Today was a free day, or an optional tour to a village about an hour from Hanoi. Most of the group decided on the optional tour, and it may be one of the highlights of the trip. We travelled by bus for about an hour making two stops along the way. The first was at a Veterans' Cemetery where the graves had been decorated for the New year. Then we stopped at a local market where we tried some local fruit and bought some special eggs to try in Halong Bay. Arriving at Tho Ha village which is known for its rice paper, we took a small ferry across the river then walked down the Main Street, then up a very narrow alley led to the courtyard and workshop of Mr. Viet, who makes rice paper by hand. Before our visit I thought the rice paper was for writing, but instead it is for eating. Fried spring rolls use machine produced paper, but the handmade ones are used for other rolls and wraps.  

The process for making the rolls is to dip up a small amount of rice flour batter, then use your foot to lift the lid of a small coal fired griddle, quickly pour on the batter, lower the lid, wait 10 seconds, then roll up half of the wrapper with a piece of PVC wrapped in plastic wrap, and drop it on a bamboo frame . After watching Mr. Viet, we each had an opportunity to try to make a piece of rice paper. It is much harder than it looks, but my second attempt was not perfect, but recognizable.  

After the paper making experiment, we visited with Mr. Viet and his son. We were offered crackers, peanuts and toasted with local rice wine. We had a chance to talk with both father and son about their families, lives, and experience and answer some questions that they asked. There were several musical instruments hanging on the walls and Mr. Viet played several of them while both he and his sone sang some traditional songs. Then his son got his flute and played with his father. Before we left, we were offered a traditional cake make of rice, pork, and green beans that is offered to guests during Tet. Now that we knew about making handmade rice paper we asked if we could see the machine that produced the other type of paper. It took Tam a few minutes to locate one, and we were a little surprised at how low tech it was considered the amount of rice paper drying in the village . Then it was back to the river, another ride on the ferry and back to Hanoi, for lunch at the Banana Flower Restaurant, where the house speciality is Banana Flower Salad.  

One extra stop on our tour was a visit to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum, known to American POWs as the Hanoi Hilton. It is a museum not because of its use during the Vietnam War, but because of its history as a prison that the French used for political prisoners during the struggles for independence. Half of the prison was torn down a few years ago and used to build a commercial building, but in the museum there are two rooms that contain exhibits relating to its use from 1965 through 1973. There are photographs and articles about the POWs playing basketball, celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas, and other things that portray a far different story than the ones that we heard after their release.  

After the tour, we were on our own for the rest of the day, including dinner. Several of the group had mentioned dining at a French restaurant. The first recommendation was in the Metropole Hotel. Upon checking, we learned that the average meal without wine would cost about $80 US, so we looked for other options. Because it is still Tet a number of restaurants are still closed, but we managed to find a French one that was open and within our budgets. We ended up with a party of 9 and the food was good, the wine was drinkable and including tip it cost less than $25 per person.