The first full day I did some cycling and failed to find a "must see" museum I was looking for but in the process did get around some areas not frequented by tourists. Later I went jogging around Lenin park with the locals. I walked around lots of the regular sights such as Ho Chi Minh's mausoleam and went to a few museums to get a feel of the history and they're often housed in beautiful buildings.
A highlight was a wonderful concert of opera favorites at the Hanoi Opera House performed by the Hanoi Philharmic orchestra and singers made up from the professors, tutors and students of the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music. The theatre was impressive, the orchestra was excellent and the singers were some of the best I've ever heard live.
After 3 nights and nearly 4 full days in Hanoi, on Tuesday 30th (Matt's birthday - hope you had a good one) I travelled by in a soft sleeper overnight train to Hue . I had to share my cabin with three young and attractive Irish girls - How unlucky was that? They were two sisters and a cousin from Dublin, Neeve, Orla and Keira
(apologies for the spelling) who had all got extended leave of different duration from their jobs and had met up over here. The next day they were kind enough to say my snoring was barely audible over the sound of the train.I've splashed out on a $20 night hotel in Hue for 2 nights for a room which even has windows, hot water and an ensuite WC bath and shower! After an early morning checkin and bath I walked over the river (Perfume river) to the ancient (its not always ancient - some very magnificant royal tombs have been built in the last 100 years) Citadel which took 2-3 hours to walk around.
Then a cyclo (thats what they call rickshaws here) around old Hue.
Today I took a tour round some Royal tombs, old and less old, dotted around the outside of Hue. As the day wore on the muli national group of tourists (British, Vietnamese, German, Thai, Argentinian, Australian) became more relaxed and we had some good conversations over lunch. Towards the end of the trip we stopped at a pagoda before boarding a "dragon" boat back to Hue. At the pagoda I bumped into two people, Alison and Brian I'd met on the trip to Ecuador/Galagapos in March last year. That was happy co-incidence.
Today I took a tour round some Royal tombs, old and less old, dotted around the outside of Hue. As the day wore on the muli national group of tourists (British, Vietnamese, German, Thai, Argentinian, Australian) became more relaxed and we had some good conversations over lunch. Towards the end of the trip we stopped at a pagoda before boarding a "dragon" boat back to Hue. At the pagoda I bumped into two people, Alison and Brian I'd met on the trip to Ecuador/Galagapos in March last year. That was happy co-incidence.
Tomorrow morning I take the 12 hour train journey to Nha Trang. It's a seaside resort. I definitely need to relax more!
1 comment:
Yes, I had a very good birthday.
In the morning I took the train from Reading to Slough, sharing the carriage with around 50 or 60 others. Upon arrival I walked around Slough a little (mostly to work) taking in the Brunel roundabout and bus station.
In the evening I took the train back, co-incidentally sharing it with a completely different set 50 or 60 people. This was followed by a taxi journey, which included crossing the Thames on Reading Bridge, to Caversham.
Hmmm, doesn't sound quite so exotic when I write about it....lots of love,
matt
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