Hanoi Royal Lotus Hotel

Arrived in Hanoi at 5.30am.  Vietnamese trains very good, but very cramped, 6 berths to a cabin, but very tiny - OK for the tiny Vietnamese, but not so comfortable for us Europeans!!!  Straight to the hotel for a sleep and then an orientation walk at midday.  Very buzzy town with LOADS of fumes from the endless cars and more than enough bikes and scooters - all seemingly aiming at each other, but always missing!!!  We visited the Hanoi Hilton - very ...

Hanoi, la capitale du Vietnam, la grande ville du Nord, cache son veritable mystere dans le mini ruelles de la vieille ville.

Des petites rues etroites, qu'on aurait depuis longtemps mises en sens unique a la circulation europeenne,voire semi-unique pour y preserver un minimum de logique dans les mouvements des differents vehicules et pietons.

Pourquoi ne pas plutot laisser libre cours a la fantaisie des ondes se propageant d'une rue a une autre au gre des mouvements ...

... up (and down) the mountain, where the lies Perfume Pagoda. A fee of 40 000 dong applied each way. I was asked last. The way Hong phrased the question when he asked me was like, "Everyone is going to take the cable car up, what would you like to do?" Thirteen people wanted to ride up. I understood. Who would be crazy enough to do the hour hike in this heat? I came with this intention in mind. However, seeing as how I was the only one, I had to rethink my plan ...

... petty to moan about it, but for one, it meant we didn’t get a peaceful walk, and for two, if our guide had told us it was going to happen then we would have expected it and therefore no problem! Anyway, turned out it was still a great walk with stunning views of the mountains and rice fields and there were some tricky sections along the way which the locals were deffo helpful on with regards to negotiating these tough sections. Our guide continued to be rubbish though, in that he ...

... until staying to the end and left for Hanoi last night. A very interesting city and Steve and I both felt that because we had gone to Africa this was not shocking for the children. We are staying at a beautiful hotel in the Old Quarter - Hotel D'Maison. Our driver and guide are excellent and today we traveled 2 hours north of the city to the Perfume Pagoda where people travel to pray to the Buddha for health, luck, food and other things. The ...

... but in a smalller area. Our first couple days we toured around saw some of the sites. The huge 3 story market there was definetly a site to see. Anything you could possible want was in there, the entire 3 story building as well as all the streets in the couple blocks around it are just crammed with shops so that its hard to even move through. We also saw the Hanoi Hilton which I knew as the biggest POW prison for ...

... Mai Chau to Na Meo, although just before Quan Hoa there appears to be a crossing over the river and a road that goes via Lang Chieng and follows the Luong river. This was the road we thought we would take as it's 20 kms shorter than the other way. When we asked at the junction everyone told us to go the long route, we uhmed and aahed, should we follow the map - but in the end we bent to local knowledge and took their advice, lucky for us. There are several ...

... wears here). I decided I had to get one since the Vietnamese do actually wear them - its not like clogs from amsterdam that you will never actually see anyone wear! Once I bought one (for less than US$1) I convinced Helen to don her Army helmet and head down to the St Josephs Cathedral for a few photos. We then said our goodbyes and I left for the airport. It did feel very sad to finally leave and it has been an amazing experience traveling on my own. I will definitely be back to SE Asia.

... about the rooms!

We must have taken no more than 90 seconds to walk there, yet when we got to the front desk the guy says "Oh very sorry, 3 rooms gone now, only $55 room left."

We were like "What?! You've sold 3 rooms in 1 minute?!" and the guy actually started SMILING and nodding his head! Hmmmmm....

So we tell him "forget it, we don't want to spend more than $40" and we went to walk out, when ...

... should be dropping off to sleep. Just give me a sign, God, God the Creator and God the Creation, just give me a sign that I’m not alone… that you really exist…

Nothing happens, neither bad nor good, backward or forward, so I lie rolled up in a little ball all night, witing for the inevitable… which never comes. Finally sunlight re-enters the window and I realize slowly that I’ve survived… whatever it was. I move ...