Kim Hoang Gia Hotel Hanoi

... seeing in Hanoi: The water puppet theatre! We have no idea what the story was but it was fantastic! Very surreal! The traditional folk band and singers were amazing to watch and listen to and the puppets had real character. We really enjoyed ourselves (despite Dave's discomfort because of the tiny chairs we had to sit in for an hour. I, on the other hand, fit in them perfectly so was very comfortable).

The rest of our time was spent walking ...

... On the way back we stopped 2/3 times for beer & the toilet! We got back at half 7, therefore missing the bus! The others weren't really that bothered, but Broc & I were already a day behind in gettting to Hue & organised an overnight 12hr train! All the sleeper class were booked out, so we could only get seats! we didn't really care, we were so tired (Broc was drunk!) we would have slept anywhere! we went for dinner & on our way back broc met a lovely lady ...

... kicked out of the country they brought the language along with them, only older people still know the language. Our hotel is in line with the life of a new retiree... $20 per night including mini fridge with Tiger Beer (yay for Wendy) and Coke (yay for Pierre). Airco, breakfast and hot water also included.. Mind you, when we got here we did not find the switch to turn on the water heater... end result: very long trip followed by a cold ...

... hadn't had the promised breakfast but the same man who 20 seconds ago didn't speak English now wanted $10. We questioned it and they he turned really nasty and started to shout and curse us, he then rang for his mate to prove that it was $10 not $8 and he told us that we only got breakfast if we booked the Halong Bay trip with them. We explained that we did not want to pay $10, especially as we had not had the breakfast. After more shouting and swearing he ...

... rice noodles, basil, bean sprouts, lime, peppers. Hopefully I will find what I seek. I need to get grasp on the money too - yesterday I exchanged $50 and got 875,000 VN dong - 'don't hold back on this one Pickle I laid this one out for you'.
We are in the midst of monsoon season and it does look cloudy outside so it should be interesting. I brought a rain jacket but the downpours can be torrential. I'm trying to avoid using ...

... skies, sun and very Humid.
People in hotel very friendly, courteous, efficientand knowledgeable. Rooms are excellent and spacious. Initially gave us a double room to rest, freshen up etc until our triple (family) room was ready -nothing seems too much trouble.
Had a wander around in the afternoon to orientate ourselves - Traffic, and especially the number bikes is unbeleivable - everything just seems to flow - this could certainly not ...

... a big lake. Remember I told you
there were lots of lakes in Hanoi? Well, this is one of them.
Apparently, early in the morning, ball collectors swim down to the
bottom of the lake and gather up all of the balls that were hit into it
the day before. This does not seem very efficient to me. But maybe they
have enough inexpensive labor?

This was an amazing Chinese food night! Binh's cousin ordered
everything. There was dim sum, honey walnut shrimp ...

... nh nên gắng sức
Non nước ấy ngàn thu


Bảy thế kỷ sau, di duệ của Trần Nguyên Hãn bị Bắc Kinh chiếm đất, với đầy miệt thị khiêu khích. Bảy thế kỷ sau, Hồ Cẩm Đào thực hiện di chúc của Hốt Tất Liệt, Mã Viện, Trương Phụ, Liễu Thăng, Tôn Sĩ Nghị, một cách dễ dàng không kèn trống. Chưa có đế quốc nào đi chiếm đất lân bang dễ dàng sung s ...

... out from the ocean all around us. It was nice to get into nature for a couple days after all the busing and honking. Tomorrow we're going to try and find our way to Perfume Pagoda, in an area called Mountain of Fragrant Vestige. I love the names of places here! It's like being in a fantasy book or something... from the names alone you feel like something magical is going to happen. What else... we heard from some guy that you can go to an area in Hanoi to try snake's ...

... eine suesse Altstadt in der in jeder Strasse nur ein Handel betrieben wird (z.B. Eisenwaren, T-Shirts o. Kaffee). Heute morgen haben wir uns zum Abschied von Vietnam noch Onkel Ho (Ho Chi Minh=Staatsheld Nr.1 )im Mausoleum angeschaut. Gleich gehen wir noch ein letztes Mal lecker Essen und dann gehts es zum Flughafen. Dann sehen wir uns alle in Hamburg wieder. Bis denn Xandra + Matthias. PS: Die letzten Fotos stellen wir dann in Deutschland rein.