From door to door, the travel time from Saskatoon to Hanoi was about 30 hours, but we made it without any glitches. One of the things that really surprised me about the trip was the flight path that we too between Vancouver and Korea. I know that these long haul flights head north to get shorter distance as the earth shrinks near the poles, but I did not realize just how far north. We had spectacular mountain views for a long distance as we travelled up the BC coast. We probably would have beeb able to see Anchorage if it hadn't clouded over. We then cut acros the Bering Sea and over that long peninsula that juts down from Russia. Followed the Russian coastline down, crossed Japan, and made it into Seoul a little ahead of schedule. Seoul has a nice airport, easy to get around and tons of space. Hanoi has a brand new terminal that just opened last mnth, so everything is pretty shiny in there too. Got out visas, passed through immigration, and arrived at the carosle just as the luggage arrived. Young guy waiting in the lobby with our names on a sign, and 30-45 minutes later we got to La Siesta hotel which is right in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. We both felt surprisingly good when we got to the hotel, I had a few short naps and Eileen slept much more than she had expected to.
Up at 7:30 and had a great breakfast (included with the room). Omeletes, bacon, stuffed tomatoes, fresh bread, vietnamese rolls, good coffee, and fruit. I have to find out what the one fruit was that I had. It did not look too appetizing, purple skin, had a lot of large seeds (that you ate) and a surprising citrus flavor. While we were eating, one of the ladies from the front desk came to our table to chat. She knew us by name, knew our plans for the next week or so, and then described how we would leave our luggage with them while we are in Halong Bay and Sapa. We booked a street food tour with them for tonight.
We headed out to find a recommended ATM, and had no problem making a 5,000,000 VND withdrawl. Makes you feel rich...... We then spent the morning and half afternoon wandering the Old Quarter. At one point we found the Dong Xuan market, which is a three story building that covers a full city block. There are clothes, shoes, trinkets, etc, stacked to the rafters in there, with narrow passages between the piles of goods. Found the fabric section on the second floor, but Eileen was so overwhelmed that she could not even look, she just wanted to get back out on the street. The only purchase all morning was an embroidered table runner for $7.50.
Lunch was at a little place out on the street. WE had a plate of shrimp fried rice, seafood noodle stir fry, a big order of spring rolls and two beer for about $12. The beer (Bia Ha Noi) were $1 each and came in 450 ml bottles, good deal.
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