Today is our last day in Vietnam and the last full day with the tour! Tomorrow 10 out of 16 people will be leaving us and we get 5 new members for the Laos and Thailand part.
Our day started by visiting HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM! It was extremely difficult to find the entrance since it is not right in front of the mausoleum! We walked for like 20 mins from where the taxi left us (right in front of the monument) and there was an unnecessary line and a very strict check point! Water and cameras were taken away... These people take this mausoleum very seriously! People can't laugh, or even smile! We all have to be very serious!
Every 15-20 minutes soldiers stop people from entering and march in front of the mausoleum, bring flowers and do this whole official thing!
The line to see Ho Chi Minh's body was long but it went really fast! Once inside there was only one thing to see... Dead Ho Chi Minh!... Creepy!!! We weren't allowed to even stop, we had to keep moving... To be honest it is a little strange that they preserved his body but I guess he is such a big part of Vietnam's history that some way or another they wanted to keep whatever they could!
After quickly going through the mausoleum we met up with some more people from the group and visited the one tower pagoda, which was indeed a one small tower!
We then made our way to VAN MIEU PAGODA where apparently some local people were having a graduation. The place was filled with locals and tourists! The funniest thing was seeing all the local girls wanting pictures with Lukas (a blonde and very tall Swiss guy). Some of the girls wouldn't even ask him to take a picture, they would simply put their arm around him and smile while another girl in front of them held a camera! Cheeese!!!
Lukas and one of his many fans
Before going to the HANOI HILTON (HOA LO PRISON) we stopped for lunch at one of the many street restaurants and had once again soup and spring rolls!
I believe that the best part of traveling is walking around towns and getting to see how people live, and here in Vietnam even stopping and staring at traffic is fascinating. I've said it before and will keep saying it... Traffic is insane!!! but somehow it works, people really adjust to the bad traffic, at motorbikes coming at you in the wrong direction, at all the honking! I think it gets to a point that all the street craziness is somehow mute in your head. Your brain adjusts to the sounds and somehow you are not a spectator anymore, you are no longer out of the circle, but you have become one of them (not really, but kind of) we have learned to not be afraid of crossing the streets or to eat at a dirty street stall.
On our way to the prison we saw a bunch of kids playing badminton and Lukas decided to join them, it was so cute and the kids loved it!
How people in Vietnam dry their clothes! And where they keep their birds!!!
Visiting the Hanoi Hilton was quite an experience! Hoa lo prison is known as "Hanoi Hilton" because they had many Americans as prisoners during the Vietnam War. The exposition made it seemed like Americans had a great time while being prisoners in Hanoi! I even saw a quote that said that Americans should be happy that they were prisoners of Vietnamese people! Most of the pictures showed Americans playing soccer, basketball,getting gifts from Vietnamese people but I highly doubt that there is much truth to that!
Once we finished with the prison we decided to go for a walk around town, we went to a couple of more pagodas, and walked to the main local market in Hanoi.
On our way to the market we stopped at a little street market selling seafood and vegetables. There I saw the saddest thing!! They were selling big fish and people can ask how much of the fish they want and they will cut it up right there. In one of the stalls there was a half fish still moving and blubbing!!! While I was in shock of seeing that the fish was still moving woman asked to buy a piece of the fish; the seller got the fish and cut it in half with a butcher knife and returned it to the stand! To my amazement the fish kept moving his fins and mouth! So sad! That's just another reason why I should definitely stop eating fish... It truly broke my heart!
We kept walking until we made it to their main market!!! Once there I experienced an even sadder moment that probably scarred me for life!
We entered the market by where they have the seafood and I noticed that to my right there were some cages that looked like they had turtles in them so I went that direction. The turtles looked very strange and I starred at them, it seemed like they had been taken out of the shell but I really couldn't figure out if that's what happened or if they were just softer Asian turtles. I looked up and right then a man started scrapping with a knife a turtle off its shell!!! There was blood and it sounded horrible!!! My first reaction was to cover my eyes, I jumped up and down, and started screaming "Is that a turtle?! Is that a turtle?" !!!! I think it was quite the scene but I was so sad and I couldn't believe it!!!! Even tears came down my eyes... Really... Who eats turtles?!?!? I immediately left the area and then noticed that three of my friends were still there looking at how they killed a turtle! Turtles are supposed to be pets not dinner!!! In Hawaii you can't even walk too close to turtles! I think there should be a line not to be crossed when it comes to killing animals... I can't believe people eat turtles :-(
I also saw a cage with frogs! I hate frogs! I scream every time it come near one so of course I screamed and got goose bumps but frogs are ok for people to eat since they are yucky, scary, and ugly! Haha
Turtles:
And here are some of the many food stands on the street:
Last night I had a hot soupy syrup made of ginger with two balls of sticky rice... Yumm
Tonight I went for their coconut milky kind of thing with coconut and some jelly-ish thing on them... Who knows what it is but tastes delicious :-)
Tonight we had our goodbye and welcome dinner. We have a couple, 2 girls, and a guy joining us! Unfortunately the guy (aka Mr. Waffle) never made since he missed his plane in Seoul.
After dinner the group decided to go for a drink but apparently drinks were too expensive the club for some people's budget so they ended up buying some alcohol and having a party in one of the rooms! Once they had enough to drink they went back to the club and danced... I went to bed! :-)
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