So far we are loving Vietnam - Hanoi is a riot of activity, movement, honking horns, commerce....'bustling' hardly begins to describe it and we have become adept now at crossing the road through a forest of mopeds and cars. Thanks Stu and Vic for the advice to set off, look determined and keep going!
The old quarter, where we are staying, is incredible. All the pavement space is taken up with parked motorbikes, street restaurants (a loose term to describe a gaggle of child-size plastic chairs and tables around a selection of cooking pots), stalls selling everything under the sun, and even manufacturing. The noise is indescribable, but amazingly the traffic does move. The pollution is bad though, and many locals wear face masks.
We visited Ho Chi Min's ('Uncle Ho') grandiose mausoleum, the 'one pillar pagoda', the temple of the Arts (like a mini version of the Forbidden City), and the Water Puppet show. It's hard to describe this - basically the puppet show takes place on water, including processions, fiery dragons etc, and all are operated from behind screens by puppeteers who are also thigh deep in water. Different......
We've been a bit taken by surprise by the cool temperatures here, such a contrast from steamy Singapore where we spent our first day. It's about 10 degrees, so we're wearing all the 'warm' clothes we brought at the same time.
We've just come back from a 24 hr trip to Halong Bay, which is a World Heritage site a four hour drive East of Hanoi. We cruised on Red Dragon Junk - a lovely boat with comfortable bedrooms and excellent food. There were just 8 guests on board - one Dutch/French couple, one Dutch/American, one Aussie/English and us - so our Welsh/English combination fitted in well with the mixed marriages. I was really pleased to have the chance for a good chat in French to Elisabeth, who felt more comfortable in French and Dutch than in English.
Halong Bay was misty and looked really spooky and ethereal as we cruised amongst huge limestone 'karsts' - like island hills sticking out of the water. We stopped at a beach and visited a cave inside one, dry and warm, and then went kayaking (which we weren't much good at....Dave and Pam will appreciate that!). The 'guide' just set off with no instruction at all so we just had to follow! Dinner was very convivial with the group last night.
Today we visited a floating fishing and pearling village, being taken there in a type of punt, steered by a lovely Vietnamese lady wearing the traditional straw hat - we had to wear them too of course. There were about 50 floating dwellings in the village - the people live by very traditional means (fishing, obviously) and sell to merchants who sail out to meet them and bring them vegetables, fruit and rice.
Talking of food - it's been excellent. Lots of fresh herbs, flavours of chilli and lime, plenty of noodles and rice, seafood, chicken, pork and beef. The food is similar in a way to Chinese, but much lighter and less greasy. We have yet to see an overweight Vietnamese, but they seem to be eating all the time!
When we returned just now to our hotel in Hanoi, we found we'd been upgraded to what feels like the honeymoon suite - with a little internal balcony and the most ornate bathroom complete with multi-function shower.
Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Hue by plane - there's an ancient citadel to explore there. Before that - we're braving the Hanoi streets again to find some of the local beer at 12p for a half pint, drunk by the side of the road.
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