After Sa Pa we had the day in Hanoi again, did a bit of sight seeing. Went to the mausoleum and said hello to Ho Chi Mihn, the queue was massive! They rush you through very quickly though. We took at cyclo (man on a bike with the carriage in front) there, it was pretty crazy! A nice way to see the sights though but just a bit edgy with the crazy traffic around us. We then did a walk past the flag tower and to the old jail. Was a pretty interesting place to see but a very sad history. Especially not so nice seeing the guillotine they used to behead people and actual photos of it happening! Then tried out an awesome restaurant called pots and pans for lunch, a recommendation from a friend, Sasha who lived in Saigon for a while. It was fine dining, Vietnamese meets western, delicious!!! Such good food, so much more expensive than we had paid up until now, but still only $25 for the 2 of us! Would need to add over $100 more for a restaurant with similar caliber in Perth! The restaurant is also involved in a training program to get youth off the street so really was a good place to go!
After that we went back to the hotel for a bit then to dinner at a place in the old town called newday, was really good food and pretty cheap. Old town is chaotic to say the least, we are getting much better at crossing the roads though, read some tips- just start crossing, don't stop and don't change direction, there is an endless stream of mopeds and motorbikes and they anticipate your moves and go around you. Seems to work somehow!!! We then visited the night markets, pretty much the same as the day markets, they just close the shops and hang their goods out the front. Mostly shoes and clothes, and iPhone cases. The shopping is pretty awesome, lots of nice boutiques and silk stuff, a shame we really can't buy anything because we can't carry it!!