Monday 9th March 2015 – walking round Hanoi.

Monday 9th March 2015.

Up early, so that we could have breakfast, and then catch the 9am shuttle into the city for some sightseeing. Breakfast amazing, even by this holiday’s standards of amazing breakfasts in various hotels. It is served in a huge dining room with lots of different stations. We started with our usual fruit and yoghurt, then we explored the hot options, Indian, many variations of cooked eggs, pizza, even ice cream to finish! The Israeli couple that Sue had been chatting to last night were on the next table.

After eating breakfast, we got sorted and got back downstairs in time for the 9am shuttle. there were only four of us for it, including Israeli couple, form the next table so they put us in taxi which they paid for. It is a drizzly morning again, but keeps stopping for a while, and it is quite misty so I borrowed an umbrella from the hotel and we set off along the busy road that we had come in on yesterday.

Once he had fought through the rush hour traffic, the driver dropped us on the edge of Hoan Kem Lake at Hang Doa, right next to the Old Quarter. There are lots of shops in the Old Quarter loads of them selling bags that Sue is after. There are also lots of dodgy food stalls, ladies carrying produce on their shoulders and some really, really dodgy electrics.

Today is a case follow our noses, which we love, we wandered around shops, then walked along the edge of the lake to the French Quarter / Town. here there are loads of new upmarket shops and very modern mall called Trang Tien Plaza,this is in direct contrast to the rundown area we first saw. Next stop was the Opera House with a huge Hilton, then to the War Museum, which was about to close for lunch when we arrived. As we walked there were loads trike drivers badgering constantly to give us a ride, but I think we walked faster (and safer)

Our wanderings took us well out of the tourist area and we finished up near a huge bus station next to the road we came in on yesterday as we recognised a huge mural. The maps we had weren’t that great and we finished up using a combination of a compass and a large scale map to work out the way back to the centre and the tourist land. We made it okay and stopped at a Starbucks for a drink and to consult that internet about any must sees we had missed.

The Hanoi Hilton (prison) and the huge Cathedral we had seen from the taxi were nearby so we wandered in their direction but aren’t entirely sure if we saw the Hilton or not. Eventually we were back at the lake having wandered through an area full of low end (and smart) tourist hotels. Sue bought a new backpack to put some heavy stuff in tomorrow.

It has been a day of a lot of walking today so we decided to get a taxi back to the hotel. We got a company recommended by the hotel and showed the driver a hotel card, which he immediately recognised. He drove us out along busy roads again, but I think we are before the real rush hour. Back at the hotel, we went up to the lounge for coffee and cake. The lounge staff had tried, but couldn’t help with our baggage weight issue for tomorrow. i thought I may be able to resolve it at OLCI, but I couldn’t.

We didn’t fancy any more walking , so we went up to the huge pool on the roof, though it is covered over fortunately – we say chilling and reading for a while before going back to the room for the massive task of sorting and repacking.

Once we had done as much of that as we could, we went back to the lounge for the evening offerings. Tonight the hots dishes include some lovely made to order chicken or beef Quesadillas which we really enjoyed, and we also had some nice breads, cold meats and salads. We caught up on the events happening in the world and followed the conclusion of England’s win or bust match against Bangladesh. They had kept Bangladesh down to a chasable total of 275 and we were optimistic, but they kept losing wickets. Joe Buttler and Ian Woakes looked like they may bring us home, but once Woakes was out Jordan, Broad and Anderson followed in quick succession and we lost by 15 runs and our world cup is over.

We had another drink to commiserate, and printed off the boarding passes for tomorrow, then went back to the room for more packing, re-packing and sorting.