Day 133 – Hanoi
Exploring the Capital of Vietnam with the fam
The sleeper bus arrived in Hanoi, in the wee hours of the morning. We got off the bus and had to get our bearings right before we headed towards Hanoi Old Town Palace Guest House. It was around 5am in the morning, and we were surprised at the amount of people out and about in the capital of Vietnam.
The guest house was actually hard to find, as Google Maps took us to a different hotel, but the owner was very friendly, and showed us how to get to our guest house. Since we had paid for accommodation for the previous night we were able to check in straight away. The rooms were nice but narrow.
Care Package from the parents! xo
For the next week, one set of parents was going to visit us in Vietnam, so we had organised transport from the guest house to pick them up from Hanoi International Airport. Our parents called to say they landed and were in a taxi now. Five minutes after that, we got a call from the guest house saying that the guest house’s driver is still waiting for our parents!!!
Our hearts sank as we called out parents again. Long story short, the driver who had taken our parents was a complete random, but he did end up bringing our parents safely to the guest house. We had to negotiate the price down from 500,000 VND / $30.44 AUD to the price the guest house told us to pay, which was 300,000 VND / $18.26 AUD. Since the driver had blatantly lied to our parents he did not complain.
We then walked around town looking for somewhere to eat and to explore the town. We ended up in the central area, around the Hoan Kiem Lake. The lake is very popular with tourists and locals alike. In the afternoon, heaps of people were playing games and relaxing. There is a small temple on an island inside the lake, which has an entry fee. We decided to walk around looking at souvenir shops (magnets are available for only 10,000 VND / $0.61 AUD here.)
We then ended up at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, which still has Christmas decorations. The cathedral was closed but looked cool with all the lights. After exploring the small alley’s around the cathedral, we went to see a Water Puppet Show. All the shows were booked out (at two different venues), so we purchased some tickets in advanced for another night. Highly recommend buying these in advance. We bought tickets for the Lotus Water Puppets Show (Day 136).
St. Joseph’s Cathedral
