We had arranged a cab from our hotel to the little domestic flight airport in Da Nang. It was the smallest airport I'd ever seen in my life! lol There were only about 9 check-in counters, one tiny airport cafe (whch was more like a open air food stall) and one gift counter (yea it wasnt even a store!! it was a counter!). We reached the airport way too early for my liking, part of it due to or hotel's misinformation (they said itd take over an hour, it took us less than 40 minutes) and someone always having to be on location early (which is probably a good thing because I have no sense of urgency, so we even out just nice ;)) The plane ride went without much of a hitch-only 1 hour in waiting and 1 hour plane delay due to weather and then the control tower in Hanoi. It was only an hour plane ride and I must say, I enjoyed that more than any other transport we'd had so far! Though those were good/life changing experiences to have- I think. We landed at about 1am and were met by our hotel arranged taxi man holding a "Mr. Andersen" sign.

Day 10

We checked into The Ritz Hotel. It was behind 2 shady alleys actually. The thing about Hanoi is that there are a lot of imposter hotels- or pirated hotels if you'd like. lol But this one was fine, a backpacker hotel, it was pretty cosy. We were booked into a simply decorated room. It was clean and cosy with a view of the neighbors roof. lol


With a good nights sleep, we awoke ready for exploration only to peak out of the window and see a huge rain storm!! As we waited for it to subside, we had a good breakfast (included in our $25/night stay) and were able to use the internet. After much milling around, we ventured out to buy some umbrellas. The streets were tricky and by the time we found the grocery store, there wasn't much of a need to buy umbrellas as we were drenched! Nevertheless, we bought them anyway! I got a pretty asian-styled purple one! woo hoo!

Following a change of clothes and an afternoon nap, the rain diminished into a small drizzle and we had grown rather fidgety. Finally starting our Hanoi excursion, we crossed the street to the Hoan Kiem lake. The lake was beautiful and serene after the rain. In the middle of the lake was the Tortise tower. Used to be called Luc Thuy (Green lake) for its green waters all year round, the lake was renamed Hoan Kiem in the 15th century due to the legend of Emperor Le Loi. According to Legend, Emperor Le Loi was given a magic sword from the golden turtle god Kim Qui, which led to the victory against the Chinese Ming Dynasty. One day as the Emperor was boating on the lake, the turtle god took the sword back. The emperor decided the golden turtle god had taken his sword back when his country re-won its freedom. Thus, Hoan Kiem- Lake of the restored sword.

note: Large soft-shell turtles have been spotted in the lake- said to be either Rafetus swinhoei or Rafetus Leloii. The species is critically endangered and it is unclear how many are left in the lake. As of 2008, three Hoan Kiem Turtles are in captivity, two of them in Chinese zoos. Another is being taken care of in the Hoan Kiem Lake.

Also at Hoan Kiem Lake on northern end, is an island with the Ngoc Son Temple. From the 14th century (though current buildings are from the 18th century), the temple is dedicated to hero Trang Hung Dao who defeated an army sent by Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. Leading up to the island is a red bridge called The Huc (aka "The morning sunlight bridge"). At each end of the bridge is a stone gateway with chinese character on them.

note: There was a preserved Haoan Kiem turtle in the temple! Found dead in 1967, it lies at 440lbs (200kg) and 6ft3in (1.9 meters) -this thing is bigger than me!


After we'd finished touring the temple, we continued our Lonely Planet walking tour. We passed a bg war memorial and booked a pair of tickets for the water puppet show later that night! The streets of the old quarter in Hanoi were divided into different specialty sections. During the walking tour we would pass by a street where all the stores were of blacksmiths, clothes, painting, decorations, souveniors, tombstone carving and much more!

Halfway though we stopped at this tiny restaurant on the 2nd floor above a silk store. The restaurant was so small it only had 5 tables in it, the 5th on the mini balcony. The first thing we saw was a lady mopping the floor and the second thing was her yelling at us for stepping on it. I was terrified and a little offended, but my hunger overruled my urge to leave. The waitress continued to be rude as she took our order and served our food....I'll give you one guess if we'd left her a tip or not. haha. Anyway, not letting some woman spoil our time, we enjoyed our lunch of noodles and fried rice as we watched the hustle and bustle of the city below us.

