You Can Go Your Own Waaaaaaay

It was time for a “what carcass day” for both of us. This term has been coined from an episode of Red Dwarf when the crew are locked up in quarantine and need a bit of time on their own, or personal space. So we had decided to go off and do our own things for the day. Usually this means plugging in the iPod and having a bit of a 

wander and generally letting the feeling of walking round a city far from home sink in.

James left the hotel around 11:00am and I waited around for a while longer having a laze and trying to find out where the remnants of the B52 bomber that was shot down during the Vietnam War could be found. With no fix on the location I assumed I would be able to find it, although annoyingly it was rather close to where we had been walking on my birthday, by the naff cafés and restaurants that seemingly run out of rice! So I set off and put on a bit of Bruce Springsteen as I strolled through the streets towards the north-west part of the city.

Just another day in Hanoi

I was using the map on my phone to find this B52 place, but as it wasn’t listed on the map I was going to have to use my spidey-senses to find it. I had seen it on Top Gear and knew roughly what the area looked like so I walked towards the large pond shown on the map. No joy. Just a few locals hanging around by the edge of the water, looking a bit shifty. So I walked on to the next pool of water on the map.

The pool without the B52 

No luck there either. I had heard that it was hard to find, but there was apparently a small sign indicating where the B52 wreckage was, but the thing is there were loads of little signs, for restaurants, hotels, builders, etc. I was certainly off the beaten track by this time and the locals didn’t seem to mind me trekking through the tight streets, as there were probably a few tourists trying to find it.

Tiny streets of Hanoi

Another swing-and-a-miss later I only had one more body of water to investigate so I crossed my fingers and pushed on. I don’t there is a phrase “fourth time lucky” but if there was I would certainly use it here. I rounded a corner and there it was, in all its magnificence. Well, not quite. It is essentially just a large piece of wreckage still lying in the pool of water in-between the buildings around it, with no trace of a tourist trap anywhere. Nobody else was there to see it, just the residents that live in the buildings nearby. It was pretty cool, but mainly because I managed to find it after all the wandering round the local streets and other ponds!

Anyone for a B52.....slightly damaged!

It was mid-afternoon and I fancied a stroll in the park, so I made my way down to the Botanical Gardens nearby. It seemed like there was an entrance fee to get in and as we were trying to budget our money so we would have enough for a taxi to the train station I wasn’t sure if I wanted to part with my money. But then again, it was only 2,000 Dong, which is about 6p, so I thought “why not” and entered the gardens.

The doves in the park

It was great just to sit down by the small lake and watch the world go by. There was a group of school/college kids on a trip to the park and some were being quite rowdy so I tried my best to ignore them and just listen to the sounds of the park. After a while one of the guys from the school trip sidled up to me and asked me where I was from. Half an hour later we had discussed a wide range of topics including Unilever (again), Christmas in Hanoi and long coach journeys in America. As it was nearly half 4 I needed to get back so I said goodbye to the guy in the park and set off back towards the Hanoi Eclipse hotel.

Me and.......errr......bench guy! 

It was a long way back, and I didn’t get there til about 5:30pm. The only thing of note that happened along the way was that I walked across a $100 bill that was lying in the gutter. It was pretty grubby, and as it was rush-hour I thought that if it were real then someone would have picked it up long ago. So I continued my walk back but wondered if I had passed up an opportunity to pad out my wallet a bit, but after some internal debate I came to the conclusion that it must be a fake, especially as US dollars aren’t really used much in Vietnam.

The evening was a quiet one really. We found a place near the hotel (not Gecko this time) and grabbed a quick bite before heading back and preparing to leave for China. We would need to pack our things and double-check the route through to Hong Kong – it would not be an easy journey and would involve two overnight sleeper trains in a row. Oh joy.