Crazy Hanoi

We're back! We've been touring North Vietnam for the past week, and are so glad to be back in Hong Kong. It was a whirlwind of a trip. We spent our time in Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Sapa. I'll break my blog posts down by each city, even though we spent the beginning and end of our trip in Hanoi.

Hanoi is CRAZY. It's a bustling city that never seems to quiet down. 3.7 million people live in Hanoi...in the Charlotte metro area, there is 1.7 million (just to give you an idea). Think of Charlotte with no traffic laws, no stop-signs, no stop-lights, and no laws for pedestrians. That is Hanoi. 

It's busy, noisy, and dirty. You literally take your life in your hands just when crossing the street. I did get hit by a motorbike...only once though. We arrived in Hanoi the evening of March 31st, so walked around the Old Quarter for a bit. 

We visited the Ngoc Son Temple. 

Watched local men having game time.

Saw the shoe district (No, I didn't buy one single pair!)

Walked around Hoan Kiem Lake. 

And took in the many sights of the city.

We went to dinner that evening, and then headed out in the morning to Halong Bay. On the back-end of our trip, we spent one more day in Hanoi. We took a night train back from Sapa to Hanoi, so our day started early. It was a rainy day in Hanoi, but we were off to tackle the muddy, noisy, smelly, noisy, muddy, noisy, smelly, noisy streets. Again. We were the FIRST ones in line to see Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. 

The mausoleum was the most organized part of the whole city. There were guards everywhere, and they didn't take their eyes off us when we saw Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body. Michael put his hands behind his back, only to quickly be scolded by the guard. 

We saw Ho Chi Minh's used car collection (I'm serious), some of the homes he lived in, and a museum dedicated to him.

I was about all Ho Chi Minh'd out, so we went to the Hoa Lo Prison. This is commonly known as the "Hanoi Hilton", and was the prison where John McCain was kept as a POW. 

On the cab ride to the prison we got duped $25. The taxi driver gave us fake money. How kind of him....another reason we were glad to leave Hanoi. 

After the prison, we visited the Opera House, and walked through many of the art galleries. We bought a beautiful piece from a Vietnamese artist. We love it. The picture doesn't do it much justice, but it's of a minority woman (the Red Dzao), whom we visited in Sapa. 

Hanoi wasn't my favorite place. I told Michael I would NEVER move here. I think we were both in agreement. I can't wait to tell you more about Halong Bay and Sapa. I took over 800 pictures, so bear with me as it may take a few days to update my blog. 

xx,

Lauren