Day 160 (Thu 14 Dec) - Hanoi
After brekky headed off to the mausoleum complex sited about 3 kms away from our hotel. A nice walk in the sunshine.
Stopped off in Lenin Square to get our bearings and where Jo procured a knocked off copy of Lonely Planet's Vietnam guide.
Walked on a little further to the complex itself past some very grand embassies.
Unfortunately, everything was shut. Vietnam has some really odd opening hours we were to discover. However we were able to walk round the grounds of Uncle Ho's mausoleum and the presidential palace, taking in the one-pillared pagoda en route. Very beautiful.
Had lunch at an open air local eatery. Not a single other Westerner in sight and as such we were forced to try our rudimentary Vietnamese on the non-English speaking waiter. We used our phrase book to order our food that proved harder than can be imagined. As an example, we worked out what pork was in Vietnamese and then hunted round for it on the proffered menu. However we could only find an approximation to the spelling given by the guide book. This does not sound too perilous, but it has to be remembered that a couple of letters swapped round could make all the difference from eating the right bit of a porker or gorging on the wrong bit of one of man's best friends.
After much hesitation we took the plunge and just ordered what we thought was pork and chicken, vowing that whatever turned up we would call pork and chicken and leave it at that. Food duly arrived and was great!
Next stop on todays agenda was to go to the Air Force Museum so Sarb could stand gaping like a simpleton at various pieces of aircraft. Got a taxi and headed off to the museum that is some distance from the centre of town.
Got to the museum only to find it closed! The guard on duty was particularly unhelpful when asked when the place was likely to open. From his responses we worked out that it could be today or never. Sarb rattled off a few photos of the few aircraft (looks like a piece of F4 wreckage in the background) that he could see and, with one of the party bitterly disappointed, we turned on our heels and started walking back to town.
En route we stopped off at a shopping centre to have a cool drink and use it's facilities.
As we neared our hotel we were beginning to flag so stopped off for a couple of Bia Hoi's at Bia Hoi Junction. Sat chatting to a couple of English guys who had just returned from Halong Bay. Sounds great.
Had a good dinner and then packed our gear ready for our trip North.
Stopped off in Lenin Square to get our bearings and where Jo procured a knocked off copy of Lonely Planet's Vietnam guide.
Walked on a little further to the complex itself past some very grand embassies.
Unfortunately, everything was shut. Vietnam has some really odd opening hours we were to discover. However we were able to walk round the grounds of Uncle Ho's mausoleum and the presidential palace, taking in the one-pillared pagoda en route. Very beautiful.
Had lunch at an open air local eatery. Not a single other Westerner in sight and as such we were forced to try our rudimentary Vietnamese on the non-English speaking waiter. We used our phrase book to order our food that proved harder than can be imagined. As an example, we worked out what pork was in Vietnamese and then hunted round for it on the proffered menu. However we could only find an approximation to the spelling given by the guide book. This does not sound too perilous, but it has to be remembered that a couple of letters swapped round could make all the difference from eating the right bit of a porker or gorging on the wrong bit of one of man's best friends.
After much hesitation we took the plunge and just ordered what we thought was pork and chicken, vowing that whatever turned up we would call pork and chicken and leave it at that. Food duly arrived and was great!
Next stop on todays agenda was to go to the Air Force Museum so Sarb could stand gaping like a simpleton at various pieces of aircraft. Got a taxi and headed off to the museum that is some distance from the centre of town.
Got to the museum only to find it closed! The guard on duty was particularly unhelpful when asked when the place was likely to open. From his responses we worked out that it could be today or never. Sarb rattled off a few photos of the few aircraft (looks like a piece of F4 wreckage in the background) that he could see and, with one of the party bitterly disappointed, we turned on our heels and started walking back to town.
En route we stopped off at a shopping centre to have a cool drink and use it's facilities.
As we neared our hotel we were beginning to flag so stopped off for a couple of Bia Hoi's at Bia Hoi Junction. Sat chatting to a couple of English guys who had just returned from Halong Bay. Sounds great.
Had a good dinner and then packed our gear ready for our trip North.
posted by Jo and Sarb at
12/14/2006 04:53:00 am
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