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Noyelles Travels
Wednesday 9thOctober
Flew out of Perth on a Tiger flight to Singapore at 9.50pm. The flight was pretty full & the seat spacing was tight but we survived.
Thursday 10th October - Hanoi
Left Singapore at 10.00 am & arrived in Hanoi at about 2.30pm local time. We were met by a
driver who took us into old Hanoi to the Art Trendy Hotel where we were greeted like long lost friends. The hotel is narrow & tall with 5 storeys.
We went out for a walk to find a restaurant in the old quarter & dodged the bikes & cars safely along the very narrow streets & had an excellent dinner for about $25 for all of us. Jane had the local white wine which was dreadful but otherwise all was well. From there we found the Lake Hoen KIem which is about the size of Lake Monger & is surrounded by a pleasant pathway& park lands.
Jane bought some new glasses for about $130, frames & lenses & seems happy with them. Tired out we returned & were in bed by about 8.30pm.
Friday 11th October - Hanoi
Had an incredible breakfast at the hotel where the staff wanted us to eat even more. The only
drawback was the coffee which has a very different flavour from ours at home. After breakfast we set out for the lake again & went seeing the sights of the old town where the streets tend
to have small workshops specialising in various trades or occupations. At one end of our street the shops specialised in door furniture & locks & balustrades etc & close by an area stocked massive bamboo poles for scaffolding.
At the lake we visited a temple on a small island linked by a bridge to see a model of a large tortoise about 1.6 m in length who died there. It is considered to be good luck to spot one & nobody seems clear on whether they still survive there. From here we went on an electric open minibus like a modified golf buggy with 3 rows of seats which took us around parts of the city. We stopped at the 'Hanoi Hilton' a colonial French prison & took a look round. This was quite fascinating but too short unfortunately.
After lunch at a training cafe for street kids we walked across the street to a temple complex which was where Vietnam’s first university opened in 1076. The complex has been rebuilt recently & in the grounds 2 groups of graduates were celebrating in their caps & gowns.
From here we took a cab out towards the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum only to be told that it is closed on Friday so we settled for a walk between 2 huge lakes apparently left from overflows of the Red River. We visited another temple complex & then walked back to the hotel via a newer part of the city along streets lined with official buildings dating from French Colonial times. The streets are packed with motor bikes & scooters, cars & the occasional bus which all have no interest in anything but getting where they want to go regardless of each other. Road crossing is done at your peril as zebra crossings & traffic lights are purely ornamental.
Returned to the hotel after dinner & went to bed early.
Saturday 12th October - Hanoi
After breakfast we wandered through the old town to the huge covered market with 4 floors of clothing, shoes & various sections before we all met up to take a taxi to lunch at a restaurant between the 2 lakes. From there we walked around one of the lakes & came across a food market which was closing up. Here we saw all forms of meat, fish, snakes & vegetables. Many of the stall holders were snoozing at the back of their stalls awaiting customers.
We returned to the hotel & after dinner sat around awaiting pickup to go to the station to catch the train to Sapa which left at 9.15. The train had a 4 berth sleeper with 2 on each side of the compartment & was of the fairly ancient variety with a toilet at the end of the carriage. It was basic but each bunk had a pillow & a light doona. It set off on time & we were in bed as it rattled its way fairly slowly up towards the hills. Unfortunately it was too dark to see much but we crossed a lot of bridges en route to Lao Cai.
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