An overnight flight from Delhi with a transfer in Singapore and we arrive early morning 19th November 2013 in Hanoi......we purchase an in country sim card a the airport and immediately lock up one of our phones...manage to get millions of Dhong out of the ATM machie and we are off in a Taxi to the Mecarus Hotel right in the middle of the old quarter which we booked the night before on Aagdo.....SUCH A LOVELY WELCOMING HOTEL..... which has managed to double book us and doesn't have a room.....NEVER MIND.....Its all sorted within a few minutes...they offer to move us to an associate hotel nearby that in their own words (is the same standard as ours) In case we don't like it the manager takes us in a taxi to the Hanoi Moments 2 hotel (at his cost) checks us in and doesn't leave until he is certain we are happy.....and WE ARE....its fabulous....with everything we need and more. Jimmy the Manager is adorable and falling over himself to make sure we are happy and our every need is attended to.....we aren't used to service like this and we are sure we wouldn't get it anywhere in Europe (that we have ever been)......its the beginning of our Vietnam leg and we are already experiencing the absolute attention to detail and service that the Vietnam people provide as standard.
THE OLD QUARTER of Hanoi where we are is bustling, narrow streets criss crossing each other with people (and whole families) whizzing around on motorbikes and mopeds, trying to avoid crashing into each other. There are street food stalls and street restaurants everywhere and we soon come across one that persuades us take the plunge!
THE OLD QUARTER of Hanoi where we are is bustling, narrow streets criss crossing each other with people (and whole families) whizzing around on motorbikes and mopeds, trying to avoid crashing into each other. There are street food stalls and street restaurants everywhere and we soon come across one that persuades us take the plunge!
THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS AND SO CHEAP.....AROUND £7 FOR 4 DISHES AND 2 BEERS!
There are Christmas Decoration shops everywhere not to mention stall clothes, jewellery, electrical and phone covers galore!
DAY 2 IN HANOI...includes a stroll around the Old Quarter and the French Quarter and a visit to The Hanoi Hilton....the old prison Maison Centrale which housed revolutionary political prisoners and the captured American Pilots during the Vietnamese war....we learned it was in fact the Americans who gave it the name the Hanoi Hilton by virtue of the fact they were treated very well by the Vietnamese and certainly far better than the native prisoners. We also see a prison van pulling up to court and prisoners going in and back out to the van with relatives shouting messages to them through the grids in the prison van! It's all happening!
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