A day out in Hanoi

24-Mar-2018

One thing I did more often than others in the internship in Hanoi was simply relaxing in Trung Hoa, and taking in the city. I didn’t do as much in the way of travelling as some others, who by this point had already been to the likes of Cambodia, Saigon and Phu Quoc. I was content with some northern breaks such as Ha Long and a soon to be planned trip to Cat Ba. But before the latter, I decided to spend a Saturday in the Old Quarter to celebrate Rebecca’s birthday.

Rebecca was relatively young as interns went, so she wasn’t as jaded as I was to lame birthdays. I was actually happy to go along with a day trip to the city and celebrate. Interestingly it began with ticking off one of the must see tourist attractions in Hanoi, the infamous Hỏa Lò prison.

We headed in with an under the weather Niamh and explored the prison. I personally got excited seeing the front entrance and blocks as it reminded me of the multiplayer map from Black Ops 1. I was trying to find all the similarities the map had to the real thing. One thing I did notice was the flag tower prominently in the game map was not here, and instead at the nearby military history museum. Still, the prison itself had its fair share of colonial grimness. The prisoners shackles and generally cramped conditions didn’t showcase a pampered life for the inmates.

Some more notable attractions at the prison were John McCains air force uniform with parachute, and the infamous French guillotine (something that was prominent in the Black Ops map). It was all interesting and a strong introduction to what would turn out to be many colonial prisons and gravesites seen throughout my travels in Southeast Asia.

Niamh was calling it a day from feeling unwell so myself and Rebecca headed to Hoan Kiem lake to chill. We had snacks and coffees overlooking the cloudy lake and it was quite relaxing all things told. It was rare that I actually visited the city center during the day. Either I was busy with classes or only visiting there at night for drinks. So to see the turtle tower during the day with fountains and just casually strolling around the lake was a pleasant experience. Vietnamese couples were taking selfies, the post office had postcards and even the McDonald’s had a classier vibe than most. It was a great time.

Following that was a trip to the Unicorn Kafe. I admitted to feeling lost as the taxi winded through the streets and dropped us off by a really tall tower. It turned out to be near Truc Bach lake, but for all I knew it was a faraway district. We met Sobia and Ricardo. To best describe the cafe, it was ‘sugary sweet’, and I don’t just mean the cake! People would arrive and dress up in fluffy unicorn onesies while eating rainbow cakes. The cake was tasty, and the coffee inevitably sweet, but the whole thing felt a bit too sweet for my tastes. At least the others had fun. I was taken aback by Ricardo’s boasting about sexual conquests though. I hadn’t seen him since the CWD and he didn’t strike me as one to brag about bedding women, but there you go.

After feeling the sugar rush of too much cake, I headed back to House 5 and chilled for the rest of the day. It seems a Bia Hanoi can cure all your needs when it comes to food. Too sugary? Bia. Too spicy? Bia. Feel like you ate something living that’s still moving inside you? Thats right, Bia! (and then maybe a doctors trip after). This was one of my more chill weekends before going on some more adventures, I just didn’t know it yet…