Vietnam

We arrived in Vietnam on 29th June 2008 and our driver was waiting for us at Hanoi Airport. He drove us directly to our beautiful hotal in The Old Quarter of Hanoi.

Vietnam was a bit of a culture shock and initially the city can seem a bit overwhelming ,with lots of Vietnamese coming up to you to sell you stuff, offer you a ride in a cyclo or simply to beg.

Hanoi is a mix between Parisian grace and Asian pace. The French used to occupy the City and so a great deal of the buildings are in a traditional French style, with boulevard streets. The Asian pace is clear from all the hustle and bustle of the traffic and sheer number of people. The Vietnamese and French seem to have the same approach to driving; completely ignoring traffic lights, driving the wrong way up a street and a flagrant disregard for pedestrians and zebra crossings!

Anyway, enough of our rant and back to what we did...

We had a walk round Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the heart of Hanoi to get our bearings, had pizza(not very Vietnamese, but Shivani was not quite ready to take the plunge) and then went for a short nap at 4p.m. with the intention of going to the night market, but never woke up until 8a.m. the next day.

Well rested, we went for a walk around the city to absorb the sights and smells; the photos above reflect what we saw. The weather is very hot 30+C, which is why we may look a bit worn out in the photos.

The yellow building was the Natural History Museum.