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Published: November 16th 2006
The Presidential Palace
If Johnny lived in Vietnam this would be his house - not a bad little pad I would say!Hello!
I was planning on sitting down last night to write this, but when we got back from dinner (9pm), I was feeling the effects of one too many 2000d (20c) beers and decided to go to bed! I never thought I could spend less than $1 and feel even the slightest bit tipsy!
We've had a few interesting adventures and experiences since I last wrote - both clinic related and tourist related!
On Sunday Ali and I decided to wander north-west of the lake to see Ho Chi Mins Mausaleum and the various other historical sites. It wasnt long before we found ourselves in the 'posh' area of Hanoi - whilst the buildings were still tall and skinny it was obvious that they were much newer than our area! And I never thought it would happen, but Ali and I actually had to duck for powerlines, and not just one line but about 20 entangled together!
The area we were in was sparse of any other Westerners earning us some pretty amused looks and the military guards around the Citadel were keeping a close eye on us! The citadel was amazing - it spanned about 2km with massive walls around
School kids and...raw meat!?
By chance Ali and I came across some school kids flooding out their school gates - adding to the traffic chaos! You may also notice the tray of raw meat by the side of the road - salmonela here we come! the edge - beats any building in Australia by miles! It seems that everything has been all done up for the APEC conference this week - all the gardens and buildings refurbished. Andy has seen the photo of me in front of the Presidential Palace - its not a bad looking place to live!
Whilst Ange, Cath and Claire were sussing out the Hanoi water park - ali and I did our own little bit of water adventures! On West Lake there were about 100 bicycle boats shaped like swans, and we hired one for 30000d for an hour ($3). All was going really well- I had taken a great video of the views surrounding the Lake and we were about 800m out fromt the shore, and then with a big clunk the chain and little paddles broke and fell off the bottom of our bicycle boat! Initially amusing, we dug out our phrase book and tried to find the words for 'help, broken bicycle' but failed to attract the attention of the other people also out on the Lake.
Eventually we sent Ange a message to inform them of our situation, and as luck had it, they were standing
West Lake/Swan Lake!
A view of West Lake from our Swan Bicycle before it broke and we were stuck in the middle of the lake! on the edge of the Lake! The water park was closed and so they had followed our footsteps - and had just been turned down from a ride in the swans because three people were 'too big'!
I would have loved to have overheard their conversations with the people who rescued us - im sure amusing!
Have just realised the time - I should have breakky before we leave for clinic in 20min (7.30). Will write this arvo with the rest of our adventures!
Bye for now xo
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