In an effort to cut short my extremely long summed up itinerary in the title, I have stuck strictly to the attractions that we had intentionally explored (only for the title). Also, as we covered much ground that day, I have split up the post into 2 parts.
Our first attraction for the day was Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It was the most "inconvenient" attraction due to its opening hours. It's only opened from 8.00 - 11.30 and is closed on Mondays & Fridays. Uncle Ho's embalmed body lays preserved in a cooled transparent coffin, in the centre of the mausoleum. It was unlike anything I had ever seen... instead of a gigantic statue made in honor of him, his actual body was there, right in front of my very eyes.
Frankly, I didn't expect it prior to visiting the mausoleum, and the experience itself was eye-opening, and refreshingly heart-felt. The fact that his body laid there, created this instant connection even though I'm not acquainted with him. Uncle Ho, if by now you're wondering why I'm calling Ho Chi Minh like the locals do, it's not because my non-existent Vietnamese blood cells have started to take over my body, and mind (because lotsa locals say I look Vietnamese, perhaps long long time ago I was of Vietnamese descendent?), but because of the instant and invisible connection I felt when I saw his body.
Before entering the mausoleum, we had to leave our bags at the entrance, and were told that no photography was allowed. There were loads of military guards all around the compound, and everyone had to walk in a straight line en route to see him. We were advised by Tina that morning that there was a dress code, and that no shorts/berms and slippers were allowed. Over there, while most adhered to the dress code, primarily because of the weather, but there were some who wore berms... but were still allowed to enter the premises.
Guess it's not that strict after all, but I suggest that you shouldn't take the chance.
The guards and staff guided the massive group of tourists in an orderly fashion. The mausoleum is situated in the central region of the compound, and even though no photography was allowed, we were allowed to bring along our important belongings with us, including our cameras. We discretely tried to take shots of the compound, but later realised it was perfectly alright to do so, just that we weren't allowed to take shots in the mausoleum itself.
The mausoleum stood in front (depending of the angle you see it) of this huge parade square, with the iconic country's flag beating proudly in the dry and piercing winds. It was very cold that day, around 11 degrees (actually 13) and the open area somehow created a very conducive condition for the winds to sweep across and spiral around the compound.
We finally managed to seek refuge from the winds once we entered the mausoleum. And it was very solemn, and silent in there. Before entering, the guards even told us to take our hands out of our pockets (which most of us [tourists] did cos of the cold) either cos of security, or respect. But after the guards said that, almost everyone of us put our hands to our side, and it was so formally awkward... as if we were marching still-ly into the mausoleum.
There were 2 levels in the mausoleum, with guards situated along the way to "pressure" the visitors, there wasn't much conversations made. Right after we climbed a flight of stairs, we entered his chamber. We could only walk around his coffin, about a good 2-3m square radius around him. 4 guards stood around his coffin, but unlike Singapore's Istana Provost Guards, they weren't standing that still.
Uncle Ho laid very still in his coffin (duh) illuminated with a soft glow of red light, and his skin looked very plasticy, almost like a waxed figure. I couldn't recall how he was dressed, or how his hands were put, because every second I was in the chamber, I just wanted to have a good and lasting impression of how he looked "real-life". Feelings of my beloved deceased grandfather flowed through me that moment...
The whole shebang of paying our respects to him lasted less than 20 seconds, but the queueing and walking took about 20 minutes. I was glad that to catch a glimpse of him, we didn't have to pay, which made the experience more genuine.
However, just nearby, was Ho Chi Minh's House, which of course, cost us to enter. In it were the usual yellow buildings, which came in all shapes and sizes (mostly of French architecture) and we came across this cosy courtyard with exhibits of Uncle Ho's vintage cars showcased behind a glass panel in one of the yellow buildings.
We also came across his study and his modest wooden house, which looked like kampong houses. Realising that we had to grab our belongings by 11am as informed by the entrance staff, we hurried through our sight-seeing. The Ho Chi Minh' house was opened in the afternoon, but the guards told us that we would not be able to re-enter the compound once we go out... no chop stamp on your hand or arm.
