Hanoi: The Weekend!

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Mark and Dale woke up feeling slightly worse for ware but after a late breakfast we were semi-fit and ready to face the day! We enquired in the hotel about transport and bought an open bus ticket which was to take us south along the coast finishing in Hoi Chi Min city (Saigon).

After some 'quiet' time, we decided since we had enjoyed the Char Mai from the day before we would find the place again! This time however, we sat in the restaurant and appeared to get far more food for the same amount of money! This was then followed by a few beers and some Premiership football action, much to the disgust of Ollie who didnt feel very well and wasn't interested in the game!

Follwing this we headed for Bia Hoi, street beer brewed locally in Vietnam!! The beer was incredibly light and tasty; this combined with a plastic chair on the street and 10p per drink meant nothing but two and a half very content people! After indulging in a few more beers, we headed to the usual spots for another late evening, intensenly trying to avoid people we may have 'bumped' into the previous night!

Sunday was again a blurry morning and we made full use of the 1pm check out time! We cleared the room and left our bags in the reception! The three flights of stairs from our room appeared to be never ending, however with only a few hours left in Hanoi we decided to make the most of it! Having said that, we headed back to the restaurant where we had had dinner the first night since we had enjoyed it so much! With food in our stomachs but still feeling very tired, we headed to the nearby lake where we enjoyed some nice cold drinks and a few rounds of cards before returniong to the hotel to wait for our bus!

A little time later we were picked up from our hotel by a mini bus where we crammed ourselves in with 10 other travellers, 20 assorted bags and a guitar! We were told that the journey to the bus stop was only 1km but 10 minutes later we were still very hot and uncomfortable! Upon reaching the bus station, we were given our tickets and placed onto a seating bus when we had requested a sleeper! However, knowing that the journey was only short we suffered the minor inconvenience and were on our way to Ninh Binh. Fifteen minutes later, however we stopped, were told to get off the bus and boarded another one. This time, it was a sleeper bus and we were much happier or so we thought! Once we had clambered into our beds, we realised they may have been designed for Vietnamese people. This proved trouble for Mark and Ollie since there height was slightly larger than the average Vietnamese person! Dale also had some trouble since he only had the use of one arm and climbing into bed was not the easiest!

After finally settling down into a position that was reasonably comfortable, we arrived in Ninh Binh and luckily saw the hotel we wanted to stay in from the bus window! When the bus eventually stopped we had a small hike down what apppeared to be a one road town and were soon settled in to a nice room where we crashed immediately!

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Photos

Hanoi Lake
View from the restaurant where we spent the afternoon.

The bus
My you two look happy and comfortable!