We arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam very late last night. There was a moment of slight panic as the guide from the tour company did not meet us immediately off the plane, but he showed up ten minutes later. We were pretty quick through customs and the plane was early. So that's ok.
We have spent the day exploring the centre of Hanoi by foot, motorbike (Chris) and rickshaw (on Gabby's desperate request). Thanks to Kerryn's training in China we have grown used to the traffic and now confidently step out into oncoming walls of scooters clutching our children. We were even ghost walked by some other tourists today such was our nonchalance.
Vietnamese food is fantastic. I thought I may lose some more weight on this trip. HA. I can only hope the amount of walking we are doing is counterbalancing the amazing food we are eating.
We also spent a bit of time poking through all the shops here. We have only been fleeced by about ten shopkeepers today, so that is probably a good tally for our first day here. Chris is much better at bargaining than I am. The exchange rate is 100 000 dong is $5. So you can become a millionaire pretty quickly.
This afternoon we watched a water puppet show. Pretty amazing stuff. They use a pool of water as a stage, and the rods for the puppets are all under water. There was fire and rice growing and a live Vietnamese band. I tried to think how I could incorporate water puppets into Dizzy's box, but couldn't think how it would be transportable.
I am also enjoying our tour - they have organized our accommodation and transport to different cities but we have been pretty much independent today. Tomorrow we are going to Halong Bay - I am very much looking forward to it.
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I'm so glad you are all travelling well! I have been missing your posts, and am now all caught up!
ReplyDeleteIf Dizzy is thinking of incorporating water, then could you haggle and find me a nice wetsuit? LOL
LT.