Swiss-Belhotel Horison Hotel Hanoi

... me 'madame' (occasionally madamoiselle, which is always good to hear). It's a shoppers paradise here, which has given me the chance to replace my falling-apart flip-flops, and my beloved sunglasses which I managed to leave behind in Nanning.

I have never seen so many motorbikes in one place - it is quite stunning, I'll have some pictures for you soon. Crossing the road is very difficult, there's no point waiting for the traffic to let up, because ...

... Km de canaux. Ceux-ci traversant un joli paysage karstique. Le site qui fait l’objet d’un pèlerinage important pour les touristes Vietnamiens tient son nom de la plus importante et la plus caractéristiques des pagodes, en l’occurrence une grotte énorme entourée de fleurs qui au printemps émanent des parfums enivrant. Les seize pagodes dont nous n’en avons vu que quelques unes sont assez jolies et l’ ...

... but this morning I'm opting for the hot version.
My yoga friend Kathy gave me a book of Positive Quotations that she quickly interjected that "I didnt need them" but today and on occasion if you read a positive quote here they may just be from her book.Todays quote seems pertinent considering my difficulties yesterday getting food and just basically being understood.
"The 'how' thinker gets problems solved quickly ...

... to the Hoa la prison or Maison centrale as it was named by the French who built the prison in 1908. Many Vietnamese disadents where held here, tortured and beheaded by guillotine during the French rule of Indochine. Later on during the Vietnam ( American ) war 100 American Pilots ( including senator John McCain) where shot down over Hanoi and held in the prison which they dubbed "The Hanoi Hilton".Judging by the photos they were treated surprisingly well by ...

... men sitting on these kiddy stools on the street having a meal or beer. They dont even question why they should be sitting on big stools like the rest of the world. I get looked at pretty strangely sometimes here and I think that it is my STILL untanned skin and blonde hair. You dont see too much of the sun here though through the pollution, its pretty smoggy! We stayed in Hanoi two nights and then booked our trip to the beautiful Halong bay,..coming soon

... would be the highlight of the trip but now I'm really excited about Halong tomorrow. A lot of the tubing people weren't so impressed by Nam but I'm loving Hanoi so far - actually it has a randomness and unpredictability that reminds me very much of Moscow. Like today I was walking down the middle of one of the main streets, surrounded by motos overtaking me on either side, following a dragon ...

... down hard, but we ended up getting quite wet. We finally made it to Sofitel and could not find the street or restaurant. I asked the bell hop and he told me it would take 15 minutes by cab??? (we found out later that there is more than one Sofitel) We walked back to our hotel and Bill changed his shirt. We tried to find a restaurant, Cyclo, that was recommended in the Lonely Planet, but it is closed. We wandered up to a dozen more restaurants and we ...

... proclamé l'indépendance de l'indochine. Il décéda en 1969. Toutes les villes d'importance a sa statut de Unclo Ho(son surnom). Les Vietnamiens sont très sensibles a l'image de Unclo Ho . ll y a quelque années, la chaine PFK a comparé Unclo Ho au Colonel Sanders, disant que les deux se ressemblaient physiquement..........." Ho Chi Minh était Général, pas colonel", de dire les Vietnamiens.......ooohKKKKKK.......Ben, disons que je n'aimerais pas ...

... t speak much English, she was too loud speaking Vietnamese and I get an aura of jealously from her. Eewww, like I'd really steal her man. So, after breakfast, I waited at 8am sharp to be picked up by my guided tour. The receptionist tells me that sometimes, they are late. So, I waited till 830am. Nothing. After they made some phone calls, I was told they've forgotten about me! So, off I went to ride a motorcycle with Vang. Hanoi City Tour I rode behind Vang on his motorcycle thru the ...

... called the Forbidden Purple City) but unfortunately many of the buildings have been destroyed so that only c.18 out of the original remain. Hue was bombed heavily during the American War and is littered with American bunkers which sit high up on the walls around the old part of the city, I imagine due to the fact that it sat just at the border with North Vietnam and marked the beginning of the demilitarized zone in between the two halves of ...