Hanoi

What a difference from Vientiane to Hanoi. Firstly the temperature dropped by
10C and there was a very cold wind. We did not come equipped with any cold weather clothes so it was quite challenging. The traffic has to be seen to be believed . There is no sense of lane discipline. If the road is marked for three lanes, then there will be five or six lanes of cars, scooter, motor bikes and bicycles! If there is any space greater than six inches between the cars, then it is instantly filled by motor scooters or motorbikes. At any traffic light that is at red, there is a solid mass of 20 scooters across by 30 bikes deep all waiting to rush forward. As the traffic moves the cars fight their way forward with liberal use of horns and flashing lights and the scooters zip in between. No one gives way but amazingly there seem to be few accidents. Crossing the road for pedestrians is very challenging. The recommended way is to walk across at a steady pace and the cars and bikes will drive around without stopping. One way streets are generally ignored as motor bikes come towards you and weave in and out of the traffic. No-one gives way, they all just surge forwards and hope no-one gets hit!

Our hotel was in the centre of town, so was very conveniently placed for us to walk around and explore Hanoi. We were picked up by our guide the next morning and taken on a city tour, stopping off at Hanoi Hilton where the U.S. airmen were imprisoned. It’s now a museum and much of it is dedicated to the history of Vietnam under the French regime. We also visited the first university in Vietnam that is now the centre for Confucius teachings along with a temple dedicated to Confucius. All very interesting. Next we were to go to the Mausoleum and museum dedicated to Ho Chi Minh . However the line up was more than an hour’s wait and we were so cold by now, we declined to do that part of the guided tour, much to our guides consternation. He couldn’t quite grasp that we didn’t want to freeze ourselves to death just so we could view the tomb of Ho Chi Minh . Instead he took us through the old part of Hanoi which was more interesting. We went down narrow passageways that had no lighting where families live in rooms just off the passageway - very basic living. We were then taken to a wholesale market. In one area there were tall bags of dried mushrooms of all different kinds, others had bags of dried vegetables in some places the isles were so narrow that you had to turn sideways to pass through. Lots of other items of indeterminate nature.

We spent the afternoon wandering round on our own, taking our lives in our hands every time we ventured across a road - crosswalks have no meaning there! We braved eating lunch out and were rewarded by a delicious meal - main course, drink and dessert for the same price as two cups of coffee had cost us at our hotel!Read more