15 October in Ha Noi

I really enjoy Ha Noi. Today we decided to spend sometime in the Illy Cafe at the huge roundabout near the lake so we could drink a real coffee and so that I could do some blogging and we could upload each others photos. When we tired of that we went shopping for silk in a street recommended by Cham.

Had another dispute with a taxi driver. Our taxi to the lake cost 32000 dong (about $2.60) and he seemed to go the long way. On our way back we suddenly saw the metre was soaring past 32000 and he was taking interesting shortcuts. Finally it stopped at 98000 dong. He wouldn't have it that his metre was wrong so Meryl got the receptionist from the hotel to come and speak to him on our behalf. He insisted finally that his company sets the metre so I think that was some sort of concession to our argument. In the end we paid 90000 dong (about $4.50) - it's the principle not the price! Following this incident we asked the hotel receptionist to give us a list of the trustworthy taxis they use so here it is just in case, dear reader, you are fancying a trip to Ha Noi: Mai Linh taxi, CP taxi, ABC taxi and Ha Noi taxi.

We bought some material and some kimono dressing gowns by the way. Photos will be added once I have managed to get a copy of Meryl's final Ha Noi photos.