Wanna Be Snobbery: Hanoi Day 2 - Markets, Prisons and Fish Sauce

I won't mention that there is only a 1 hour time difference between Singapore and Hanoi, but Kim and I pleaded jetlag and went to bed that night at 8:30pm. Unfortunately, Club Opera across the street had some sort of concert, and Kim was up listening to bad Ke$ha covers until 2:30am. Not me though, somehow this light sleeper was knocked out completely and I never heard a thing.

With one of us well rested, we headed out for a tour of the Old Quarter of Hanoi.

To me, the Vietnamese are a little bit different than other asian peoples in the surrounding countries. A little bit louder, a little bit more swagger, a little more in-your-face. Wouldn't you be, too, if you had kicked out the Chinese, the French, the Americans and McDonald's in the last 100 years?

There was a show going on near our hotel, something about reenactment how the capital of Vietnam was moved to Hanoi. Very colorful and well guarded.

And here's the turtle that brought the sword to Ly Thu To (see statue above), who took this as a sign that the place was blessed by god. "This turtle is not real..." our guide assured us. Thank goodness.

It was a Saturday, and this place was packed.

Overlooking the lake and the Turtle Pagoda.

Some street scenes from the Old Quarter (compliments of Kim)...

...which is a little chaotic.

The "cyclos" and motorcycles were ever-present...

A brief stop to stock up on DVDs (Dexter seasons 1-4 for $5!)...

And then browsing the local market for produce, bees included (something about virility).

I'd title this one "Old Meets New".

Yes, they really do still wear those pointy hats. They're only about a dollar if you want to buy one, but I didn't want to try and pack it in my suitcase.

Last stop of the tour was Hoa Lo prison, more commonly known as "The Hanoi Hilton". This is the site that the North Vietnamese used to house and imprison American servicemen - mostly pilots - during the Vietnam war. [By the way, it is known as "The American War" in these parts.] "Maison Centrale" means "central house" in French (the French originally built the prison), a traditional euphemism to denote prisons in France.

I have read about the interrogation, torture, miserable living conditions (poor food and highly unsanitary) and generally awful treatment of American soldiers, but I saw nothing of that documented here. Ninety percent of what is left of the prison is dedicated to showing how horribly the French treated the imprisoned Vietnamese when the French ran the show in the early 1900's.

You could seriously film a horror movie here.

Much ado was made about how wonderfully the Vietnamese treated the Americans, teaching them skills "every child should know" such as sweeping the yard and crafts. Every picture showed smiling, happy American soldiers relaxing, playing volleyball and giving thumbs up. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. There was also a whole hallway dedicated to the "millions" of Americans that had marched on Washington in solidarity with the North Vietnamese during the war. I'd like to check that figure.

After a long morning, I was looking forward to going from this:

To this:

I loved our French hotel.

Our last event of the day was a cooking lesson at the hotel. Every single dish had fish sauce in it.

And we got presents! Those extra long chop sticks that you use for cooking and a local peeler/shredder thing, among lots of other goodies to take home as souvenirs.