Hanoi: The Capital

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After our worst overnight bus trip yet, we arrived in the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi. The bus ride started well, lots of empty seats so we could stretch out and sleep, but 30 minutes later we had circled Hue 3 times and picked up what felt like any Vietnamese who fancied a ride to the capital! We eventually left with all the seats full plus people sitting on little plastic stools in the aisle. Now throw in a couple of people being sick and you can see why the 12 hour journey wasn't a highlight of our Vietnam experience. Still, at least it's very cheap :-)

We stayed in the Venus Hotel (not recommended) where we hooked up with a couple of English blokes, John and Dihlan, from Croydon (both big Crystal Palace fans you'd be glad to hear, Nicola). We had met them in Hoi An and it was great to catch up with them again and share our experiences, they are very amusing and have some hilarious stories to tell.


We were staying in the Old Quarter, a lively and unusual place where the streets have been bustling with commerce for more than a thousand years. Each street seems to specialise in some sort of merchandise, herbal medicine, silks, leather, steel, etc, It's a great place to stay and provides a good dose of Vietnamese culture even if it is a bit hectic at times.


Whilst in Hanoi we saw a wonderful water puppetry performance at the Municipal Theatre. The puppets were both amusing and graceful and the music from a live Vietnamese band was enchanting.


We also visited the Ho Chi Minh Complex and learnt about the man himself, he is honoured in Vietnam for his role as the liberator of the people from french colonialism as well as his communist ideology. Travelling is definately improving our education! :-)


We liked Hanoi, although city life in South East Asia is crazy, it is easy to soak up the experience over a lovely Vietnamese coffee at a side street cafe and feel glad that we have the option of just watching.

Next stop the natural wonder of Halong Bay, something we have been looking forward to.

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