There was another part of the attraction, another route, the Mango road which we hadn't checked out. Not wanting to miss out on anything, we scampered to the route (we only had 10 mins), and did a very quick checking out of the place. We kinda ventured deeper in what looked like a mini-park, took a video and started running around to cover as much ground as we could, to the hum of the Rocky soundtrack.
We were running with such zest when we came upon a guard giving directions to a local (yeah right, think he was chi-honging and we caught him doing that!). He heard our scampering feet and asked us with a harsh tone, "Where are you going?" Judging from his tone, I realised we were at the out of bounds zone.
"We're looking for the mango road", I said, even though I know we already passed it.
He led us the way by pointing to the right, and it was only until we were 20 steps away from him, did he continue to chi-hong with the local girl. The mango road, was in fact, just an 80m pathway, which reaches a dead end, the out of bounds region.
Somehow, we ventured into the zone through a different way and there was no sign to tell us otherwise. It's actually a very common thing in Vietnam, the signs are not well placed to tell you where you can or can't go, but everything has to be orderly, solid, no randomness. That limited us in our exploration endeavours.
We made a dash for the entrance/exit and took back our belongings. We asked if we could re-enter, and thankfully the counter staff ok, mentioning "To see the One-Pillar Pagoda?" Which I answered yes without hesitation, truth is, I would have said yes to anything she said. "Want to see more trees?" "Yes" "Want to see toilet?" "Yes", "Yes" "Yes" (ok I'm being lame here).
I'm actually thankful for that, because there was indeed quite a couple of things we hadn't seen. There was also the Ho Chi Minh's Museum and the One Pillar Pagoda. Had to pay for the museum, so we gave it a miss, because my dear and I weren't fans of museums.
The One Pillar Pagoda, however, was well worth stopping by for. The pagoda is in the compound of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and it was also free to check it out. As the name suggest, it's erected by only 1 pillar, a very thick white one to clear the air, and there was a short flight of stairs leading to an altar of deities.
The temple-like structure of the pagoda, and that it modesty stood in the middle of what looked like nowhere (actually in the middle of a small pond), and the fact that it's free (not because I'm cheapskate, I don't mind paying but because it caters to the locals' needs and so wasn't seen as a money-leeching attraction) made the attraction stand out more than others, coincidentally, it literally is.
It was at that place that I was ripped off for my first time in Vietnam, where I paid close to 1 USD for both of us to use the Ve Sinh. I didn't know why I stupidly paid the devious toilet aunty but thought it wouldn't have cost that much after all. Actually she only asked me to pay for myself, but me not wanting to cheat her, paid for 2 persons, willingly. Ie. I was willingly cheated! @#$!%^&@*!@ Till this very day, I'm still extremely pissed about it, but have only myself to blame... who would have thought the place that I'll be conned would be at a toilet in Vietnam!!
I knew this was so when I found it weird that she went into the ladies, but did not continue to mend the counter. When my dear came out of the toilet, I started calculating and found something amiss... but it was only until a good 100 steps away that I realised... I overpaid!
I decided to let it go,which I shouldn't have because it still pisses me off now... and we took a Cyclo to our next destination, the Tran Quoc Pagoda @ West Lake. West Lake is just side by side to Truc Bach Lake, possibly the 2 biggest lakes in Hanoi, and is situated just north-west of the Old French Quarter (the lakes are north of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum).
We wanted to experience what it felt like to take the Cyclo, it's different from our Trishaws because the rider is at the back, giving us the perfect unblocked front view of the streets and scenery. My dear was quite freaked out by the safety, but realised that it was actually pretty safe considering the Cyclo is big, and a slow moving vehicle on the roads. As a matter of fact, it gives the passengers a better experience than if we were to be sitting in an enclosed vehicle. We came so near to the motorcyclists and baskets-carrying ladies (a common sight in Vietnam, where locals would carry 2 baskets, one at each end of a long pole which they would carry on their shoulders to sell/transport stuff) which reminded me of Samsui ladies.
