Hanoi

We returned to Hanoi to spend the last few days of our trip through Vietnam here. We stayed in the old quarter which is full of small streets each dedicated to a specific thing - so you will find a street full of hardware, a street full of toys, a street of toiletries, shoes etc.

When we arrived our guide took us on a tour of the old quarter helping us get our bearings and showing us some beautiful old buildings and good places to eat. The old quarter is preserved in its original form, so the French influence can be seen everywhere in the architecture.

At the edge of the old quarter stands the catholic cathedral (also built by the French) - we were expecting it to be called 'Notre Dame de Hanoi', but to our dismay it was not; instead it had the very creative name of 'Catholic Christian Church of Hanoi' - we would have preferred Notre Dame, oh well.

We then went to the central lake in Hanoi - also known as turtle lake. The name stems from the fact that there are a few giant sweet water turtles living in the lake. According to legend, the general who liberated Hanoi had been given a heavenly sword that would help him in his endeavours; once this task was fulfilled, he went on a boat trip on the lake, where one of the turtles came up and took the sword from him and so restoring it to its rightful place (heaven). As a result, a small island with a stupa was built in the lake called turtle island.

Also on the lake is a temple which in itself is nothing special - except for the fact that it's on the lake. However, it is a nice and peaceful place and many older local men can be found there playing chinese chess. I watched for a while and not understanding a thing, came to the conclusion that it may be a combination of chess and nine men's morris - but don't take my word for it.

After walking around some more, we invited our guide for some tea on the street and sat and chatted to him for a while before saying goodbye to him and starting our hunt for food. We eventually found something we wanted to eat and did so. Then we went around the corner to a local Bia Hoi (fresh beer) place - where we sat and had a beer before heading off to bed.

The next day we took everything slowly, walked around a bit, bought a few souvenirs and tried various street foods. In the evening we went to see the water puppet show - one of Vietnam's cultural highlights. The stage contains a pool of water in which the puppets move. The puppets are accompanied by traditional music and singing performed by the musicians sitting on the side of the stage. Each performance represents different aspects of Vietnamese life, culture and belief. Although the show was all in Vietnamese it was very enjoyable and at times funny (though not necessarily on purpose).

We then went to find some food and for the second time in Vietnam when we wanted to eat at a local place, they made it clear that they did not want foreigners at that place. It is a weird feeling - they did not directly not serve us, but they quoted ridiculous prices, after making us wait to ask. I cannot really understand that one would not want to serve people, though I guess I can understand that it would make more work for them since they would have to think a little bit in English. In any case, we ended up finding a great sticky rise place with fun people and good food. We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and then sauntered back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up and checkd out of our hotel to go and check in to the backpacker's hostel where we would spend our last night in Vietnam. It was raining and the weather extremely humid. We decided to just relax, talk to people and just do nothing. We met our friend from the train again and he joined us for the afternoon and evening. For dinner we went back to the rice place and then had a beer with our friends at the Bia Hoi place. So it was a great last night in Vietnam.

Today we're just organising ourselves and will be heading towards Indonesia later!