Old Darling Cafe Hotel Hanoi

... with small footprints. Apparently property tax used to be collected based on the width of ones house. So... the houses can be 5 stories tall... and only about 10 feet wide. The architecture looks sort of European colonial, and the look reminds me of the buildings that tower over the canals in Venice.

We got settled into our hotel and rested a bit before heading out for lunch and sightseeing. But first, we needed to hit ...

... at the dinning bar. Many more activities in the evening like watching movies, playing games with fellow passengers or enjoying night-fishing and chatting with friendly crews; or relax at open bar and music, enjoy happy hour with "buy one, get one free". Overnight on Bhaya deluxe junk.
Today Lunch and Dinner included.


Day 2: Halong Bay (B, L, D)
This ...

... you from the corridor, something China's trains did not have; plus the tickets were cheaper than the Chinese trains; but, the beds were much shorter and poor old Tom just couldn't fit. So there we were, me in a damp sleeping bag (from the rain when our bags were on top of the mini van to phonsavanh) and Tom bent backwards trying to squeeze into a bed made for a man half his size! Needless to say we didn't get much sleep on that train!
We arrived in Hanoi ...

... a currency converter app on my iPhone, but we run into problems when people give us change. Most vendors and drivers will take U.S. dollars, but will likely give you change in Dong. Also, the money is in absurd denominations. Finally, sometimes we don’t like to do math in our heads. Andrea was buying waters today. I heard the woman say 500 each. I recall seeing Andrea hand the vendor a 10,000 note. I also recall the woman had a really big smile. As ...

... removed, hands at your sides. And then, there he is - encased in a glass sarcophagus; looking very much like a wax model. Lights in the small chamber are dim, the spotlight is on HCM's face - which appears just as it does on Vietnamese dong ($). Amazing! He simply appears to be sleeping. Apparently a Russian doctor has discovered the secret to a masterful embalming practice and HC Minh is delivered to Russia for about three months each year ...

... stuff - like what football boots he had. Thinking back, he may have been a little bit retarded. We drank some rather ****-tasting shots of Vietnamese 'wine' with them, and we both woke up with our anal virginity intact, so all good there. Got some photos with the locals, and one even gave us 500 Dong as a souvenir. We returned the favour giving him a 20p coin. He didn't seem that impressed until he realised it could buy him a couple of the beers he was drinking.

... minutes late! Looking back on it now it is funny but at the time everyone was pretty irritable. The map I had looked at earlier wasn't labled correctly so I missed the turn for the hotel at an intersection that resembles a spiderweb...and we didn't physically have the map with us at the time..big mistake! Luckily we still got to make it to the precious water puppets show... It would have been fun and interesting if the show was ...

... bridge after another and one street after another and finally made our way back when it started to show signs of starting to rain. Before we returned our bikes we stopped by a road side café and had some local noodles...which were yummy! After freshening up, we went searching for dinner and ended up in Little Italy again. Christmas mood was definitely in. This time we studied the menu a little longer and found out continental food was ...