We touched down safely in Da Nang airport mid morning and headed to Ha Noi. Just past the existing airport a huge international airport is being constructed.

We stopped on the way for yet another delicious lunch at a local restaurant. The owner/manager was a bit of a comedian and everyone agreed he looked like Chris Rock. We tried a nice Chilean white wine and could have settle in for afternoon of a couple more wines, but it was soon time to leave.

Our first stop was the Temple of Literature which was the first Imperial School in Vietnam. It happened to be Graduation Day for some of the students so it was very busy. Inside the grounds was a beautiful temple. Most of the group vigorously rubbed a statue of a long-legged bird (can't remember what it was and my photo doesn't give me any clues) as it was supposed to bring you youth.

We drove around the beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake and visited the Jade Mountain Temple which overlooked the lake. Inside the temple a huge (dead) turle was on display. The story goes something like one of the emporers dropped his sword into the lake and the turle surfaced with the sword on its back for the emporer.

As with many Asian countries the Vietnamese have very interesting traditions, beliefs and symbols; the turtle symbolises longevity. As one of our guides said "Vietnamese people are not superstitious...they are super super superstitious."

We then hopped on a cyclo (pedicab) for a ride around ancient Hanoi. Most of the drivers looked pretty old and decrepid and I felt sorry for the guy peddling my cyclo. It was a great way to see the shops though and be part of the scary traffic. I videoed some of the ride so you can get a feel for it.

I was also pretty intent on photographing the power lines and at one stage my driver was yelling something and I though he was talking to one of the other drivers, but turned out he was talking to me. I think he was saying something like "Hey you stupid Western woman, stop taking photos of the power lines and take one of the beautiful building over there." Anyway I got one of the building.

The ancient city has many narrow streets, is very very noisy and very very dirty, with rubbish everywhere. Although the people are always sweeping the streets and the rubbish man walks around picking up bags of rubbish, it's something I don't think they can ever get on top of.

It started to rain lightly as we were dropped at The Flower Garden Hotel. Our guide had told us to pay the drivers VND50,000 (AUD2.50) as a tip. He said don't be fooled into paying them more if they look sad as that was a good amount. My guy didn't look sad, he was down right unhappy and kept pointing to my wallet, but I smiled sweetly, said "Cam on" (pronouced karm ern, and means thank you) and took off.

After a quick shower we headed out for dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by our guide..."Very easily to find, turn right out of hotel, cross the first street and turn left at the next one, then turn right and you're there."...half an hour later we were still looking but eventually found it. It was very brightly lit on the outside and had a beautiful decor.

After our huge lunch I decided to only have two entrees, which was a wise decision. I had fresh shrimp and pork rice paper rolls and banana flower salad with shredded chicken...along with two glasses of wine and a shot glass size of Vietnamese glutinous wine, which was very much like sake. The total price was AUD $17.50.

We decided to look for a French patisserie for dessert, but after a lot of walking settled on a cake shop where I bought a green tea cake that was quite delicious except for way too much fake cream.

To finish the night we settled in the hotel's piano bar for a cocktail or two...I managed to knock my first one over while trying to get a photo of Mariya drinking her flaming B52. Damn!

Gary performed an amazing rendition of Elton John's Rocket Man on the piano. I headed off to bed then but heard the next day that he went back for an encore of Let It Be.