We arrived back in Hanoi this morning, bright & early, & were met at the train station by our Wendy Wu representative who took us to our hotel – the Golden Sun suites hotel.
As it was so very early the hotel reception was all dark & there were a couple of umbrellas threaded through the door handles to keep it safely closed. We knocked on the door & woke up the doorman. He let us in & then woke up the manager who came out all disheveled. Being half asleep it took him a while to find our booking but after showing him our Wotif printout & an email from the hotel to us he eventually found it. Unfortunately, it had not occurred to me to book an early check in. Fortunately, between the corona virus & the fact that it’s winter here, it’s relatively quiet in Hanoi so the hotel was able to give us our room straight away at a small extra cost.
The room looked good, but unfortunately, it had a horrible musty smell so we had to open the window which made it cold. Our room looks out the back of the building at another building. This hotel was our choice so I have no one to blame but ourselves. We had wanted to try a new area of Hanoi for each of our visits.
We had a good start with the Acoustic but since then we haven’t slept so well with 2 nights on a train & our night in Sa Pa. We were too exhausted to complain so just lay down for a couple of hours to rest. We woke up in time to get some breakfast but found the selection extremely limited. There was no congee so I had fried rice & stir fry vegetables from the bain-marie & some fruit – mangos taste great here. I did get to try some dragon fruit juice which tasted a bit like watermelon juice
After breakfast we went back to bed for another couple of hours. It seems we’ve reached our limit. We’ve been on the go for too long, not just with travelling but also with all the preparations for the wedding, & all the challenges we faced on the day. Additionally, I was not looking forward to returning to Hanoi, it’s too noisy & chaotic for my liking. 2 days here is enough.
I woke up around lunch time but as G was still sound asleep I grabbed a map & decided to brave Hanoi on my own. I found my way to Hoan Kiem lake, which was not misty today, & began the walking tour recommended by my new map. Being on my own I zig zagged my way down each street & into lots of shops to while away the time & pick up more gifts for people. It’s interesting how each street seems to be dedicated to a particular product. The first street I walked down was filled with shoe shops, then I found a lantern shop street, there was a flower shop street, and it went on.
After completing half a lap of my tour I was back at the hotel so checked in on G. He was finally up & ready to have a walk so we finished the circuit together & then went wild & went off map.
We eventually found a great place for dinner. Then headed back to our hotel for an early night. Tomorrow we are looking forward to going to Ha Long bay.
lifeisanadventure850 