The driver tried to "sell" us his service by recommending the Ethnology Museum (just 3km from the pagoda) but we/I declined firmly.
The pagoda was closed when we got there, but they had another afternoon shift of opening hours. We decided to check out the place. The lakes are just huge water bodies, with little boats on them, West Lake being way larger than Truc Bach Lake. There were 2 other attractions around the area we wanted to check out, based on the guide book my dear read, there was supposedly this statue of John McCain at the West Lake to commemorate his falling from the skies via a parachute after his plane was shot down... which also granted him a stay at Hanoi Hilton. The other "attraction" was this white boat which had a cafe on it, Highlands Coffe (as quoted from the guidebook, which I also read, Vietnam's "Starbucks Coffee" or maybe even better).
We went around searching for the white boat, and McCain's statue, only to realised we were looking for white elephants and sinking men. There was no sight of any of the above mentioned, the white boat could easily be explained by either a conversion of business to a residential compound (we saw what looked like a white boat but was private property) but as for McCain's statue, either Vietnam "returned" it to US or it was struck down by a greater force other than bullets...
Still, it was well worth checking out the vicinity because we came upon a seemingly outskirts and heartlandish street, but the best encounter we had, was.... *drum roll*.... COFFEE BEAN! While you might be wondering what's so good about it since Singapore has so many outlets, it serves cheaper and the best cheesecake I've ever eaten, The Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake!
I'm not a fan of cheesecakes, but the cheesecake has such a nice aromatic cheese taste to it, which didn't linger, wasn't too strong, and wasn't too "ni" when consumed in large portions. It was in tact when I sliced it with the side of my spoon, which most cheesecake would fail to achieve, and with each mouthful, the taste just keeps getting better.
On our way back to the pagoda, we grabbed a bite of the local Bobia. It tasted simple, and apart from looking like our mini-sized Popiah, it tasted nothing like it. There was sugar, coconut strands, sugarcane (I think) strips and sesame seeds in it. Even though it tasted rather sweet, I liked how the tastes of the ingredients all blended in together.
It was when we were about to reach the pagoda that we realised that we got the timing wrong! Because Vietnam's time is 1hr behind and we have been looking at Singapore's time all along, we had 1 more hour to spare. It was actually a good thing, gave us more time to look around... especially for the elusive white boat and the statue of McCain.
We did see a statue, but he looked nothing like McCain.
At one end of West Lake, there's a jetty which leads out to a few docked ships, which sold food. They kinda reminded me of Clarke Quay, and most of the cafes were not opened. I would think the entire place would come to life at night.. because the cafes felt more like pubs. There were loads of water plants, I think they were water hyacinth (I googled), which created a very nice scenic view of the place. Ironically, water hyacinths are actually the world's worst aquatic weeds, which normally infests rivers, lakes, dams and irrigation channels.
A pink building by the name of OPA YA stood out. I thought it looked like a brothel, but on closer look, found out that it was actually a Korean restaurant. Gave it a go, and we were the only customers there. The staff had difficulty speaking English, but there was a Korean speaking man, who was able to speak English, who took our orders. He told us that the restaurant only opened a day before!
The settings and ambience in the restaurant was very homely and cosy, and we were directed to sit at the 2nd lvl, where we had to seat on the floor with low tables (a bit like Japanese-style). We tried the Zha Jiang Mian, the Sushi and the Ricecake.
Overall, the food was decent, more on the delicious side... well worth what we spent! Later on, a group of local girls also ate at the restaurant, as well as a pair of German tourists. The 2 ladies were trying so hard to communicate with the staff, before we did the introduction on the staff's behalf (they should have paid us! ;p), and when finally the Korean guy came back up to intro the foods.
They were the first tourist acquaintances we made, and soon many to come during our trip there in Vietnam. Our Vietnam trip was the holiday (we went for 3 together so far, Taiwan, Cambodia and Vietnam) in which we made friends with the most number of tourists, spoke to tons of them, good and bad and which added a whole new dimension to our holiday experience.
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