Hanoi and Area

Me and Nika spent five days in Hanoi, including a one day trip to nearby Nihn Binh. Unfortunately, Hanoi was freezing. most rooms in our price range were not equipped with heating, so we spent a couple extra dollars for a room with a space heater, which I managed with, but still was cold for Nika. WE still had a good time though. The main highlight of Hanoi is just walking around its bustling old quarter, trying to dodge the constant traffic while you eat and window shop.

The other two highlights for me were the water puppet theatre and the Ho Chi Mihn Complex. The water puppet theatre is quite different from anything I'd seen, and not really what I envisioned with the limited description I had read before viewing it. The puppetteers stand behind a screen, and the puppet show takes place over a pool of water meant to resemble the rice paddies where they originally take place. The puppets are controlled with sticks hidden under the water and controlled from behind the screen. THe show is very colourful and enjoyable, as is the accompanying traditional Vietnamese music.

At the Ho Chi Mihn Complex, it was interesting to observe the reverence for Ho Chi Mihn by the Vietnamese. His tomb had the highest security of any location I have so far visited in Vietnam, and is directly surrounded by 6 sentinel gaurds. The majority of tourists are Vietnamese. The Ho Chi Mihn museum's exhibits were also worth visiting. They were not very infromative; most did not explain much, or just consisted of sample documents passed between either the Veitnamese or their embassies. However, there were many modernish art exhibits to signify different parts of Vietnamese history, or their aspirations, and viewed as an art gallary, it was enjoyable. Most of the art's meanings went over my head though :-).

On our second last day in Hanoi, we took a day trip to the limestone caves of Nihn Bihn. They are like Halong Bay, but the caves themselves are not nearly as impressive. However, there weer relatively few tourists, and instead of staying on a big boat, you paddle through the rice paddies to reach the limestone Karsts containing the caves, so the voyage to the caves was better than Halong bay. The rowers get tired after working all day, so often substitute their feet for their hands when rowing.

From Hanoi,we caught a surprisingly comfortable (comfortable enough to actually get a good sleep on) night train to Hue.