Well we are still in Hanoi. In our last entry we said we were headed to N. Vietnam to do some trekking. Unfortunately Joan still had a bit of an ear infection and didn't feel up to hiking. So we have been in Hanoi for the past few days hanging around. Joan's ear infection is now better but, unfortanately, we do not have enough time to rebook the hiking trip before heading south tonight. For the next week and a half we will be slowly making our way down the coast towards Ho Chi Minh city, stopping at several towns on the way.
During our time in Hanoi we have toured the Temple of Literature, the Presidential Palace and the Women's Museum. We have enjoyed our time here. Hanoi is a lovely city with lakes, small coffee shops and lots of parks. The Vietnamese people are generally friendly and helpful and it has been a nice place to relax and hang out. Quite a few people have pets too - which we appreciate as we are missing our pets. We have noticed an inordinate number of Chihuahuas. We are not sure why this particular dog is so popular here (wouldn't be our choice). There are also quite a few cats. We met a nice cat at the internet cafe called "Maow" (meow?) who made friends with us and then curled up on Joan's daypack.
Our next stop is Hue, and we will update our blog there.
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