Back to Hanoi

Our train from Sapa arrived in Hanoi at 4:30 AM, at which point we were brought back to our hotel. Since we were so early we couldn't get into our room yet, so we stayed in the little dining room area and waited until breakfast started. When our room was ready for us, we went up and took a nap before going out to explore Hanoi.

Our first stop around the city was the Temple of Literature. This temple dates back to 1070 and was a significant spot for Vietnam's scholars throughout the country's history. The temple itself was nice, but it was SUPER hot this day, so it didn't take long for us to start getting a little too uncomfortable.

After we finished walking around, we decided to head over to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Although tourists are permitted to enter the mausoleum to see Ho Chi Minh's body, we decided to avoid the long lines and just walk around the outside of the building. I really don't care to see an embalmed dead body anyway--especially when there's a whole city to see.

When I went to Beijing one of the things that really struck me was how strange it was to be in a country where a communist leader is idolized. As Americans we are taught from such a young age to value freedom, so when you're in a country with a different system of governance it has an unnatural feeling to it, and I felt this way again a few times during my stay in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh is everywhere, and he's given a kind of reverence we just don't quite have for our leaders in America.

After finishing our walk around the mausoleum we got in a taxi and made our way to the Hoa Lo Prison. The Hoa Lo Prison was originally used by the French to imprison those who spoke out against French colonization. When most people hear about Vietnam, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the Vietnam War, and sometimes it's easy to forget that there was turmoil in the country long before the war broke out. Colonization had a large impact on Vietnam, and certainly fueled a desire for independence from foreign powers. In fact, many of Vietnam's future communist leaders were held in the Hoa Lo Prison, which ultimately helped give credit to their fight for an independent country.

It was disturbing to see many of the conditions prisoners were kept in in the prison, but the strangest part of the museum was the part about how the prison was used during the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, the prison was used to hold American POWs. The museum paints a rosy picture about how well the Americans were treated while being held there. According to the museum, the prisoners were well-fed given all kinds of entertainment, and basically had a great time during their stay in Vietnam. Of course, this is not the case whatsoever, with countless POWs who have shared their stories of abuse about their time in this prison (John McCain being probably the most famous of these prisoners).

I started to feel angry by the end of my time in the museum because it was so blatantly and obviously dishonest. While I did enjoy the museum overall, it was certainly a reminder that history can be told in many ways, and in this communist country the government still holds a firm grasp on the narrative of the war. It was uncomfortable to see how the museum evokes such a a sense of sympathy for the prisoners who suffered under the French, but yet completely glosses over the abuse of the POWs at the hands of the Vietnamese. As an American I have access to all kinds of information for all kinds of points of view, but unfortunately not everyone in the world has this privilege. The flow of information in Vietnam is still heavily restricted as the government seeks to keep control of the narrative of the country's history and the its role in the world.

By the time we finished at the museum the heat had taken its toll on us, so we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit. Later we went back out for some shopping and dinner before deciding to call it a night.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time in the busy city of Hanoi. Before coming to Vietnam I had heard so many mixed things about the country, but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of hospitality i had experienced in this first part of the trip. In the morning it would be time to part ways with Katelyn and head to the southern part of Vietnam.

That time I went to Vietnam...

Why hello again faithful followers.

It's hard to believe that it's been five months since I left Korea. Being home has had its highs and lows, but that's not really the point of this post.

My last month abroad was nothing short of pure insanity due to the fact that in the midst of packing up my apartment I also traveled to Vietnam, got a job, and consequently had to reschedule my departure date to leave Korea earlier than anticipated. Because of all this craziness, I never got a change to write about my trip to Vietnam. It's something I've wanted to do since I've been home, but my new job takes up just about every ounce of my free time. I also got a new computer, which meant that before I could even start to write I needed to transfer my pictures from my old computer to my new one--quite a chore in itself.

It's vacation time for everyone in Korea right now, which means my Facebook feed is filled with pictures of people traveling to warm places. These posts have naturally made me nostalgic about my own travels, which has given me the motivation to finally start writing about my trip to Vietnam and finish off this blog. I'm extremely thankful that I kept a journal while I was traveling (the biggest piece of advice I could give anyone who is going to travel--make the time to journal WHILE you're there!) because otherwise I honestly probably wouldn't be able to keep track of all that we did in Vietnam. Even five months later, the trip feels buried under my life back home.

Luckily I have my journal to tell me that we left for Vietnam on August 5th after staying in Seoul the night before (one of the many details that I had already forgotten).  Usually it's smooth sailing at the Incheon Airport, but that morning we actually hit really long lines, which meant we didn't have much time to rest or eat before boarding our flight. However, we made it in time, which is all that matters in the long run.

The flight from Korea to Hanoi was about four hours. Once we arrived in the airport we had to wait about half an hour to get our visas. After we had our passports back, we made our way to the arrival hall where the driver from our hotel was supposed to meet us. We didn't see him there so we decided to get a sandwich to eat in the meantime. The people at the sandwich shop were INCREDIBLY friendly. They helped us call our hotel to figure out where our driver was, and before we knew it we were on our way to our hotel.

At the hotel we had another incredibly warm welcome and were greeted with drinks and bananas. We talked with one of the men at the hotel about the trips to Ha Long Bay and Sapa and they told us it was better to go to Ha Long Bay first because there might be a storm later in the week. Trusting his input, we booked our trips, dropped our stuff off in our rooms, and decided to do a little exploring.

Our hotel was right in the heart of the Old Quarter-Hanoi's tourist hot-spot. The old buildings are evidence of France's colonial past in Vietnam, and while the history behind that part in Vietnam's past is ugly, the blending of architecture is quite lovely.

Apart from the architecture, the other thing that immediately made an impression on me was the absurd number of motorbikes. The driving in Asia is crazy in general, but Vietnam takes the cake for absolute scariest driving. The motorbikes are constant and don't stop for anyone. Crossing the street is literally like a game of frogger.

We walked around for a while, and when we came to a lake we stopped for a beer. The weather was surprisingly cooler than it was in Korea, which was a welcome and refreshing surprise in the midst of Korea's oppressively hot summer.

After we finished our beer, we wandered for a little more until we settled on a place for dinner. The restaurant had some young people working there who were super eager to speak with us to practice English. They were absolutely adorable kids, and it seriously made me wish I could have them as students. For all the mixed things I had heard about Vietnam, I was very pleasantly surprised by the incredibly friendly people we were encountering in our first hours there.

We had some pho and spring rolls for dinner and they beyond delicious. Definitely the right way to start our time in Vietnam!