Exploring Ha Noi

Temple of Literature gate
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Another internal flight from Da Nang to Ha Noi with Jetsatr and we are back where our adventures in Vietnam began on our first visit last year. This time we are not in a rush to get to our hotel and we enjoy our taxi ride into the city where we are staying in the Old Quarter again at the Phan Thai hotel on Hang Giay Street. The Hotel is somewhat old and undergoing renovations on the top floors. Everything needed is being carried up by the stairs of lift. The lift is a revelation, its triangular and takes three people at a squeeze, very different. In the evening we discover our room is right next to a disco, not very conducive to sleep! By morning the drip in the bathroom ceiling which was apparent in the evening has turned to a torrent, one can shower in the bathroom without turning the taps on! Needless to say we organise to change rooms to the other side of the hotel and down a floor.

Ceremonial guards at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
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We spend the day wandering around the Old Quarter, going to the markets and generally just pottering about and relaxing. We have lunch in a restaurant overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake which is most enjoyable and relaxing, we're not in any sort of a hurry. A few local beers go down well in the afternoon. Tomorrow we have booked a day tour around the city, in three visits we have yet to do any real sightseeing in Hanoi.

"One local retaurant has dog, snails, eel, frog and other delicacies"

Tran Quoc Pagoda
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The next morning we are picked up from our Hotel bright and early and meander around the Old Quarter in our bus picking up the rst of our fellow travellers. Our first stop is the Temple of Literature which is quite interesting and one of the more historic areas of Hanoi. From there it is on to the One Pillar Pagoda and Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum which is unfortunately closed and we are prevented from viewing it from the front. A bit disappointing but at least we have seen it. The Ceremonial Guard parading at the rear don't seem too keen on us taking their photograph but everyone does anyway. From there its on to the Ethnology Museum with a stop at a ceramics shop. As we head towards the shops the local builders entertain us as they walk along the overhead electricity cables in front of their work site. We opt for a nearby coffee shop and two of the party join us. They are Australians from Western Australia and as we chat we discover that although we had never met we had all lived in Port Hedland at the same time and knew a lot of the same people living there at that time, talk about a co-incidence. Lots of reminicing about the 80's in Port Hedland.

How the locals relax
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The Ethnology Museum is very interesting and well worth the visit and having been t Vietnam last year and travelled widely we recognisea lot of the traditional displays and the people associated with those areas. Its getting to lunch time and also quite hot so the air conditioned restaurant and cold beer is most welcome. As usual the food is excellent. From there we head back to Hoan Kiem Lake and the Ngoc Son Temple which although we have walked by several times we have not visited until now, its worth visiting but like most Vietnamese temples and pagodas a little underwhelming after the temples of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Tran Quoc Pagoda at West lake is our final stop and very enjoyable as we listen to the chanting from the temple and explore the surrounds. Back to the hotel and I head down a side street to have some "fresh" beer and explore the menu's for tea. One local restaurant has dog, snails, eel, frog and other delicacies and Carol insists we pass on that particular establishment so we opt for a slightly more conservative and up market establishment. As usual the food is good.

Scaffolding Vietnamese style!
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Kuala Lumpur beckons tomorrow and the end of a another trip is coming far too quickly.