The next stop in our journey was at 87 Pho Ma May street. There stands an old, restored and frozen 19th century Vietnamese house. I seriously think the lonely planet reccomendation has severly damaged its uniqueness. Instead of a preserved house I'd expected, only a couple rooms remained and the rest were turned into a gift store. The front of the house as you enter had a long desk for payment of entry. As you walk in theres a smal court yard with a fountain in it. Further back there is calligraphy you could buy, and the next room was a gift store. We headed to the second floor where finally there was a traditional sitting room with furniture made and carved of wood. The next room was the master bedroom-also turned into a gift store. There was a traditional bed ornately carved of wood, a handsome matching headboard and dresser. However, everything around it from pillow covers to tapestries were for sale. hmmmm.

We continued our walking tour along the streets. There was uncontrollable honking all over the place! We found ourselves walking down a street full of snacks! they sold all kinda of cracker and candies and Henrik found his coffee!!! Weasel coffee! Weasel coffee is coffee that Vietnamese coffee growers feed to weasels. After the coffee beans have gone though the weasel's system, the coffee bean is collected, ground and brewed. The end product is a musky, smooth, flavorful coffee! Gross, I know, but now of days weasel coffee is not even passed through a weasel but processed though stimulating effects of beans going through a weasel's body. (BUT for the price we paid for ours, they'd damn well better be weasel shit!) We found a little store that offered us samples of the coffee. The coffee beans were numbered in barrels ranging from 1 to 6, 6 being the strongest. Naturally, we chose the strongest! Baby had a little glass of plain black coffee and I had a little glass of iced coffee. I'd have to admit, they were really delicious! We left after buying some coffee and they charged us for our samples too! Who knew?! I came out a little dumbstruck as the tiny glasses were more than double the price of a regular drink at Starbucks.

We continued our walking tour through the streets and found a little temple in a back alley. We went in and immediately I wanted to leave. 1. because it was the shadiest place ever! all dirty and dark and quiet, 2. because there was this old man who watched us shamelessly and closely ever since we stepped into the little alley. *shivers* what a creeper!

The next historical monument we passed was the old city games. Smack dab in the middle of the streets was this massive pile of bricks. I thought it was pretty cool that people still work their way around it. lol


We found ur way to a....floor market? Everything was on the floor! I was so traumatized at its unsanitariness!! There were flies all over, raw meat on the floor and wet splatters everywhere! *faints* ........and here I was thinking Singapore's wet markets were dirty.......cleanest country if you're comparing the countries around it!!!! *scandalized*


Nearby was a normal wholesale market. They had a variety of things, but were closing by the time we reached. The most interesting part was the seafood area! Among the normal seafoods, they had a lot of live foods in big buckets like crabs, frogs, eels and even snake! *shivers* My favorite part though, was the kittens they were selling! *awww* so cute!

Afer getting some cake, our last stop in our walking tour was at the St. Joseph's cathedral. First opened in 1886, this church still holds mass twice a day, everyday. The outside was grey and shabby looking but from inside you could still see the big beautiful stained glass windows with specks of light shining through.

In the evening, after booking our trip to Halong Bay, we headed to the theater!- Water puppet theater that is! ;) The show is definitely a must-watch! There were like 10 different short stories that the puppets acted out. The puppets were controlled by bamboos under knee deep water. The singers to the side of the stage used traditional Vientnamese musical instruments! It was entertaining from the start to the end!

We finished the night off with a very late dinner! We ate at a place called 69 bar and restaurant *brows* It was a cute little restored house from the 19th century. The Ambience was very nice-we had our own little room on the balcony. We had really good food of springrolls, chicken and duck! yumm!! (though I was not too fond of the way my duck was chopped up into bits) All-in-all a very satifying meal! We had drinks afterwards....the beer was dirt cheap....I don't even think it was close to a dollar! lol Great day!