Read this blog: The one where we drank egg coffee for the first, and not the last, time
Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd February 2025
Surprisingly Luang Prabang International Airport is just 4km out from the centre and so is considerably closer than the train station. It is vast but is currently obviously operating significantly under capacity.
There was comparatively little to do once we passed through security and immigration but as we sat having a little liquid refreshment, Robert heard an announcement over the tannoy asking him to report back to check-in. Luckily people are attuned to hearing their own name, even when it is pronounced with an unusual foreign intonation as Matilda was totally oblivious. She allowed herself a little wry smile as he set off.
Robert had to go back through security and passport control to the check-in desks and was directed to a back office which effectively opened onto the runway where they were scanning luggage and were holding his case back. It transpired that he had left his emergency telephone which he packs in case of loss or theft [without any SIM or the power on] in his hold luggage but on Vietnam Airlines all phones must be in cabin luggage. He dutifully opened the case, removed the phone and was waved back through security and immigration without a second round of checks.
Obviously Robert, as an ex IT Director, is in charge of our technology requirements. For this trip he bought Matilda a 14 country eSIM and himself a 21 country eSIM. Of course he has the more powerful option. The advantage of the multi-country eSIMs is that, instead of having to swap physical SIMs as you arrive, as soon as you set foot in a new country you can immediately start using data to book a cab through a ride-hailing app and check where you are being taken on Google maps.
As Laos was not covered by the 14 country eSIM, he also bought Matilda a dedicated eSIM for Laos. Robert’s 21 country eSIM did not work very well in Laos essentially because it uses a different telecom company. However, the telecoms infrastructure is not very advanced and the country specific eSIM was also rather patchy in its coverage.We often relied on using the WiFI where we were. She frequently received a request from him to join her hot spot.
As we left Laos, Matilda prepared to say goodbye to a rare moment of technological superiority.
When we collected our luggage from the carousel at Hong Kong Airport, Matilda was surprised when she found she had an added alert sticker on her suitcase saying “Security Checked”.
We took a Grab from the airport to the Hotel InterContinental Hanoi Westlake. When we got to the room Matilda discovered that what “Security Checked” actually meant was that someone had tried to open the case. The hoop on the padlock had been bent so that once opened it could no longer be closed again and the zip will not now run smoothly. She now regrets her amusement at Robert being recall to security. His was the better option.
The following morning we set off to reacquaint ourselves with this vibrant city and walked round the West Lake past the Trấn Quốc Pagoda.
Robert wanted to see the monument to John McCain. On our last visit we must have walked past it without realising.
On October 26 1967, during the Vietnam War/Resistance War against America, US Navy aviator John McCain was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile. He was on his twenty-third bombing mission during Operation Rolling Thunder targeting a Hanoi power plant. He parachuted wounded into Trúc Bạch Lake and was held as a PoW in North Vietnam for five and a half years, until he was released [having refused early release] on March 14, 1973, along with 108 other prisoners of war. The monument celebrates the very public capture of a member of the American Armed Forces during this bitter conflict.
Despite, or because of, his wartime experiences he entered politics and worked hard in the 1990s to restore diplomatic relations between the US and Vietnam. In 2008, as the Republican candidate, he lost the American Presidential election to Barack Obama.
The inscription on the monument was modified in 2015, three years before he died, to be more respectful and to include his correct rank and spelling of his name.
On a different scale, the President Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum [Lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh] is the largest memorial in Vietnam. On our visit last year, we learned that although Hồ Chí Minh wished to be hygienically cremated and have his ashes spread over the countryside as this would not waste valuable land, the Vietnamese people and the Communist Party had other plans.
After he died in 1969, Hồ Chí Minh was embalmed by Vietnamese and Russian specialists and kept in aseptic secret locations until the end of the war. In 1975 a massive mausoleum was built, modelled on Lenin’s tomb in Moscow where Uncle Hồ now lies in state. His embalmed body is returned to Russia annually for maintenance and our visit last year happened to coincide with this absence. Robert wanted to visit Uncle Hồ this year. The mausoleum is open to the public in the mornings.
