Arriving in Hanoi was pretty intense as the road in to the city was full of a lot of trucks and buses and riding was not fun.  There were a few close calls and things were pretty high stress for the majority of the ride.  We decided to push through instead of stopping for breaks just to get it over with.

When we got to Hanoi, I checked into my Hostel and then headed to the train station to return my bike.  Initially the bike company I rented from said I could jsut drop it off at a partner shop in Hanoi, but it turns out they have a lot of bikes there right now so he asked me if I could bring it to the train station.  He gave me all of the instructions for what to do and it was pretty easy.  You just drop off your bike, provide some documentation and then they prepare it and put it on a train for you.  It cost 660k ($30 USD) dong to ship a bike to Saigon which I didn’t have to pay for because they do charge on delivery.  It was pretty easy but also sad as I had to say goodbye to the steed that had carried me 2400km through the streets, hills and rice paddies of Vietnam.  Truthfully, it was was kind of a relief because it meant no more long, wet riding days.

Upon returning the bike, I regrouped at the hostel and mt up with some people for a walk around town.  I had read about a few craft beer places and decided that I was going to splurge a little bit and get a few nice beers as it had been a while since I got to drink some “good” beer. We had amassed a decent size group of travellers but not many of them were interested in paying the premium for the better beer so at that point we split up.   We found a beer bar and I ordered an amber ale from Bartlett brewing which I believe is somewhere nearby.  We then went to C-Brewmaster which was right down the street.  Their production facility was nearby and this was their taproom.  I tried an IPA and it was ho hum.  I sampled many of their other beers but not many of them were very impressive.  Still better than the stuff available on the street, but a bit disappointing.  We attempted to find the rest of the crew but didn’t have any luck, so it was an earlyish bed time for me.  Turns out we couldn’t find the others because a bunch of them decided to go to a piercing place and have their nipples pierced.  Kind of glad I missed out on that particular activity.

Next morning I woke up and decided to do a run around the big lake.  I Google mapped it and it looked like the tip of the lake was about 6km away so figured I would do a 12-13km or so.  Directions were not straightforward and I ended up taking some interesting turns which added a significant ammount of millage.  By the end of the run I had clocked 19km and almost missed free breakfast, although they waited for me and gave it to me a bit late.  During that run I realized how hazy Hanoi is as you could barely see across the lake.  I also ran past the Turtle Lake brewery which I vowed to return to.

Not really sure what these guys were selling, but i can only guess it’s something like a fortune teller or good luck thing.

After showering, I headed out to the town to meet up with some people on the museum circuit.  It was around noon and most of the museums close between 11 and 2 so I was arriving in a less than ideal time frame.  We ended up getting a drink, some food and then walked around until the Temple of literature opened.  The B-52 museum was also closed during this time but they had a few items on display outside, including a crashed B-52, a MIF fighter jet and some missiles.  Was kind of cool reading the descriptions seeing the Americans as the enemy.  This made me a bit upset, that i had missed the war remnants museum in Saigon as everyone said that one was excellent.

The temple of literature was dedicated to Confucius and his teachings and was also one of the first universities.  The emperor established very difficult tests to pick his assistants and the names of each successful mandarin was listed on very old stone tablets.

By the time we had finished the temple of literature, the Ho Chi Minh museum was open and so we made our way over there.  It wasn’t before stumbling across the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam.

I didn’t realize that the mausoleum was only open in the morning so we went to the museum instead.  It was a bit of a strange museum as I thought I would learn about the life of president Ho Chi Minh.  Turns out there were two special exhibits and then more of an art exhibit which tried to represent things with art, although I didn’t really get it.  The one special exhibit was pretty cool as it talked about the survivors of the war and what they did afterwards.  The other was about the Russian revolution and Vietnams relationship with Russia.  I didn’t realize the Vietnamese looked up to the Russians so much.

After the museum we went to the actual cheap beer place which ended up being right beside out hostel.  Beer Ha Noi has a few locations and outside of the old quarter you can get a beer for about .25 although in the old quarter their was a tourist tax and it was 10,000 VND instead of 6,000 VND.

We weren’t really looking for food here but upon looking at the menu, I saw they had pigeon and I had never seen that before, so of course I had to get it.  I split it with one of the guys we were hanging out with so it was about $3.75 each.  The review is that it tasted very much like chicken but just smaller and less meaty.  It was an experience and I did get to eat the head, so there is that.

