Day 1 - Arrival in Hanoi

 We had a very good 11 hour flight which arrived on time and seemed to go remarkably quickly.

We landed at 5.20 am and had been through immigration and collected our luggage by 5.50.  We met the rest of the group and were taken to our hotel in central Hanoi where rooms were all ready for us and we could have breakfast.

Although tired we went for a walk to one of the tourist spots which is Hoan Kiem Lake.  We walked all around the lake and visited the Ngoc Son Temple, which is on an island on the lake connected by a red bridge.  We then walked around the old town.

Apparently there are 7 million motor bikes / scooters in Hanoi and I think we saw most of them today!  Crossing the road is a real experience and you really do have to just walk into the traffic and hope it avoids you, even when the "green man" is showing.  If the way ahead is reasonably clear they just go, red lights or not.  See video below.


Ngoc Son Temple

Street in Old Town

Temple in Hanoi Old Town

Childrens library and reading area

Gates to Ngoc Son temple

Paul at Ngoc Son temple

Small bird at lakeside

Heron on lake

Another temple on the lake

Video showing how to cross the road in Hanoi

There are 19 in our group and we were taken for dinner tonight at a restaurant near the hotel.  A Water Puppet show was scheduled but this has been moved to tomorrow night.  We finished the evening with a drink at the rooftop bar at the hotel with some nice views of Hanoi.


 
View from hotel bar

 
View from hotel bar





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