Long Bien Hotel Hanoi

... We decided to head over to the large Lenin Park, so we went looking for a cab. Recall that we had heard that there were only two reputable cab companies. Upon exiting the HCM complex, there were no Hanoi Taxi's or Hanoi CP's in the immediate vicinity, so we hopped into a different cab. Within a half of a km, it was grossly obvious that the meter was running crazy. We had not even made it all the way around the block yet, and already the meter ...

... Fish, vegetables, and herbs, and the cooking pot were brought to our table. We chose what we wanted, cooked it and ate, and cooked and ate some more! It was really good!

In the morning, Ms. Trang met me again. She asked me if I wanted to drive the scooter. NOT, but check out my favorite photo! This time we went to Pho 24 near the Hoan Kiem lake for a traditional ...

... facades in poor states of repair and strung with tangles of dangerous looking cables. At street level, every square foot is part of a shop front or else houses roadside stalls of fruit, veg, household wares, or enterprising souls offering motorbike parking across the pavements. Despite the madness it is all very non-aggressive, and amazingly we’ve witnessed only one incident of road-rage, though that did involve a very angry green ...

... in front of me and in my panic I grabbed the gas instead of the brake and we collided. I tore up my leg on the cement and his bike hit one of my legs. Within minutes my calf swelled up, and I had a right nice hematoma and now was limping because it hurt to walk (no break though).

I guess in 9 out of 10 cases it seems that you give the guy some money and it’s all good. Of course this guy was the 10th case and he immediately copped an ...

... ie skimpy clothes) or photography but everyone (including us) was in shorts and vests and were taking pics. The staff were being bribed...

We then walked the 4km (apparently - it took us 20 mins) trek to the next pagoda, Thien Chu (Pagoda Leading to Heaven) which was a pagoda/building sight! Again, very pretty and lots of interesting buildings for us to wander round.

The day was great ...

... by train, it turned out that they had been put off at the wrong station and they had to wait for the next train to come. In the afternnon we strolled around the citedal and found a bakery where we bought lunch.

We organised to go on a day trip together around the DMZ (Vietnam/American war) taking in the old airfields, Ho Chi Minh trail, the bridge - Hanoi Hannah used to shout at the Americans across it telling them to go home and the tunnel complex which was used by ...

... at the resturant and what customers that were there were under cover
so we decided to sit outside under one of the umbrellas. The waiter with an umbrella to shield us from the rain escorted to a table outside in courtyard luckily the rain had eased so we set about enjoying the magnificent food.
In sp ite of all the dramas the evening was well worthwhile and if there a better resturant at the price in Hanoi I would like to know where it is.

... rooms by seven in the morning the next day because it was already booked for the next day. It infuriated me because we talked about it before we went out that we were staying there for two days and suddenly after going back in the afternoon they were throwing us out early in the morning. I told Jimmy that it was cleared that we will be there for two days and he should have not let us stay there in the first place if it was already booked the next day and he didn’t bother to ...

Hanoi is insane! The minute I left the airport I was enveloped in this crazy traffic with horns going all the time and no obvious road rules and 3 people plus an entire house worth of furniture piled on the back of a moped - crazy! And it hasnt stopped since! Crossing the road is an art in itself with no crossings and no traffic lights so you literally have to start walking and stop and dodge as appropriate. Slowly getting used to it! The ...

... the cave, we went back to our ship and cruise back to the harbour where we were transferred to Van Hai Hotel in Halong. This hotel is also considered a 3 star hotel and happily here is much more like the hotels we've stayed in all our travels. The rooms are very, very spacious and ours on the 10th floor has a very nice of the beach and sea. After we freshen up ourselves, we headed to a local restaurant for steamboat dinner. It was ...