Hanoi Part 2

Once back in Hanoi, we did some further investigation and found that one of the receptionists had found our video camera and locked it in the safe. When she gave it to us, she said "you owe me thousand dollars" and burst out laughing. Then, whenever we saw her she said "you still owe me thousand dollars". It became a running joke between us for the last couple of days that we were in Hanoi.

We decided to visit the Temple of Literature, which is just outside the old quarter, and after consulting the map, we figured we could walk it. It was a very distressing experience for me, as I found a street with a number of stores selling cheap PC hardware and software, and I didn't have the time to browse. I tried to convince Heather that the street would be more interesting than the temple, but it would not wash.

We arrived at the temple and wandered around it for about an hour and a half. It was built around 1070 and had been used throughout earlier times as university. At the time, they were preparing for an event to be held there that night but we still managed to see all of it. It was a very peaceful place in the centre of Hanoi. After finishing up there, we decided to get a taxi back to the hotel as walking was a stupid idea in the first place.

We have been travelling since February now, and poor Heather has not been able to buy any souvenirs. Hanoi was her chance to rectify this, so we spent the better part of a day wandering around the old quarter sizing up what to buy. In the end we settled on a Chinese lantern (very common in Vietnam), a set of bowls (for practicing our new Thai cullinary skills in) and some chopsticks & holders. Heather seemed to enjoy the haggling more than me, so I left her to it.

The final acivity in Hanoi, was to visit the Water Puppet theatre. This was created in ancient times by farmers during the floods to keep the locals entertained. It was very entertaining, and I was annoyed at myself for not bringing along the video camera. The show was split in to a number of smaller parts such as "a student returns from studying in the city" and uses limited pyrotechnics and lighting effects to add to the atmosphere. Stories were told in each segment, although being in Vietnamese, I wasn't 100% sure what was being said. I certainly didn't hear any "flobbalobbalob"

Finally, it was back on a plane and off to Hong Kong. Time for me to do some retail therapy.