Vietnam & Angkor Wat (Oct 2013) - Part 2

Read Part 1

After I was kicked out of the Temple of Literature because it was almost lunch time, I decided to head towards the Old Citadel.  Near the flag tower you will find the Army Museum, and by the way most of ticket prices are super cheap to get into these places, around one or two dollars.



In the Army Museum you can see some of the artifacts left behind by the French and American during the wars.  Curious fact, in Vietnam the Vietnam War is called the American War. In this place you will see planes, tanks, bombs and other related items.  You can tell the Vietnamese are very proud of the fact they have kicked out a couple of foreign powers from their land.

The flag tower and cool and you can access it from the museum, and I must admit I really like the Vietnamese flag, very simple and strong at the same time. I do not know the meaning behind the colours or the star, but I can assume it is related to the type of society they build after the wars, and the yellow star I imagine it means the different parts of the society representing one country. Then again you can always google and find out the actual story right? I just like to romanticize the idea behind this beautiful flag.  The Old Citadel is also another place you must visit, and give yourself some time because it is a big area.  Once again I found myself in the middle of tons of recent university graduates with their traditional colourful dresses.

Once I finished visiting those places I decided it was time to go back to the hotel, and on my way back I did walk by big boulevards near the government buildings, and please pay attention to the guards, because sometimes you are not allowed to take pictures of some buildings.  When you finally hit the small narrow streets of the old quarter this is where the city really comes alive.  It is just crazy and fascinating at the same time, you are not only avoiding been hit by a crazy vespa driver, but also you must quickly get used to the almost non existing personal space.  The market is full of colours,   flavours and people everywhere. I saw fruits I hadn't seen in years, and I had to stop many times at different corners just observing the non existing laws of driving in Hanoi.

The following day, after having Pho for breakfast at the hotel, I decided to walk towards the Tran Quoc Pagoda located in the West Lake of the city. I must admit the pagoda looked bigger in the map than what it actually is, nevertheless it was a good way to start the day because I got to see other areas of the city I probably wouldn't haven seen if I had take a taxi or something.

Ladies and gentlemen, when visiting religious places make sure to dress accordingly, during my trip I saw people been turned away because they were showing too much cleavage or shoulders, more in Cambodia than in Vietnam.

Walking south I found what I assume is the the embassy area of Hanoi, tons of beautiful French style big houses and buildings around the Botanical Gardens, until you finally hit the Presidential Palace, oh my that building is just beautiful and very yellow.  You feel somehow gravitating towards this place until you look south and see the monstrosity of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  Alright maybe the Mausoleum is not that pretty, it is very square and imposing but not as beautiful as the Presidential Palace.

If you look to the left of the Presidential Palace you will find an entrance to the area, you might feel intimidated by the guards in the Palace, but do not worry and make sure to head toward this area, you will pay a fee and go thru security until you find yourself inside the Ho Chi Minh's vestige area.  Then you can walk towards the big square box in the middle of this huge park and take some pictures ... if you want of course.

Once you've done with this area you can go back towards the old quarters and stop by the Hanoi Hilton, the one where that famous American soldier (former presidential candidate) was held prisoner for a while.  My understanding is that the Hoa Lo Prison was a bigger place but most of the prison complex was demolished at the end of the century in order to build the Hanoi Central Tower. Personally this is one of the places you can leave out of your itinerary if you don't have too much time in your hands.

St. Joseph's Cathedral is another place to see, unfortunately this Neo-Gothic church, inspired in the original Notre Dame in Paris, is only open during mass. I did not want to go back so I had to satisfy my curiosity by checking the outside of the building.  Then I decided to walk all the way to the Opera House, another beautiful building modeled after Paris that is only accessible during showtime - I can tell you I tried to talk myself into the place but the girls did not fall for my charm, and instead I had to take my camera and visit the History Museum which is not far away from there.

Vietnam is still working on its Museum skills, there is a potential to eventually showcase their art, culture and everything else they want to show, slowly but surely they will get it right.

Around the Opera House area you will find more luxurious stores, and once I was done visiting this part of the city I decided to head to the famous Hoan Kiem Lake, where the Water Puppet Theater is located. Water puppetry is supposed to be one of the most Vietnamese cultural expression, and I was told it originated over a thousand of years ago. No, I did not see any of the puppet shows in Hanoi, the lake is beautiful and you cannot miss the Turtle Tower pagoda right in the middle of the lake. There is also another temple in the north part of the lake, where the puppet show occur, and around that area is also a very happening part of the city, then again anywhere near the old quarters can be considered busy.

If you are worried that you won't be connected while walking around, then you are going to be happy to hear wifi is pretty much available almost everywhere in Hanoi.  Just sit down on a bar/caffe/restaurant and the wifi password will be printed in their menus, or just ask them if you can have access to the wifi.

Another thing Vietnam can teach most of the countries in the world is about the universality of their electrical outlets.  I know you are already thinking you need to buy the adapter to plug your camera, telephone, iPod or what ever you need, and most of the outlets are ready to receive either your North American, European, South American type of plug.  Why can't all the electrical outlets of the world be like in Vietnam boys and girls?

Read Part 3

Vietnam & Angkor Wat (Oct 2013) - Part 1

Good morning Vietnam!!!!  If you asked me before I left to Vietnam why I was going there, my answer would had been "I have no idea".  I'm not sure if it was because I saw so many war movies, or it is because this country it is still a bit "hidden" from the rest of the world.  I was not really sure, but I knew I wanted to go, and this time I had the opportunity, the time and the will and here I'm already a week since my return to Montreal.

