Monday, 11 January 2010
Lilly's Highlights & Recommendations # 10 (Himeji/Hiroshima/Miyajima, Japan)
This top 5 is a bit of a cheat as it incorporates 3 destinations,
which makes it very easy! Itinerary: half day trip to Himeji Castle, a
day in Hiroshima and an evening and half day on Miyajima Island.
which makes it very easy! Itinerary: half day trip to Himeji Castle, a
day in Hiroshima and an evening and half day on Miyajima Island.
1. Miyajima island (off Hiroshima) - this was an amazing experience for
two main reasons. The island itself has lots of great sites. The main
one is Itsukushima temple, but my highlight was the Daisho-in temple,
which is stunning. It has many religious and architectural influences,
so it has unusual buildings and colourful shrines at every turn.
Photos to follow. We also went on the cable car to the top of Mt.
Misun. Shame about the fog!
The second highlight of the stay was a night in a Ryokan, which is a
traditional Japanese hotel. When you arrive the room only has a low
table with complimentary green tea and cakes (maple leaf cake - a
speciality of the region; not only for Canada!) Once you have bathed
in the traditional soak bath and donned your kimono you are served a
classic Japanese dinner (amazing sashimi!) During dinner your bed
(mattress directly on the floor but amazingly comfortable) is laid
out. The whole experience is governed by very strict rules handed down
generation by generation (eg. no shoes indoors, no slippers on the
tatami (straw mats on the bedroom floor), kimono folded left over
right) but was all the more fun for it. Would recommend the Mojimi-so
ryokan, run by a very friendly Japanese gran!
2. Hejimi castle - stunning views of this castle (12th to 17th
century) as you approach from the station. Beautifully preserved. A
breathtaking glimpse into the Samurai world (despite 'The Last
Samurai' and Tom Cruise's attempts to ruin it!)
3. A-bomb dome - the highlight of the numerous A-bomb memorials in
Hiroshima. Because this building (originally a 1910s industrial expo
centre) was almost immediately under the blast the structure survived,
but only as a skeleton. It is beautiful in a sad way and poignant as a
reminder of both destruction but also in contrast to the new buildings
around it; life ultimately winning out over death.
The A-bomb dome is just across the river from the peace park, which
includes some other interesting stuff. The main memorial to the dead
is tastefully done and worth a visit and the Children's memorial is
the most attractive (covered in colourful cranes -a symbol of peace in
Hiroshima) of the many memorials to individual groups affected.
The Museum is not everything it could be and is more school text book
than world class museum but is interesting enough and is worth a visit
to see the affects of radiation on a large collection of normal
household objects. We also went to a couple of art museums
(Prefectural & Contemporary). The collections are ok. Occasional A-
bomb inspired pieces make them worth a visit.
4. Okonomiyaki - this is a Hiroshima speciality. It is a savoury
layered pancake filled with the fillings of your choice. The one I had
was filled with cabbage, pork, bean sprouts, udon noodles and topped
with egg and Okonmiyaki sauce. It is prepared in the kitchen and then
cooked on a hot grill on your table. Not for the calorie conscious but
absolutely delicious!
5. Bullet trains - clean, fast, spacious (corridors and legroom) and
unbelievably punctual. The buffet trolley staff and the ticket
collectors bow when they come into the carriages. A real pleasure to
travel on. Took me flawlessly to Kyoto where I am writing this blog.....
Amazing Japan Awesome Tour Part 2
After Himeji, it's back on the bullet train to Hiroshima where we wander round the Peace Park. This is centred around a domed building which somehow largely survived the explosion of Little Boy in 1945, when most of the surrounding area was flattened, and they have determined to preserve the building in this state in perpetuity (many other damaged buildings were demolished and built over in the years following the war). Its now-skeletal dome is an effective symbol.
A lot of this area is set up to be an anti-nuclear-weapons demonstration by showing the effects of the bomb. It's generally tasteful and effective. As well as their efforts to document everyone who died in the bomb here, almost every imaginable group seems to get their own monument here - children, students, Koreans brought here as forced labour, etc.
