Vietnam - Adventures in Hanoi and beyond - Part 1
Vietnam - Adventures in Hanoi
Vietnam is a wonderful country, which a very chequered history.
10 years ago, I visited for the first time and spent 2 weeks exploring Hanoi in the north of the country and the beautiful areas surrounding Hanoi. I choose Hanoi as it was still relatively raw and tourism was only starting to take off on that area of Hanoi.
We joined a tour to be with others and to be able to really get down and dirty and explore some unusual parts of the country.
We landed in Hanoi airport in the middle of the night and were greeted by guards with machine guns!
After scrambling around trying to find a taxi, we paid $USD25 for one directly to our hotel. We got into this little buzz box and then waited at every turn to see if we were going to be robbed and left by the side of the road. It was the weirdest ride ever. Finally we arrived at our hotel, which was pleasantly nice!
Downtown Hanoi
The next day we went exploring by ourselves around downtown Hanoi and started bartering with the locals.
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From the crazy traffic and millions of motorcycles, to the pay-as-you-go squat toilets, it was something I hadn't experienced to that point in time.
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Hanoi Jail
The next day we met up with the tour group and headed to the Hanoi jail and some other points of interest. Hanoi Jail started it's life during the days of French occupation of Vietnam and was then used to house POW's during the Vietnam war many years later. It famously held John McCain after his plane was shot down during the Vietnam War.
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Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum
In one of the most striking building in the city lies the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh, the founding father of Communist Vietnam. You can enter the building and walk through his tomb, but beware, talking is strictly prohibited and the utmost respect is expected when you enter the building. The entrance is guarded by 2 fully armed soldiers and another 4 surround the tomb inside the building. It is definitely an experience to undertake if you ever visit the city.
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No pictures were allowed inside of the building of Ho Chi Minh.
This is the first in a series of posts on my trip to Vietnam. Stay tuned for Part 2....
Thanks for reading.
Went to Vietnam last year, Ho Chi Minh City. Lovely place and lots of nice food too. Want to visit Hanoi in future too!
actually pilipina with its many stories of tragedy stories and also many great postings
I love Vietnam . And thanks you share for Vietnam information .
Looks like a life-changing trip, the kind of travel that really opens your eyes. Enjoy it!
Ah, I remember this place!
Also you should tag this so it shows up on http://www.steemitworldmap.com/
Instructions here: https://steemit.com/travel/@steemitworldmap/steemit-worldmap
Ignore the punctuation and bold though. My Netherlands post looked like this:
!steemitworldmap 52.370216 lat 4.895168 long Come with me on a site seeing tour of the Netherlands while I eat all the desserts! D3SCR
Interesting place. Those toilets bring back bad memories :-)
Hey, my name is Nadine and I am new on steemit. Maybe you can check out my post as well and follow back, Thank you :-)
https://steemit.com/travel/@leo-tmp/a-wonderful-weekend-at-mon-jam-chiang-mai-my-travel-diary
I really love your post. Great!!!
@scooter77 And you enjoyed the toilet ?
How You Experienced the toiled ?
Great travel post and pictures. Keep Steeming! Looking forward to your next post.
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