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Hanoi 11th August

Met up with N and her niece for breakfast of Pho at 13 Lu Duc. Obviously a popular place almost full with people sharing tables over bowls of steaming hot Pho. Very different from the stuff served up on the trains. Vietnamese people have  a love affair with Pho but although I quite like it and I am sure it is nourishing, and probably healthy, I can't get excited over it.

After that went for a coffee and later back to the hotel. Went for a walk through the French quarter but eventually the heat caught up with me and I needed a beer to  cool down. Don't know whether it is hotter than when I have been here before but I am certainly needing more frequent stops to cool down. Had beer in a small cafe near the Opera House and the  Hilton, which studiously avoids calling itself the "Hanoi Hilton". Why do small cafés in Hanoi have tiny tables and chairs suited to six year olds? 

Hanoi Opera House

Then headed for the nearby History Museum only to find it was closed for lunch. Waited in the pleasant garden until it opened, bought a ticket and went in.  It is very much like museums in England used to be, decades ago,  with lots of exhibits but not much to tell you how they relate to the history of the people. Some of the descriptions were in English but the longer explanations, if that is what they were, were in Vietnamese only. The museum covers a huge period from old stone age to post 1945. Didn't spend too long there; too many unanswered questions. Was the Dong Son culture identifiably Vietnamese? What happened to the Chams and the Oc Eo people? After looking at Wikipedia the simple answer to the first and last may be that no one knows. For the Chams see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cham_people.

Bronzes in the Museum

 Walked back to hotel, had a shower, packed and checked out at 4. Went to Gecko for a beer and a sinful mango crepe. Just after 5.30  N, her son T and niece  K arrived and we went to Hanoi Garden for dinner, almost next door. What a feast! I had crab and sweet corn soup to start. This was followed by  Thai style, but less spicy, glass noodle salad. Then came the fish with lots of greenery which are combined together with sheets of rice paper into rolls to be dipped into the dipping sauce. Eggplant and mince stew,  shrimps in sauce and lastly a spinach soup. Part way through,  another of N's many nieces and her friend joined us. Quite expensive by Vietnamese standards about 1,300,000 Dong, US$60, for the six of us,. Afterwards we went for ice cream across the road where T had an interesting banana ice cream stick which you can actually peel. I passed on the ice cream having already made a glutton of myself at dinner. N hailed a taxi and explained that I was going to Ga Gia Lam, not the main station but the taxi driver had evidently never been there so the ride included a couple of 3 or 5 point turns and getting out to ask directions. Gia Lam station is hidden away in the outskirts of Hanoi along narrow streets lined with little shops . At the station I was directed to the International Waiting room which was  fairly stifling. Quite a few other Westerners, many with backpacks.