We also walked past the castle - flattened by the bomb but entirely rebuilt - and went to a couple of museums. My favourite exhibit was by a guy called Yoshimura Yoshio - google his newspaper self-portraits (I haven't had chance to do this) - individually they're a fun curiosity but a huge wall of them was very impressive (especially the large ones where he has hand-written every word of text).
Then we took a ferry to the beautiful island of Miyajima, which was a real highlight. It is famous for its large red torii gate which rises up out of the sea just off shore, and the similarly red Itsukushima Shrine, which sits on stilts by the shore. The torii is beautiful when lit up at night and (presumably) on sunny days.
We got here in the evening and stayed in a traditional Japanese ryokan where we were the only guests. Not cheap but a lovely place (with deer wandering past outside) and an interesting semi-authentic experience (complete with ticking-off from the mama-san for not wanting seafood on my menu - "On Miyajima, everything is fishes!").
The nearby Daishoin Temple is a beautiful complex of buildings nearby, apparently less visited. This is a don't-miss too, with many treasures in terms of style, detail and sheer hard work - such as a room whose roof is covered with lanterns, another containing hundreds if not thousands of six-inch-tall carved wooden figures, or just the beautifully cast and painted metal cylinders on the side of staircases for the devout to run their hands over and spin.
We finished by taking a cable-car up Mt Misen and walking the 1-hour circuit at the top, with a few shrines and natural curios. The views would be stunning on a clear day - ours was a bit misty - but still a nice hike.
Next: Kyoto!
A lot of this area is set up to be an anti-nuclear-weapons demonstration by showing the effects of the bomb. It's generally tasteful and effective. As well as their efforts to document everyone who died in the bomb here, almost every imaginable group seems to get their own monument here - children, students, Koreans brought here as forced labour, etc.
We also walked past the castle - flattened by the bomb but entirely rebuilt - and went to a couple of museums. My favourite exhibit was by a guy called Yoshimura Yoshio - google his newspaper self-portraits (I haven't had chance to do this) - individually they're a fun curiosity but a huge wall of them was very impressive (especially the large ones where he has hand-written every word of text).
Then we took a ferry to the beautiful island of Miyajima, which was a real highlight. It is famous for its large red torii gate which rises up out of the sea just off shore, and the similarly red Itsukushima Shrine, which sits on stilts by the shore. The torii is beautiful when lit up at night and (presumably) on sunny days.
We got here in the evening and stayed in a traditional Japanese ryokan where we were the only guests. Not cheap but a lovely place (with deer wandering past outside) and an interesting semi-authentic experience (complete with ticking-off from the mama-san for not wanting seafood on my menu - "On Miyajima, everything is fishes!").
The nearby Daishoin Temple is a beautiful complex of buildings nearby, apparently less visited. This is a don't-miss too, with many treasures in terms of style, detail and sheer hard work - such as a room whose roof is covered with lanterns, another containing hundreds if not thousands of six-inch-tall carved wooden figures, or just the beautifully cast and painted metal cylinders on the side of staircases for the devout to run their hands over and spin.
We finished by taking a cable-car up Mt Misen and walking the 1-hour circuit at the top, with a few shrines and natural curios. The views would be stunning on a clear day - ours was a bit misty - but still a nice hike.
Next: Kyoto!
Super Japan Awesome Tour (Part 1)
Early start for the bullet train to Himeji (this must be about 700+ km and we do it in under 4 hours - and this is not even the fastest bullet train).
It fairly whizzes along and we get a great view of Mount Fuji on the way, followed by a snowy area (or a picture of England?), but the crisp, sunny weather catches up with us at Himeji.
There's only one reason to come here but it's a very good one: the most beautiful of Japan's feudal castles, as briefly featured in You Only Live Twice and a shamefully bad samurai film with Tom Cruise that I won't name. I'm not sure how extensive the restoration is, but it's stunning.
