Ho Chi Minh Complex, Hoa Lu and Tam Coc

I feel so bad for not writing while so much has been going on!

Saturday morning Dung came to pick me up to head to the Ho Chi Minh Complex. Now I thought that he was going to pick me up and we were going to walk there, but oh no no no...this is Hanoi, and how do most people travel in Hanoi? By motorbike. So yep, he came by to pick me up on a motorbike (aka xe om) he borrowed from his cousin. He handed me a helmet and off we went through the streets of Hanoi squeezing through the tight traffic. You haven't lived until your knees slightly graze the side of a bus while moving at 35 miles an hour.
We stood on line with about 200 other people waiting to enter Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. While everyone is waiting in line there was a procession of war veterans and their mothers, then another of the congress and once that is over everyone is allowed inside. We had to move quickly in single file around a wax or plastic re-creation of Ho Chi Minh's laying body inside a clear box. If you weren't moving fast enough a guard would prod you to move faster around the tomb. His actual body is buried somewhere outside of Hanoi in his birthplace. Dung had never been to the complex before so it was also very interesting for him. I love having him around because he is very eager to translate everything and helps me understand the history of Vietnam.
Afterwards we saw Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts that he lived in for 15 years during the war. Then we moved onto the Ho Chi Minh museum. It was actually a very beautiful museum filled with lots of pictures of Ho Chi Minh and his effort to help the country fight against French imperialism, and many art installations symbolizing the strength of the Vietnamese people. What I thought was so ironic was that in the lobby of the museum they sold French pastries and coca cola. How does that work? On one hand here is a museum detailing the hard work of Ho Chi Minh and his followers, but then on the other hand were the fruits of French and American imperialism. Oh well.
After a quick snack, Dung took me to get a cell phone. I bought the most simple phone I could possibly find and a one hour card for about $40.00. I thought this transaction would take forever, but it only took 10 minutes and we were done! We didn't really have too much else that we wanted or needed to do, so Dung took me on a ride all around Hanoi! It was both exhilarating and frightening at the same time.
He returned me to my hotel because he had to go to work and I spent the rest of the day in my room on my laptop and watching television. I needed a day to just veg out and let my body relax because I feel like I have been constantly moving since I have been in Vietnam.

On Sunday I took another all day trip through my hotel to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc in the Ninh Binh province. I met an English girl who is working in Vietnam as a doctor. She is doing a sort of internship here focusing primarily on infectious diseases. It was nice to finally talk to someone who spoke fluent and clear English and to be able to discuss concerns and thoughts about Hanoi and Vietnamese culture. There was also an older American woman who was only staying in Vietnam for a few days to secure some sort of Public Health study abroad program between Boston University and a university in Hanoi. I was so excited to meet her because that is the sort of thing I would like to do as a career. She gave me a few contacts to get in touch with to see if I could discuss their programs with them and possibly volunteer. Most study abroad programs in Vietnam are located in Ho Chi Minh City, so that could be a problem, but I will see what I can do.

Hoa Lu (pronounced: Hwa Loo) is the ancient capital of Vietnam. There were several temples dedicated to the Kings that ruled Vietnam. Our tour guide was not extremely effective - he just let us wander around the area and did not explain too much. It was death hot. I have never felt such heat and humidity like this before - it was almost unbearable.
After our short visit to Hoa Lu we headed to Tam Coc, known as the Halong Bay in the rice paddies. We traveled by boat down a river surrounded by mountains and through a few grottoes. I shared my boat with the older American woman, so we had a chance to talk about our lives and our impressions of Vietnam. I attempted to have a conversation in Vietnamese with our rower. I asked him how to say what we were doing. He said, "Chum ta dang di thuyen" which is "We are going by boat." Slowly, slowly I am picking up the language. He tried to ask me to marry him and bring him to America in Vietnamese, but I didn't quite understand so he asked a rower in another boat who spoke better English to ask me. I knew this would happen at least once while I was here. Very funny.
On the way back to Hanoi it finally started to rain. This has really made it so much cooler and bearable to be outside. Since then, for the past few days, it has been raining lightly on and off.

Pictures from the trip...