6/21/13 Hanoi
After waking up 2 times during the night (2 am and 4 am), I decided to get up around 8:30. I got a Skype call from Jed (yay!) around 8:45. I got dressed and went to the lobby for breakfast. I had eggs and lots of fruit. I overheard two British girls saying to another two girls that the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was closed today, along with a couple other museums. I decided to not even worry about making my way to those museums and instead catch a cab elsewhere.
I packed my bag and got it moved to my new room that I found out I was sharing with a girl from Norway named Kristine. Her stuff was already there but she had gone out for the day. I caught a cab outside the hotel that took me to Hoa Lo prison aka the "Hanoi Hilton." i learned a lot about the prisoners held there and how many of them were protestors. I learned the conditions were horrible, unlike the conditions for American pilots who were shot down and captured during the Vietnam war, including Senator John McCain.
I then caught a cab to the Temple of Literature. It is a beautiful place built a thousand years ago where scholars would come to study. There are beautiful gardens and pagodas and lots of Buddha statues. By the time I had walked around there for an hour, I was sweating so bad that it looked like I had gone swimming. The heat and humidity is like nothing I had ever felt before in my life.
The cab driver from before was nice enough to pick me up and take me to the "best museum in Hanoi" which was the Ethnology museum. He even waited for me without the meter on so I would have a ride to a restaurant for lunch. The museum was very interesting and taught me a lot about the different ethnicities, traditions and cultures that make up Vietnam.
The driver then took me to a cafe near Hoan Kiem lake. I ordered chicken with lemon sauce. Yum! It was funny to me to see that there were about 12 workers at the cafe but there were hardly any customers (3) and they all just stood around talking. I wonder how they make any money.
I then walked back to my hotel dodging crazy cars and motorcyclists. They are nuts! Nobody stays in lanes and everybody honks. I even saw toddlers riding on the back with no helmets! Cray Cray!
I tried to take a nap at my room but I was so stinky and hot so I decided to read instead. I later met Kristine. She is 24, from Norway and is going to study to be a special ed teacher.
I then went downstairs to meet the guide at 6 pm to go over paperwork, etc. His name is Chen and he's from Cambodia and has a good sense of humor. It turns out, I'm the only one joining the group of 16, most of which have been traveling together for almost 3 weeks already. I also got to meet a couple girls on the tour, one from Australia and one from the UK.
At 7, we all met in the lobby to go to dinner. Chen introduced me to everyone. I knew at that point I was going to be the weirdo new girl! :)
We ate at a great authentic Vietnamese restaurant. I had beef with lemongrass white rice. I got to meet a couple more in the group- Santi from San Diego and Rosie from the UK. I was hoping to go back to the hotel afterward but we ended up going to a bar. Everyone ordered drinks but me because I was too tired and jet lagged to drink. I then left by myself and headed back to the hotel which is right near the bar.

Tomorrow we get the morning to spend in Hanoi and then we fly out to Laos.
I would say it was a good day overall.

Until next time!