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Published: September 10th 2006
Sorry about the recent radio silence everybody! Blame Claire and Matt - I've been too distracted over the last 2 weeks to write any decent journal entries or blog entries. Also...Claire took all the photos in Hanoi so this page is a bit boring :-(
I'll start at the start, in Hanoi...
My first experience with AirAsia wasn't too bad, although I should warn anyone changing terminals in Bangkok to wear a comfy pair of shoes - I'm sure I covered at least a couple of kms between planes! I had organised a taxi from Hanoi airport with my guesthouse and the drive into town was a great introduction to Vietnam: beautiful scenery, a million motorbikes, and apparently no traffic laws!
Hanoi old quarter is busy, noisy and quite dirty, but it has a real charm to it. It was a big change from Chiang Mai - where were all the air-conditioned 7-elevens?! I took a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake - the hub of the old quarter and saw a lot of local life. I took it fairly easy for the rest of the day in preparation for the arrival of ... Claire and Matt!
The next 2 days were spent...
- Learning how to cross the road "Vietnamese Style", i.e. stepping out in front of about 50 motorbikes and hoping for the best
- Seeing the Water Puppet show - very cute
- Visiting a pagoda and a temple (don't be jealous Pete!)
- Paying our respects to Uncle Ho at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
- Catching eye infections - nice
Overall, I liked that Hanoi was very quaint and oldey-worldy but it's too manic to spend very long there, so we went to Halong Bay...
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Ha
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I miss Hanoi
Your very last sentence "..it's too manic to spend very long there..", try to imagine growing up in Hanoi and live there for 19 years. Now, when I am not living in Hanoi more, I miss that small and dusty city to bits. I know, the traffic is crazy and the city is so noisy. But still...