11th January Hanoi

After breakfast I got a taxi to the Opera House, knowing it was near the Old Quarter.  Bought a ticket for a Haydn concert tomorrow evening performed by the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra.  The opera house was built by the French a century ago and is based on one in Paris.  It promises to be a memorable evening.  I then wandered around the busy, noisy, confusing streets of the Old Quarter.  Bought a revolutionary poster (on canvas) to add to my small collection.  Had lunch on a street corner, huddled with the locals: squid fritter, salty fish, greens and rice (20,000d, about 70p).  Scrum.

Walked on and saw the rather grey gothic cathedral, closed for renovations but eventually managed to find a way in via workmen.  Then on to the huge Ho Chi Minh mausoleum complex which I walked around and managed to catch the changing of the guard.  

Ho Chi Minh mausoleum guard

By this point I had made my way back up to the southern end of Ho Tay (West Lake) so caught a cab back to the hotel.  There I met up with Mr Vung, the front desk manager, with whom I had a long chat about doing an overnight tour of Halong Bay on a boat.  I was only there a couple of hours before having to take another taxi back into town to meet Hieu (brother of Thao who was teaching me a bit of Vietnamese before I left Bristol) at a big popular restaurant he’d suggested.  We had a very pleasant evening together.  He ordered a mixture of delicious local dishes.  I wish I had asked him to write them down because they were very good.  Hieu had spent 18 months in the UK, living in Preston and studying for an MBA, so speaks excellent English.  Recently married, he now works as an engineer and while he would like to buy a separate place for him and his wife he says that house prices in Hanoi are very high so they are having to wait.  After supper we took a taxi to Hoan Kiem lake where we sat in a rooftop restaurant having tea and admiring the view.

Hieu, overlooking Hoan Kiem lake