Our First Day in Hanoi

Today we traveled to Hanoi. Everything was going smoothly. We all made it to the airport with time to spare, boarded the plane only to find out that the toilet system was not working. Personally, I thought that we could do without bathrooms for an hour and forty-five minute trip. However, they made us switch planes and we ended up leaving an hour and a half later. We flew Dragon Air, which served a full breakfast even on such a short flight. It actually put Continental to shame. Robin and I have decided that when I visit her in Japan, we will only be going places that we can take a train. We seem to have bad luck flying together. (You can read about our twelve-hour delays on our last trip together to China.)

 

We opted to do the “Visa on Arrival Option” rather than getting our visas through the consulates in our respective countries in advance. I think that it took us less than a half hour to get through customs. Our hotel arranged a car to take us on the forty-five minute drive to Hanoi. The road was very modern leading out of the hotel but was flanked by rice paddies on either side. We passed by several large warehouses/factories for businesses like Panasonic and Cannon.

Our hotel, the Movenpick is gorgeous. It’s a Swiss hotel chain so the rooms are very modern with a European feel. Our shower has a glass wall that looks out into the room. It’s a little strange to take a shower and be able to see the room through the blinds (although the people in the room can’t see in).

This afternoon we visited the Hoa Lo Prison, or the “Hanoi Hilton” as it was referred to by American POWs. The exhibits were a little odd as I felt that it really downplayed the torture carried out by the French when they used the prison for political prisoners. It was also interesting to see the way the American POW section was portrayed. There was a video on the Christmas air raids of 1972 which was clearly of the opinion that the Americans were wrong to carry out these attacks and even went so far as to say that American forces specifically targeted civilian hospitals and schools. The remainder of the galleries showed how well the POWs were treated in the prison after their capture. Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about history to know if these are accurate statements or purely propaganda.

From there, we went to dinner at Quan An Ngon, an open-air Vietnamese restaurant with a twenty page menu. Needless to say, it took us forever to make our decision. We finally decided to share a papaya salad, chicken skewers, noodles with beef and spring rolls. I obviously am not very skilled with chopsticks because as I was eating, the manager came over to our table to give me an impromptu lesson in how to properly use chopsticks.

After dinner it was off to the Hang Dao night market. We figured it wasn’t that far so we decided to walk from our hotel. Crossing the streets in Hanoi is quite an adventure. Traffic signals are merely a suggestion and traffic regularly just weaves in and out between each other at the intersections. Pedestrians are expected to cross in the midst of all this. We found that the trick is to just be confident and start walking; just so you keep a steady pace and don’t stop, the traffic can swerve around you. It’s the people who stop that run the risk of getting hit.

Tomorrow’s plan is to spend some time in the Old Quarter and the museums around the royal place. Tomorrow night, we’re hoping to see a water puppet show.