Hanoi

We've been in Hanoi for a few days now, we are staying right in the heart of the Old Quarter. The streets are narrow, congested with scooters, foot traffic, cabs and hawkers of all sorts of goods. There are also cylco riders, lots of them. We have spent a bit of time wandering around our neighbourhood, its been a good way to find some good shops and some supplies, we've also eaten out at some great restaurants. Hanoi definitely has been delivering on the food front, last night we ate at a tiny place called Gecko's which was down a corridor and up some stairs, there was only about four tables and a balcony but the food was sensational. We went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum on Friday. It is home to some interesting displays on Uncle Ho's life, and some quite bizarre and kitsch displays of stuff which seems quite unrelated to the life of the great man. We were going to visit him in the mausoleum but unfortunately it is closed on Fridays. We did get to see the One Pillar Pagoda, which is next door to the museum. Shopping wise, I'd been hunting for some propaganda posters but the ones we've seen seem to be laser copy reprints or questionable 'originals' so we've given them a miss. One good thing is that we've both had some new prescription sunnies made - very cheap which is great, I also had some glasses made too. Kirsten couldn't find any frames she liked unfortunately but we will keep looking. We've had a quiet day today to catch up on rest a bit, there's a few more photos posted now. Also had a chance to organise the next part of our trip, we are heading up to Sapa on the overnight train tomorrow night.