VN Trip-Day3-Ha Long Bay/Hanoi

On Day 3, we enjoyed our morning with a boat ride out to a cave, then a bus took us back to Hà Nội.  We had the rest of today and tomorrow to explore Hà Nội.

In Hà Nội, we stayed at a mini-hotel, convenient to everything.  We were a block from Hoàn Kiếm Lake and just around the corner from the Old Quarters.  For $15 a night, it includes breakfast.  Right around the corner from our hotel is a little hole in the wall place, with stepping stools for chairs, that serves steamed "bắnh cuốn" (a white crepe filled with a little ground meat).  My father said that this is the best way to make bắnh cuốn. It was a little place in the corner. You sat on a plastic step stool. If you were not flexible like all the Vienamese, you might not be able to get back up after sitting so low to the ground. Between the three of us, we each had a heaping plate of this crepe for a total of $1.25. WOW! It was also the best banh coun I have ever had - don't tell my mother I said that.

Then we took a walk through a portion of The Old Quarters.  All the shops were open and everything was so inexpensive.  I wanted to buy everything.  My father reminded me that I was traveling with just a single backpack and I couldn't carry everything.  Of course I can buy me another piece of luggage, but I would have to haul it with me the next few days, so I refrained myself.  Instead we cross the street to Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

A more peaceful and laid back town, Hà Nội still has quiet shaded streets lined with aged French mansions.  Right in the center of the old city is Hoàn Kiếm Lake, with an island and temple.  You have to cross the Bridge of the Rising Sun in order to get to Ngọc Sơn temple.  This evening, the temple has already close.  We walked over to Ba Kiều Temple.  Hanoi Fine Arts University was having a painting exhibition.  I bought a few small oil paintings and some Vietnamese greeting cards.  I figured this was an inexpensive way to frame arts.  Whenever I travel, I always buy a piece of art of the place that I traveled to.  It reminds me of my trip when I look at the art piece.

Then we went to a French Cafe on Hoàn Kiếm Lake to have late dinner and a glass of ice coffee. Mmmmmm!.  My father told us when he was a child he wanted to come to this restaurant on the lake and eat there, but it was too expensive.  He never imagined he would be able to afford to eat there 50 years later. Our US dollars go a long way in Viet Nam.