Vietnam: Hanoi Pt 2

May 8: We’re in Hanoi! We did the first half of a free walking tour with the hostel! We wandered about the Old Quarter, got to visit a textile market, and then went to the oldest coffee shop in the city (from the 19^th century). Let me just say, egg coffee sounds odd but is delectable and 100% worth it; but you have to know where to go to find it (hidden through and behind a bag store, up a staircase, down a very dingy hallway). Essentially, they whip the egg white until it’s half meringue and then add it to your espresso. OM NOM NOM.

The traffic in the old quarter is NOTHING like Ho Chi Minh, so it is much more relaxed and easy to get around. 

May 9& 10: A 2 day, 1 night boat cruise around Halong Bay with Lemon Cruise, booked through Vietnam Backpackers Hostel but not a booze cruise. Unfortunately, I had a cold the entire time and missed the vast majority of activities, which included visiting a pearl farm, a floating village, and playing beach volleyball. In the evening, we went squid fishing and sang karaoke (of course), which was lovely and hilarious.

I really liked this cruise because there were only 17 of us, and Halong Bay is absolutely stunning. Plus, squid fishing is a totally weird and cool thing. I think we probably could have found a cheaper option, but I am so glad we did not do the booze cruise (everyone we met after Castaway was severely injured from drunk swimming with coral).

May 11: Day 1 of Mai Chau. A bus picked us up from the hostel at 8am and 7 of us drove 4 hours to the quaint and vast mountain valley of Mai Chau. We were taken to a homestay which involves several mattresses with mosquito nets in a bamboo huts on stilts! Lunch was ready almost immediately, and then we had siesta until our guide, Vin, picked us up for a bike tour. I absolutely LOVED it. We were biking through cute villages, stopping for coffee and to learn how to weave with a loom. 

We had dinner at the homestay, went for a short walk, and then went to bed early. All in all, this was a very wholesome trip with a great group of only 7 of us. And we only saw two other tourists! Thank goodness for fans. I thought I would die of heat, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

May 12: Day 2 of Mai Chau. We woke up early, had a delicious breakfast of fresh baguette (the bread here is SO soft and delicious) and fried eggs, and hopped on a bus to Pu Luong – an ecotourism hot spot. First, we stopped at a bamboo factory. Well, factory may not be the right description… at least, it’s not what I imagine when I think of a factory. There were definitely people in surgical masks cutting up bamboo with no other safety equipment whatsoever. These bits would then be divided to be milled/mulched into paper or cut down further into chopstick bundles. And bamboo is used for SO many things; essentially, if it's not made of bamboo, it's because bamboo doesn't work. 

We hiked about 10km through rice terraces, along mountain passes, and through bamboo forests. It was AMAZING. The coolest thing: seeing the clouds move through the mountains in a picturesque National Geographic setting. I am so grateful for the thunderstorms. For one, we managed to find cover when the rain got really bad, but then the humidity broke and it got cooler. Plus, we stopped for lunch as the storm was passing directly over us and it was incredible.

May 13: Day 3 of Mai Chau. Really, it was a morning. We hiked a little, all uphill this time, through a rainstorm, though we took shelter through the worst of it. We were picked up by a bus and taken to a small place to spend some time on little, individual bamboo rafts. Even the paddles were made of bamboo. It was really neat, though it would have been nice if we had somewhere to paddle to (as opposed to simply around the house).

We got back to the hostel around 5, had dinner and went to bed early because we were drained.

May 14: Back in Hanoi!

Unfortunately, I managed to somehow accidentally delete ALL of my pictures from Vietnam and am exceedingly upset with myself. I now refuse to delete the hidden stuff and when folders say that they have 0KB  of data, I do not believe it. 

My constipation finally abated. Let me say, being plugged up for 5 days PLUS period for 4 of them is officially terrible. Gotta stay regular, folks! It's important!! Thank goodness for mango and Vietnamese coffee... it's essentially espresso with sweetened condensed milk. I love it! Even Andy likes it, which is very strange because he is not a coffee drinker. 

After 5 days of activity, we opted for a down day. So we slept in, got some breakfast, and Andy read while I wrote. 

We went for lunch around 1, and we wandered to grab egg coffee again, and checked out the Temple of the Jade Mountain on Jade Island in the north of Sword Lake, in the middle of the city. To show respect and deference, shoulders must be covered - hence the scarf. It felt a little odd to be taking pictures inside the temple, so we didn't. 

May 15: I had a really hard day. We packed up all of our stuff and Andy went to the prison while I sobbed in a coffee shop. I felt incredible grief and despair from mother's day; I think likely from seeing all of the photos and appreciation on social media for the day. My second mom, my Aunt Steph, passed March 9 and the grief shows up in very interesting and surprising ways. She taught me that there is no right way to grieve, and it's okay for me to be simultaneously heartbroken and pissed and grateful.

Since all of my photos are deleted, Andy took several of the prison. See Hanoi pt 1 for my take on it. 
Notice in this picture how the prisoners are shackled but thin enough that they can get out. 

 The prison was once a HUGE compound, but now is about 1/4 of its size, with a giant skyscraper right beside it.

This is Andy's: 

"Okay, Hanoi Prison. It was remarkable in its portrayal of the atrocities committed in the prison, and the spirit of defiance in the prisoners. The prison was established by the French colonists as a place to put dangerous political prisoners that were rebelling against French authority. In its history it also became a prison for American pilots that were captured during the Vietnam War. These two sections of the prison’s history were clearly different, the French half and the American half.

In the French half, it was the tyrannical, draconian persecutors of the noble, resilient rebels; where it was due to the plucky few that despite hardships and risks to their lives they fought for Vietnam and its people. Plucky heroes defeat tyrannical empire. However, exhibits show that prisoners were allowed writing materials, embroidery materials, and more.

Contrast that with the American side, where all the faces in photos are smiling, playing games or resting. The exhibit notes comment on the benevolence that even despite the economic strain and the people wanting blood, all the prisoners were kept safe, happy, healthy and lived normal lives. Mail was sent out every Saturday so that the prisoners could communicate with their loved ones.

My rather immediate and continued belief is that the prison is so heavily biased; that it is as truthful an account of history as any gossip or rumour is. None of this excuses the atrocities that were undoubtedly committed against the Vietnamese by the French, nor does it excuse the American-documented atrocities committed against the Americans by the Vietnamese. My viewing of the prison is just that nobody wants to paint themselves in a bad light, and everyone wants to feel justified. And recording history in a way that it shines favourably on oneself is unfortunately all too common, and all too frustrating."

After the prison, we walked to the market to get snacks for the night bus to Phong Nha. Unfortunately, we both suffered from a bit of motion sickness, but we managed okay on the bus and actually got a little sleep before arriving in Phong Nha at 4am!