14th April 2010
The original plan for today was a visit to the Perfume Pagoda, some 60 kms outside Hanoi. Unfortunately, due to a bad stomach (again! Don’t think either of us has had a regular day since we got to Asia!), we had to cancel.
The morning was spent relaxing in the hotel room, just chilling and watching some films while waiting for the Imodium to kick in.
This afternoon, feeling a bit better and up to a bit of a walk around we followed the walking tour in the Lonely Planet. Quite a few of our Lonely Planet’s have had these and they are a great way to see some things that you may otherwise miss, especially if you have limited time in a city or town.
The walk took us through the Old Quarter, showing us some markets and temples we had previously missed during our earlier wanderings. Again we were struck by how all traders stick together, resulting in gravestone street, blacksmiths street, herb merchants street, straw mats and rope street, all of which we passed at various points on our tour.
One of the stops was at the Memorial House. This is one of the Old Quarter’s best restored properties. A traditional merchant’s house where at one point 5 families lived together, it is sparsely but beautifully decorated with rooms set around two courtyards.
We continued walking and soon reached the Ba Mach Temple. We didn’t see any of the white bearded guardians who allegedly staff this working temple, but there were plenty of people about, burning and presenting their offerings to Buddha. He certainly had plenty of beer stacked up in front of him - obviously not a tee-total deity.
Legend has it that Ly Thai To used this temple to pray for assistance in building the city walls because no matter how many times he rebuilt them they persistently collapsed. His prayers were finally answered and following our map we soon came across evidence of his success, discovering the well-preserved Old East Gate of the citadel.
Crossing in front of the gate, we headed up a small street just wide enough for bikes where a street market was taking place. All sorts of items available here, from squirming fish, live frogs, small crabs, large snails, all cuts of meat and a wide range of fruit and vegetables.
I never tire of wandering along the streets here (although I do sometimes tire of the constant horn beeping and motorcyle dodging :)). There’s always something new to see, something surprising around the next bend. It’s such a vibrant, exuberant city.
In anticipation of our rescheduled Perfume Pagoda tour tomorrow, we ate a fairly plain tea tonight in a wonderful little cafe just around the corner from the hotel, with a view over the Cathedral Square. There are parts of this city that feel inherently French to me - especially when you are sat in a wonderful upstairs room with shuttered windows, and a Juliet balcony with street noise wafting up from around the Cathedral streets.