12-28-10: Hanoi, Day 3

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex

Today our goal was to see Ho Chi Minh's dead body, a lofty goal
indeed. The mausoleum complex is a decent walk from where we were
staying, so we woke up and left with only a steam bun in our bellies.
Robert, crack navigator, got us there in nothing flat. The roads in
that part of town are lined with giant trees that seem out of place
and old worldly in such a big city. Near the trees are what we assume
now are government buildings. We thought they were just rich people's
houses until a guard came out of his little guard house and fussed at
me for taking a picture. Thankfully we were across the street, so we
just walked away - no worries.

The whole mausoleum complex is pretty huge and we got to one side of
it, but how do you get in?? Apparently not on this side. We had to
walk nearly all the way around the damn thing to find the entrance. We
thought we had found it when we got to a giant grassy field
crisscrossed with sidewalks, directly in front of the imposing and
unmistakeable mausoleum itself, but alas, when we tried to use the
sidewalk, we got fussed at by another guard. There were signs telling
us to keep off the grass, but none saying we couldn't use the
sidewalks, very strange. We kept looping the complex and eventually we
found the hole. We deposited our bags at the office and joined the
queue. It moved quickly enough and there was a singing man on tv to
help you pass the time, oh goody! Next I had to surrender my camera at
a different office and my alarm rang, oops - no backpack to be found!
Ho Chi Minh, you better be worth it. This time we got to approach the
mausoleum because we were on the correct side of the grass. Why would
they have so much security and leave one side protected only by an
expanse of grass?

Inside the mausoleum, there is no talking, no holding up the line, no
bags, no cameras, no sniggering, no hands in your pockets! It is a
very serious place. I have read only very little about Uncle Ho, so I
don't revere him as some supposedly do. I was just here to see what a
preserved dead guy looked like really. Every year the body goes to
Russia for two months for "maintenance," but he was here for us. His
most remarkable feature was his long white wisoy beard hairs. The
whole time I was looking at him, all I could think about was, "how in
the world do they keep him looking like that?!" Mission accomplished.

Our camera magically appeared at the exit, so we exchanged one of our
tokens for that. Then we toured the rest of the complex. Most of the
buildings were yellow stucco with green trim - cute, but the history
was lost on us since we didn't hire a guide. Most other groups were
scurrying behind a flag waving guide and clogging up the nose to tail
parade of tourists. The only cool part of the complex was Ho Chi
Minh's old house, a two room house on stilts. After the allure of the
dead body passed, our enthusiasm waned. We couldn't even muster enough
interest to visit the museum; skipping breakfast is never a good idea,
kids.

Food, Train Station, Food

Since we were so close to the train station, we set that as our next
destination, with an ASAP stop for food! We at on Pho Cam Chi, one of
several food specialty streets scattered around Hanoi. Another food
specialty street is Pho Nghi Tam; it specializes in dog meat; we
didn't go there. Our food street was crowded with a million small
eateries, basically Vietnamese fast food. We ate pho xao bo, the
recommended dish instead of pho bo (beef soup). Our dish was fried
flat noodles, beef and morning glory. Tasty. Afterwards, it was hard
to find the train station and even harder to decipher the train time
table. We learned that trains run south throughout the day. Wasn't a
trip to the train station worth it?

We were still hungry so we headed off to find yet another bowl of pho!
(actually bun this time, but at the same place as yesterday because it
was a sure thing) Next we went to another old favorite, Tamarind, for
a cup of tea and a respite from walking in the bustle of the city. Now
we wanted to arrange transport to Cat Ba Town for tomorrow. This took
about three mini-laps around the Old Quarter to locate recommended
travel agents, the last of which told us we needed to buy the ticket
at the bus station. Most travel agents want to sell you a package
tour, but we were just asking for transport to the town where the
package tours like to overnight, so they didn't want to help us. At
least she told us which of the FOUR bus stations we needed to go to,
Luong Yen Bus Station.

