Hanoi - The Other Side

Our hotel in Hanoi, The Golden Orchid. It's very thin, but 6 story's high

Well, for an 18 hour travel day, surprisingly it wasn’t too bad! Boarded the flight on time and as we’d got to the airport early we’d managed to change our seats and get the emergency exit ones, it was nice not to feel so hemmed in, but I think my legs must be all the wrong length as my knees did complain quite a lot, but B was pleased! They fed us which we weren’t expecting, so second dinner at 01.30 which they did very quickly and efficiently and then try to sleep. Gave up at 08.45ish, but I guess I must have slept/dozed quite a lot! 

Our first walk into town, we think it's the entrance to a Chinese Garden

Watched a couple of films and they fed us again before arriving in Taipei. Went through the normal stress of will the bags go all the way through? Did they even leave SF? Two hours to kick our heels (and stretch our legs) before another 3 hour flight, and another airplane breakfast though pork fried rice was a pleasant change. We then had to get our ‘visa on arrival’ which we expected to be a real pain, we applied for a letter before we left home and expected it to take up to two hours, so pleasantly surprised to find ourselves through immigration, with bags and finding a sign with our name on as the driver from the hotel was there to collect us, all within half an hour of expected landing time!

That's a statue of Ly Thai To, an emperor of Vietnam between 974-1028. He moved the capital to Hanoi. The couple in front are newly weds having their photos taken. He appears to be hitting her over the head with her bouquet, but it was all in fun!

A typical street in Hanoi

First cat fix

It’s hot, we’ve walked round the lake, dodging the traffic, had a bite of lunch, met our first Vietnamese cat and puppy dogs and retreated back to the AC in the room. Fortunately we had already decided to try to stay awake as the building works would have made it difficult to sleep, though a room with no windows would probably have helped on that score. We’ve checked our emails and discovered that we can’t access Facebook - the Vietnamese don’t like it so block it apparently! Maybe we won’t be staying here 3 months!
And the good news, The red bag has made it home despite the problems with its collection!

And puppy fix!