Hanoi Hilton

Finally, after a long, fun, and eventful week on the road, we arrived in Hanoi. Our adventure, which was due to finish at Ha Long Bay, was not quite finished, but sadly our time with our excellent driver Alex was.

He dropped us off at our hotel in Hanoi, cursing the city's traffic all the while.

We had arrived at a hotel just across the street from the iconic Hanoi Railway Station, the very place where the Top Gear trio arrived before finding out that they still had a bit of a journey ahead of them on their way to Ha Long City.

It was really fun to rewatch parts of the Top Gear Vietnam special each evening to see the places that we had been that day.

A few months back, as a joke, I had suggested that we stay at the "Hanoi Hilton" (the ironic nickname for the city's infamous prison that once held POWs like John McCain).

Dominik is always up for taking a joke to its extreme, so he decided to book us two nights at the actual Hanoi Hilton, just across the street from the rail station.

Our view, looking down onto the station itself and across the sprawling capital, was amazing. Throughout the day, we could watch trains pulling into and out of the station, on their way to their destinations across Vietnam.

For our first meal in Hanoi, one of my favorite cities in the world, I knew exactly where to go!

Back in 2016, President Barack Obama visited Hanoi and joined the famous food writer Anthony Bourdain for dinner at Bún Chả Hương Liên. The meal they shared, a serving of bún chả, a seafood spring roll, and a bottle of Hanoi Beer, would go on to become famous as the restaurant's "Combo Obama".

Bun cha, a dish made from barbecued pork patties served in a savory broth with a mountain of noodles and fresh vegetables and herbs, is one of my all-time favorite Vietnamese dishes, and this place is one of the best spots in all of Hanoi to get this iconic northern Vietnamese dish.

After our meal, we still had enough time to walk to the infamous "Maison Centrale", AKA Hoa Lu Prison, AKA the "Hanoi Hilton".

The prison was originally built by the French in 1896 to hold Vietnamese political prisoners fighting against colonial rule and became notorious for its harsh conditions.

During the Vietnam War, the prison was used by North Vietnam to hold American POWs. Among its most famous prisoners was future U.S. Senator John McCain, who was held there for more than five years after his plane was shot down over Hanoi in 1967. Much of the original prison has since been demolished, but a small section remains as a museum documenting both its colonial-era and wartime history.