When you go inside, you have to take your shoes off and carry them in a plastic bag! They give you slippers to wear, which are a bit treacherous up six storeys.
We also wandered around the neighbouring gardens, which are pleasant but possibly best viewed in a season with a few flowers. Having said that, there was a tiny hint of unseasonal cherry blossom at the castle:
We're using a rail pass and passing Himeji anyway, but it would be worth the trip on its own.
Tokyo
We've just spent 4 days in Tokyo and jumped on a bullet train for a week's whistle-stop tour of Japan - we'll be back to Tokyo for 2 or 3 days before we leave.
What a contrast from Vietnam. Everything seems new and efficient*, nobody tries to sell you anything... Just as well, because it's expensive in any terms! It's a real modern metropolis and paradise for a committed city-dweller and shopper like Lilly.
* Having said that, the straw for my carton of orange juice is too short and has fallen inside the carton, so they still have things to improve.
Part of the attraction of Tokyo is just wandering, rather than just ticking off lists of sights... or so Lilly told me as she explained which region she wanted to shop in next. Like LA, Tokyo is often described as a range of mini-tropolises*, and it's easy to hop between them on the metro with our handy Pasmo cards (just like London's Oyster, although various lines are run by different companies and some of the interchanges are very large). We braved the heart of the famous rush hour yesterday... and got seats on every train. Maybe we were going contra-flow, but I think Tokyo-ites should try the Northern line sometime. One of the interchanges was very busy but it had nothing on King's Cross or Victoria. As seasoned tube-travellers, this has been a breeze. (Um, apart from the time we got separated when a door closed quicker than I expected. Shush, you're undermining my point.)
* I've made that word up but it's often described in similar terms.
I really like the Japanese aesthetic so it's a treat to see temples and shrines dotted around - although we've picked a bad time to visit as two of the best temples had their facades entirely covered for renovation (and a few museums are closed for a few days to change exhibition - hopefully we'll catch up with these when we get back).
The Imperial Palace has lovely grounds - a fairly sparse look, with tarmaced roads, but still powerful and elegant. Very enjoyable, and the watchtowers along the moat give a good idea.
(Though as Lilly says, we went to a bit of trouble to get a tour of the inner grounds - normally one or other of us would find something good in this but the extra buildings are fairly dull, apart from a better view of a tower that you can see from the public gardens. Don't bother.)
Speaking of things that are difficult to book... Studio Ghibli - known to us for animated films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke and near-legendary in Japan - has a custom-built museum, one of the most charming I've ever been to. A great deal of thought has been put into every exhibit. There is a small cinema showing an exclusive short film (a new one each year, I think, ours said (c)2010 - in Japanese but all we missed was some narration, the story was perfectly clear) - as an example of nice touches, the ticket is a little filmstrip with 3 frames from a Ghibli film, for you to keep. Sadly no photos are allowed inside but they do have a great robot on the roof:
The trip was worth it just for their amazing three-dimensional zoetrope. A big tree with bats, catbuses, mice and other assorted creates forming circles around it (about 30 bats in a circle, 30 catbuses in a circle, etc) starts to spin, they turn on a strobe light so that you are seeing individual "frames" rather than a blue of movement, and the creatures come alive and start to move, and you realise that the 30 bats are 30 different poses of the same bat that together form movement... I cannot describe how impressive this is. I've never seen anything like it. [Edit to add: we later saw Pixar's version, inspired by this - video here: http://paulandlilly.blogspot.com/2010/01/hong-kong-phoolery.html.] (We could also have spent a fortune in the shop... without buying very much, since it was not cheap! Just as well we have limited baggage space.)
