Vietnam Day 1

Hanoi

I woke up fairly early, after a reasonable night's sleep. Had earplugs in, because the horn tooting never stops! We started the day with a buffet breakfast at the Church Boutique hotel. I ate some smoked fish, along with a vegetable dish that the staff were unable to translate into English for me. I suspect it was something like okra. There was also a selection of breads and croissants. We girded our loins and headed out of the hotel for the very short walk to our next hotel, and our first experience with crossing the road in Vietnam! We managed admirably, if we do say so ourselves, using the advice from the Internet - just walk out confidently and keep going. Later, we also learned that you give way to buses and mostly cars - it's just the motorcycles (so very, very many motorcycles) that you weave around. For the really large intersections and 3 lane roads, they do have traffic lights, although as Sarah says, they are really more of a suggestion than an absolute!

Doesn't look busy until you are trying to cross...

 We wandered all around the Old Quarter for about 2 hours, following a map given to us by the Oriental Suites Hotel. There is just so much going on, for all 5 senses, that by lunch we were both ready to have a break from it. The hotel had suggested we lunch at Quan An Ngon, and it was a great choice. They are so busy, we were seated with some other people, one of which was an Australian lady who moved here about a month ago to work at the UN on renewable energy, funded by the Australian government. Ironically she used to work for the Department looking after renewable energy in Canberra, but it was cut in the budget.

55,000d = $3.60

After lunch we headed to the Hoa Lo prison, otherwise known as the "Hanoi Hilton". It's as awful as all prisons are, but interesting to read about history from a different point of view. They still have a genuine French guillotine on display, one of the two that were used at the prison.

Broken glass acting as barbed wire

We came back to the hotel for a rest in the afternoon, then headed out to Bun Bo Nam Bo for dinner. They only serve one dish, consisting of beef, noodles and vegetables. It was tasty. After dinner we headed to Hoan Kiem lake, which is much prettier by night than by day. 

Middle of Hoan Kiem Lake

A couple of girls sat next to Sarah. One was at uni studying to become a teacher of Maths, in English. She'd only been studying English for 3 years, and she was a great speaker. I was wearing my T-shirt, and she asked if I was cold. We'd noticed earlier in the day that all of the Vietnamese are rugged up, whereas to us it is a beautiful 20^C day, and the humidity is les than it has been at home. We are now off to an early bed, as we are still trying to adjust after arriving at our hotel last night at the equivalent of 3am Sydney time!