Bus Station

Some days we walk everywhere, today was one of these days. The bus
station was not close, but walk we did. The walk took us through a new
part of the city, far from the tourist center, but the sidewalks were
frequently repurposed for all manner of commerce, making the walk an
annoying mix of dodging obstacles and walking in the gutter. Finally
we saw buses, now what? Ordinary people book tickets through travel
agents so this station was not accustomed to tourists. One man
befriended us well outside the station and tried to steer us to one
ticket seller, but following directions from persistent strangers is
rarely a good plan, so we tried to ignore him. He fed off our
indecision, like blood to a shark, so we eventually just sat down in a
corner to rest and he left us alone. We had walked all this way to
accomplish this mission, and damn it, we were going to get a ticket
out of Hanoi, but neither of us had a clue as to how to proceed. An
ordinary bus ticket, okay, but we wanted a string of tickets, a
bus-boat-bus ticket. Eventually we sat there for long enough and
reread enough of the guidebook to find the name of a tour company that
sold this type of ticket. Lo and behold, we were sitting right in
front of their office! She sold us a ticket all the way to Cat Ba Town
via three different types of transport for 140,000 d per person
($8.50), leaving at 7:20a the next day. Success, but what a chore.

Death March Home

On the long walk home we bought one single loaf of bread from the
Bread Lady. She proffers her wares via bicycle, but we were too
tuckered to bother with a photo. Maybe it was our weakened state, but
that bread was heavenly. We quickly regretted our decision to only buy
one loaf. We even sat down to have some bia hoi on a nearby sidewalk
corner, in hope that she would pedal by! No dice. The bia hoi was
great though and the girl serving it wasn't bashful about correcting
my pronunciation, which I appreciated immensely. We got into a word
battle over the word for thousand, "ngyin." I said it, she said, I
said it, she said it. I couldn't keep trying for all my laughing
though so we gave up. More walking! We were still halfway across the
city. Normal people would have deigned to flag a taxi, but not us - we
were still afraid of getting ripped off and clueless as to the
ballpark of a fair fare.

When we made it back to the Old Quarter we stopped for another bia hoi
and a flatbread sandwich, unable to find any banh mi anywhere. Then
home to lay. Flat. No moving. No talking. We were bushed. Did you
catch how much walking we did today??? We pulled ourselves off the bed
only to eat. Again at New Day, but this meal wasn't quite as good. I
think I was expecting it to be as amazing as last night and since I
expected something in particular, I of course was disappointed. It was
still good, just didn't meet my expectation.

Assorted Observations about our time in Hanoi:

Reasons why we love Phu Hoa Guesthouse: They came by to clean the
room! Fresh sheets, new towels, etc. This is a first for us on the
entire trip despite spending more than a week in some rooms. Also, we
had laundry done, but then we decided to leave town before it would be
ready. We told the old man that we were leaving early and he showed up
at our door with all our clothes on hangers so we could dry them
overnight in our room and make sure they came with us. He was very
sweet and we will try to stay there when we blow back through Hanoi.

Tv in guesthouse is a bad thing.

Traffic - honk and you can do anything, walk slow and you will get
across, much better than bkk

Cheap Beer: 4,000 d bia hoy, 11,000 beer Hanoi

Crazy commie propaganda - has become a souvenir item, which robert totally wants

Steam bun lady, old man guesthouse man, bia hoy number woman - all very nice

donut ladies- three blocks earns 5,000 dong, I hate donuts, donuts make me sick

Where are the tuktuks?! Cyclosporine are a poor replacement

Bia hoy: all crappy restaurants, sit on street, you have to see the
keg tapped out front, no keg , no bia hoy

Water bongs all over the place! (tobacco)

No pho or banh mi in a place that should readily have both!

Bread lady - 5,000d so tasty!

Hard to find Internet

City shuts down at midnight, streets are deserted

Food - you have to be in the know to find the best and cheapest eats,
soup scale lady

Book seller: want to buy a book? Cheap, cheap! robert: I only read in
Latin. Book seller: okay yea I have, you want marijuana?

Jackfruit - super tasty...or is it? We still haven't found any on the cheap.

Communism: what is it? Who was ho chi minh? Why was the US so afraid
of it? Why doesn't Vietnam allow social networking websites? Does
anyone have a good book recommendation to remedy our clearly lacking
knowledge of communism and vietnam?