I wasn't very happy. Had a quick breaky that wasn't very tasty, said goodbye to Bouna and headed out on my own for the day. I walked through the park to visit the Reunification Palace and spotted a scouting jamboree along the way. It was nice to see lots of Vietnamese families out about and enjoying the sunshine. It is very obvious that the people here are much wealthier than in Cambodia and a little more westernized. There are fewer beggars on the streets and the houses seem much more sturdy. When I reached the palace I was quite surprised. The grounds were lovely and green but the palace itself looked liked it had popped right out of the 60's. It was pretty ugly, inside and out. After an hour I'd had enough and decided to move on to the market. The market was busy and bustling. A range of food stalls filled the middle of the market while ambitious stall holders selling touristy treasures lined the outer areas. I bought myself a watch and tried my luck with bargaining over four small silver treasures. Feeling confident and having seen most of the city I decided to hail a cyclo and explore the riverfront, which I had not yet seen. A cyclo quickly appeared and a reasonable price agreed upon. The river was not more than 1km, had I known that I would have walked. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Rather than cycling ahead as we approached the river the cyclo rider took a turn onto a quiet road a short distance from where I wanted to go. I was corned and he demanded $30 Australian. I refused and stated the quoted price. But the rider grew angry and came closer so I had no where to go. Scared and unable to make a get away I handed him $15 and tried to depart but he grew angrier and demanded more. Stupid me gave into my fear and handed over 150,000 dong. He spotted a $50 note in the wallet I was trying to conceal and demanded that too. Finally my fear released me enough to scream and push my way through him. I ran up to the river where people were in sight and the driver ranted and raved for a short time before pedaling fast against traffic in the opposite direction. My day was wrecked and I wanted to cry but I sucked it up because I thought if I cried in front of the many Vietnamese cabbies I would be taken advantage of again. I walked away before I found a cabby who would take me back to the hotel for $5 (hefty but well worth it). In the comfort of my room I had a cry and then composed myself before finding some lunch. I stubbed a second toe which really topped off the day. I decided a massage might do me good and headed off to the place from the day before. I bumped into Heather and Alex who had the same idea. I relayed my ordeal and got plenty of sympathy. The massage was great! We met the new members of our group at 6. All of them are Aussies and slightly bogan. We had a delicious group dinner before early bed. This morning we drove out of the city to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. The drive there was super bumpy! The tunnels were very interesting. We stayed to explore the area where the tunnels are situated for a long time. It was extremely hot which probably made the experience a little bit less desirable than I had imagined. It was fortunate that the area is actually covered with tress and other vegetation, giving a little shelter from the harsh sun. When we arrived we watched a short film and had a look at a model of the tunnels. The tunnels are constructed so that there are multiple layers that join by an assortment of chambers. The chambers are primarily a cube shape but there are sturdier triangular chambers that were reserved for children and infants during the war. The cooking chambers are linked to smaller chambers made specifically for smoke and fumes from cooking. Our group was invited to enter one of the entrances of the tunnels. The opening in the ground was tiny with no place to rest your feet below. I politely declined this photo opportunity as I was feeling panicked just looking at the small space. The girls, Alex and Heather all had a go at lowering themselves into the small opening but none of them looked particularly thrilled at the point of entering. Alex looked hilarious! He lowered himself into the small opening but he looked as though his chest was being crushed and I wondered whether he'd actually be able to get out as he looked well and truly wedged in the hole! Fortunately he made it out without too much trouble. We also had the opportunity to crawl through a section of the tunnels. I reluctantly agreed to have a go at this with some encouragement from the others. The tunnels have been widened slightly to cater for western tourists but I have no idea how the Vietnamese managed to live in these tunnels! I panicked big time when I was inside the tunnels. They are so narrow and low. As you move deeper inside the tunnels they become narrower and narrower, and they become lower! I ended up on my hands and knees crawling through while hyperventilating. I took the first possible exit and was glad to see some open space after only being in the tunnels for 5 minutes. Scary stuff! I thought it was a bit disrespectful, unsafe, and unnecessary that visitors were invited to shoot AK47's and the like. It was very eery walking around the area with the loud echoing of guns the entire time. It was a very interesting experience though.
On return to the city we stopped off at Pho2000 for lunch. Everyones gets excited over this restaurant because it is where Bill Clinton went to eat while he was visiting Vietnam some years ago. I personally didn't really enjoy my Pho which was laden with funky looking mushrooms and strange pieces of tofu. I guess that's what you get when you go vegetarian over here though.
It is interesting how much we have learnt in our short time here and how accustomed we have become to the culture and the way things operate over here. The new group members seem so green and lost in comparison to us. I wonder if we will eventually feel as though we are one group, at the moment if feels very 'us and them'.
After lunch we did a cyclo tour of the city (much of which we'd already seen over the last few days). I was a bit nervous getting into a cyclo after yesterdays incident but it was fine. The cyclos dropped us off at the War Remnants Museum. Outside the museum there were lots of old tanks and fighter planes which made me think of Grandad. The museum was very informative and it was so sad seeing the many photographs of people effected by the war, particularly those contaminated with Agent Orange. It is awful to see how Agent Orange has continued to affect people including the children being born now. It is just so inhumane. I was a bit shocked to see fully formed embryos that had been affected and preserved in formaldehyde. Very sad.
Following our cyclo tour Heather, Alex and I did a little shopping at the supermarket in preparation for our overnight train trip. It was ridiculous how excited we were to finally find Salt and Vinegar chips (getting a bit over seeing flavours like seaweed, fish and soy, red bean etc.) After our shopping adventure we had quick showers, packed up our things and managed to squeeze in a little dinner at a local restaurant. I had the most garlicky garlic bread I've ever had, with huge cloves of garlic covering the whole piece of bread. Heather ordered chicken but we are all pretty certain that what she was served was dog, no joke!
No more news for now. I'll let you know how the train trip was tomorrow. xo
