Well today we set out to do the city a little bit. Being Hanoi, there is really more “city” things to do than “fun” things. Museums, buildings, theatre, shopping, etc etc…
We got some free bikes from the hostel, and armed with what has got to be the best free map we have received so far on the trip, we headed off to find the Museum of History, and the Museum of Revolution. They were close to each other, and they seemed like good ones to check out. Now keep in mind… these roads are not like roads back home. There are thousands of scooters and motorbikes weaving all over the road, buses, taxis, just a big jumble of what looks like (from the sidewalk) chaos. The slight apprehension of using the bikes wore off quickly as you realize once you are a part of the chaos, it all makes sense. Crossing roads ended up being the hardest part, and even that we were pretty much masters at by the time we hit the museum.
They were decent… interesting perspective on their history in the Revolution Museum compared to what we see so often in Hollywood movies. The Museum of History was pretty much what you would expect in a museum.
After we hit the water puppet theater (another gem from The Amazing Race.) It was confusing to get in, but it all worked out and we got to see the show from front row seats. It was pretty funny to watch, and well worth the time, even if we were the only ones in the theater under the age of 50.
Heading out, we weren’t really ready to get back on the bikes, thinking about food and exploring the streets in the area (we were in the “core” of Hanoi.) Hanoi doesn’t have markets so much as streets relegated to specific items. Shoe street, shirt street, metal street, toy street etc. And when I say street, I don’t mean block… it is a HUGE length of shops, both sides of the street, on and on as far as you can see. We stumbled on a travel agent and booked a trip for Halong Bay leaving the next day because the price was roughly half of what was being sold elsewhere. After Jen went and bought some shoes, we grabbed some dinner, bought some pineapple, and had a snack over by a lake. It was dark at this point, and the small island, pagoda, bridge were all lit up with lights, and having it all right in the middle of the busiest part of the city was really neat to see.
We rode back, got a little bit off track, and then figured out the way back and relinquished our handy bikes back to reception. After spending a bit of time checking out the hostel amenities we figured we could probably eat a bit more and went off hunting. Everything closes down in Hanoi around 10:30 and it was a lot of walking and not a lot of eating. Places only offering coffee, places saying they were closed because no one spoke English enough to answer us… eventually we were able to find (essentially) street food at one of the restaurants that just spills into the sidewalk from a small storefront.
Back to the hostel and it was time to rest for our 3 day 2 night excursion to Halong Bay.