Hello Hanoi :)

We arrived to our hostel in Hanoi, the first hostel we've stayed in while in Vietnam.  Hostels are a great place for backpackers because it's cheap and you meet so many other travelers.  Because Marj and I are 2, it's been cheaper to get a room at a regular place.  We were in Hanoi for the actual holiday of Liberation Day and fearful everything would be booked, so we reserved space at a hostel a friend told us about.  It was worth it for many reasons: one being that it was very cheap, two being free beer at night and more importantly three, we got free breakfast with unlimited coffee.  Yes, please.  While waiting for our beds, we met all the other people staying there.  It was a fun morning of free breakfast, coffee comin' on the regs and good conversation with interesting people.

In Hanoi, all of the main sites are closed on Mondays and Fridays.  Guess what day we arrived? That's right, Monday.  We were really OK with this because we weren't in any state to navigate around the city to see the sights and also because there weren't many sights we cared to see.  We read that many of the historical museums were subjective and full of propaganda, as most we had gone to had a bit of, and by this time we were over it....not like we were ever actually into it but, you know.  It was a huge holiday and we thought Hanoi being the capitol, would have some cool cultural stuff and/or celebrations going on. Instead, the Liberation Day celebrations are similar to our Fourth of July in which everybody leaves the city to hit the beach.  Surprised, we decided to just walk around and soak up the feel of the city.  It was so much more relaxed and chill compared to crazy Saigon.  This could be because we were the only ones in the city!  Either way, it was a pretty and charming city.

We, of course, went on a mad search for food.  We passed a family eating tons of food on the table that looked vegetarian and I was curious.  I didn't do a full on stop, just a slow walk-by to get a good look at the food and they asked us to join them.  This was right after a man on the street got on his knees to super glue my janky sneakers that make me look like a poor person (my soles are, bit by bit, falling apart) without asking me. I continued to walk away telling him "no" and he crawled on his knees following me trying to stick his glue in my shoe.  Knowing nothing is for free anywhere, particularly in this country, I asked "free?"  Of course it wasn't but he continued to stick his glue in my soles.  I had to kick my feet away from him and continuously say "no" until he finally gave up.  This happened 4 more times throughout the day with their business tactic being "Oh my God, look at your shoes-terrible, terrible" and I was all like, "Stop talking shit about my shoes!".  So, after having experienced this, I was weary of this family asking us to join them, for free, as they handed over a piece of tofu.  We ate the tofu and I kept asking "how much?" because I didn't want to sit, eat with them and then have to pay an arm and a leg.  Good thing because after a minute of sitting there while they thought up a price, they said 60,000 dong ($3), which is a way overly priced meal here.  We laughed and carried on.  Marj and I got a good laugh wondering if we could continue walking through the streets to get free taste tests without ever paying for a meal.  Instead we got some good cheap street food for 10,000 dong ($0.50)

We spent the late afternoon at a nearby lake where tons of locals and foreigners alike were hanging out.  We read and wrote, I went for a run and was pleasantly surprised to see other Vietnamese runners.  There was lovely grass all around, but every public place we've been to with grass in Vietnam, has a sign stating you can't go on it - so let me get this straight: there's grass here but I can't sit/stand/roll around/lay/ run my toes through it? What? I know, it's crazy.  And maybe this is just because it's forbidden, but I've never wanted to run my toes through grass as badly as I want to here!  Vietnam has gained many points in my book, but sorry guys, gotta take away a point for this one :)

We had heard from our cool hostel mates that a visit to the prison museum was interesting and Marj felt if we went, it'd be like a tribute to our boys who served.  I'm def down with that. So, the following day we got some vegetarian food (we were told by Americans we met along the way this was the best veggie food they've ever had anywhere and after eating there, I feel a vegetarian obligation to take them out as there are so many restaurants that have better food - yet the food was still very good) and hit up the prison thing.

I went totally ignorant to what it all was, but learned it was a prison built by the French in the late 1800's (please don't quote me on this date) to enprison Vietnamese revolutionaries.  As I've written, Vietnamese were always controlled by others and revolutionizing against it.  In the early 1900's a large Revolution against the French went down and hundreds were prisoned here.  The museum showed awful treatment of the Vietnamese prisoners by the French, as most POW's are treated; not justifying it but making a general point that this, sadly, is common practice. Not enough food, poor hygiene leading to disease, etc. In 1954 when the French were finally kicked out, the prison was not used for anything.  Not until the Vietnamese reinstated it as a prison for American pilots.

The second part of the museum had videos, pictures and other propaganda showing how the Vietnamese treated the American prisoners.  Apparently everybody in the world treats POW's poorly, except for the Viet Cong who treated the American pilots like gold.  The prisoners were granted feasts, regular exercise, smoked cigarettes, drank beer, exchanged culture, played card games, had lavish Christmas celebrations, received letters and care packages from home, and even got to pull a few solid bong hits, all thanks to the Viet Cong army. Furthermore, so much was shared between the Viet Cong army and American "prisoners" that the "prisoners" finally recognized how awful they were, felt remorseful and guilty, and realized that America was wrong in the whole situation of the war.  This was all displayed via videos with vocals, pictures and various statements.  I walked away from this section because it clearly was BS to me.  The museum (aka the government) made this prison seem like vacation at the Hilton.  Ironically enough, that's exactly what American prisoners sarcastically called it: "The Hanoi Hilton".   You know, many mistakes were made throughout the war, on both accounts.  Both sides tortured, killed and destroyed lives. We all know that so just give me the honest truth, which I never felt I got 100% honesty at any of the museums here, and I could respect and appreciate that more.  Despite all of this, I am glad we went to see it to pay tribute to our boys and all of those, Vietnamese revolutionaries included, who sadly had to spend parts of their lives there.

With no holiday celebrations and a sudden thunderstorm, we spent the evening drinking free beer and rice wine.  Final outcome on the rice wine, drumroll please: it was better than Thailand's rice wine that is like rubbing alcohol on fire, but not as delicious as the Philippines or Cambodia's rice wine.  The next morning we were heading off to Halong Bay, a bay of islands that was written in the books as one of Vietnam's gems.  The only way to do it is with a tour-like visit.....that's just the way it's all been established.  Because of this, there are many scams and so we booked with the lovely Leo and Phung, the couple who owned the hostel.  We were told by hostel mates it was a good trip at the cheapest price.....we'd soon find out we were some of the few who made the right choice.