Day 3: THIEVES, CANNIBALISM & SANTA LOVE

Our hotel in Hanoi is awesome! Every time we enter there are people running over one another to assist us and give us water. Everyone is really sweet and accommodating. Today we slept in until 10am to make up for the 48 hours of no sleep.

We then proceeded to walk around the city to see the One Pillar Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the President's Palace and a host of interesting monuments, churches, and markets. We tried to check out every nook and cranny and eventually found ourselves on the Pennsylvania Avenue of Hanoi. We saw this cool garden and tried to walk in while pointing to it to the uniformed government official, but he screamed something that we could only interpret as "No" or "Get off" or "Stupid Westerners," which definitely gave us the hint that going in was a no-go. However, even though we passed on by, he proceeded to close the gates...just in case. Turns out, we were at the Presidential Palace, which was this awesome yellow color. Michelle and Rachel- Yellow House Crashers?!

For some reason, we've been having trouble getting on some sort of normal eating schedule. After our 10am breakfast, it wasn't until 1pm that we mentioned we should find a place for lunch...but of course we got distracted. I needed a coat (it's cold-ish in Hanoi), there were some amazing photo opps, etc. and suddenly it was 4pm and we were ravenous, exhausted, hypoglycemic and on the brink of cannibalism- which seemed like a a much better option than the scraggly, burned baby chicken legs that were uncomfortably stuffed in sawed off coke cans on every corner. At this point, Rachel made the mistake of asking a non-English speaking, drugged-out local how to get back to the Old Quarter and he pointed us in the direction of what turned out to be an endless, residential, walled-in, cul-du-sac-filled, zigzagging neighborhood. We felt just like rats in a maze....but we couldn't find the cheese! In her delirious state, Rachel made the very observant comment that "If that guy wasn't a crackhead then Amy Winehouse is sober!"

Speed up to 5:30pm and we finally found a main road, a taxi, and a restaurant that was open and serving. After the meal, we felt rejuvenated and ready to find the night market we had eaten at last night- and which housed fluffy Santa earmuffs which we planned on purchasing for x-mas. I mean really...how could we not? But once again, vacation ADD took over and more photos, walking, and spacing out on our plan ensued. Once we finally came close to "home," we found this incredible street market of everything X-mas: Santas, glitz, sparkly red things, hats, toys, ornaments, and everything else festive. There were literally at least 100 stores selling the same items at the intersection of 3 main streets. It was chaotic and colorful and called for some major camera action (and alliteration). If you've ever wondered if they celebrate x-mas in Vietnam, rest assured...YES, YES they do! They may not have the annoyingly ubiquitous holiday music, but every storefront, building, hotel lobby, street corner, and person is dripping in santa love. I'm beginning to believe that he is indeed real (just kidding mom- my heart belongs to Harry Hanukkah)!

Whilst in the midst of picture-taking at the market, a man on a motorbike did a drive-by camera grab and pulled my pride and joy pink Nikon camera (named Hung) out of my hand and drove away…to no avail. My immediate gut reaction led me to an incredibly loud “F You” (obscenity rated “R” in real life) scream at rape whistle pitch, and since my camera string had been around my wrist, I yanked the camera away from the man’s motorbike stronghold. Thief: 0, Michelle: 1. I made Rachel so proud.

Going on a 2-day Halong Bay boat tour tomorrow. Will report back when we arrive home in Hanoi. See ya soon!