Hanoi

16th April 2010 This morning we visited the ‘posh’ end of town. We had discovered this whole new area yesterday when we were dropping people off after our Perfume Pagoda tour. We were also searching for a supermarket where we could buy some peppermint tea bags, which happened to be in the same vicinity. We walked past the Hanoi Opera House, an imposing building with a French style facade, not far from the Hilton and Metropole hotels. The cyclo drivers were lined up ready to pounce on unsuspecting tourists coming out of these big hotels. We managed to have a quick look around the foyer of the Opera House before being shown the door, but it looked quite impressive. ...

15th April 2010 The Perfume Pagoda is one of Vietnam’s most sacred sites. It is a complex of around 20 different temples in a mountainous area about 60kms from Hanoi. It has quite a lot of Vietnamese tourists who come here to make their offerings to Buddha for health, wealth and prosperity. We had opted for a tour to the Perfume Pagoda as the simplest way to get there since the journey involves a bus and boat. Leaving Hanoi it was already spotting with rain and by the time we reached the place where we needed to board the boat it was raining quite hard. ...

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. ...

13th April 2010 After our disappointment over our trip to Sapa and a restful night’s sleep at Splendid Star 1 we were ready to move back to our original hotel, Splendid Star 2. The first order of the day was to hand over our passports to the hotel so we could get our visa extended. Without this, we would need to leave the country next Thursday, losing our opportunity to visit Sapa in the north, plus Hoi An and Hue on the coast. It does seem to be simply a formality, so fingers crossed. ...

12th April 2010 We were due to catch the train to the mountain town of Sapa tonight, so this morning we checked out of our hotel. The staff were excellent, letting us leave our bags in storage while we explored Hanoi and offering us the use of a room late afternoon so we could shower and freshen up before heading off to the station. Hanoi Station was our first port of call this morning. A dry run to see how far it was from the hotel and to check where we needed to collect our tickets this evening. We quickly ascertained that we would need a taxi tonight with our bags. ...

10th & 11th April 2010 We spent Saturday morning slowly packing up ready for our afternoon journey to Nha Trang. This is another beach resort, further up the coast from Mui Ne, much bigger and more touristy. It’s very popular for scuba diving, and while not originally on our itinerary this was the nearest place to Mui Ne where we could get a plane to Hanoi. The bus to Nha Trang was really busy and quite hot resulting in the first part of the journey being quite uncomfortable. However, this relented once the sun started to set and we were then able to watch the rural landscape pass by. The views from the bus were typical Vietnamese landscapes. Paddy fields and oxen carts set against a backdrop of high mountain ranges. ...

29th March 2010 The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of tributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a massive area of southeastern Vietnam where water coverage depends on the season. The region is famous as a large rice growing area and produces about half of the total of Vietnam’s rice output. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of rice globally after Thailand. ...