Blogs from Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 13

Our hotel had a limited menu for breakfast, not including Pho! Eggs they are happy to do. Elizabeth came early and opines that they do the Chinese breakfast foods for the early-rising Chinese businessmen. Our first visit was to the excellent Women’s Museum, where chairs were set up in the courtyard for a conference and celebration for International Women’s Day tomorrow. Oddly for me, I visited the gift shop in the lobby before going to the galleries. Lots of silk scarves continued to entice, but I managed to curtail my instincts to buy. Instead I found a cheerful decorative lacquer plate depicting a boy and a buffalo. The Museum was well organized and provided excellent signs in Vietnamese, English and French. On the second floor were many garments and accoutrements related to traditional weddings from sever ... read more

After a group breakfast of baguettes and omelette, we drove about twenty minutes into the rainforest to the Cuc Phuong Visitor Centre, where we split into two groups for either an easy or a difficult walk. I was persuaded by certain members not to chicken out but to come on the hard walk. In the fog and drizzle, the slipperiness worried me, but there were stone steps on all the climbs, only sometimes requiring close attention. Our guide, Viet, was careful to keep everyone together, and he stopped several times to point out trees or plants. He knew all the Latin names because he was trained as a forester, and he also knew their traditional uses. The forest was thick, not impenetrable. The trees stretched sixty metres into the sky. Lianas thicker than a human thigh ... read more

Up early to take our taxi to the airport. For the first time, breakfast was late to be served. A touch of class for our departure was the girl at Aquarius Inn with whom we had mostly dealt with, came to the gate to wave good-bye. We had given ourselves an hour to get there, just in case. We had a driver that spoke some English so he offered a running commentary on the countryside we passed and local customs. I must say that this is the cleanest part of the country we have seen. There is very little plastic litter along the sides of the roads. Even in the towns and villages, the rearing piles of rotting compost or plastic. I think I saw only one bottle floating in a canal or on the lake ... read more

We arrive at the very warm welcoming Rendezvous hotel in the Old Quarter in Hanoi. Nearly every shop front, hotel or business seems to be the width of a lock up garage. Even the width of our hotel room is the width of the hotel. We decided to put any ideas of what we will do in Hanoi until after we have had a good kip. Stepping out of our hotel, or anywhere in central Hanoi is like stepping out into a Hurricane, in this case a hurricane of Hondas, Suzuki, Yamahas, Vespa’s or any small cc’ed motorcycle transport you can think of. It’s easy to chuckle to see from our extremely regulated traffic, to the seemingly chaotic non regulated driving system here, especially when you see people riding 3 or 4 on a bike, all ... read more

After a lively night, getting in around 11.30 fuelled by mintless mojitos (they had run out) and great travelling chat with a Dutch couple who followed us to the Hmong Sisters Bar and some Americans, we felt a bit jaded this morning and depressed at having to check out at 11am and wander around homeless until our bus pickup at 5. the hotel is too cold to wait in. There is actual fog in reception and some of the corridors, where it rolls in through the open doors. One girl at breakfast today refused to eat it in the dining area it was so cold, she took it up to her room. We stuck it out and ate what we could. We found out last night that there is a new cable car to the top ... read more