LSVN Day 11: Hanoi

*Frere gave us a warning ahead of time that in the north, the government is a lot stricter. You can not say anything about HCM. Communism is strongest in the north where there is the most religious oppression.

Today was just a long big traveling day for us. We went to three cities in one day, with a final destination of Hanoi, the capitol of Vietnam, in the north. We woke up at 5AM in Ca Mau and flew back to Saigon. The airport security took away my DEET (insect repellant)! I pretty much knocked out the whole flight to Saigon and even on the flight to Hanoi. In Hanoi, the land is pretty much opposite from Ca Mau in every way. There is a lot of grass and fields everywhere. There are roads, cars, highways, and big city. The first thing we did when we landed was go eat lunch. After, we headed to the see the first National University of Vietnam, built in 1076. There we heard cultural music and saw monuments of famous people. Later, we passed by Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, where he is buried. After, we hurried to mass at the St. Joseph Cathedral of Hanoi. We prayed for the church because Frere told us that they were going through problems. The government was fighting to take the churches land. Up in the North, the government is a lot stricter. After mass, we went to dinner where we did riddles to keep ourselves entertained. After dinner, we headed to the train station heading north to Lao Cai. The train ride was pretty cool. Slept in a bunker with Mike, Nghia, and Hieu.