The only problem with Ghibli is getting tickets! You can buy them from an authorised agent in some countries including England but not as far in advance as we would have needed to (and, um, I forgot to check this anyway before setting off). In Japan you have to buy a ticket in advance from a machine in a Lawson convenience store (we saw 2 of these in 10-minute taxi ride to our hotel but it then took us 2 days to find one on foot). And the machine is entirely in Japanese. Fortunately I had been to the Ghibli website and noted which buttons to push in sequence. We were ready to cross our fingers and hope this was right until we got to the payment page and our cards weren't suitable. Help!
The Japanese seem a very friendly folk and do by reputation hop to the assistance of foolish gaijin so we tried looking helpless and confused for a minute. Nobody leapt to our assistance. Eventually I tried speaking to a woman browsing magazines next to us, who did not speak any English but lived up to reputation by being incredibly helpful even though I could only say "Konnishiwa [hello]" and "Ghibli?". It transpires you can pay at the counter but only if you put in a phone number and international numbers are too long... Eventually she put her own number in! What a sweetie. I hope nobody rings her... Anyway, it was well worth the trouble.
The one downside about Japan is that food is a little more difficult, mainly since you can't tell what's in things. (Buns tend to be booby-trapped. They also have a prediliction for deep-frying.) some menus have a little English, many do not. But a common way to order here is from a photo menu with no text at all, or even by pointing to plastic models of the dishes in the window. So you have to hope that the photo/model is good enough to identify key ingredients (and, in my case, avoid obstacles like fish and tofu). It's hard work.
Statue under a bridge in Tokyo
What a contrast from Vietnam. Everything seems new and efficient*, nobody tries to sell you anything... Just as well, because it's expensive in any terms! It's a real modern metropolis and paradise for a committed city-dweller and shopper like Lilly.
* Having said that, the straw for my carton of orange juice is too short and has fallen inside the carton, so they still have things to improve.
Part of the attraction of Tokyo is just wandering, rather than just ticking off lists of sights... or so Lilly told me as she explained which region she wanted to shop in next. Like LA, Tokyo is often described as a range of mini-tropolises*, and it's easy to hop between them on the metro with our handy Pasmo cards (just like London's Oyster, although various lines are run by different companies and some of the interchanges are very large). We braved the heart of the famous rush hour yesterday... and got seats on every train. Maybe we were going contra-flow, but I think Tokyo-ites should try the Northern line sometime. One of the interchanges was very busy but it had nothing on King's Cross or Victoria. As seasoned tube-travellers, this has been a breeze. (Um, apart from the time we got separated when a door closed quicker than I expected. Shush, you're undermining my point.)
* I've made that word up but it's often described in similar terms.
I really like the Japanese aesthetic so it's a treat to see temples and shrines dotted around - although we've picked a bad time to visit as two of the best temples had their facades entirely covered for renovation (and a few museums are closed for a few days to change exhibition - hopefully we'll catch up with these when we get back).
The Imperial Palace has lovely grounds - a fairly sparse look, with tarmaced roads, but still powerful and elegant. Very enjoyable, and the watchtowers along the moat give a good idea.
(Though as Lilly says, we went to a bit of trouble to get a tour of the inner grounds - normally one or other of us would find something good in this but the extra buildings are fairly dull, apart from a better view of a tower that you can see from the public gardens. Don't bother.)
Speaking of things that are difficult to book... Studio Ghibli - known to us for animated films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke and near-legendary in Japan - has a custom-built museum, one of the most charming I've ever been to. A great deal of thought has been put into every exhibit. There is a small cinema showing an exclusive short film (a new one each year, I think, ours said (c)2010 - in Japanese but all we missed was some narration, the story was perfectly clear) - as an example of nice touches, the ticket is a little filmstrip with 3 frames from a Ghibli film, for you to keep. Sadly no photos are allowed inside but they do have a great robot on the roof:
The trip was worth it just for their amazing three-dimensional zoetrope. A big tree with bats, catbuses, mice and other assorted creates forming circles around it (about 30 bats in a circle, 30 catbuses in a circle, etc) starts to spin, they turn on a strobe light so that you are seeing individual "frames" rather than a blue of movement, and the creatures come alive and start to move, and you realise that the 30 bats are 30 different poses of the same bat that together form movement... I cannot describe how impressive this is. I've never seen anything like it. [Edit to add: we later saw Pixar's version, inspired by this - video here: http://paulandlilly.blogspot.com/2010/01/hong-kong-phoolery.html.] (We could also have spent a fortune in the shop... without buying very much, since it was not cheap! Just as well we have limited baggage space.)
The only problem with Ghibli is getting tickets! You can buy them from an authorised agent in some countries including England but not as far in advance as we would have needed to (and, um, I forgot to check this anyway before setting off). In Japan you have to buy a ticket in advance from a machine in a Lawson convenience store (we saw 2 of these in 10-minute taxi ride to our hotel but it then took us 2 days to find one on foot). And the machine is entirely in Japanese. Fortunately I had been to the Ghibli website and noted which buttons to push in sequence. We were ready to cross our fingers and hope this was right until we got to the payment page and our cards weren't suitable. Help!
The Japanese seem a very friendly folk and do by reputation hop to the assistance of foolish gaijin so we tried looking helpless and confused for a minute. Nobody leapt to our assistance. Eventually I tried speaking to a woman browsing magazines next to us, who did not speak any English but lived up to reputation by being incredibly helpful even though I could only say "Konnishiwa [hello]" and "Ghibli?". It transpires you can pay at the counter but only if you put in a phone number and international numbers are too long... Eventually she put her own number in! What a sweetie. I hope nobody rings her... Anyway, it was well worth the trouble.
The one downside about Japan is that food is a little more difficult, mainly since you can't tell what's in things. (Buns tend to be booby-trapped. They also have a prediliction for deep-frying.) some menus have a little English, many do not. But a common way to order here is from a photo menu with no text at all, or even by pointing to plastic models of the dishes in the window. So you have to hope that the photo/model is good enough to identify key ingredients (and, in my case, avoid obstacles like fish and tofu). It's hard work.
Sake barrels
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Lilly's Highlights & Recommendations # 9 (Tokyo, Japan)
Currently on a (fast, on time and spacious!) train to Hiroshima (via a half day stop at Himeji castle) following 4 days in Tokyo. We are back to Tokyo (hooray!) for a couple of days after a bit more travelling on fast trains so there may be stuff to add to this top 5 but here is the list so far:
1. Clothes Shopping! Tokyo is truly the best city I have ever been to for the amount and quality of boutique clothing stores (and that does include Paris and New York!) Of course it has all the main chain stores through the whole spectrum but every other shop is a little boutique selling stuff by obscure designers from all over the world (although they are obsessed by US and English 'style' in a lot of shops - you can buy more clothes with Union
1. Clothes Shopping! Tokyo is truly the best city I have ever been to for the amount and quality of boutique clothing stores (and that does include Paris and New York!) Of course it has all the main chain stores through the whole spectrum but every other shop is a little boutique selling stuff by obscure designers from all over the world (although they are obsessed by US and English 'style' in a lot of shops - you can buy more clothes with Union
Jacks on them here than in the UK!)
The best areas are Harajuku and Shibuya (La Foret is the best boutique mall). You can be so creative and unique with clothes here. No wonder the Japanese look so quirky and cool!
There are also 2 great department stores (worth looking for the original branches in Ginza) - Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya. Shame about the prices though (that applies to everything - more expensive than London!)
2. Views - one of the world's best cityscapes, and so many ways to take it in. We did it on a river boat, in the World Trade Centre, the Top of Ebisu (great views of Mount Fuji) and the Mori Tower. Always different and always stunning!
And now we have just passed a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji on the train!
3. Subway - this may seem like a ridiculous thing to have in a top 5 but Tokyo is enormous and it is great to have such an easy (PASMO - their version of oyster, simple!) way of getting around. It is quick, safe, quiet and clean (could be a description of Tokyo - such a polite and quiet city!) with stops *everywhere*. Signs are in English as well as Japanese so it is easy to navigate. We had a glimpse of it in rush hour and despite its reputation it was better than Kings X on a bad day!
While I'm (sort of) on the subject of cleanliness, I must say that Tokyo is the cleanest large city I have ever been to (Singapore maybe excepted). Not a piece of litter to be seen.
4. Architecture - as you can probably tell from 2 above there are plenty of skyscrapers to enjoy and many world class architects represented (Kohn Pedersen Fox, Vinoly, Le Corbusier etc.) Although, in my opinion the city is exceptional for its modern architecture there is also a lot for the fans of the old including the Imperial palace and the Yasukini-jinga (my favourite), Kiyomizu Kannon-do and Senso-ji temples (disappointingly covered up for restoration).
Note: it is very complex to get a permit to go on a tour inside the Imperial Palace and not worth the hassle. Apart from the 2 keeps the rest of the buildings inside the complex are undistinguished. The Eastern Gardens are free and easy to enter and are pretty. Ueno park is nice too - they love a park in Tokyo!
It is also worth saying that the urban planning in Tokyo is also excellent. There are a lot of enormous new skyscraper complexes which usually comprise of offices, hotels, shops, restaurants and museums but yet they always fit neatly in their location (even if they can be a maze inside). Dubai could learn a lot from the Tokyo urban planners! (The Dubai comparison is quite apt in many ways - Tokyo is a city designed for the rich, but it is much more organised, better planned and hasn't forgotten about the importance of cultural heritage. It is less bling too, the Tokyo Tower being the exception (a 1950s red and white striped copy of the Eiffel Tower - but taller of course - full of amusement arcade attractions!)).
5. Museums - there are more museums in Tokyo than I could believe (even in department stores!) most with such large collections that only a few pieces are on show at any one time (which is a shame because it is not always the famous items on display). We only did a fraction of the museums on offer but a few are worth a special mention:
- Ghibli - a quirky and fun museum celebrating the animation of the Ghibli Studio (makers of the Oscar winning 'Spirited Away'). Has its own little cinema which was showing a great short film about sumo mice!
- Mori Museum of Art - beautiful KPF building with great views, an awesome Louise Bourgois sculpture outside and a lovely exhibition space. We saw a very good Medicine and Art exhibition, which, ironically, was visiting from The Wellcome Centre on the Euston Rd (20 mins from our house!) Lots of very interesting old and new pieces (lots of British representation).
- Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography - in the Ebisu Garden Place complex (a good example of the neat urban planning I talked about). A really good exhibition comparing Eastern and Western perspectives through the photos of Cartier-Bresson and a Japanese photographer whose name I will have to Google!
- Bridgestone - private collection with some good Western art including some Impressionist pieces.
Surprisingly, we haven't yet seen any outstanding museums of Japanese art despite having been to the Tokyo National Museum and a woodcuts exhibition (good) in a small gallery behind La Foret. We will try again when we are back next week. The new year closure of lots of museums should also have finished.
Note: it is worth buying a GRUTT pass upfront. Will save you money if you plan to do a lot of museums.
Quick PS - best meals - Shibuya Rice (fried rice with a meat patty and a fried egg) in Respekt cafe in Shibuya and the gyoza at a Japenese restaurant with no English name or menu also in Shibuya. This is a real problem in Tokyo - not a lot of English speakers and very few English menus - you never know what you are ordering (apart from in US style burger places of which there are lots).
So that's Tokyo for now. My new favourite city, after London of course!
