Halong Hanoi Elegance (Day 2)

Saturday, 17th October 2009

"Losing our way was never fun, but it created instances for us to interact with the friendly locals on the road!"

Certainly, we were off to a great start this morning after a couple of successful attempts to cross the busy streets of Hanoi the previous evening. Don't get me wrong, we were still fearful of the notorious traffic. But this was the norm in Hanoi that we had to learn to accept.

"A-men, Armithama ..... hold your breath, keep crossing and you would be ok?"

After a while, you had to admire our guts.

After firming up our travel plans with the advice from the friendly experts at the hotel, we decided to hail a taxi to the West Lake. The plan was to slowly make our way back to the hotel in the evening.

Travelling with a reputable taxi Company, the Hanoi Taxi Service was reassuring. We were confident that the taxi meter would be switched on, the meter would not be tampered with and that we would reach our destination in one piece.

The West Lake and the Pagoda were nice and so were the next few places of interests, oftened revolving around Uncle Ho's legacy. After lunch at Pho 24, a Vietnamese eatery, we decided to try our luck walking to the next destination. It seemed easy enough to hit straight along the road and we should reach in no time. Wrong wrong move!

We encountered major difficulties locating the Hoa Lo Prison Museum. While losing our way, we were fortunate to chance upon a local supermarket to seek refuge from the raging heat and to stock up some souvenirs for home. For once, the maps on hand didn't seemed to work very well for us this afternoon.

Instead, after a few chicken and duck encounters with a hotel staff, then the sales assistant and finally the taxi girl on the street, we managed to find our way to the next destination. It was a hit and miss affair for us. At least, it made us realised that the Vietnamese were a bunch of helpful souls. Certainly, not knowing a single vocabulary of the language did not adversely impaired our plans.

The Hoa Lo Prison complex is not huge as most of the original structure had since been demolished to make way for the Somerset Hanoi Apartments. But it was nicely restored and was an attraction of its own. Hoa Lo Prison was a happy place for SS and HQ. They were, in my opinon, the happiest prisoners who ever held in captivity in Hoa Lo.

After a "lost" afternoon, the rest of the evening seemed much easier.

We rounded Day 2 with a sumptuous dinner at the Thai Express before making friends with "Uncle North Face" and "Auntie Crumpler" at the night market.

9.15pm ~ Attending a traditional Water Puppet performance was interesting even though it was an encore telecast for SS. She had gone through the same ritual in Ho Chi Minh City.

I'm sure she wouldn't mind sleeping inside the theatre in air-conditioned comfort :)

Good night Hanoi and good morning Halong Bay

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