Amanda Takes Off...

Well, Vietnam is NOT Korea, that's for sure.

Other than Hong Kong, which is a weird version of China, I've never been to a communist country before. Yesterday at the immigration checkpoint the officer gave me the slowest look I've ever gotten at immigration. I didn't dare smile.

Yesterday my memory card broke and just gave me error after error. Luckily, I found a photo shop and the man formatted my card for me for free. Thank you!

I wandered around, got my bearings a bit, had some delicious fruit shake and some Malaysian bun for 8,000 dong. That's less than 50 cents. I had a huge dish of I don't know what rice and some veggies and durian tea for 20,000 dong (about $1.20). The old couple eating at the restaurant was laughing at me since I obviously had no clue what I wanted, and I just laughed too.

I crashed last night, hard, at about 6 pm, woke up around 10 for two hours and then went back to bed.

I was up eating breakfast at 7 am this morning, which makes me feel (now, at 2:30 pm) as if I've done enough today.

Street in the Old Quarter, 7:30 am

I had breakfast then walked to a local lake and temple (enterance 3,000 dong). I then walked to the Hoa Lo Prison, better known as the Hanoi Hilton. That was an interesting site, though most of it has been torn down and a high rise is in its place. (Admission 5000 dong, about 30 cents.)

Hanoi Hilton

Hanoi Hilton
(That is glass in the concrete edges.)

Vase

I then walked over to the Temple of Literature (admission also 5000 dong), a beautiful, quite area. I ended up talking to a nice 23-year old Vietnamese man for about an hour. He wanted to practice his English for a job interview at the end of the month. I had a heck of a time getting him to understand that I live in Korea and my boyfriend is Korean.

He asked what I knew of Ho Chi Minh and I said not much. He made me promise I would go to the Ho Chi Minh museum to learn what the Vietnamese think of him.

I had lunch for $5 at a restaurant called KOTO (Know One, Teach One). They take street children and train them and educate them to give them better lives. I got a huge falafel and a can of Diet Coke for less than $5 and left the change.

I then took a waaaaaaaay overpriced cyclo ride back to my hostel. Fact is, I knew I was getting ripped off, but I am American and guess what, I do have money. I'm not going to haggle over $2 when a man is pushing my (relatively speaking) rich self around the scary streets of Hanoi using his leg power. It's not worth it.

Cyclo

Tonight may be a sitting on my butt, reading my bootleg books (bought at the prison for $12) or I may check out the water puppet show. Not sure. It's about 35 degrees and that's slowing me down.