Day 71 - Hanoi
Friday, October 22, 2010
Monday 18th October
I wasn't in the mood for sightseeing again today, I more just wanted to shop and walk around the city.
The Lonely Planet advised that a number of good eateries were located around the Cathedral on the opposite side of the lake, so I wandered in this direction to find breakfast. I ended up at a French boulangerie, downing a beautiful croissant and hazelnut mocha frappucino. (Oh, I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but I have decided to give up diet coke. I always thought I was being 'good' for drinking it rather than reaching for a snack, but I've realised how unhealthy it is. I'm substituting chocolate milk for it if water just won't suffice, let's see how I go!)
I found the store (there aren't really any 'malls' in Vietnam - you find Western shops scattered amongst the streets) and was delighted to find several extremely cool pairs of shoes - one pair of flats that would be perfect for work in Canada, and a pair of heels that were just plain fun! Unfortunately, I was told that the biggest shoe size they had in Vietnam was a size 8 - and I'm an 8.5!! I was disappointed, but I snapped a few photos of the shoes and thought I could try to get them made when I reach Hoi An next week.
I wasn't in the mood for sightseeing again today, I more just wanted to shop and walk around the city.
The Lonely Planet advised that a number of good eateries were located around the Cathedral on the opposite side of the lake, so I wandered in this direction to find breakfast. I ended up at a French boulangerie, downing a beautiful croissant and hazelnut mocha frappucino. (Oh, I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but I have decided to give up diet coke. I always thought I was being 'good' for drinking it rather than reaching for a snack, but I've realised how unhealthy it is. I'm substituting chocolate milk for it if water just won't suffice, let's see how I go!)
Across the road, I entered into a travel agent. There were two main tourist areas in Hanoi, that everyone had to do: a boat cruise on Halong Bay, and a few nights in the mountaineous, picturesque town of Sapa. As I had only booked into my hotel for one more night, I wanted to do the boat cruise on Halong Bay tomorrow. At first, I was going to only do a day-trip, but on speaking with the travel agent I decided to do an overnight cruise on a junk boat. Return transfers (it was about 3.5 hours each way), all meals, and overnight accommodation was only $63, so I booked it in for the next 2 days.
Now that I'd locked in my Halong Bay cruise, I returned to my hotel and asked the staff to purchase tickets for the train to Sapa, departing the night I returned from the cruise and returning Saturday night. Overnight trains (or buses) are always great, as they eliminate the need for a hotel room for the night.
Back out in Hanoi town, I posted a parcel back home, full of clothes, shoes and books I no longer needed, to help create space for clothes I would be purchasing over the next few weeks. The postage was inexpensive - a 5kg parcel costing less than $50. Then I traipsed off to find the Nine West store I knew existed in Hanoi. As I mentioned, I'm not as in to sightseeing in Vietnam - I'm more trying to prepare for Canada. I'd seen beautiful shoes in the Nine West stores all over Asia, but hadn't want to buy them then, as it would mean carrying them in my bag for ages.
I continued walking the streets of Hanoi, and soon came across a modern looking backpacker hostel. I was greeted warmly by the English owner, and asked to book in for a night on Sunday, when I return from Sapa. The area was full of market stalls and knock-offs - a pair of Gucci shoes? An Adidas wind jacket? Louis Vuitton belt? It was located close by to the main tourist market, but it seemed to be closing for the night so I planned to visit when I returned from Sapa.
I had room service for dinner this time of Vietnamese vegetarian spring rolls and purchased a few snacks for the upcoming boat cruise, not knowing what the included meals would be like, and then fell asleep ....
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