Arrived in Hanoi in the morning having travelled by overnight bus (which was awful ..... the journey from Hue to Hanoi is notorious and deservedly so). Were dropped at a bus station outside the city and were besieged by the usual taxi / xe om touts ... quietly ignored them and headed to a cafe for a coffee to plan our next move. We seemed to be on a major route into the city so decided to pick a bus heading in the right direction and jump on. Found a bus stop and what seemed to be a pretty good destination for us (500 meters from the old quarter) .. jumped on and paid the princely sum of 12p to get into the city.
Having passed the rows of Chit Tho (dog meat sellers) we exited the bus and made our way into the old quarter to choose an hotel. Left Emma in a cafe and headed into the rain to find an hotel, unfortunately I neglected to make a note of where I had left Emma and promptly spent the next two hours searching for the cafe!!!! However, we found a nice hotel and bargained down to $28.
Hanoi is yet another mad city in a mad continent ..... 5 million inhabitants with 3.5 million scooters, all driven by homicidal maniacs with an inability to look behiond themselves when moving from lane to lane, turning a corner, moving off, etc. Still, Emma and I have developed the technique of closing our eyes, ignoring the horns and simply walking to where we want to get to.
Having explored the old quarter we visited Uncle Ho in his mausoleum, visited the Opera House to see a cultural performance which was both spellbindingly wonderful and hysterical in turns. The highlight was the presentation to some VERY elderly musicians (we are talking at least 95 years old) of some merit award ..... the spectacle of a blind gentleman being held up by two aides trying to grapple with a HUGE bouquet and a 2 foot framed certificate was a sight to behold. Did the usual sites ..... the Temple of Literature, etc and are heading to the Water Pupopet theatre tomorrow.
Emma discovered the Chocolate buffet in the Hanoi Sofitel so we are planning an afternoon visit there to indulge our taste buds!
Having passed the rows of Chit Tho (dog meat sellers) we exited the bus and made our way into the old quarter to choose an hotel. Left Emma in a cafe and headed into the rain to find an hotel, unfortunately I neglected to make a note of where I had left Emma and promptly spent the next two hours searching for the cafe!!!! However, we found a nice hotel and bargained down to $28.
Hanoi is yet another mad city in a mad continent ..... 5 million inhabitants with 3.5 million scooters, all driven by homicidal maniacs with an inability to look behiond themselves when moving from lane to lane, turning a corner, moving off, etc. Still, Emma and I have developed the technique of closing our eyes, ignoring the horns and simply walking to where we want to get to.
Having explored the old quarter we visited Uncle Ho in his mausoleum, visited the Opera House to see a cultural performance which was both spellbindingly wonderful and hysterical in turns. The highlight was the presentation to some VERY elderly musicians (we are talking at least 95 years old) of some merit award ..... the spectacle of a blind gentleman being held up by two aides trying to grapple with a HUGE bouquet and a 2 foot framed certificate was a sight to behold. Did the usual sites ..... the Temple of Literature, etc and are heading to the Water Pupopet theatre tomorrow.
Emma discovered the Chocolate buffet in the Hanoi Sofitel so we are planning an afternoon visit there to indulge our taste buds!
No comments:
Post a Comment