First 5 Days - Ha Noi

We arrived late on Sunday evening, May 3rd, to ATS Hotel which is on Pham Ngu Lao street in Ha Noi. On our first full day in Vietnam, we had a language lesson and met up with some Vietnamese students from several local universities for a scavenger hunt around the city. The scavenger hunt took us to many historical sites including the St. Joseph Cathedral, Long Bien Bridge, City Gate, etc. in the Old Quarter of the city.





On our second day, we had another language lesson. Then we went to the office of the U.S. Embassy to meet Jim Warren, a foreign service officer who is the head of public affairs in Vietnam. We discussed several of the U.S. foreign policies in Vietnam. Afterwards, we got dropped off in the Old Quarter to shop and explore the city. At night, some of us went to the Ha Noi Opera House to see the Vietnam Circus. The circus was phenomenal and equivalent to Cirque du Soleil in America.


On our third day, we had a city tour. We started with going to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum then we stopped by the One Pillar Temple to learn about Buddhism. Then we went to Musem of Ethnology. In the afternoon, we went to the Ha Noi "Hilton" which was the prison during the French colonial period as well as the Vietnam War. It was where Senator John McCain was imprisoned during the war and his jump suit was displayed. The actual name of the prison is Hoa Lo meaning "fire stove". Then, we visited Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam - Temple of Literature - which was the first national university in Vietnam. There we got to learn about Confucian ideology.


On the fourth day, we had a discussion in the morning about the places that we visited the previous day. Following was another language lesson. Then later on, we got to meet Mark Ashwill who is the country director of the Institute of International Education in Vietnam. He gave a presentation about different aspects of Vietnamese culture and his stories of being a Westerner here. In the evening, we met with some Vietnamese students again to go celebrate Adam's birthday.


Today is Friday, the fifth day that we stay in Vietnam. It is raining very heavily so we have not gone anywhere. But tonight we're leaving for Sa Pa, which is located in the northwestern mountain range of Vietnam. We are going to take a night train for about 9 hours from Ha Noi and stay there for a few days.