We started the day at 1am when Solana woke and couldn't get back to sleep - we all finally managed to drop back off around 5am, only to struggle to get up again at 7... We got a cyclo taxi (like a rickshaw) to Ho Chi Minh mausoleum site in the morning. The ride itself was fun, if a bit hair-raising with traffic coming at us from all angles at intersections! We got to see Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts, the one pillar pagoda and some lovely gardens with plenty of bonsai trees and koi carp swimming around. There was a nursery trip visiting at the same time too, which was cute to see. We have seen a bit of wildlife so far in Vietnam, although nothing on the scale of Costa Rica - bird count now about 7 and mammals 3 (black squirrel, bat and rat!).
In the evening we went out to the night market, where we enjoyed wandering round the stalls (with Solana in the sling on Laura's back so she didn't get lost - it was pretty busy!). We invested in a neck pillow for Solana, to help her sleep on buses, trains, etc - hoping it will be a good investment of 100,000 Dong (about £4)! We also ate at an open-air restaurant there - tasty fried beef noodles, cooked on a little burner outside - 2 dishes plus beers for about £6.50 (which would have barely bought us a piece of cheese in Costa Rica!). Solana managed to stay awake until around 8:30pm and we re-packed, ready for our trip to Halong Bay.Leer más
Just catching up - Hanoi sounds great, loads of history too from its French colonial past. Hope you're all getting over your jet lag. If you're an insect magnet have you tried citriodiol (30%) eg Mosigard - recommended by a friend who went jungle trekking and works a treat.
Wendy KingHanoi is a crazy interesting place. I seem to remember there being some kind of night time puppet theatre, but this was 1999 so may not be there now! Looking forward to seeing pics, imagine it's changed heaps! Do they still have the little round boats at halon bay?! And the interesting medicine jars with almost any creature you can imagine, fermenting for either medicinal or culinary purpose!!
Just catching up - Hanoi sounds great, loads of history too from its French colonial past. Hope you're all getting over your jet lag. If you're an insect magnet have you tried citriodiol (30%) eg Mosigard - recommended by a friend who went jungle trekking and works a treat.
Wendy King Hanoi is a crazy interesting place. I seem to remember there being some kind of night time puppet theatre, but this was 1999 so may not be there now! Looking forward to seeing pics, imagine it's changed heaps! Do they still have the little round boats at halon bay?! And the interesting medicine jars with almost any creature you can imagine, fermenting for either medicinal or culinary purpose!!
Sue Jones Wow, great pictures and more amazing topiary 😀 what's the significance of the water 💦?
I hope there's no traffic on that road! Ruth