The next morning I got up early and went for a run to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum.  I had heard that they had a dress code but wanted to try to get in with my running clothes.  Turns out my shorts were too short and I got rejected.  I ran back to the hostel and was told that the water wasn’t working and that I would not be able to have a shower.  I contemplated just changing and going back, but decided to wait out the water as I was told it was being fixed.  They fixed it pretty quick and I changed and took an uber moto back to the mausoleum.  The Vietnamese obviously put a lot of pride and respect into this man and you could tell as they demanded respect going into his tomb.

No talking, no phones or photos and 2 single file lines as well as the aforementioned dress code.  They had formal guards dressed in white everywhere as well.  The mausoleum building is very large and upon entering you go up stairs to the final resting place.  When you walk in there are 4 guards surrounding a glass box which have a seemingly wax version of president Ho Chi Minh although some of the tour guides I heard talking are not convinced it is actually his body.  Apparently for 2 months of the year, the tomb is closed for visitation so that the Russian experts could work on the body. It was a little creepy but also kinda neat at the same time.  Obviously I have no photos of this but just imagine a wax figure of an old Vietnamese man and you pretty much can imagine what there was to see.

After seeing the tomb, I took an uber moto back to the hostel as I needed to find a post office to get stamps and send my first round of postcards.  Once the postcards were onwards to their destinations (MC, K Lee and Tosh they are on their way) I was supposed to meet a few people at a water puppet show.  The water puppets apparently date back to rural villages who used to perform the puppets in the flooded rice fields.  The artists perform behind a screen and their are rods that extend beyond the screen under the water.  The puppeteers then move levers on the puppets to activate a corresponding movement on the puppet above water.  It was very interesting to see.  Their were 14 acts which were basically a different set of puppets doing their thing on the stage for 3-5 minutes.  I’m really glad I got to see one before leaving as I didn’t know it was a thing when I was in Saigon to try and go to one there.

After the water puppet show I decided that I wanted to get back to the brewery I had seen on my long run.  It was a bit of a hike, but a pretty cheap uber moto ride got me there with little issues.

The brewery was still in it’s soft opening stage and had only been open for two weeks.  The owner and the brewmaster were both from San Diego and trying to make it in Vietnam.  The place was very nice and the tap list was impressive for only being 2 weeks old.  I tried the Imperial Red and the saison which were both pretty good.  I went to pay and realized that they didn’t accept credit card as I was trying to time the remainder of my cash for my departure the next day.  I luckily had enough to pay for the tab and went to order an uber to get me home.  When I attempted to order an uber, it told me there were none available.   There is a SE asia equivalent called grab that I had installed previously but was unable to add my credit card.  There is a cash option for payment in that app, but unfortunately I didn’t have any cash.  I had heard a few people down the bar talking earlier and assumed they were from the US and so I approached them and asked if I could Venmo them the money if I could borrow some cash.  They obliged and we got to talking so I sat down and had another beer with them (that they paid for and I e transferred back to them).  The one was a teacher at an american school and was living in Hanoi for 16 months.  The other two were visiting her and we had a great chat.  Eventually I was able to get an uber and I headed back to the hostel.

The final night was pretty tame but at one of the places we stopped, somehow we ended up with an extra 190,000 VND in our change.  The restaurant was adamant that we paid them and so we decided to go to a convenience store, buy as much beer with the money as we could and then head back to the hostel for some chill times.  I didn’t last very long and eventually headed up to bed pretty early.

Next morning, I woke up and went for an 11km run around a smaller lake and then split an Uber with Audrey and Scotty who were flying to Bali for a 1 month yoga retreat.  I had an extra 200,000 VND leftover and was worried I would not be able to spend it.  Turns out the airport was all NA prices and all I could get with the money leftover was a chicken sandwich and coke.  It solved my problem and I still had a few small bills for pops upon my return.  My flight was on time and I took off on a 45 minute flight to Laos!

The Garter on my head is from the wedding I attended the day before I left.  I told Angelique and Chris that i would take it around the world with me and take photos at various locations.  I had to rep my EBBR shirt in the picture as this is how we met!