The journey to Hanoi was not as uneventful as one hopes when traveling. We knew it was going to be a long day when we discovered that Priority Pass does not have a lounge in the Da Nang domestic airport. These lounges have been our safety net. One thing for sure, two things for certain, we can take a breather from reality, relax in leather chairs, and munch on some food with a lower chance of getting sick than what we have been eating recently.
On the ride from the Da Nang hotel to the airport, our taxi driver was texting and driving the entire way. His eyes glanced back and forth from the phone to road, only pausing to smirk and giggle at what was written on the phone or to honk at motorbikes. We arrived safely at the airport, but statistically speaking, more harm is caused from text-driving than drink-driving so we are lucky to be alive!
It sounds snobbish, but sitting in the regular waiting area outside the gate has become a horrible experience. Unfortunately, we were subjected to the boredom and misery in Da Nang. For God's sake, they were selling frozen fish and seafood right next to the Toblerone!
The plane ride itself wasn't a long one, only an hour and change. However, due to the fact that the plane was full, Nadine took window, I took aisle, and we had a Vietnamese woman squeezed between us. By the time we landed, the woman was rocking back and forth, evidently dizzy and on the verge of yakking. She pointed towards my puke bag and asked if she could use it. By all means lady, please. I stood up in the walkway to avoid the splash zone, but Nadine had no choice but to suffer the horror by the window side. It was painful to watch.
Fast forward to our arrival at our hotel, called the Blue Hanoi Inn Hotel. The lady behind the front desk informed us that we did not have a reservation at her establishment, and perhaps we had booked at one of the other Blue Hanoi Inn Hotels in town...????....apparently there are five of them, with each named differently. This particular place was the Blue Hanoi Inn Legend Hotel, while we had booked at the Blue Hanoi Inn City Hotel. It was really unclear online, and when we typed the correct into the online taxi application commonly used in Southeast Asia, Grab, the Legend pops up, but the address of the City does not exist, thus how we ended up in the wrong location. We called the other branch of the hotel, but they said it was not their fault and refused to send a car to pick us up, but they would split the cost of the cab fare with us. It was a nice gesture, but they can't give us our time back, which is most important.
All of this made sense once explained to us, we suppose, but it really shouldn't be so difficult to book a hotel. Why do we need an explanation to begin with? We book a hotel, type in the hotel name on Google Maps or any taxi application, and show up. For these places, not only does the hotel not show up on the biggest taxi app in Vietnam, but the address is only in Vietnamese, so even if we tried to type it manually, it wouldn't show up.
The strangest part is that when we had called the night before to check the opening times of the gym, the woman who answered had given us the hours of operation. However, the number we called was the original place we went to, the Legend, which doesn't even have a gym. On top of that, there is only one website for all five locations. It was all very bizarre.
Along with the energy draining that occurs whilst traveling, the additional drama only contributed to what we knew wouldn't be a fun day to begin with.
To finish the day off strong, we walked down the road and ate some pretty terrible food. Nadine is convinced it was spam. I am confident it was expired rat meat.
On our second day, we woke up early to be one of the first people in line at the Chinese Visa Application Center so Ben could apply and hopefully receive his visa by the end of the week. We already had all over the necessary paperwork ready and prepared since we attempted once the application once already in Bangkok, but the offices were closed for inexplicable reasons. Fortunately, the process went smoothly and the forms were submitted. When we applied for our Chinese visas for our trip two years ago, the visa was only good for two years. Since then, Israel and China have agreed and signed on a 10 year Multiple Entry Visa Agreement, meaning this time Ben's visa wouldn't expire for nine more years, when his passport expires. Also, the price was half the cost in Vietnam as it was in the Israeli offices. It was Monday, and we were told the passport pick up would be in four business days, meaning by Friday we would be golden.
We hopped on a bus to spend the day in the city center. The bus had cup of soup bowls for hand holders!
We walk to a well known brunch joint, Lifted Coffee & Brunch, for a fusion Australian breakfast with Vietnamese spices. We split a pulled pork with two poached eggs, hollandaise sriracha sauce, spinach, and beetroot hummus accompanied with Vietnamese egg coffee. They literally mix egg yolk with the coffee. It was actually pretty decent.
After brunch, we walked to the Temple of the Jade Mountain on the Hoan Kiem Lake in the middle of Hanoi, or the Đền Ngọc Sơn in Vietnamese. There is a centuries old legend about enormous Yangtze soft-shelled turtles living in the bottom of the lake. In the 15th century, the legend says, a Vietnamese nationalist hero borrowed a magic sword, possibly from a dragon king, fought with it to drive out occupying Chinese forces, and returned it to a turtle that surfaced in Hoan Kiem Lake, the “Lake of the Returned Sword.”
In 1967 a fisherman murdered one of the turtles by hitting it with a crowbar. Its body was preserved and currently rests next to the Confucian temple on the island. Due to pollution in the lake, it is difficult for the turtles, or any other life form, to reside there.
In January 2016, the last known turtle was found dead. His name was Cu Rua, meaning Great-Grandfather Turtle. His weight was over 360 pounds, his age unknown, but definitely in its hundreds. Coincidentally, its death happened at the same time the Vietnamese Communist Party was deciding on new leadership. Cu Rua's death was perceived as a bad omen for the Party and the country as a whole.
One of the most famous landmarks in Hanoi is the terrifying Hanoi Train Street. In the middle of a residential neighborhood, twice a day, 15:00 and 19:00, a train passes through the narrow streets of the maze-like Old Quarter. It has turned into a tourist destination, with cafes on both sides of the tracks. At the entrance stands a police officer guarding a gate preventing pedestrians from entering. However, the coffee shop owners come and "persuade" the officer to let the foreigners in, with the hopes that they give that coffee shops some business. Again, everything is designed to extract money from varos from tourists.
During our city walk we ran into THE spider that would make all other spiders we ever saw seem like nothing. It was probably 3.5-4 inches long, probably a little bit smaller than one of Nadine's hands, but not by much.
After a quick stop at the Coconuteria for Nadine to get her coconut fix, we went to the Maison Centrale, known to American Vietnam War prisoners as the Hanoi Hilton.
Again, we were force fed Vietnamese propaganda. The entire exhibition is dedicated towards the mistreatment of Vietnamese prisoners at the hands of the French colonialist who imprisoned them. Inside of the prison, there is literally no mention whatsoever of American POWs who were tortured, beaten, and killed inside of the Hanoi Hilton. Only at the end of the museum is there a small back room which incorrectly portrays the treatment of the Americans as warm and pleasant. Pictures of soldiers receiving medical treatment and participating in sporting events covered the walls next to John McCain's flight suit and deployed parachute. It was rather amusing to read it all actually.
St. Joseph's Cathedral
We finished the day off with some Pho and a good night's sleep.
Nothing like open air meat for sale outside the hotel!
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