Monday, 4 January 2010
Lilly's Highlights & Recommendations #8 (Hanoi/Halong Bay, Vietnam)
So many good things about Hanoi so this is a long (and probably
overlapping with Paul's) one! Here is my Top 5 and some honourable
mentions:
overlapping with Paul's) one! Here is my Top 5 and some honourable
mentions:
1. Halong bay - for once my number one choice absolutely deserves the
top spot. Paul has already written a detailed blog on it so not too
much detail here but I really can't write about this part of the trip
without saying what an absolutely beautiful place it is. A wonder of
nature, and the 3 day junk boat tour was fantastic. The Kayaking was
serene and not too hard to manage, the sea was warm and swimmable, the
company was great, the food was plentiful and fresh (seafood of
course) and the rocking motion on the boat was very conducive to a
great night's sleep. There was even karaoke! And I did my best to ruin
the tranquillity of the bay with my version of Let It Be! A reason to
go to Vietnam all on it's own (the bay not my singing).
2. New Year's Eve - a crazy night spent in Mao's Red Lounge (he would
be spinning in his grave if the embalmer's would let him!) with free
beer from 9.30 to 10.30 to get the party started, which it certainly
did as you couldn't move by midnight due to the huge numbers of ex
pats, other travellers and the gay Vietnamese contingent. Made for a
great atmosphere but it did mean they didn't follow through with the
free champagne at midnight promise! Felt every bit of my age the next
morning (and for much of the night during conversations with gap year
students who put my drinking skills to shame (really!!)) but the
resulting hangover did end up with the discovery of the Cafe Puku Kiwi
breakfast (2 poached eggs, sausage, bacon, mushroom, tomato, mashed
potato and water spinach) which was possibly my favourite meal of the
trip so far. Happy 2010!
3. The Ho Chi Minh Experience - this is really 3 attractions in 1:
HCM's embalmed body in the mausoleum, the HCM museum near the
mausoleum, the Presidential Palace but more particularly the two
buildings which were occupied by HCM (who refused to live in the
palace like the good communist he was) which are preserved as was at
his death (alledgedly). The 3 things are best done in one day to get
the full HCM experience although the excessive security and silly
opening times conspire against this.
The mausoleum was my first experience of a dead body. It looked like a
waxwork and I was a bit creeped out by the cultish elements of it.
The museum is insane. Communism in a nutshell - full of grand ideas
but shambolic delivery. I left there having learnt absolutely nothing
about HCM but still impressed by the scale and style of some of the
exhibits.
The cult theme continues at the HCM homes where Uncle Ho's cars,
books, busts of Lenin etc are all still as he left them. A bit like a
Pravda edition of Hello magazine, so of course I found this intriguing!
Overall, a great set of attractions.
4. Flower Festival - an annual event to celebrate the new year (with
special meaning this year; Hanoi's 1,000th as Vietnam's capital). It
consists of a number of displays set around the lake, some of which
are strange, some spectacular but all in a lovely lakeside setting.
The lake also has an attractive pagoda and an average temple in the
middle of the water.
5. The Old Quarter - we must have pounded every street in the OQ at
least ten times but every time you spot something different, be it a
new shop, bar, restaurant, temple, building or people going about
their daily business in a way that is new and fun to watch. A walk
around the lake (see 4 above) and a sunset drink at the rooftop City
View cafe are specific recommendations, but no recommendations are
really needed - walk around and make your own fun, it is a great place
(see 2 above)!
Honourable mention:
- Rising Dragon 2 hotel - excellent clean, modern hotel. Nice decor,
enough hot water and a (tempremental) computer in every room. Very
quiet too (our room was off the road). A definite step up from the
Astoria which we stayed at for the first 2 nights and only $10 more.
- Ha Loa prison - an interesting exhibition detailing how terrible
life was there for the Vietnamese under French control and how cushy
it was for the US POWs under Vietnamese control (hmm...) John McCain's
flight suit too.
- Perfume pagoda - a day trip out of Hanoi and only really recommended
if you have plenty of time in Hanoi. You can see why the scenic cave
temple would be a draw for Buddhist pilgrims though.
- Vietnam Fine Arts museum - a decent collection of Vietnamese art
through the ages with some good war stuff.
- Vietnam Army Museum - mainly for the courtyard sculpture made from
remnants of destroyed US war machines. Currently occupied by a cute
brown tabby cat!
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