Wednesday 27 November
A bit of a dull sky for my
initial exploration of Hanoi. I set off armed with my map and made my way to
the Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre of the city.
I walked around its Eastern edge and then peeled off to look at the Opera house before turning back to see St Joseph’s cathedral.
There was a very fine drizzle that I feared would make all my photos look incredibly dull but I pressed on with my photo-record nonetheless. On my way, I noted various places to eat as well as the Swing bar that looked worth a visit later.
I walked around its Eastern edge and then peeled off to look at the Opera house before turning back to see St Joseph’s cathedral.
There was a very fine drizzle that I feared would make all my photos look incredibly dull but I pressed on with my photo-record nonetheless. On my way, I noted various places to eat as well as the Swing bar that looked worth a visit later.
This day, I booked a trip to
Halong Bay which seemed to cheer the hotel. Clearly they get a good commission
from the tours but the hotel also seems pretty honest and hopefully I won’t
fall victim to some of the dodgy happenings recorded on Trip Advisor, such as
consolidating people onto a different boat to the one they had booked.
In the evening I decided to
sort out my train ticket to Lao Cai (for Sapa) and set off to the station with some
foreboding as to how easy this would be. It turned out to be simplicity itself.
The ticket seller spoke good enough English and I secured a ticket for a soft
sleeper lower berth as recommended in the guides. The cost at 700,000 VND (35
USD) was a good deal less than doing it through an agent.
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