More time in Hanoi - 23/5

We've had a few more days back in the old quarter which has been good. I really feel like we've got a handle on the place now, the insane pace and rhythm of the city sort of gets under your skin so that walking around in the heat and the traffic and the swarms of people kind of feels natural. It's a hard feeling to try and convey in print but but it's cool. We we haven't done too much touristy stuff, just seeing some local sights. Some of the streets in the old quarter are named after the products they sell (or traditionally used to sell) for example, paper street, silver street etc. Wandering around without too much direction has also been good, it's led to some good photos and some good food discoveries. Last night we had a bit of a special treat, we went to Bobby Chinn's restaurant - he's a bit of a food celebrity and chef so we had a really nice evening with great service and really tasty food. We went the full three courses and were very full afterwards. Today we headed out to the Hoan Kiem Lake, a bit of a centre for the locals to exercise in the mornings and for people to relax and wander or contemplate in the evenings. It's also home to a couple of features, the Thap Rua or Turtle Tower, also The Huc or Sunbeam Bridge. Sadly (at least to us), we saw some local kids fishing a turtle out of the lake, something we thought was a bit at odds with the local legend of the lake, it's meant to venerate a turtle that helped an emperor repel Chinese invaders. This evening we had dinner at what has become a bit of a favourite haunt in the old quarter, the Tamarind Cafe. As well as doing nice food for dinner, we've been there for breakfast a couple of times for a monster stack of pancakes with maple syrup and banana - drool. Monday we fly to Delhi, we are looking forward to the next part of our adventure but I think we'll both miss some parts of Vietnam - the food and some of the people, you can keep the horn beeping.