Continental Hotel Hanoi

... we could still see that French colonial influence, with its yellow facades, tree lined boulevards and grand site administrative offices. These colonial villages of the old French Quarter were now home to embassies, upscale hotels and restaurants. Dave and I passed many on foot within the first few days of being in the vicinity.
In past years, the Vietnamese resistance to French colonial rule, had spurred uprisings and ...

... prisioners was quite morbid but very interesting.

headed to sapa on the night train which was a cool expirience altough we we both quite tired so were asleep the whole way as the name suggests really got into lao cai at 5 in the morn and arrived in sapa at about 7.

chris <(nice to see he put it from both of us, never leave him out when i make enteries!)

... and changing the wrap and the better news is I get to go back to school on Monday and even better than that...the Dr gave me the thumbs up for my trip to Angkor Wat - the 7th Wonder of the World. He (and I do too) feel the leg will be back to nearly 100% by then.

So there might not be much to report between now and next Saturday but then there should lots to talk about after my trip to Cambodia. Several other ...

... 1 or 2 train from some people I met




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Hanoi check out

Learnt a valuable lesson today – In Vietnam you have to hand in your passport at every place you stay & they give it back when you check out. Today I checked the passports when they gave them back & they had given me someone else's instead of Nathans!!! Could have ...

... less expensive bus journey. Last night I had a couple beers, walked around the city, got completely lost, and had to have a motorbike taxi drive me home.
Hanoi is a crazy city. There are motor bikes everywhere you look, and its shocking more people aren't killed everyday. The drivers have unbelievable skill to avoid accidents. This morning I walked to Ho Chi Minh's temple where he is embalmed. It was a massive area, but ...

... and ducks. Her family had a small area of land where they have their own rice field. They welcomed us into their home so warmly and gave us all some local rice wine.

We stayed at a homestay one night which was great. Stayed with a great family along with our guide. They made us the best food and where so friendly. Will and I played pool with their 10yr old son and got beaten numerous times by the kid. Even with the language barrier, we had a great time losing!

It was ...

... for time, Dr, Rapoport quickly escorted us through his four stories of treasures, specializing in Vietnam's ethnic minorities. After assurances that he could provide documentation and provenance, we were like kids in a candy store. We settled on a beautiful Red Dao scroll, some animist sculpture and incredible basketry work and can't wait to see it arrive through customs next month.

Hanoi & Halong Bay Hanoi is considerably different to Saigon, it was wet and cold the whole time we were there, giving a slightly dismal feel to the place. I quite liked wandering around Hanoi but it didn't seem to have the vibrancy of Saigon. It is easy to get lost and a compass would have come in handy as laneways wind in all directions. We spent a couple days wandering about, just getting a feel for the place and then booked ourselves on a tour of Halong ...

... and canals... Ben Tre province (a delta province) is located at the end of the Mekong Delta. It has borders with the East Sea to the east, with 60 kilometer-long coastline. The province is 2,322 sq. km2, around 85 kilometers far from Ho Chi Minh City. If you could look through your airplane's window down to Ben Tre, you would feel like it were some heaven's green land! Covering the whole land is the ...

... 259;n và bạn bè ở
Thái, một số người Thái gốc Việt, ngoài ra là công nhân lao động Việt
Nam và một số sinh viên Lào.

Đến Thanh Hoá, v́ xe đi nhanh qua
một chiếc cầu đang sửa, thế là có tiếng c̣i ré lên cùng với một chiếc
gậy khoang trắng đỏ huơ huơ tự như con r ...