Zenith Hotel Hanoi

... covered by stalls selling so many clothes its not even funny. Locals were carrying jeans and loads of clothes on there back, barging pass the crowds. The place was so full of local people, Steve and myself had to slip and weeve in and out of crowds and making our way through the narrow spaces between stalls. The market was a bit boring as everyone was selling the same clothes, there wasn't a great deal of variation. Again ...

... The boys were finally allowed their beer back! The hotel was a little dirty too, but i had a haircut and a foot massage for the pricely total of 4 pounds!

On Friday (6th) we stopped for food in Halong City (yes rice again)! There was a traffic jam on the way home and I had to hitch a lift with a moped in order to make my train to Hue (Who Ey) at 7.20!

... croque mossier ) in a very authentic french colonial bakery I felt that I was in a different Vietnam than before. Of course i was. Just 35 years ago this was a separate country, North Vietnam.

Yes okay, it did have a few more nice buildings than Saigon and the streets were tree lined with french colonial mansions either side but it had very little atmosphere compared with other cities in the country.

For the few hours that I was there I did very little ...

... Quarter which are bustling, busy & fascinating! I feel lost all the time in these winding alleys where the street name changes every block! I usually have a good sense of direction but not happening here!! Thank goodness Nath has got his bearings here more than me!!!




Nath has loved the shopping & bought lots of clothes – jeans ...

I spent the entire day in orientation hearing all the facts about Kinderworld- corporate info. Met the teachers in my school. Had a great VN lunch and dinner but unfortunately I have no photos to show for it because I thought it'd be a bit weird to photo my food while corporate people were sitting around - maybe I'll try to squeeze it in some fun group picture way at lunch tomorrow.
I looked at a couple apartments tonight and one has possibilities. It has a view of ...

HelloEveryone Got up this morning to another hot day - breakfast included at the Hotel and was interesting - could have had noodle soup but opted fried egg for Russell - a smallish french roll each - juice yoghurt etc. We had booked a city sights tour and had to fill in a bit of timebefore the pick-up so had a wander around the market stalls. They actually open at 6AM from what we heard - there is a definite 6AM rush - mainly ...

... and after a couple of minutes realised people were sitting down in the cafe for drinks so we thought we'd get off the bus as the air con had been switched off so it was like a sauna in there. Naturally the driver had locked us in so we were forced to sit there, with some other westerners, watching everyone else enjoy an ice cold drink while were sat there sweating for England. Finally, after the "drink stop", the driver tried stealing my blanket from around my ankles ...

... bar beers. It was a lot of fun talking to all the intl people.

Motor bikes and the traffic in general is pretty intense. There is no rhyme or reason to their honking/driving and you basically just have to walk through traffic really really slow to get anywhere and somehow the motorbikes miss you. Somehow it always works out, but there have been more than one close call. Lao Cai tomorrow night I hope.

... As such, Ha Long Bay potentially satisfies an unprecedented third criterion for a world heritage site in Viet Nam, as containing 'the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity.' There are many sites of historical significance and archaeological ...