Tues April 21st – First Day in HANOI, VIETNAM

Tues April 21st – First Day in HANOI, VIETNAM

We certainly know that we are in a Communist Country. Our guide, Duong, is our son, Michael's age. He graduated from the university with a degree in economics but couldn't get a job so he is now a tour guide and says that he makes a decent living with hope of doing better over time. He is married with two children and lives in a 680 sq. feet which he thinks is very good for him at this stage. His wife has a teaching degree but is returning to work as a sales representative for a large company selling equipment imported from Malaysia. He told us that the government is giving more rights and the people are not fearful but that they must not criticize the government to be safe. Then you are ok. The communist party is the only party and there is no private press. The party is very powerful and there is lots of propoganda for the party. Duong tells us that we can talk with him with what he calls “gossip” but is really private conversation in the car but not on the street. He is very interested in Obama and thinks he will bring good things to the world and in particular that he will be able to improve relationships further between the US and Vietnam. Everyone we talk with, including our two rickshaw drivers, ask about Obama, even when they speak very limited English. They say “Obama” to us with a thumbs up and “Bush” with a thumbs down.

Our itinerary today included a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Masoleum, Government Palace, Ho's residence bungalo and his house on stilts. The rules for the visit were: long pants, arms covered, no purses, no cameras, no sunglasses, no hats, no hand holding, no talking, stay in exact line. We felt a little uncomfortable but not unsafe. The visit was very interesting and took about an hour. The line was not very long today but in season and with more tourists, our guide said that there is often a 2 hour wait to get in. It is hot today – almost 100 degrees. This is mild compared to Cambodia where temperatures were up to 110 degrees. We are drinking more water and our ankles are less swollen today.

What may have been the highlight of the day was a visit to the Temple and school of “Little Richard”. Well that is what we heard from our guide. It is a school built in the 11th century. It was a school set up by the King at that time to train the best people of the land to be his advisors and run the goverenment.

They also believed in Confuscious. There is a special house on the grounds with a large statue of Confuscious. This place must have been a great place to study and learn. Very quiet with wonderful tree and ponds and walk ways.

Well back to Little Richard. We had a big laugh when we found out that our guide was trying to say the school of “literature” and it came out as Little Richard to us. Geri used her speech training and spent a few minutes working on Duong's speech. At the end of the day he had it right and we are still laughing.

Our next stop was at the Ethnology Museum and this was a very worthwhile and informative visit. Here we could get some appreciation of the culture, current and past. From there we were taken to a wonderful local buffet restaurant which allowed us to sample lots of different Vietnamese and other Asian dishes. Duong has figured out that we are adventurous and willing to try new things. We are not interested in being taken to high end expensive tourist “traps”. The food was marvelous and included very fresh sushi of all kinds, Vietnamese stir fry, noodle and rice dishes, lots of vegetables, fish, shrimp, etc. We are eating way too much food so we asked for a recommendation for a local spot for dinner where we could share a bowl of Pho and that might be it with a glass of beer. We are also quite tired.

I almost forgot the best shock/laugh about the lunch. The lunch was prepaid as part of our tour package.

However drinks were not included. We had two beers. We have had more beer since we got to the far east than we drink in a year. Just think that we have 5 more weeks over here. Well the bill came for the beer. It was for 104,000. That is right 104,000. We were in shock until we realized that this was in Viet dong not dollars. That's when we started to laugh. We laughed so hard that we drew a lot of attention.

After lunch, we went to the Hanoi Hilton. Yes the famous prison used by the North Vitnam people to hold our pilots downed during the war. It was very hard on us to go through the prison. The cells with the shackles, one small window and heavy doors got to us. They have pictures of John McCain on the walls. They show him in the water when captured. They have his flight suit on display and they show him visiting in 1990. We also had a hard time in the room that had the propaganda in it. It showed pilots playing basketball, cards, eating and smiling. What can I say.

Doung took us for a walk through the center of the city where the streets are lined with all kinds of stands and shops. We find the traffic most amazing with motorcycles making their own patterns of directions zooming in and out without regard for tour busses, rickshaws, bicycles. The motorcycles can carry not more than three people and there is a strong helmet guideline but not a law. They also carry one person with a large amount of produce, a tv, a washing machine, etc. strapped to the back. It is crazy and reminds us a little of Taiwan. Duong kept a close guard on us and showed us how to cross the street slowly, not to panic, and to learn that the traffic would wind around us and in fact, that is exactly what happened.

With an hour to spare before our last activity of the day, a Water Puppet Theatre, Lenny and I each climbed into our own rickshaw for a one hour tour of the markets which was not only relaxing but so interesting. Our ride cost us $3:00 US each and with a $1.00 tip for each of them, both drivers were extremely happy. The water puppet show was cute and colorful and now we are going to take a taxi from our hotel to get a light bite and then get to sleep early, at least for us. We have a full day planned for tomorrow.

So, we didn't want to eat much and we didn't want to spend $22. US for an entree at our fancy hotel, so we got a recommendation for a good local restaurant from Duong. He told us a place and gave a card to give to the taxi driver for the restaurant andd another one that said “take me to Hotel Nikko Hanoi”. Doung has seriously warned us to only take a “good cab” - Hanoi Cab or Hanoi Tourist Cab which means that the cab has a meter that works and that is reliable. Local but good restaurant means that the restaurant is sanitary for tourists but we can still not drink any water there or eat any raw salad.We were determined to eat just a little. The restaurant Quan an Ngon located at 18 Phan Boi Chau was such fun – with young people and families – long tables – no private ones – everywhere we looked were food stations, each one preparing a different style Asian soup, dumpling, etc. We actually shared a table with a family of four adult children, one smaller child, mother, father, grandmother. The oldest daughter will be going to the Univ. of Washington in the fall and she was very eager to talk to us in English.

Our waiter was also very helpful with the little English that he spoke. We wanted to try everything but knew that we couldn't so we settled on a vegetarian fried dumpling (we didn't like it), shrimp grilled in lemongrass (wonderful), garlic fried rice (fantastic) and a fresh shrimp basil roll and a wonton filled with crab (awesome) and of course, two beers. The cost of our meal was 224,000 dong which is about $13 US

plus the cab which cost us $1 US each way. The total for our wonderful meal including our round trip taxi was $15.00.