Classic I Hotel Hanoi

... a pagoda. A pagoda worships Buddha while the temple honors real or unreal historic heroes who rendered services to the country. People set up temples to commemorate their services.

On the ride back my xeom driver took it upon himself to give me an unplanned gastronomy tour. We first stopped near Hoan Kiem lake in a small area of street restaurants frequented by mostly Vietnamese people. It was here that I ate and enjoyed Xoi Xeo (sweet ...

... Ho Chi Minh. Bit dissapointing as it was only a wax model of him! Apparently he was in Russia being re-pickled along with Lenin.... We also visited the 'Hanoi Hilton' aka Hoa Lo Prison where they held all the American POWs' which was interesting. The city was full of French architecture which was pretty surreal, just like being back in Nice! Didn't see Victor floating about anywhere though.....

... I ate was dog meat.

In Hanoi I stayed in the Drift Backpackers' Hostel, the best-run hostel in SE Asia, or may be in the whole world. It was newly built, designed just for this purpose, clean and well organized, has friendly and helpful staff who cleans the rooms and makes the beds every day, aircon and free wifi in all rooms, a computer and movie lounge with a big TV, restaurant on ground floor and a rooftop bar, elevator, all for 5.5 USD a day with one free ...

... nificiez de la réduction sur les package green fee,passez votre séjour au KANTAOUI SOUSSE TUNISIE et partagez votre passion avec vos chers..réduction sur ...

... and long sleeves to keep the sun from darkening their skin. But they are dark skinned and dark skin in Vietnam is a symbol of hardship. Those who work the fields, whether they be rice fields or concrete fields are dark skinned.

What makes this vision particularly hard for me is that I could have easily been one of them.

The government has issued a law that prohibits these women to make a living this way. Fortunately, the law isn’t strictly ...

... were the best in Vietnam so far. We were extremely tired at this point (think its the heat) but we had one thing left on the agenda: go to a Water Puppet Show. It was cheap for first class seats and looked like a small high school auditorium. The show was an hour, the music and singing was absolutely brilliant and the puppets were very entertaining. That was all we could handle in Hanoi, turned out to be a good day, but cant say we would ever come back.

... It was so good! The highlight had to be the dance of the phoenixes, especially the point when the two phoenix puppets ducked down in the water, thrashed about a bit and then emerged with a massive egg in between them! This shortly hatched into a very cute baby phoenix. We decided to head out for some street food in the evening with an Irish guy, Ciaran, who we'd met in the hostel. Katie and I had straightened our hair for the first time since we'd been away but it ...

... opened! Hooray for us - fabulous little place - so it was cocktails and lovely french food - great value for money Hang Ngoc 1 : rating ambiance 3/5 service 3/5 room 2.5/5 breakfast 2.5/5 Total score 11/20 Cyclo Bar quality 3.5/5 service 4/5 value for money 4.5/5 ambiance 4/5 Total score 16/20

... large bamboo baskets, such as hoods Father Christmas!
It recognizes the different ethnic groups to their clothing (especially women): Black Thai (long black skirts, blouses in bright colors and embroidered on front, embroidered black turban); Hmongs Red, white or green (short pleated skirts, gaiters on calves, black embroidered shirts, turbans color); Dzaos red etc.
It crosses so in villages and along roads that we do not ...