Hanoi trip July 2012

We have just got back from a week away in Hanoi and Halong bay with  An, John and Lisa.

Hanoi is a charming city, with it's parks and lakes, French era buildings and wide streets around them.  There are also a very large number of back street temples to suddenly come across. Being a capitol city, the cost of visiting there is quite high: hotels and food are dearer than Nha Trang. 

                                                 A park in the French Quarter

We stayed at The Artisan Boutique Hotel (that's the way the blurb described it), 24 Hang Hanh Street, a hotel Nga found on the internet. It's Australian run, very polite staff, good room and facilities, including supply of laptop with wifi, and a hairdryer for the ladies.  An loved the hotel laptop to play her Pokemon games.  She liked to walk with John and Lisa, so that everyone thought she was their child, which was quite a laugh for us all.

                               A restaurant two doors down serves as the hotel dining room

While in Hanoi I sent this sms to friends:  "In Hanoi. Lots of:  tall, beautiful young women in short dresses; expensive fashion wear shops, upmarket hotels and restaurants; red light runners, parks, trees. A charming city".  I do like Hanoi.

                                               Artist and model, Sword Lake, Hanoi

We visited excavations at No. 18 Hoang Dieu Street of a 1000 year old palace of the original Thang Long city on 12 July.  The excavations are under a huge hangar type roof.  There is not a lot to see, but the government guide gave a good summary of the site while guiding us around, pointing out which centuries footings came from, the size of the original palaces, where the servants prepared the meals and where the king lived.  Unfortunately, only about 40% or the original site remains. The other 60% has been destroyed to a dept of 30metres to build a new National Assembly.  When I expressed my disappointment, our guide asked, "Wouldn't you do that in Australia?"   I answered that in Australia we are not allowed to demolish or destroy 100 year old buildings, let alone 1000 year old artifacts.  No photography was allowed, so I have no pics.   I bought a DVD with photos, Vietnamese commentary and English subtitles, but it is such poor quality that it won't play.

For more details, see also 

http://talkvietnam.com/2012/05/thang-long-imperial-citadel/

http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/National/2012/8/102281/
or both these links at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1twbpg68mnjTGgQ_IyF6-5aG1ox4BlkM8in9rmqmKYjU/edit

We lunched yesterday with the tres nouveaux richs of Hanoi at 'Maison Sen', 61 Tran Hung Dao Street. There was a 300,000DVN ($15) [450,00 DVN Fri-Sun including crayfish] for an all you can eat seafood buffet, from which a pretty young waitress served me without my having to leave my seat.  A steady stream of pretty patrons came past our table on their way out the door, allowing me to catch up on what the latest fashion wear is amongst the Hanoi elite. Short dresses (not skirts) are very 'in' at the moment, and platform shoes with impossibly high stilletto heels, both of which  made for those long legs look lovely.

We booked through our hotel a boat trip on Halong Bay. It was a bit expensive, but we had lovely, clean, adjoining cabins at the stern with a share balcony to sit on and watch the stunning sunrise over Halong Bay.

                                                           Halong Bay dawn

 The trip went very well, although it was tiring, and we over ate.  It's good to be home to relax.
The weather is so much more pleasant in Nha Trang after sticky Hanoi.

For more of my photos go to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10754999@N08/sets/72157630567712988/