Michele and Roman travel blog

We loved Hanoi! A really cool (if still slightly high octane) city. Has a somewhat older, lived-in feel than Ho Chi Minh City. We felt quite tired from the travels, so actually had two room service meals, with cheesy Western movies. HOWEVER, we still did the following; - went for early morning run around the Hanoi lake - tried Harry Potter-inspired ‘potions’/ drinks at a themed cafe - the butter beer was particularly well-realised! - has genuinely one of of the best burgers, at a place called ‘Chops’. - saw Vietnamese water puppet show - absolutely amazing music and cool visuals (in that order, for me) - tried to continue our tradition of seeing the sunset from a rooftop bar - but comically managed to end up at the wrong rooftop bar (just 1 building across from our intended choice) - survived mad traffic (it was explained to us that other drivers can get angry if you do not go through a red light) -tried durian, the world’s smelliest fruit- we can attest to that.... - saw Vi...

otherwise known as the bay of the descending dragon, it’s one of the more stunning sights so far. A series of islands that’s really only easily seen via ship. Difficult to describe so here are some pictures: Also many caves exist of which we visited one: Further updates on Hanoi to come!

To vary up our mode of travel, we took the train between Da Nang and Hue. At times very picturesque, it took us north along the Vietnamese coast. Outside the station, there was this beast of an old train locomotive. Accessing the train on platform 2 required us to physically walk across platform 1 rails! All good, and some great views once the journey got underway... Now, for Hue itself. It was the Vietnamese imperial capital for almost 150 years, so had some impressive architecture. We enjoyed seeing the Citadel, and Emperor Khai Dinh’s tomb. The latter was a particularly stunning monument, not least when one considers it was finished in 1931.  It was a beautiful connection between older Vietnamese styles and some Western influences (eg the bronze statues of the emperor had been cast in France) Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Central Vietnam (now going onto Hanoi).

Having left South Vietnam, we took a 900km flight up to Da Nang airport (roughly, middle Vietnam- it is a very long country!). After a further taxi ride, we arrived at the beautiful city of Hoi An. Notionally pedestrian-only, one still has to look out for motorbikes between 11am-3pm, and bicycles 2 bicycle-tourist carts at all times! Just before 3pm, we did hear a public service announcement of ‘you are invited to park your motorbike now, or there will be consequences’. The Ancient Town is really well preserved, reflecting its past trading links with China, Japan and some French colonial architecture. The streets take on a magical atmosphere in the evenings, with coloured lanterns everywhere. There are temples / old houses that one can visit, using a somewhat convoluted ticketing system. Food and was excellent here - we were brave enough to try some street food too. There are lots of references to US films about Vietnam, these are quite open. We tried beer by ‘Heart of Darkness...