Hoan Kiem Lake

That was a nice walk by the lake, but even with the cloud cover, it was steamy hot. Back in the hotel, it took 30 minutes to cool down and wait for the sweat to stop running down my back and into my pants.

There are lots of benches around the lake where we stopped and let the welcome breeze cool us. A little further we stopped for a refreshing drink and listened to the many different honks from the cars and scooters that drove by in an unending stream and cacophany. A majority of the scooter drivers wear face masks. Not sure if that really helps reduce the pollution they inhale. Meanwhile on the sidewalk, lots of locals walk barefoot, probably because it cools their feet but wow, are they black.

Among the many commonalities between Vietnam and Korea is that young women walk holding hands, a charming and affectionate custom. Another thing they have in common is the denominations of their money.

We withdrew 2,000,000 dong this morning, which amounts to about $100. Crossing the road is a risk-taking adventure. We were advised to just step slowly and deliberately onto the road and let the traffic flow around us. Right. There was no option though, and so Hans took my hand and bravely stepped forth...and it worked. I chose not to look anywhere but straight ahead where the safety of the other side awaited me.

Okay, now for nap number two today.
Location: 18-20 Lương Văn Can, Hàng Đào, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summer Palace

Image
Wow. Our days are full of strange sights and long hours. In the bus every morning at 7:00, and never home before 5:00. The summer palace was built by Rama V to commemorate the village where he met his wife. How romantic is that! Lo hiding between the antlers The gardens are gorgeous, with topiary herds of elephants, deer and rabbits. Sounds of peacocks echo through the gardens but they remained frustratingly elusive. Their cries were augmented by the screech of other unseen birds in faraway branches. But we did see an amazing variety of bougainvillea in all colours. Hans standing by the elephant's trunk. From the walls in the Reception Hall, yellowing faded faces of Ramas I to IX gazed out from acestral photos. Each Rama is believed to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Other rooms held lacquered furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl and stunning teak carvings. As with all Buddhist buildings, we have to remove our shoes and in some cases, we were asked the night before to dress respectfu...
Read more

At Sea

Image
Today we were scheduled to stop in Marseille but overnight the wind picked up and we apparently have heavy swells. Too heavy to allow a vessel of this size to dock safely, so the port was cancelled. Didn’t matter much to us since we hadn’t scheduled a tour and were just planning to take the shuttle into the old part of the city for a walkabout. Instead, we have a day at sea and that’s never a bad thing when you’re on a fabulous cruise liner. Already, I was part of a losing team at a game this morning and now I’m catching up on blogging. Later, who knows? There’s never a shortage of things to do on the ship. And there’s always the fitness room. I can only hope it will be full.
Read more