The legendary God Sword, Lake & the Golden Turtle

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Geo: 21.0243, 105.855



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The Ha Long bay bus brought us back In Hanoi at 4 pm again the Golden sun was fully booked and they asked me to wait for some time but then they put me in the Golden Sunrise on Hang Hanh Street. After this they did bend over backwards to make me comfortable, the Staff were brilliant.



I went for a walk to the Hoan Kiem Lake which is 5 mins from the hotel. There is legend about a story about King Le Loi who with his legendary god sword drove the Chinese away. The legendary sword was claimed by the big golden turtle in this lake, the golden turtle resides in Ngoc Son Temple. The lake is a great beauty spot and heart of the Hanoi, I headed to the Ngoc Son Temple on the lake which is very interesting. I met some young girls who were out on the bridge with notebooks learning English so I taught them few English words in the small amount of time I had. (See the picture of the girls)





Hanoi city is very vibrant and I enjoyed walking the streets but it was not easy to cross the roads with so many motorbikes, in heavy traffic. I decided to take a ride on rickshaw, which was great fun. Most of time we were stuck in traffic with motorbikes coming from all directions. The rickshaw men will try and a extract little more money from you but there are no physical risks in this, only very small financial risks and that did not worry me at all. The best rate to exchange currency for Dong is in Goldsmith shops in Ha Chung street (near Hang Da Market).Most places do accept USA dollars and Vietnamese Dong.




I had a massage opposite the Golden Sunrise Hotel on Hang Hanh Street, the massage was good and it cost me $15 for 90 mins. Then I decided to take another round on the rickshaw to see other side of town, I let the hotel negotiate with the Rickshaw driver and I really enjoyed the ride.There are plenty of restaurants, pubs, souvenir shops and hotels nearby, when I came back I met a lovely friendly couple from Bangkok sitting outside the café next to the hotel. It was really nice sitting outside the café with great company in a busy street. We took pictures and promised to be in touch. They gave me lot of tips about Bangkok. (See the picture). I had most pleasant evening in Hanoi.

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Comments

[Liz]

Am really enjoying your blog - the description of being on the junk was beautifully written, so I could imagine being there!Looking forward to the next part.

[smittee]

Thank you for reading. I did look you up on facebook but I will sort something out as soon as i finish writing and polishing the blogs. Also Iam bit under the weather in london after all the heat..If any time anyone has question about the
travels, I am always happy to help out.

[smittee]

Hi , I went with mid range Houng Hai Junk. Please look at the next entry on my blog and you can read all the details about my trip with Houng hai junk and the itinerary. Please do not go with any cheap junks as there has been recent sinking
of Junk on Ha Long bay. Either go with reputable mid range junk or nice junk. Best wishes and happy planning :)

[Lisa Ng]

Hi, I would like to know if you stayed overnight on the junk at Ha Long Bay or returned to hanoi the same day by 4pm

[smittee]

Hi, I stayed overnight in the Junk as it is 3 and half hours journey each way. It will be a very long day if you return on the same day and it is not worth it for few hours only. The over night stay at the junk is really nice and I loved wa
king up in the morning at Ha long bay. It is beautiful.Enjoy planning.

[Skye]

I was wondering why your hotel, Golden Sun, was always booked when I assume you already had a booking with them? Is double booking a common problem in Hanoi?