Hello Hanoi

We got into Hanoi late last night after over 24 hours of travelling. Things didnt start well when Jens ticket wasnt complete and they wouldnt issue her a boarding card at Heathrow meaning our travel agent had to rush to the airport in a cab to give us a new one. one six and a half hour flight down, we arrived in Doha, Qatar to board another six and a half hour flight to Bangkok. The flights were good and Bangkok airport seemed nice...9 hours later we were cursing the place as we waited to leave for Hanoi on a flight that got delayed twice. It was a $40, guess you get what you pay for.

Fish at market, Old Quarter

So we arrived in Hanoi and went straight to our hotel which as far as we could tell in the dark was down an ally in a fairly strange aprt of town, attempts to flog us tours and trips fell on deaf ears as by now we were feeling tired on a level that has led weaker souls to murder. Today we had set our alarm for 9.00 to give ourselves a reasonable lie in before I could drag Jen around the city in an attempt to do everything it is possible to do here in one day. Fate denied us this luxury as apparently our back ally is a market, as it the surrounding 30 or so blocks which make up the Old Quarter of Hanoi, also they are building across the street and our balcony doors appear to have the sound proofing qualities of a cardboard box. Maybe not as refreshed as we could have been, we set out to explore the Old Quarter.

Typical Hanoi street

The streets of Hanoi are packed to say the least, there appears to be little definition between pavement and road and stalls that spill over the pavement force you to run the gauntlet in the street, quite literally. Thousands and thousands of mopeds fill every street and crossing them involves staring down the drivers and walking determidly without stoping or running as they round you expertly with nerves of steel. The Old Quarter has different streets, each filled with shops selling products, for example there is a street selling only shoes, one selling silk products and one selling watches and jewellry. We stumbled across a market selling food and providing vivid sights and smells, a more memorable one was a large fish, cut clean in half, still flapping on a table with its guts hanging out - jen loved it. We also visited Hoan Kiem lake in the centre of Hanoi which was mysterious looking because of the pollution (read: mist rolling off the Red River) settling over it and the pagoda in its centre. We ate lunch much the amusement of our waitress (soup with chopsticks) by the lake then caught a cab to the Temple of Literature - Vietnam's first university and around 100 years old - with its traditional architecture and gardens, very nice and interesting. By now though I was losing Jen so we decided to go and watch a traditional water puppet show which was basically a puppet show performed in a pool of water by people behing a bamboo curtain. It was entertaining, difficult to describe - look it up on youtube - it enthralled the young vienamese girl to my left but failed to save the english girl on my right from nodding off repeatedly; we headed back to our hotel where i also konked out.

Temple Of Literature

Going for some food and a drink in a bit, will try and put some photos up later

Halong Bay tomorrow.

Hoan Kiem Lake