Frogger

From 10/19

We were woken up this morning by some lady singing. I think it was a recording of some type because after the song there a bunch of talking. Obviously we have no idea what the voice was saying, but it was blaring outside our room. Luckily it was only 10 minutes before we planned to get up, at 7:30. I think by the end of this trip we'll be getting up at 5am, I don't get it. 

We walked along the busy Old Quarter for awhile and grabbed breakfast at a cafe. We have realized a lot of the restaurants in the Lonely Planet book are no longer around. Our first breakfast choice was nowhere to be found. Regardless, we had a pleasant breakfast looking onto Saint Joseph's Cathedral. 

(View from our table)

It was weird seeing a Catholic (I think) cathedral amongst so many temples. It reminds me of Europe - cathedrals on every corner. We got to walk around and in it. It's funny the cathedral was built in the 1860's, which isn't even close to old here. We're looking at temples and structures that have been around since before the 1000's. It was still a beautiful place. 

(The Three Kings going to Jesus)

The next stop was Ly Quoc Su pagoda, which was originally built in 1131! A pagoda is similar to a temple but specific to Buddhism. A temple is a more general place to worship, it doesn't depend on the religion. 

It was a cool place with a lot of shrines. I have noticed the Buddhist people have a lot of respect for those that came before them (ancestors, or just great leaders). I'm sure there are watered down Buddhists just like there are Catholics, but it's cool to see how much respect people have for their elders. I feel like in the states a lot of young people don't have that same level of respect (I'm not excluding myself from that statement). 

We walked through a couple other pagodas and went across the bridge to the iconic Ngoc Son Temple. 

The temple was cool because it was on an island; there were cool, hundred year old trees around us and you can see lots of other important monuments. Most temples seem to be a dime a dozen for me, but this was extra special because it's on a quiet island away from the craziness. 

We crossed back to the busy city and headed to Hoa Lo Prison to learn! It was a very eerie place knowing how many people had been held there. It told stories dating back to the late 1800's. The museum took us from the time it was built all the way through the US-Vietnam war. Early on many people died in the prison because of the poor level of care they were given and the terrible food and water they were provided. Vietnamese were imprisoned here when fighting for their independence, and American pilots were imprisoned here after being shot down during air raids (including John McCain).

There were many different chambers, including solitary confinement. All prisoners had their feet shackled to the ground - you can kind of see it in the picture above. My main concern for them was not having a backrest - my shoulders would get so tired. 

It was also cool to hear Vietnam's side of things from the war, and to see pictures of how they treated the US pilots - it looked like they had an alright time aside from being held hostage (celebrated Christmas, played basketball, etc.).

We packed a lot into the morning so had to grab a late lunch at KOTO, a local nonprofit restaurant that also gives back. Not only do they have cooking classes for tourists, but they also provide career training for at-risk youth in the Hanoi area. They have a program that you can buy the work shoes for one of their students or a "brick", which funds one student's entire training. 

Also their food is really good. I got stir fried duck with rice and veggies. Yum. 

Full of food we hobbled to the Temple of Literature for my friend's graduation!

We actually just happened to be there at the same time but it was fun to take a picture of them. The Temple was larger then most with a lot of open areas to walk and breathe. I was expecting more of a library type setting, I don't know why, so I was slightly disappointed with the limited seating (I was apparently getting tired at that point).

(More examples of what was at the Temple of Literature)

Since we hadn't eaten in a couple minutes and it was hot out, we needed to get some green rice ice cream so we headed just south of Ho Hoan Kiem Lake. They don't have soft serve or what we typically think of as ice cream here, but this rice cream is good stuff. 

(We needed to eat a bit before taking the pic)

After refreshing ourselves we wandered around the area that's know for its Indochinese influence. The buildings were beautiful and have been around since the French have been in Hanoi. They have bright colors and intricate designs. 

I'm not always the best at describing things in detail so hopefully that helps a little bit. We also walked past the Hanoi Opera House, and as a past Student Painter, I was truly disappointed in their work. 

This was below the fence that surrounded the building! We're talking about an Opera House: fancy people spending lots of money to see and listen to Opera! They deserve better than this. All you need is some tape and drop clothes and it would look 100 times better. Other than that it was a beautiful building from the outside. 

We worked our way around and stopped to grab drinks at a place called Tadioto. They have your classic drinks but also things like a MAN on the GO (mango and rum). We played some cribbage and looked up dinner places. Honestly though, I'm getting a little sick of cribbage - I've lost 11 times and only won 4 times. It's never fun to lose. 

We picked a place called Quan Bia Minh from our Lonely Planet book and it turned out to be delicious. Honestly a cold beer on tap was amazing by itself, but the noodles were good too. These noodles aren't as good as the Thai noodles - they were more Ramony. I think it's just this restaurant but I'll keep you posted. The atmosphere was great - we had a nice spot on a second floor porch. The porch was blocked off by some fake ivy as well, so it allowed us to get away from the busy city. 

(Me trying to be artsy from our dinner table trough the fake ivy)

Literally so tired at this point and it probably wasn't any later than 8:30-9pm. We had a street food tour set up for the next morning so we knew we wanted to get back somewhat soon, but also wanted to find this Vietnam government propaganda store. We saw it the first night and marked it on our map, but couldn't find it anywhere. 

Exhausted from the day (if I haven't made that clear yet) we headed back and passed out. I didn't write a thing in the blog so this is all a day late. 

The Old Quarter is this crazy busy area that has alleys and little pockets of who-knows-what all over the place. You have to walk fast or you'll get run over, but when you get these little peaks in the alleys it looks like they go forever. We haven't ventured into those alleys yet, and not sure if we will. Honestly they could be people's homes, I don't know. We have a tour with a guy tomorrow so well ask him about everything, but Ha Noi is wild! Love it. 

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."

- Henry Miller