Socialist Republic Binders - Exploring Hanoi, Vietnam

We have spent the last few days in the buzzing, crazy, motorbike filled city of Hanoi, Vietnam. For a quick refresher, Hanoi is in Northern Vietnam which was the Communist part. Today, the entire country is a "Socialist Republic" as they have re-branded it... though in no way does it feel like some old school repressive Communist city. Capitalism is very much alive here. There is a constant buzz of movement all over Hanoi, and especially on the narrow streets, with a rush of motorbikes whirring in every direction. Crossing the streets is an adventure, we learned that you have to just GO and they will avoid hitting you. The last few days of exploring, trying the food, and going to museums has felt like we are inside a giant game of Frogger.

Motorbikes everywhere, going in every direction but somehow not colliding

Even the chickens aren't sure when to cross the road. I laughed at that for 5 mins.

The next day after our big night out, a little tired and hungover, we ventured out to explore the city. What we found out, one of the most fascinatting things to do in Hanoi  is just sit and watch the traffic. It's mesmerizing. I think we've seen like 2 stop lights, everything is just a constant flow. Cars, pedestrians, cabs, cyclos (like wheelchair taxis pushed by dudes on bikes), and of course motorbikes all constantly criss cross, using something related to the Jedi Force to slow down, speed up, swerve and dodge each other. We learned that staring at their front tire while maintaining a constant speed and direction is key. Don't look them in the eye, and confidence is everything. We found a rooftop cafe above the busiest intersection and posted up just to watch the action from above.

There are no lights at this 5 way intersection. We realized later this isnt even a lot of traffic.

Posting up on a rooftop, you can watch it for hours.

Pictures cant do it justice... They don't stop

View of Hanoi from our rooftop cafe

As for cultural stuff, the museums not only give you a destination to head to while dodging traffic, there is some very different and interesting stuff. Everyone told us to go the Ethnology Museum, which basically tells you about all the many cultures of Asia. Its more than just Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese... there are hundreds of ethnic groups, which we learned the answers to many important questions like: What do they live in? Huts. What do they put their stuff in? Baskets. In all seriousness it was interesting, but the most blog worthy thing there is the pic below. Cmon, you know you laughed.

In continuing the cultural and educational part of our day, we checked out the Temple of Literature, which is a 1,000 year old University where Confucius studied. We also went to the Hoa Lo Prison, aka the Hanoi Hilton where they kept the American pilots shot down and captured during the Vietnam War. The really interesting part is seeing how it is positioned from the Vietnamese, particularly the Northern Vietnamese, point of view. Essentially, the way they put it, they were just hanging out when the Americans decided to bomb all their schools and orphanages. They shot down hundreds of US planes because Uncle Ho inspired them to, and when they captured our future presidential candidates like John McCain, they fixed him all up and let all the guys have a fun Christmas dinner. Years later, American Presidents would come and shake hands and smile about all of it. Obviously, the truth is somewhere in between, but it was pretty fascinating and makes me want to learn a lot more about this time in history.

Hoa Lo Prison, built by the French to house all those Vietnamese who wanted their independence.

The American POWs having a blast during their stay at the Hanoi Hilton, playing basketball and just all round healthy fun. Could be a scene from Top Gun.

All smiles from the Americans there. Really enjoying being shown their Vietnamese propaganda films for the 5,000th time.

Seriously, looks like a blast to stay there.

We did a pretty rad street food tour today, and while I really want to post it, I am beat and we need to get up early to head to Ha Long Bay tomorrow. Actually, I need to get up at 5 am to watch the A's game before going to Ha Long Bay tomorrow. So, the street food tour will have to wait a few days. Can't wait to see Ha Long Bay, but what are the odds they have a satellite with the A's games or internet onboard?

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