Breakfast is included in our stay here so we stuffed our faces at the all you can eat breakfast buffet. We were so tired but got up just so we didn't miss the free food which was a pretty good job really because there was quite a lot of variety and the standard wasnt bad at all! We were planning on going back to bed after but we headed down to get our money back for the taxi and were approached by a member of staff offering thousands of apologies and assuring us we would be refunded. During the conversation we mentioned we were touring vietnam and halong bay was next, and at that point he began to tell us about the tours the hotel do. We wernt too keen at first due to the prices being a bit steep but we looked into all the options, checked out the reviews on the Internet which were all really good and bartered the price down by about 70 dollars, plus we get a free ride to the pick up station, free bag storage for our backpacks whilst we're gone and the use of one of the rooms when we get back to shower and relax for a couple of hours before we head on to our next destination (which the hotel have also arranged). All in all, again a bit more money than perhaps a poor backpacker would normally be paying but a good deal all the same.
We went back to the room and I slept for a while, i could have done for longer but we decided to go out at about 2.30pm. On our way down the man approached us again, very apologetic saying he had tried to book us onto the said tour but it was full. So he had booked us onto a different one, worth more for the same price due to it being his mistake...we looked and it's a lot better quality, so much so we might be a bit out of place!!
Anyway we headed on our way, walking through the old quarter of Hanoi. It's really nice, very busy but we can handle anything since the short time in India traffic I think. The place is full of pedal bikes, motorbikes, rickshaw type vehicles and ladies walking around with poles with baskets on the end selling all sorts of things with their vietnemese hats on. The place has a strange french style to it, with French style buildings dotted around and lots of bird cages in random trees. We walked around hoan Kiem lake, also called lake of the returned sword. It's called that because a king from a long time ago was on a boat in the lake when a giant turtle came up and grabbed his magic sword before disappearing. It was never found, so it's said that it was the turtle god reclaiming the sword from when he gave it to the kind for battle some years before. There's a tortoise tower in the middle of the lake which is very pretty to look at, and also a temple called ngoc son that we went to see. It was all very beautiful and we spent quite a while wandering round and finding places to sit and watch the water.
After that we wandered further round the lake and also went around some of the streets looking at all the markets. We walked to st Joseph cathedral, by the time we got there it was dark but you could go in. We sat at the back for 10 minutes and listened to the locals singing hymns in vietnamese which was a really lovely sound.We stumbled across a random cafe in amongst the hundreds that are dotted around and decided to go in for a drink, it didn't look like much but we were led to an upstairs section which we didn't realise was there. It was quite nice up there and it had a sign saying it had been rated highly on trip advisor which is always a good sign. The table mats were just big bits of paper with pots of crayons to doodle which was a nice touch. I had an apple lemon tea which was delicious, Liam had a Hanoi beer. We shared a Hanoi style noodle soup which was quite entertaining trying to eat it with chop sticks and a spoon. It was wonderful, really good taste and not too much money. We then walked to try and find one of the markets, we got there in one piece but the market was shut! So we again just wandered the streets which I suppose may not sound great but there's so many sights and smells it's exciting enough just walking down random streets.
We had bought tickets to the water puppet show for 9.15pm. We arrived back to the area about half an hour before so sat on a bench overlooking the tortoise tower with the lake all lit up around the edge. I had a massive panic because I couldn't find our tickets, but Liam said we'd go anyway and see if there was anything we could do to get in. Luckily he had remembered our seat numbers so they were happy to let us go in which was very good! Panic over. The show was kind of weird, some bits were great but others were a bit boring. I think some parts dragged a bit but in general I really enjoyed it. The music was really lovely, the ladies singing sounded beautiful, the water puppets were really good. It was a story of the start of vietnamese culture, and the different tribes within vietnam. Apparently legend says that some fish and some bird mated or something, and a big egg was layed, then 100 men were hatched all forming the different tribes across Vietnam! A couple in front of us were sound asleep for a good chunk of it which was nearly as entertaining as the actual show!
We finally got back to the hotel at about 10.45 so another late night was had by the two of us which isn't a good idea as I'm still recovering from a cold and Liam seems to becoming down with something himself now!
