Hanoi

After a short flight from Vientiane, we arrived to the chaos of Hanoi. Scams galore. The cab took us to the wrong address and made up a story about our guesthouse being full. Luckily we had been warned about this scam, but still had to argue for a good 5 minutes to get the cab to take us to the proper address. That put a bad taste in our mouthes - we've been scammed quite a bit since arriving in Vietnam, but we hear that this is the norm.

The cities have grown on us. We were first intimidated but the thousands of scooters, but now have become pros at crossing the street (just walk and they will avoid you). The old quarter is next to beautiful Hoan Kiem lake, and there is a street here for everything - jewelry, electrical wire, shoes, and even sonagrams! We ate pho on the street the first night and it was fantastic - costing only 75 cents a bowl. We sweated through our clothes but it was worth it.

We visited Hoa Loa prison - aka the Hanoi Hilton. It was eerie and quite upsetting. Built by the french to imprison Vietnamese during the colonial period, the prison has seen a lot of death and torture. During the Vietnam war or the American war as it is called here, the Vietnamese used it to house downed American pilots, including John McCain. Everything on display about the pilots showed how well they were treated - pictures of them playing sports, celebrating Christmas, etc. while everything about how the french treated the vietnamese was barabic. Obviously, we are seeing a different side of the story here and it has made us interested to learn more about the prison from the American pilots who were held there.

We explored the french quarter and the revolution museum and again witnessed another perspective on Vietnam's independence and struggle against occupation. We then saw a water puppet show which was absolutely hysterical. Crazy Vietnamese music with floating dolls in the water - this was perhaps one of the biggest scams of all - good thing we only paid $1 for a ticket.

We also checked out R&R Tavern, a bar run by a friend of a friend, intended to provide a bit of home cooking and atmosphere for veterans making the trip to Vietnam. We enjoyed burgers and beer.

Today we saw the Ho Chi Minh masoleum, where his body is embalmed (didn't go see the body, gross). We walked to the B-52 memorial where there is a downed American bomber in a small lake in the middle of the city reminding the Vietnamese of the Christmas raids on Hanoi. All in all, we have enjoyed Hanoi and have found some good cafes and places to hang out.