Advertisement
Published: June 19th 2010
Hanoi-Hoan Kiem Lake
This pagoda is in the middle of the lake in the Old Quarter.We arrived in Hanoi after leaving our beloved Thien Than Hotel with a packed breakfast of baguettes, cheese, butter, watermelon, dragonfruit, bananas, and bottled waters. We flew to Hanoi and landed amid crowds. We took the first taxi driver and gave him the name and address of the hotel we wanted to go to. But of course, he took us to a different one saying our hotel was "full" (even after putting us on the phone with his friend who said it was full). We took a hard stand, paid him, got out, found another taxi, and finally to the right hotel. Thai Son Hotel-lovely little place. Thomas helped us and also aplogized for the scam that is very common throughout southeast Asia. Fresh watermelon was delivered to our room, we ate and slept for 5 hours.
*Note to travelers-don't fall for it! And don't pay ahead of time! If they say the hotel is full make them take you there to see yourself! The taxi drivers can be very convincing.
We woke up and went and had a nice little snack. Hanoi is actually pretty in parts-big lake with a lot of greenery. We are going to try to meet The Fantastic Four + 1 later this evening and then venture out to explore the city. Tonight there is a night market to see. Usually very good, fresh food at night markets although one is never for certain what one is eating.
Planning on Halong Bay on Monday and Tuesday- we have heard horror stories and wonderful stories of the tour. Wish us the latter!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.127s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0664s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
