#blemishedrecord

I didn’t time this trip to Hanoi with Reunification week, 5 days off for the citizens of Vietnam, but being here for it made all the difference. The fall of Saigon, which I am sure not everybody down south is completely celebrating, is marked by nightly shows of music consisting mainly of two words: Vietnam and Ho-Chi-Minh.

Alternating between kung-fu moves (including children wielding swords) and emotional songs sung with clips of Ho-Chi-Minh on screen, a full crowd got an injection of nationalism. It’s good to celebrate exploits; yes, but after reading the various descriptions in the museums here, I can only imagine what narrative about the countries biography is taught at schools. But history is a boring subject (when you’re in school), so I doubt it’s taken too seriously.

I got to visit several museums; Hanoi has many, but most are incoherent at best. One detailing the different ethnic groups in the country is modern; and has a bunch of artifacts plucked from the various tribes.

They also have moved ethnic homes to create a fun park outside...

...but not before completing it with this very soviet statue.

A show outside indicated that nowhere is safe from celebration. Always a good feeling when you’re touring around.

I started consulting tripadvisor for some good resturants, and reached this one. Smart phones have the capability of displaying maps without wifi, and then displaying you on that map, so it’s easy to just place a point on the map and then walk there, as a blue dot being directed the entire way. It can even tell you what direction you’re facing. So, I use this tool for just about every destination I go. Indispensible.

The Fine Art Museum with its art. It also housed rare artifacts as well.

Walking around Hanoi, you see many trees like this.

I then visited the War Museum, which details the struggles between both France and America. Most of the interesting things are outside; like helicopters and turrets. Puppet soldiers abound!

A jovial 60ish year old man from Australia (currently teaching in Hanoi) had made the trip to the museum and happily gave me a 15 minute history lesson on the Vietnam War, starting with, “Checking the newspaper, every day you’d read headlines like the Nepal earthquake,” he said happily.  

Lenin stands outside the museum in a park dedicated to himself.

I had the fortune to meet two chicks off couchsurfing. We went to the Hanoi Hilton, a jail built by the French and then used in the Vietnam war. Most of it has been demolished for luxury apartments, but what is standing contains some good description and standard jail accessories.

A good place to pose.

With plans to eat at a North Korean restaurant (Pyongyang chain), I wanted to have a great last final day in Hanoi. So, I visited Ho-Chi-Minh himself in the masoluem. It’s a family affair, the wait in line was two dehydrating hours.There is chatter up until the moment you step in the room, and then a complete silence falls as you quickly walk around the case where he is embalmed. I’m not sure what the purpose of displaying leaders like this is, (perhaps to show that they are still there? that they are god?) but it makes for a great tourist attraction and pilgrimage sight. Not the worst thing to have in your city, but certainly a little disturbing.

So then came Korea dinner. Speaking of reunification, there’s two countries that need to merge into one.

No pictures allowed at Pyongyang. The menu was too pricey, but we saw a lot of excited Korean businessmen head inside. I was happy to say hello in Korean to the North Korean waitress. You get a ton of food at korean resturants -- that’s what I learned. We had a couchsurfing party there, with me, a guy from New York, and a girl from London with three well-spoken Vietnamese girls. I paid $8 for one of the nicest meals I’ve had in 4 months, the average cost in America. Not bad.  

  This was the perfect ending to my trip. All that stood in my way from Korea was a good nights sleep at the hostel before leisurly heading to the airport to catch an awesomely timed afternoon flight. I set my alarm-- things were going to be a piece of cake.

So I arrived at the airport, went up to the ticket counter, and as a blank expression appeared on the cashier’s face for check in, a cringe was rumbling in the distance. I had made my first major mistake traveling. I have a lot of time to write this blog post because my plane departed at 1:45 am… this morning. When I saw the 1:45 on Vietjet’s ticket information, I simply assumed it was PM. She could have just printed out a ticket that said “You’re stupid” and handed it to me, because that’s how I felt. The next ticket is in 13 hours, and it cost me $210 after I already paid $140 the first time. I am really fortunate because if it was $400 in two days I would still be paying it, with my ferry booked in Korea to Japan and all of my plans lined up.

So after an entire trip of not losing a single thing outside of my $1 hat, not needing travelers insurance (which I never bought), not making any stupid errors, I have taken a hit. I’ll chalk it up to a “lesson learned” but in reality I just threw money and today in the garbage. No matter; hopefully I’ll catch up on some TV shows or at least just chill at the airport with wifi and AC. And hopefully never make this same mistake twice…. I have a lot of trips ahead of me. Right? Right?

Vietnam has been fun. In retrospect, the fun really got off to a slow start before hitting Hoi-An and that’s when I started meeting couchsurfers, seeing cooler stuff, and really starting to find a flow as a traveler. In contrast to Myanmar where I was itching to leave after a few bouts of illness which led me to fear the food, and in Thailand where I just felt like an aimless backpacker amongst every other aimless backpacker. Here, I could have stayed longer and I would have been happier. And indeed, I get a whole 10 hours to reflect on my time here…