20th – 22nd Feb Hanoi

Back in Hanoi I heat up in the hotel before going out to an Irish bar to meet up with some of the guys from the boat and have a charming night talking rubbish - what I’m best at.
The rest of my time in Hanoi was spent wandering the streets looking at the old buildings and finding some lovely places. The oldest temple in Hanoi is charming, really small and unfussy – much nicer than the big golden temples. On a side street the Merchants House is a re-enactment of how people once lived here with amazing wood and mother of pearl inlay furniture, lots of fountains and greenery everywhere. The seating didn’t look to comfortable though. At last I’ve found the restaurant area – there are lots of little places to eat here – must come back for dinner.

The exterior of the History Museum is a strange mix of French and Asian architecture the interior has fantastic exhibits of early history of Vietnam. The pottery, brass drums and carvings are amazing, Vietnam must have looked incredible once. My favourite museum was the Vietnamese Revolutionary Museum housed in a magnificent French chateaux, the irony not lost on me. The museum was filled with information and memorabilia from the fight for freedom with the French and the Americans. There was a copy of the Morning Star from the morning of American withdrawal in 1975, marches were held all over the UK with a picture of Tony Benn smiling. The exhibit caption said papers from all over the world – don’t remember the Morning star being particularly well sold.

I watched a Puppet Show which was surprisingly good and very funny, with traditional Vietnamese stories. The puppets are really well made and the stage a giant watery pool which hides the poles the puppets are moved around on, a nice way to spend an hour.

Thirsty I found a trendy bar and had a beer. The heating was supplied by small terracotta pots filled with burning charcoal – one of the barmen saw my frozen state and moved one of them to my feet – joy, freezing cold beer and really warm fire.

I ate in the Tamarind Café which was lovely and inviting with large enveloping sofas, you felt you could sit reading all day unfortunately the food wasn’t o great but you can’t have everything.

Tired I went back to the hotel to be taken to the train station for my overnight ride down south on the Re-unification Express. At one time North and South Vietnam were separate countries. The hotel had supposedly organised a taxi but on arrival I found they actually meant to take me and my luggage on a motorbike – I refused - much to their annoyance – although it was nothing compared to mine.

I made it to the station and found the train, my cabin and my bed for the night and settled down for the long journey.