Hello motorbike

Entry 8:

We began our Vietnam month-long journey in Hanoi, which sits at the northern end of the country. Hanoi is a bustling city with a noisy, dirty, and chaotic Old Quarter. The locals ride motorbikes, do not follow traffic rules, park on the sidewalks, and leave little room for pedestrians to coexist. All of this makes it a "real joy" for Sharon to guide Marc through the streets.

Our first priority was to find a place to stay. After seeing rooms at a couple of guesthouses, we stumbled upon the Sunshine II on Ma May Street. What a great name. After one night, we heard about another hotel nearby where you can get internet in your room. So we switched to the Prince II on 42B Hang Giay Street. (In Vietnam, many hotels have several locations; hence, the roman numerals after the names).

Next stop was lunch at a small cafe (69 Bar-Restaurant) where we had a wonderful meal of lemon-grass fish kabobs that was a do-it-yourself roll complete with rice paper, peanuts, bean sprouts, mint leaves, and the ever important fish sauce. Other memorable culinary experiences included the papaya salad and sweet and sour mushroom at Little Hanoi #9, the all vegetarian Western-style menu at Tamarind Cafe, and Hanoi's specialty dish fried table-side at the one and only Cha Ca La Vong. Check out the video. It's really good (fish cooked with dill and scallions with olive oil on a pan over a fire that's brought out to your table). You then put it in a bowl with rice noodles, peanuts, fish sauce, and mint leaves. The restaurant has no menu as it is the only dish they serve.

Sites we visited included:
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, which included a museum full of propaganda, and the stilt house where Uncle Ho resided on and off from 1958 to 1969. The mausoleum itself was off limits because it is closed from September to early December when his body is moved to Russia for maintenance. Sounds important.
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology; the Temple of Literature; the Hoa Lo Prison Museum where John McCain was tortured. Did you know he tried to commit suicide twice while imprisoned there? They don't mention THAT on the news...
Something that should not be missed is the Water Puppetry show. The stage is full of water where wooden puppets float on the surface while depicting agricultural life. This form of art was established by rice farmers 1000 years ago and was originally performed on rice paddies filled with water.