Vietnam 2014

Mar 1st, 2014 Flight from Raleigh to Hanoi via Atlanta and Seoul Korea.  Flight from Atlanta to Seoul was 15hrs on Korean Air.  Quite pleasant surprisingly.  A caucasian with black hair seemingly American and a bit too happy about life moved quickly to an open seat in the middle section, leaving Sital and I with our own row.  Off to a good start.  The Entertainment was adequate with modern movies playing in the seatbacks (current oscar nom's i.e. 12 years a slave mixed with old classics like Gone with the Wind.  The Korean stewardesses were excellent, presented with tight bunned hair, slik dresses, and wide flat faced smiles.  Never getting bullied off of a service first attitude.  Fastidiously checking the overhead storage doors and diligently managing the curtains between cabins to encourage the distributive use of lavatories, they're seemingly robotic in nature.  Contrasted against the lazy, attitude filled stewards of America's airspace, this was a boost and the first of many asian/caucasian contrasts we would experience along the way.

Arriving at the XXX hotel around 11:30p, we didn't have much appetite depsite it being 11:30a in America on the east coast.  We were picked up at the airport by a guide and driver contracted by Wide Eyed Tours to deliver us to the inner city.  We were told their names, but there's no way of remembering given the significant difference in letter combinations and pronunciations.  Even if I saw their names written down, I doubt I could hail them from across a room in an emergency.  Its just too foreign.  In any case, if we'd not had these escorts, we'd have to have managed by cab and wouldn't have gotten the "rules" for an American in Vietnam.  Our hotel was situated in seemingly the center of the city, between small grocerie stores, local restaurants, and tourist shops.  Every street looked the same from the sidewalk, not knowing what any of the signs mean.  Looking out the back of the hotel, it was apparent that there were apartments behind much of the street facade.   The bars on the windows indicated that we might be have been attacked prior to their installation, but I got no sense of danger along any of our adventures.

The weather here has been dreary.  We are visiting in the early spring XXX?? and light rain has followed us throughout.  We've not yet needed an umbrella, but have constantly been covered by a mist.
Day 2:  We had breakfast, and met our guide at 9 for a city tour.  We started with a Buddhist pagoda, moved through Ho Chi Minh's operations and burial ground and ended with a tour of the XXX of Literature.  After lunch we toured the Hanoi Prison where many of the captured American soldiers engaged in the battle against communism were held.  The tour ended with a water puppet show.

Ho Chi Minh Mosoleum

Changing of the guard

Ho Chi Minh's Car (a gift from the Russians)

Ho Chi Minh's Office where he studied the communist works of Marx and Lenin.

House built for Ho Chi Minh in 1959

Bunker where Ho Chi Minh hid when Nixon Bombed Hanoi.

Lunch was covered by the tour.  Soup starter followed by a plate of rice, grilled steak, and leeks.  Substitute grilled Tofu for the Vegetarian entree.

Lunch

 There are a lot of Mopeds in this town.  Definitely the preferred means of transport.  Hardly any Motorcycles.  Seems like there may be a restriction on size.  Perhaps its just not affordable to buy anything larger than a Moped.  The fact that everyone seems to have one and that they're all of about the same value, hints at the communist ideal of equality.

Mopeds outnumber cars by at least 10:1

 Of course the traffic is chaotic, but it seems to have fluidity to it.  Cars merge with Mopeds, bikes and pedestrians with everyone just getting out of the way of everyone else.  Its like a massive blob that deforms over time depending on the desired direction of the mass.

moped vs car

Panoramic view of d'town Hanoi