Short Version

We flew to Hanoi on a small plane from Laos. The flight was uneventful, and we were thankful to not to have to take the mountain road out of Laos the same way we had arrived. Hanoi is a city with a lot of character and charm—the mix of French architecture and culture with modern and traditional Vietnamese life makes it an easy and interesting place to visit. It is "easy" unless, of course, you want to cross a street. The 2 million motorbikes in the city—each with a driver who uses a unique set of road rules—make the trip across the city streets quite challenging!

The next day, we took a guided tour of Hanoi's key sites. We visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh's House on Stilts, the one pillar pagoda, and Hoa Lo prison (aka the Hanoi Hilton). It was really interesting to hear our tour guide explain recent Vietnamese history from his perspective (a 20-something guy with good English, who was born after the war, and is part of the generation trying to create a thriving market economy to improve their lives.) We spent our first couple of days in Hanoi getting to know the city and becoming acquainted with Vietnamese culture (and food!) before we headed out to Halong Bay.

Long Version:

The flight from Laos was pretty smooth, and we got into Hanoi quite easily. After a little time at the airport, we were off to a comfy hotel.

We got in late, so we explored a bit and landed at a Pho place for dinner. For those not familiar, Pho is basically Vietnamese noodle soup. You can order it with whatever meat you want, and it comes with various sides including bean sprouts, Thai basil leaves, sawgrass leaves, onions, mint, coriander, chilies, lime, garlic, and other assorted accoutrements depending upon the restaurant. Sometimes, they throw the meat in raw to the piping hot broth, and the thinly sliced meat pretty much cooks by the time it gets to the table. This is a breakfast staple in Vietnam, particularly the Pho Bo, aka beef soup.

The next day, we walked around the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Hanoi has great character, defined by its mix of markets, shops, French Colonial architecture, war history, lakes, and flowers. Bicycles are everywhere, and there are even more motorbikes. The 4 million inhabitants of Hanoi collectively own 2 million motorbikes. The only time it is a problem is when you need to cross the street. A couple in Laos shared their technique--look left and right, make sure there are no cars or buses, begin walking slowly, look straight ahead, let the motor bikes and bicycles ride around you, and pray for the best. So, crossing the street makes for a nice little adrenaline rush, and it is a free activity.

Hanoi's backstreets in the Old Quarter are named for the items that the street's shopkeepers used to make and/or sell. From silk fabric to carved Buddha's to mirrors to shoes and more, each street had its own products and feel. It was good fun exploring the Old Quarter, and we capped it off with a cup of exceptional Vietnamese coffee, ca phe sua da.

That night, we attended a wonderful traditional Vietnamese performance of water puppets. Accompanied by eight or so musicians playing traditional Vietnamese instruments, performers in hip waders stood behind an opaque curtain for an hour in waist deep water while they operated lacquered wooden puppets. The show was really quite good, and the stories depicted every day village life as well as some popular Vietnamese tales.

The next day, we took a tour of all of Hanoi's key sites. We visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh's House on Stilts, the One Pillar Pagoda, and Hoa Lo prison (aka the Hanoi Hilton). The mausoleum contains Ho's body, but we went on a Friday, when the inside is closed. We saw it from the outside, along with the Parliament building. There were plenty of Communist Party slogans in the area, such as "Uncle Ho united the great Vietnamese land," etc. Basically, they had signs up with the Vietnamese equivalent of God Bless America slapped across them.

After the mausoleum, we saw the Presidential Palace from the outside. It isn't open for tourists, but it is still used on occasion when foreign dignitaries visit Vietnam. The Vietnamese Prime Minister received Bill Clinton here back in 1999. It is an impressive building with beautiful grounds, so we were glad to take it in.

Next, we headed to Ho Chi Minh's "house" where we saw relics from his days there in the late '60's, still supposedly in their original positions. Ho Chi Minh was a simple man, and he didn't like having the entire enormous compound at his disposal. While planning the revolution and hiding from the French, he spent several years in the hills of Northern Vietnam with tribal people. He was so influenced by their simple means and spirit of community, that he built a house on his palatial grounds after the style of the hill tribe people. He spent most of his time in his "house on stilts," shunning the extravagance of the rest of the estate. There was a bomb shelter nearby where he and his advisors could hide during US air attacks, and tunnels led away from the shelter to various spots in the complex, so he could come and go as necessary before and during attacks.

