22 Sept in Ha Noi Ethnology Museum

We spent a large part of the day at this amazing place. There is an internal and external exhibit with static and video displays of the 54 ethnic group;s that inhabit Vietnam. Outside there are amazing long houses and communal houses as well as burial tombs with their graphic statues depicting fertility. It cost 85,000 Dong to enter the museum with a fee included for taking photos. We had lunch at a restaurant school set up by retired teachers, where young people at risk are learning hospitality skills. It was a not-for-profit restaurant.

A couple of the long houses had steps chopped out of logs propped up with a scarcity of hand railings to give confidence on the ascent and descent which I always find the hardest.





We went next door to the hotel and had Pho soup for dinner – a traditional dish. Chickens were boiled for stock and also to get the chicken fat and it was predominantly noodles, greens and slivers of pork . Then at 8.15, Dang, one of the staff at the hotel was given the responsibility to take us to the train station for the overnight train to Sapa. We were half way there in a taxi when Dang asked if we had the tickets. Then “have you forgotten the tickets” to which I replied “we never had the tickets, they were under the counter shelf at reception”. It took a while for him to realise what I had said, and he replied “don't worry” but then proceeded to make phone calls with his voice getting more and more a tone of panic as time went on. He settled us in a coffee cafe and headed off in the taxi but before we could say Jack Robinson, he was back having decided a taxi was too slow and he would get someone from the hotel to bring the tickets over. All's well that ends well. Then he said, “I've never been on a train, follow me” - he was on a steep learning curve for sure. He told us he was a student of HR and had only been working at the hotel for 4 months. What a gorgeous young man!!

We had soft sleepers in the train with air con. I would hate to see the hard sleepers. I guess I must have slept off and on.

21 Sept Day in Ha Noi

The alarm didn't go off as planned – I set the time but not the Alarm On switch. Fortunately we got up at 8.03 and made it to breakfast before they shut down the restaurant. I had rice and salad with small sausages and bacon and then an omelette was cooked for us. All round it was a light but satisfying breakfast. We then booked our tours to Sapa and Halong Bay and adjusted the nights we are staying at this hotel.

By this time it was time for lunch so the Hotel manager recommended we go to a restaurant to eat Cha Ca (fish). It was a great experience with a burner placed in the middle of the table and fish frying with fennel and onion stalks. There were small bowls of noodles, chilli, peanuts, sauce and basil and more onion greens. All this for 150,000 Dong which is $7.50.

After another small rest, we got a taxi to Hoan Kiem Lake and then walked around it and walked back to the hotel up Hun Ngang which is a market street. The lake was a hive of activity with couples walking, school kids just hanging, elderly people doing exercises, people eating icecream and so on.

Lots of bustle, scooters galore carrying everything including small babies propped between parents or resting on the handle bars. Plenty of rickshaws and women carrying baskets on poles and sitting on pavements cutting and peeling fruit for sale. Many of the houses are tall and narrow and have roof gardens and shutters on the windows. We were walking along trying to negotiate all the paraphenalia on the pavements when suddenly Meryl found herself wearing a coolie hat and a bamboo pole with baskets on either end, all set up for a photo. Then it was my turn. Next we were handed a bag of pineapple each and asked for 150,000 Dong. A bit of fun was had by all. We got back in the dark which complicated the street crossingx which we had perfected – go go go!!! Somehow we managed not to get hit by anything.



There are not an obviously large number of people in uniforms and those that I saw, were not officious and actually very subtly moved people on who were possibly annoying others while trying to do their meagre business. We saw quite a few women in coolie hats usually trying to sell something.

Today I am a millionaire. I took 1,500,000 Dong off my Cash Card. Meryl is using an AMEX card and hasn't found anywhere to use it yet. Bit of a dilemna.



We didn't feel that hungry so we decided to eat some pineapple we had bought from the street vendor and also some vegemite snacks I had brought from home and a cappuchino sachet coffee. Then blogging and charging devices and packing our bags as we are checking out tomorrow for an overnight train ride to Sapa.

20 Sept Sydney to Ha Noi

We had Maccas for breakfast this morning – there's a first time for everything. Won't hurry to do it again however. Once at the airport, check in was smooth and then we had hours to fill. I found myself gazing at the departure board at such exotic place names as Denpasar, Hangzhou Shenzhen, Kuala Lumpur, etc – dreaming of adventures and connections with people with different beliefs, skin colour, languages ….... We left after 2 pm instead of at 10 am and consequently landed in Saigon after 8 pm where we had a run around the houses. We had to pick up our luggage and go through customs and sort out the Visas which cost US$50 as we had a multiple entry visa. Then we lined up with some eager locals to board for Ha Noi but suddenly they all sat down so they had heard an announcement that the plane from Danang had been delayed. Ho hum! Finally, after a 1.5 hour flight we arrive in Ha Noi but of course our transfer pick up didn't show – it was 1 am after all. We asked an official looking person what to expect to pay for a taxi to the Bro and Sis Hotel since the taxi touts were all hanging in the door of the Arrivals lounge and bouncing back everytime they were moved on by “uniforms”.

It is approximately an 8 hour flight to Ha Noi. We got there to our room at about 1.30 which is 4.30 Sydney time so weary doesn't come close to how we felt. On the way from the airport, there was not much traffic but there were those on scooters who looked like they were going to a market. Then we saw a market: unbelievable, at that time in the morning, who would be buying?

Another conseequence of the QANTAS strike was that the usual fare was not loaded on the plane and the crew apologised frequently for the poor food. I'll not eat another panini for a very long time.

Stayed at: Bro and Sis Hotel, 53 Hung Bun, Ba Dinh district

19 Sept Leaving on a Jet Plane

I'd finished packing a week ago but each day I looked I took something more out of the pack. At midday we left for the airport and Steve dropped me off in the drop-off zone. Next I was to find out that there was a delay of more than 30 mins due to a security breach at Sydney airport. I met Meryl at the airport after she had checked for me at Virgin and Jetstar, we finally got our messages to jell and Meryl walked over from Jetstar to meet me. We got a taxi to the Hotel Formule at St Peters. The impression given on the website I booked on was that the hotel was close to the airport but in fact it cost $20 for the taxi. The hotel was very basic and the beds and pillows were hard but beggars can't be choosers. We got another cab up to Newtown to eat dinner and found a Vietnamese cafe where we got in the mood by trying fresh spring rolls and charcoal grilled chicken. Then had a smidge of difficulty standing on the side of the road trying to hail a cab.

Meryl had an email for her to contact Best Flights urgently and lo and behold if our flight to Vietnam hadn't been delayed by 4 hours due to the QANTAS strike. At least it meant we could take our time getting to the airport the following day.