January 19, 2016

After pancakes for breakfast we headed back out to the noise and chaos that is Hanoi. We had a lot to cross off the “must-see” list today and we were going to be doing a fair amount of walking. I wished I had bought my Garmin Vivofit today so that I could see how many kilometres we walked, but I really didn’t need to have it with me.

As we left our hotel, we saw two familiar bikes outside a hostel around the corner from us. Could it possibly be that we are in Hanoi at the same time as Scott and Sara and we found them in a population of over 10,000,00 people. We went into the hostel and asked at reception if Scott and Sara were staying there, I was just about to leave a message for them when they come around the corner from their breakfast room.

We met Scott and Sara on the Grand Adventure Part One on the ferry going over to Ireland in June 2014. They have been cycling across Europe and Asia since then, with a one year stop in China (teaching English) to replenish the funds.

Big hugs all around and a quick catch up of their trip and our trip and we arranged to meet for a beer later tonight. They have had an amazing journey if you are interested on how some people are crazy enough to cycle around the world you can check them out at www.longrodehome.com

We carried on with our walking tour of Hanoi. We headed out towards Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum. The traffic was chaotic and noisy and the pollution was particularly bad today, with the low cloud cover the smog just hung in the air.

Today we came across a few religious sites, Buddhist temples, Catholic churches, Confucsious and of course Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum!

St. Joseph Cathedral, built in 1886, we were not allowed inside which was a shame as you could see that there was some nice stained glass windows. You could only enter during Sunday mass and we will be on our mini cruise to Ha long Bay and Cat Ba Island.

We visited Ly Quoc Su Pagoda, which had a large bronze statue of Confuscious. It was recently restored in 1954 after it was destroyed during the French colonial time.

Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is a huge building holding his embalmed remains. Although he reportedly wanted a simple cremation his body is kept in a glass sarcophagus in this huge building.

The gardens in this area are lovely, but unfortunately we were not allowed into this area.

Adjacent to the Mausoleum is the One Pillar Pagoda. The One Pillar Pagoda was originally built by the Emperor Ly Thai Tong who ruled from 1028 to 1054. According to the annals, the heirless emperor dreamed that he met Quan The Am Bo Tat, the Goddess of Mercy, who handed him a male child. Ly Thai Tong then married a young peasant girl and had a son and heir by her. As a way of expressing his gratitude for this event, he constructed a pagoda here in 1049.

I didn’t go into the Pagoda as I was wearing a skirt that showed my knees. I asked a guide if I would be allowed in as there was a sign that said no shorts. He indicated that I could, but it would be better if my legs were covered. Out of respect I let Ralf go in on his own.

We walked past the Museum of Literature and were thinking of going in to explore the grounds, but I was getting really hungry.

We found a nice little café for lunch and had a nice omelet baguette. Then continued on to find Hoa Lo Prison nicknamed the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ by US Pows.

At one point during the tour I thought we were in the wrong place as the prison mostly depicts the stories of the Vietnamese peoples struggles against the French. There was even a guillotine on display!

There were only two rooms dedicated to the American POWs and they were looked after very well !! The site is considerably smaller than it was during the 1940s to 1970s. Opposite the Maison Central they have built a large office and shopping complex called the Hanoi Towers.

That was the end of the walking tour of Hanoi, we were going to head down to Trang Street and have some ice-cream, but I was getting very tired and I thought it was closer to 5:00 than it was. I suggested we head back to the hotel and get ready to meet Scott and Sara. When we got back to the hotel, it was only 3:30. Ralf headed back out to walk around the lake again to take the pictures that he lost yesterday. I wrote the blog and relaxed after doing a little bit of washing.

The Lake we walked around yesterday is called Hoan Kiem Lake. Legend claims in the mid-15th century Heaven sent Emperor Ly Thai To a magical sword, which he used to drive the Chinese from Vietnam. After the war a giant golden turtle grabbed the sword and disappeared into the depths of this lake to restore the sword to its divine owners, inspiring the name Ho Hoan Kiem (Lake of the Restored Sword). I am not sure there is anything living in this lake, the water is a strange murky green colour.

The bridge connects to Ngoc Son Temple, meaning \’Temple of the Jade Mountain\’, Hanoi\’s most visited temple sits on a small island in the northern part of Hoan Kiem Lake. We didn’t go into the temple yesterday but walked across the bridge. The temple is dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao (who defeated the Mongols in the 13th century), La To (patron saint of physicians) and the scholar Van Xuong

We met up with Scott and Sara and their traveling companion, Nick who also cycled from England and worked for a year in China. Another cyclist joined us (Josh) who recently arrived in Vietnam, he is going to be working a year as an English teacher and then will continue cycling.

We will try and get together again before we leave Hanoi.  Sara, Scott and Nick were cycling to their couchsurfing host tonight, he was home after 8:00 p.m. So after a great chat they headed out.