The one pillar pagoda stood close by to the Palace, so we stopped by briefly and learned of its significance. Not only was it architecturally unique due to the entire pagoda's construction atop a single pillar, but it also had a legend associated with it.

Apparently, one of the emperors did not have an heir to the throne, and as he was later on in years, he was concerned. His wife could not bear him a child. He met someone on the spot of the pagoda, and I can't remember the details of the story, but he was told he would soon have a son, and he did. He erected the pillar in honor of the gift he was given. Of note, in a particularly malicious act, the French burned down most of the original pagoda after their defeat in 1955, but it was rebuilt after they left and it withstood the war with the U.S.

We stopped off for lunch at one of the many street side restaurants in Hanoi. There are three general types of establishments:

1) Western-style restaurant. Come in. Sit down. Order from a list of plenty of choices. You know the drill.

2) Vietnamese-style restaurant. Really low tables and chairs on the street. Or you can eat inside. A few choices on the menu, but in some cases, one choice.

3) Street-side restaurant or stall. Maybe a few low tables and chairs. There is a cook at a stall whipping up a few goodies. Take it to go, or eat at the tables. These places would get shut down by Food Inspectors in a heartbeat, but they serve tasty grub at rock bottom prices. If you don't mind getting sticky or an occasional bug or hair, I quote a fellow travel by saying, "yummo."

The place we ended up is of the #2 variety. It was packed. We passed through the throng of people sitting in front of the restaurant and climbed our way up 3 narrow flights of steps, navigating carefully past waitresses carrying huge trays of food and drink, and we landed on the top floor. The restaurant had two seats left, at the same table with a group of Vietnamese locals out for lunch. The hostess nudged them aside, and we sat down.

This was a bun cha restaurant, or grilled pork with vermicelli noodles. Our choices for lunch included bun cha, bun cha, bun cha, or bun cha. Oh, and we could order spring rolls if we wanted, which we did. It was delicious. They brought out a broth loaded with grilled pieces of pork (a little fatty) and oblong pork meatballs. The meatballs were not crunchy, so we were quite relieved. In between our bowls of soup and meat, the waitress placed four other plates. One contained greens including lettuce, basil, mint, and cilantro. One contained rice noodles, already cooked but cold (on purpose). One contained chopped garlic and sliced hot peppers. And the final one contained fish sauce. We loaded up all the goodies into the bowl of bun cha, grabbed our spring rolls, and dipped, ate, and slurped like champs. Outstanding.

After lunch, with full bellies and mouths still slightly on fire from the chilies (I put too much in…rookie), we went to the Hoa Lo prison, aka the Hanoi Hilton. This was the most intense experience of our trip thus far. 80% of the prison is dedicated to the period when the French ran the prison and incarcerated Vietnamese "revolutionaries." We walked through room after room containing images of guillotines, heads in baskets, women smashed against jail doors, and people in various stages of incarceration and torture. We saw the actual size of cells and mockups with life-sized sculptures of prisoners in shackles.

Near the end of our walk through the prison, we got to the section dedicated to the time the Americans spent there. A glass enclosure contained John McCain's flight suit and other paraphernalia recovered from his plane after it went down. Earlier in the day, we stood at an Air Force Memorial on the edge of the lake where John McCain's plane crashed, so it was interesting to see the story come full circle at the prison.

The walls and glass showcases contained pictures of our soldiers in various states, from when they were captured, to their time in prison, to when they were released. Needless to say, much of the text describing the artifacts had quite the pro-Vietnamese (or Anti-American) slant. They mentioned how many tons of bombs we dropped on them, alluded to the atrocities committed during the war, and displayed pictures of American soldiers during their days in the prison. Most simply showed the soldiers playing cards or engaging in sing-alongs with guitar in hand. See the photo album for a picture of a few of these exhibits.

It was a bit awkward to be in the museum in the presence of Vietnamese citizens, but it seemed that there were no ill feelings from them. We asked our guide about the mindset of the current Vietnamese population, and he said that they are looking forward and don't want to be mired down in the sorrows of the past. He said some of the older generation may not feel as positive towards Westerners, but that the young generation in particular has moved on.

It was pretty intense to see these pictures and know that not only were those our guys and they made it out alive, but that most of them are probably still alive and living in the USA right now. Picturing the times and getting wrapped up in the emotions, we felt drained after the visit to the prison. We decided to just make our way back to the hotel, reflect a bit, and prepare for a 3-day trip to Halong Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin.