Here’s another update.
Today, the weather has been much better. It’s been very overcast, but there’s been no rain all day, which has cast Hanoi in a slightly different light. You tend to see a lot more when you’re walking around with your head held high, instead of buried inside an anorak. It’s also a real pleasure to not be oozing sweat from every pour of one’s body.
We spent today looking around the old quarter again. Hanoi continues to perpetrate assault and battery on the senses. Car horns are incessantly held on, the polution is awful (though probably not as bad as Bangkok), and an amazing array of sights, sounds, smells and tastes awaits you around every corner.
After finishing with the old quarter, we visited a couple of temples and pagodas, including the Temple of Literature, passing by Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum on the way. He wasn’t actually reposing there at the time, so we didn’t go in. For a couple of months each year, his bits and bobs are flown over to Russia to be re-embalmed, so we weren’t able to admire his mortal remains. Otherwise, that would definitely have been on our agenda.
Haggling with the cyclos (bicycle taxis) was fun. 50,000 Dong soon becomes 30,000 if you hold your ground. It’s very entertaining to be biked all over town, bobbing and weaving inbetween the traffic; a bus on this side, a lorry there; motorbikes everywhere. Somehow, it all just works out well and no-one ever seems to collide with anyone else.
After sending this e-mail, we’ll be going back to the hotel and then heading out for dinner, after which a well-deserved (by my reckoning) foot massage will follow.
I neglected to mention in my report from Vientiane that we started our last day in Luang Prabang with a Lao massage at the Red Cross Centre, a service they provide in order to raise funds for medical care.
After this evening, we’ll have had massages in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, although Thailand is the only country where we were lucky enough to sample a full body massage and a foot massage. I’m definitely becoming a convert to the pleasures and benefits of a good massage.
Tomorrow, we head to the Perfume Pagoda for a day-trip. The day after, we go to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island for three days.
We’ve already purchased our flights to Ho Chi Minh City for Saturday evening, so we don’t have to be concerned about any more of our travel. That hooks up nicely with the Ho Chi Minh -> Hong Kong tickets we purchased back in the USA.
Anyway, we’ll either write more after our excursion tomorrow or wait until we arrive in HCM City (Saigon) on Saturday evening.