Hanoi – The Capital of Vietnam

Firstly, apologies for keeping you waiting for updates to my journey.  When I cycled into China I knew that communication would be difficult.  I managed to use a VPN to connect to Whats App and occasionally to Facebook but I could not climb the Great Firewall of China to update this blog.  Anyway I’m home so keep an eye out for more posts over the next few weeks

Meeting Mo in Hanoi

After leaving Phong Nha, I had 5 days of hard cycling to get to Hanoi.  I was not stopping except to sleep as I knew Mo would be waiting for me and I had promised to be there on 26 Sept.  I was happy to ride into Hanoi at lunch time on the appointed day.  Navigation, as always in a big city, was complex but I found the Hanoi Focus Boutique Hotel relatively easily and the staff all came rushing out to welcome me. They really went out of their way to ensure that we had a good stay.  They also looked after Bobbie exceptionally well.   

Our plan was to explore Hanoi and to see Halong Bay and SaPa.  I really wanted to show Mo some of the places I had seen and so we planned a visit to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and then after returning to Vietnam to visit Da Nang and Hoi An.

Hanoi – a busy, noisy, crazy but delightful city

We stayed in The Old Quarter and spent most of our time exploring, tasting good food, sipping craft beer in our favourite pub and enjoying the sights and smells.  Thanks to our friend, Hang Tren, who supplied us with a list of local food we soon found ourselves enjoying Bun Cha, Pho, Sticky Rice and Egg Coffee in restaurants off the tourist beat. We were delighted to meet up with Jamie and Luke and have a farewell pint and a meal with them.

Our most favourite places were Hoan Kiem Lake and the Temple of Literacy.  We also took  a cooking class and became friends with Trần Thu Hiền the very talented instructor.  After Mo left Hanoi, Hiền took me on her scooter, showed me the sights of Hanoi including her university and treated me to a really good lunch.  I also moved in to the Luxury Backpackers Hostel where I was treated royally by the staff and I was delighted to meet Michele and Christina. We’re happy to  have Christina visiting us in Cape Town now.   Poor Bobbie had to spend that week in a parking lot for the hospital!

Mo and I both agreed that Hanoi is a city to be re-visited sometime, we really enjoyed our time in this fascinating city.  But Halong Bay and Sa Pa called and they will  be the subject of the next post.