The good, the bad and the ugly but not in that order ...

The train arrived at the station in Hanoi about five o'clock Saturday morning. Ken and I both looked like the wrath of God.  I didn't even bother to change out of my PJs because I knew that I was headed right to bed when we got to the hotel.  I'm not very good at being unhealthy generally and coupled with a complete lack of sleep, well I was just plain grouchy.  The same young lad that had dropped us off at the station was there to pick us up and I'm sure he was horrified by the change in our demeanour.  At least we had enough presence of mind to give him a tip as I'm not sure we would have managed very well at all without him.

We were warmly greeted by the reception staff and headed straight to our room.  They had brought our stored luggage to the room for us so we were all set.  Did I tell you how much I love the service in this hotel?   Once we got cleaned up, we crashed like bricks and I slept most of the day, waking only to use the facilities and have a light snack.   Ken had his morning coffee and snagged a couple of croissants from the buffet.  By early evening, we were both back in the land of the living and after I had a long bubble bath, we went downstairs to grab a light supper in the hotel restaurant.

I decided the fabulous Pho (chicken noodle soup) that I'd savoured the night we left for Sapa was just what the doctor ordered and Ken had a baguette and cheese.  Sadly, our tummies weren't up for anything too exotic so Tiger beer but tomorrow is another day.   Went to bed early and slept soundly.  Glad to say that no photographic evidence of our day exists.

Sunday morning things looked a lot better when we woke up.  I might have slept 24 of the last 28 hours but it did the trick.  After a nice breakfast we went for a one-hour tour in a small electric "bus" (more like an eight-seat golf cart) around Old Town to get our bearings before setting off on foot.  I guess it's the equivalent of the Hop-on-Hop-off buses in most major cities but it was raining so we just stayed on and noted locations for further exploration.

Back at the hotel, we changed into runners and rain gear to do some exploring.  The streets are filled with people selling stuff from shops, off bicycles and carts and there is even a high-end section at the end of the lake near the Metropole Hotel.  Ken's shopping was not successful but I bought a couple of things I don't need.  Seems to be the pattern.
 

Critter wine - yikes!

 

A cool hostel - Hanoi Rocks!!

 

Just one more thin chocolate mint!

Enjoying a cyclo tour

Flower vendor

Fruit anyone?

How about some Pho?

A bit scary in traffic

Sugarcane juicer

Olive the other reindeer

Tree with cool orange flowers - wonder if it would grow in Ottawa?

Flower clock - ten past poinsettia

We meandered around the lake, checking out the sights and people-watching. Sundays must be the day for wedding photos and there seemed to be no end to bridal couple getting their photos taken in front of the Metropole Hotel and West Lake.

Nice brand placement

Another happy couple - landmark decision

And another

Conical hats for everyone

My UP24 is on the fritz so our ability to judge distances "accurately" is gone but we walked for a couple of hours fairly solidly so the 1/2 marathon training continues after our day off.  We grabbed lunch at the Avalon, still no beer but we are both feeling much better.  With some exploring in a different direction, we found an Irish Pub, the Prague Pub and a couple more beer joints not too far the other side of our hotel.  I predict a pub crawl in our future though likely not tonight as we are heading to Halong Bay for our cruise tomorrow morning and the bus is picking us up at 7:30 am!!

Irish pub around the corner

Second stop in a future pub crawl?

Cool joint with live music and "comfy" chairs - stop 3 of ?

Back to the hotel to recharge then Ken went for coffee and I went for a wash and blow dry.  For 150,000 VND (less than $8 CDN), I had a lovely shampoo and blow dry plus a mini facial and facial massage.   Lol, I could do this every day though since it took three of them to get my hair dry "enough" for their satisfaction, I'll have to wait for some moisture to come back before another go at it.

Another light supper for Ken; just a wee bit of spaghetti.  I tried green papaya salad with beef and peanuts and homemade passion fruit ice cream.  The salad was fantastic; crisp and light.  The ice cream was drowned in chocolate sauce and not very creamy but I ate it anyway, lol.   We are still off the sauce in honour of the three hour bus ride tomorrow morning.  I think I'm ready to hit the bottle again tomorrow. Not too hard.  Wouldn't due to add seasick to my repertoire.

More from Halong Bay tomorrow.