Vietnam - Hanoi

Last night we wandered down the street and found a roadside cafe where we had an amazing hot pot which was yummy and we watched the rain pour down in a quick rain storm, very humid.

We had a full day in Hanoi today (Sunday) so we organised to go on a day tour on a bus! At least it was air conditioned and we got to see all the sights of Hanoi. We went to the Ho Chi Minh complex and the line to get into see the body of Ho Chi Minh was two kilometres long and we decided we were not going to stand out in the sun for two hours or more! So we went to the next place the museum of ethnology and learned about how the Vietnamese people live traditionally. We then went to a laqueur factory and saw how they do the traditional artwork and of course they tried to sell us some. Then we had lunch at a restaurant that felt a bit like a Coles Cafeteria! Then back to the Ho Chi Minh complex to walk around the mausoleum and gardens! By this time it was incredibly hot and we all just wanted to stay in the bus. But on we pushed. We then went to the Confucius temple and walked through the gardens which were lovely. Last stop to a pagoda on the West River which was a Buddhist temple. We went back to the lake with the offer to walk back to our hotel or stay on the bus and get dropped off. Guess what we did? Stayed on the bus because we were hot and exhausted. We had already checked out of the hotel in the morning but they let us use the room for a shower which was just what we needed. We had about four hours to wait for the train so we sat in the bar and ate their snacks and had cocktails, then we went for a walk to find a torch which we did then we found a mojito bar where we filled in a bit of time playing Genga. Finally it was time to go to the train station where we found our two berth sleeper and before we knew it we were on our way to Sapa in an express train (which stopped all stations) and I missed them all as I fell straight to sleep. Very glad to be leaving the city for the country!!Read more