Last year we were allowed to walk through security near the iron gates at the front of the Presidential Palace. This year entry was more strictly controlled and we were directed to walk three sides of a square to the entrance which is very modern and well-managed with multiple gates. There were queues and we expected to spend some time waiting. Bags must pass through scanners and there was a tray of discarded water bottles as visitors are not allowed to take these into the compound.
As we joined the queue to clear security, Robert set his phone to record our transit time. From joining the queue; passing through the barriers; walking round into the mausoleum compound; up and into the mausoleum and past Hồ Chí Minh himself then exiting the mausoleum took 22 minutes. Some of the walkway is covered to keep the queue in the shade or out of the rain.
The flow is carefully managed with soldiers in pristine white uniforms directing people through. At some points the queue has to be single file but when you enter the mausoleum itself – the time when everyone wants to be walking in single file – soldiers try to make people pass by two deep.
Understandably no photography is allowed inside the mausoleum. It is quite a surreal experience. The body of Hồ Chí Minh lies within a glass-sided coffin and he does look as though he may only be sleeping. Wearing dark clothing, the carefully stage-managed lighting makes his face and hands seem to glow like a halo.
After paying your respects to Uncle Hồ, you can visit the Presidential Palace compound.
The Presidential Palace itself was built between 1900 and 1906 as the residence for the French governor-general of Indochina. A striking yellow colour, the building owes a debt to the Italian Renaissance and is very European in style. It is not open to the public as it is still used for government meetings and to receive foreign dignitaries.
The gardens are more in keeping with its Vietnamese location being full of mango trees.
When Vietnam achieved independence in 1954, Hồ Chí Minh is said to have refused to live in such grandeur for symbolic reasons, although he still received state guests in the Presidential Palace.
Initially between 1954 and 1958 he lived in the grounds in House No. 54. The Presidential Palace Historical Site was opened in 1975 and you can now see where he lived and worked.
He also had a number of cars at his disposal which are now classed as vintage and are on display.
Hồ Chí Minh built a traditional Vietnamese stilt house in the grounds together with a carp pond where he used to fish.
The stilt house is open to view and visitors walk up and around the balcony of the house to look in and see how he lived and worked.
From here, following Robert’s route we found ourselves at Train Street just as the 12:40 train was due to pass by [see Video of the day].
It was almost as if it had been planned.
We stood by a row of tables and the enterprising waiter/owner asked us if we wanted to order anything. We felt we should patronise his establishment to secure our spot and we both opted to try the local speciality: egg coffee.
After Train Street [see also Video and Selfie of the day] we went for a stroll round Hoàn Kiếm Lake.
We stopped at the Thủy Tạ Legend a café/restaurant with a view over the lake. Here Matilda had another Egg Coffee which she pronounced to be superior [see Dish of the day] to the one we had on Train Street. It was a bit like an Italian affogato.
On Sundays the road around the lake is closed to traffic and children can choose their preferred form of transport to ride motorised vehicles on the street. Some of them had yet to master the art of steering.
Matilda had possibly confused her cities and her bars and asked to go to past the Opera House . . .
. . . to the Capella as she thought it had been mentioned in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American. After Robert had brought us there, she confessed that she really wanted to go to the Hotel Continental in Saigon.
Having left 30ºC heat in Laos, Matilda had fondly thought she might be spending time in and around the pool which looked delightful: permanent loungers had their own personal steps into the water. Sadly it was grey, cloudy and cold when we arrived.
Matilda had even considered arranging a pool date to meet a friend and her son, Kit. Instead we arranged to meet Steph, an ex-colleague of Matilda’s and her young son at the Sunset Bar.
Robert went ahead to reserve his seat only to find that it was closed until 16:00. We therefore changed venue and met in the Diplomats Lounge.
Steph left the UK seven years ago at about the same time we both retired. It was so lovely to catch up: Matilda would happily have spent longer as a lot has happened in the interim. Kit was very east going and spent sometime admiring Matilda’s bright yellow gilet. Those blue eyes will break hearts when he is older.
It took us a while to realise that the statues in the fountain in front of the Hotel Intercontinental Westlake are all looking skywards.
We are grateful to Steph for recommending several places including the Turtle Lake Brewing Company where we had hoped she might be able to join us again to continue the conversation but unfortunately her son needed his sleep.
Video of the day:
Selfie of the day:
Dish of the day:
Route Map:
