Thur 6 April 
Arrived at the train station at 5 .30 am - this time I was awake so had time to get my stuff together and change quickly before arriving in Hanoi! We walked to the hotel as it was only 10 mins away and by now knew the way! The streets were nice and quiet - what a contrast from when we left and we didn't have to maneuver around bikes parked on the pavement! We got to the hotel around 6 am and woke the night manager who was sleeping in his chair! He told us breakfast would be served soon so went to the restaurant and waited, then had a huge breakfast - quite the buffet they put on! As it was too early to check into our room they let us use a single room to shower and organised our backpacks which they had kept for us whilst in Sapa. They were so friendly and accommodating! We went off for the day and the receptionist said she would organise our bags to be in our new room once it was ready for us. We set off for the LP walking tour of the Old Quarter. We started near Hoan Kiem Lake - passing a crazy traffic roundabout that the Swiss couple had told us about (said we must sit on one of the coffee shop balconies and watch traffic on the roundabout as was so insanely busy!) . The Lake is so pretty and well designed with gardens surrounding it and a temple on a small island, making for lovely photos. We wandered around, passing endless shoe shops and markets! We walked through P Ma May which apparently is bustling with activity at night but pretty dead now! Many jewellery stores also jammed in. We peeped into Memorial House which is a restored merchants house which is sparsely but beautifully decorated and then we searched for house "102" which was hidden behind some shop fronts. It is a fully functioning temple and had a prayer meeting in progress so we had a quick look through the door - much bling and so many food offerings, took some video as had to capture the noise! All the streets narrow and quite quaint, scooters buzzing everywhere and also parked all over the pavements! Came across an old theater, the Golden Bell Theater with a show featuring a unique collection of Vietnamese traditional art performances so we decided to get tickets for the 8pm show. The performance is only on Thursdays so we were lucky on that front . We located the Cua O Quan Chuong, the well preserved Old East Gate from the old city wall. It was now time to find a few small items to take back for the kids so tried to find the market. We came across the hugest fabric market I have ever seen and then endless clothing stalls - more for the local market than the usual tourist clothes! I think this was part of the Dong Xuan Market but we were a little confused by the size of it all! By now very tired and so made our way back to the busy traffic circle and found the Highland coffee shop on the 2nd floor of a building overlooking the craziness below. Extremely entertaining watching people and traffic negotiating the traffic circles - locals on foot just cutting right across the middle of the traffic and not blinking an eyelid or slowing to cross - you just go and traffic works its way around you. Def a must to visit this vantage point and be entertained! We then negotiated the maze of streets and walked towards the larger Ho Tay (West Lake). Spend an hour finding our way then walked along P Quan Thanh trying to find something to eat - couldn't agree on anything so eventually just sat at a little café and had a cardboard roll and wiener sausage with an attempt of a smoothie to drink, I didn't care so long as I could sit for a while and we had a view of the Lake! Feeling a little more energized we went in search of the Ho Chi Min Mausoleum Complex. This part of the city is more modern and has the very wide boulevards and streets and the area in front of the Mausoleum has a massive square where we could just imagine the huge marching parades take place! The complex is an important place of pilgrimage for many Vietnamese and of course they can enter for free but us mere mortals pay an entrance fee! The botanical gardens along with monuments, memorials and pagodas are all found in the area . Vietnamese trek here to pay respects to "Uncle Ho", his body lies in the elaborate marble edifice which seemed to be closed but with guards posted at all doors! We walked through the gardens and saw the exterior of the house that Ho Chi Min lived in as well as the Stilt House he moved into on the same property. It is set in a well tended garden with a carp filled pond - very tranquil. Next door is the Presidential Palace which is now used for official receptions and not open to the public. There was a steady flow of pedestrians wandering around. We saw the unusual One Pillar Pagoda constructed in 1049 but by now we were too tired to even walk around it. Found the bus routes on Maps ME and worked out which bus would take us near the hotel - didn't have to wait long and for the princely sum of D7000 (42c) each made it through the streets back to the busy traffic roundabout which was close to the hotel! Ready to fall in a heap we made it back to the Focus Hotel and were delighted to see we had been upgraded and had a wonderful spacious room with lots of windows! Bliss! Great to have a shower and rejuvenate again before finding somewhere to have dinner and head to the cultural show! We walked back to the Golden Bell Theatre for the traditional heritage show which showcased a unique collection of traditional dance, music and songs from all the different regions of Vietnam . Tickets were about D 120,000 each (CA$7). Everyone was very friendly at the front desk of the theatre and at the end of the show they pulled the small audience up to participate in the bamboo dance! Alan did a good job of negotiating the bamboo poles which were being bashed together ensuring you nimbly hopped over them, or else! Then the cast grabbed everyone to go up on stage for a group photo! It was a lovely show and we loved how enthusiastic and friendly they all were. A must to see this small production! Made our way back to the hotel - exhausted and ready for a good nights sleep!


Fri 7 April 
No rush today so made our way down to the wonderful breakfast spread in the hotel - such a lovely friendly waitress looking after us again. They all make you feel like you are part of their family and making sure you have everything you need! We decided to spend the morning looking for a few things to take home for the kids and ended up with the usual clothing items for them as had limited space in the bags! I also came across an Optometrist who told me my broken reading glasses were unfix-able and suggested I just buy a new pair of frames and he could pop the original lenses into the new frames (as long as I chose the same shape!) done deal - for CA$40 I got a great pair of titanium frames and left the glasses there for 15 mins whilst he put my lenses in! Great deal! Found a few souvenirs to bring home - a couple of coconut shells made into bowls with shells lacquered on the inside (we had first seen them in Thailand and had wanted to get one but decided that we didn't want to pack them around in our bags!) and a set of coasters to remind us of Vietnam! We decided that we really needed to have some Pho for lunch as it is Hanoi's specialty dish . We had seen a place called Pho 10 that was packed with locals so thought we should try it. We found it near the cathedral and joined the queue which moved very quickly and soon slotted ourselves in at a table for 6 - quick turnover of seats. We ordered the beef pho and hoped for the best! Soon 4 older ladies replaced our fellow diners and they sweetly gave us instructions with hand signals on what spices to throw in and also a plate of "long plaited donuts" appeared which they insisted on sharing with us and made us dip them in the pho - delicious albeit giving one a not so healthy option! Many giggles from them as they watched us and waited to see whether it was all to spicy for us. We loved it - so tasty! Basically its a big bowl of broth with noodles and you throw bunches of herbs and veg into it and add your own spiciness and some lime and yum yum away you go! After lunch we walked back passed Hoan Kiem Lake to take some pics of Thap Rua (Turtle Tower) which is a ramshackle tower on an islet which is topped by a red star - often used as an emblem of Hanoi. We walked to the SE of the Lake and were surprised to see this part of town was very modern and had wider boulevards. We passed a very expensive high end shopping Mall and found the National Museum of Vietnamese History. 40,000 D entrance showed us exhibits from the Dong Son culture (3C BC - AD!) and Hindu statuary from the Khmer & Champa kingdoms. Also had displays around the French occupation and the Communist Party. All very interesting and worth a stop. Decided to finish up at Highland coffee for a cold smoothie and catch up on some blogging and emails and then put our feet up for a bit at the hotel. Ate at a bistro not far from the hotel and then packed and got ready for our early departure in the morning.