timistravels

Dec. 10th, 2019

We landed at 11 pm and took the advise from the person we rented our apartment from; arrange for a pick up, $20 for the two of us! Was so worth it, Dong was there with a sign and got us straight to our apartment! It was a crazy night in Hanoi as they’d just won a huge Soccer championship and the streets were full on celebration.

We rented an apartment in Old Town and it’s perfect. We are right beside Hoan Kiem Lake and blocks from the Dong Xuan Market.

We started morning by getting cash, 1,000,000 or about $43. Crazy high bills! Then we stopped and got a SIM card. 15 G data and 15 minutes of calling for $14! We’re set.

We started out along Lake Hoan Kiem enjoying the nice park walkway along the edge. From one end we walked a few more blocks to visit the Opera House. Sadly no tours just open for operas in the evenings. Then headed over to Metrepole Hotel which was built in 1909 and survived the bombings during the war.

We continued back to the lake and around to the end where the Rising Sung Bridge takes you to the Ngoc Son Temple on Turtle Island. Entry fee $3 for the two of us.

Onward to the Dong Xuan Market and as warned in the guide books it’s basically a market where Vietnamese shop for clothes and accessories. Lots of knock off, nothing too appealing for us.

However outside of the market were lots of food for sale, fruit, corn, beans, vegetables, etc. we bought some apple bananas as we love them. We then got a brilliant idea to walk across the bridge over Red River. It’s a historic bridge for pedestrians and scooters only, no cars. It was longer than we thought, over 1 mile but was a fun walk. We did bring a cab back over the bridge for < $1. Everything is so reasonable.

Lastly we had dinner with a former student and walked around the lake in the evening with an almost full moon!

More tomorrow.