Hanoi and Saigon

Randy, Mike and I spent our last day on our northern tour in Hanoi. We found our coffee shop, The Highlands (we think the coffee which is made locally is better than Starbucks), visited the tomb of Ho Chi Minh and spent time walking around Hanoi's, 36 ancient streets; a series of markets and restaurants. Our tour guide took us to a great little pub called Le Pub to sample a local Hanoi beer and have lunch. Our lunch included spaghetti and pizza, which was surprisingly delicious. We all enjoyed buying souvenirs and mingling with the local people. After dinner we headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Saigon and our hotel in Bien Hoa.

We got back to our hotel about 11:00 pm. Business is run much differently here and if you arrive at this hotel after hours, all the lights in the reception area are turned off. When the door opens, a man pops up from behind the desk where he has been sleeping in his t-shirt?! It's a bit startling and quite funny.

All of us slept in late and finally made our way into Saigon to visit the War Remnants or War Crimes Museum. This museum presents a Vietnamese perspective of the American, Chinese, and French wars. It is filled with very graphic and disturbing pictures and there are American fighter jets, helicopters and weapons in the courtyard.

We are off the celebrate the New Year at the beach and will check in later.