On my way to Vietnam I had  a two days layover in Los Angeles to visit my family, and it also helped to make my flight a bit shorter, and kudos to Asiana Airlines for providing the best experience possible in my first flight with them.  I was seating on flight to Hanoi from Seoul when I realized I didn't have my point and shot camera with me, I informed the flight attendant there was a possibility I had left it in my previous flight (LAX-INC) and without hesitation or questioning they sent someone to check the Boeing 747. Within 15 minutes an Asiana agent, apologetically informed me they did not find anything on the plane, and they gave me a phone number I could call in case someone had returned the camera to their lost and found department. The importance and attention to this matter was out of this world, and on top of that the flying experience was 9/10, I gave a 9 because the entertainment system could be improved.

Before departing to Vietnam some of my friends had mentioned there was no need to book hotels or domestic trips in advance, and I almost decided not to do it but because I was staying only for over 2 weeks I decided the stress of not finding a place to stay, or a flight was not worth it, and I booked everything while I was still in Canada. The good thing is you can always change hotels or flights with not much issues or penalties, and Tripadvisor was super helpful as usual in finding the best places to stay, and I also recommend Agoda while traveling in Asia. By the way, please do not think I've been paid by all those companies or brands I'm going to talk about in this review, but if you represent these companies and want to help a fellow traveller, donations are more than welcome.

Hanoi - October 26, 2013

Arrived in Hanoi in the evening and the first thing I noticed were the thousand of scooters in the streets of Hanoi, and how everyone just drove like crazy, and honked their horns for no reason whatsoever.

At the hotel (Elegance Hotels Group) I asked about getting a SIM card for my old Android phone and within 10 minutes they had delivered and activated one for my phone, I think it only costed me USD 5.00 plus another USD 3.00 to add extra data (3G) which lasted for the whole 2 weeks. It seems Viettel is one of the companies with better coverage in the country, and in case you are having issues in activating the 3G, just create a APN for their network.

Viettel

APN: v-internet

User Name for APN: (blank)

Password for APN: (blank) 

It was very helpful to have Google Map available at any time on my cell phone, not just to find the place I wanted to go to, but also to return to my hotel.  Although the Vietnamese language uses the Latin scrip in their writing, soon enough you will have trouble remembering the name of street you are looking for in your map.  Nevertheless just make sure to get lost a couple of times in the city, because this is when you are going to find gems not described in the travel books.

Cell phone in place, a brand new camera bought at the same price as what I would had paid in Canada, sunscreen and shorts and I was ready to explore what Hanoi had to offer.  The hotel gave me a map with the principal touristic points and why not follow their advise right?

The hotel was situated in the Old Quarter of the city, and pretty much at walking distance of everything you want to see, and this is exactly what I did.  I decided to stay for 3 days in Hanoi, which I believe is the ideal time frame if you start your trip in this city. The first day was pretty much half write off because I was still trying to adjust to the 12 hours difference with Montreal.

Hanoi is pretty, and I just loved the combination of French, feudal style streets and Vietnamese architecture, the colours were explosive specially the dark yellow ones, and the narrow streets everywhere gives this special charm to this place. Then you have the matter of learning how to cross the streets, the small ones are not that intimidating, now when you find yourself in those big intersections, and trust me you will find yourself in one of those sooner or later, that is another story.

In order to cross a street, first make sure to pay attention to the locals, and you will notice they just walk across like they own the place, and you cannot stop or hesitate because this is when accidents might occur.  You see, Hanoians have already added to their very advance driving algorithms the fact you are already walking across, the only issue is their formula does not take in consideration your potential hesitation - DO NOT STOP, just keep walking and Hanoian drivers will avoid you.



Soon you will notice the numerous outdoors restaurants/bars/etcetera everywhere, and specially in the Old Quarter area.  Just grab your small plastic chair, similar to the ones kids might have back home, and order your plat du jour - sometimes you will use English to communicate and sometimes your fingers. Someone told me if the restaurant has small plastic chairs it means is cheap, if they have bigger plastic chairs means it still affordable, if they have wood chairs it means prices are moving upward a bit, wood chairs with a cushion means open your wallet, and full cushion establishment then make sure to bring your credit card.

In my first day I decided to visit the Temple of Literature, one of the oldest architectural complex in Hanoi, and when you think about it this place was built over 1000 years ago, isn't that crazy?  Take that Europe ... fine, I know you guys have older buildings.

While visiting this complex is when it came to my mind how influential China, which used to rule these lands, have been in Vietnam. You see the Chinese style everywhere, the temples, the altars, the pagodas, urns, the gates and everything in a Vietnamese way.  I was also lucky to be in town in time for the university graduation, because there hundred and hundred of newly graduates walking in their traditional national customs called Ao dai (áo dài), which are worn mostly by women for different occasions.  Now imagine having tons of girls walking around the historical, touristic, and most beautiful areas of the city wearing different Ao dai - it was just beautiful.  The guys worn the more western traditional suit, and let me tell you something, even thought these people eat carbs for breakfast/lunch/dinner, they all look skinny ... so there goes the theory carbs make you fat right?

One thing you must pay attention is the opening hours of the places you want to visit, many times they are closed between the hours of 11:00am and 2:00pm, others are not.  Just make sure to check before starting your walk, and if the place happens to be close when you get there, I would use this as an excuse to explore the area, or just sit down in a cafe/bar/restaurant and enjoy the view.  You never know how many times you will start a conversation with a fellow traveller or local.

Read Part 2