Vietnam Airlines: about a 3 hr flight from Saigon to Hanoi. From the airport terminal we took a bus to the plane.
Ben checking out our hotel in Hanoi. we were lucky to have a computer with internet!
Early morning view from hotel window
Another early morning view from hotel window. You can see the hotel sign: Classic Hotel 22 Ta Hien
Right outside our hotel are shops, cyclos, street venders, restaurants
Ngan vender
flower vender. to the right you can see mang cut
Front of our hotel: Classic Hotel
Vegetable vender
Dad in Hanoi. This street intersection is to the left of the hotel
Arthur in Hanoi.
typical cross section in Hanoi.
Arthur in Hanoi. We are by the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.
Co Hoa and Chu Tho
walking through the mausoleum area to get to Chua Mot Cot
Co Hoa
mini garden by mausoleum
Chua Mot Cot
Arthur and Ben at Chua Mot Cot.
Edible bamboo growing by the chua
Young bamboo
vender selling incense and lotus flowers offerings
Ben, Dad and Arthur at front gate of Temple of Literature (Van Mieu). Here numerous tablets are dedicated to scholars
one of many mini gardens inside
entrance of Temple of Literature
Co Hoa walking through the main walkway inside the temple
Inner main passage gate
Arthur and dad reading history of Temple
inner pool garden
another inner passage gate
Thien Quang Tinh pond. largest of all ponds
courtyard
souvenir shop of water puppets
frog at temple. perhaps reincarnation of failed scholar of temple
Eating along the riverside
West River
Dad, Co Hoa, Chu Tho eating lunch along West River
View of West River from restaurant
Banh Tom
Hoan Kiem Lake
walk way across Hoan Kiem Lake to Ngoc Son Temple
Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake
Chu Tho napping infront of Ngoc Son Temple
inside Ngoc Son Temple
Ngoc Son Temple; inside corridor
Ngos Son Temple
backside of Ngoc Son Temple; faces Hoan Kiem Lake
Tran station. Here we took the train from Hanoi to Sapa.
Departing the train early morning
Arthur walking down the train side walk to the station. It was a 5 minute walk from the train to the station. In Hanoi (to Sapa), it was a 10 minute walk around 3 trains to get to our train
The Train we took; Fanxipan Express. It was the second time ever running the night we took it from Hanoi to Sapa.
Cho Dong Xuan in Hanoi
The market here is cleaner and more open than in Saigon. I did not have to worry about knocking things over here.
The market has three stories, but the third is mainly for storage. Here are up and down escalators I've ever seen inside a market
Second story is mainly clothes and fabric.
So many different color and pattern fabric, but I seldom see people actually wear those fabrics. Locals mostly wear basic colors and styles: black slacks and button shirt, t shirts, or polo. Women and girls usually only wear ao dai or traditional styles when working in some restaurants or shops
tra vender
The street name no longer implies what is sold on that street, but the streets themselves are still organized into what is sold: one street for paper goods and hammocks, another for dried goods. another for banh pho or mi kho, etc...
I saw the booth owner tidy the baskets up after a sell to keep the neat cone-shaped pile. I rarely ever saw a messy pile
