Checking Into Hanoi Hilton

The best way to explore Hanoi is on your feet and not by taxi (they don't know where they are going as we discovered last time around). Today we visited the Hanoi Cathedral, we assume its French build and Tash thinks it reminds her of Notre Dame, it was locked up though so we went back a good few hours later when they were having mass. I had zero clue what was happening (it was in Vietnamese) but I'm told I roughly follows the same pattern as one in the UK.

Next up we went to the Hanoi Prison dubbed the Hanoi Hilton by the American Soldiers that were held there. Originally the French kept Vietnamese protestors in there 100 years before the US invaded. I was told it was pretty horrendous in there but I didn't find it that shocking. Most interesting part was John McCain's jump suit on display, he was a PoW for 5 years and went back to visit in 2008. Must have been a very odd experience for him.

We had a failed walk to the war museum as we got there too late and it was closed. Did manage to sit down at a Vn coffee chain called Highland Coffee, they plan to start opening international stores to rival Starbucks soon - keep a eye out for them so you can try coffee the Vn way (dripped through a individual filter and served with condensed milk). I had a Passion Fruit Mojito which seemed to be real Pf, sprite and some mint. Still tasted good though! Also on the green opposite were kids riding in little cars that could be steered using the remote control that the parents had.

Later that night we went to a traditional water puppet show. It's now my second time of seeing it and I still can't really follow the storyline and I still think it's pretty funny watching water puppets around the stage. It is clever though and they use some pretty unique musical instruments for the soundtrack.

My fav part of the day came at dinner time. We sat down for street food, the kind where you don't get the menu and you wait to be served whatever they have. Noodles of course with Tofu, some kind of meat and some chilli paste added to the broth. I would love to set up some small plastic chairs in the street and start serving food when I'm back home. Wonder if I would get shut down though!?

Temple Count: 10
Noodle Count: 5
Hours Travelled: 23