Hanoi Day 2

Today was spent pounding the streets of Hanoi for 5 hours being a tourist and avoiding the multitude of mentalist motorcyclists that terrorise the streets. Its amazing how much I have learnt in a day. I now know the unwritten rules for road crossing. Rule 1, avoid cars at all costs. Rule 2, don't sweat the small stuff, meaning bikes, they avoid you. And they do! I just go swanning into the middle of the road and the masses of motos part like the red sea, eat your heart out Moses.

So tourist stop number 1 was The Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius in 1070 by the emperor and later became a university. First thing to notice is the temple is also the home for a herd of tree ents. Look closely and you will see their gnarley, bark faces.

You are getting a gzillion photos this bloggingtons as I am blessed with the quickest WiFi in the east.

A funny thing happened to me on this very spot. A SE Asian woman came up to me pointing at my water. I thought she worked there and it was one of those places where you can't bring your own so I went to put it in my bag. She said,

'No! Water!'

Grabbed the bottle off me, glugged half of it down then fooked  off. I'm like WTF! Buy your own lady...

Anyway what you are looking at below is 1 of 82 stelae (?) honouring men who have received doctorates in something or other, the tradition dates back to 1482. They all stand on a stone tortoise.

I took a picture of my favourite for you.

Next stop was Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, the most revered place in the whole of the land. He actually requested to be cremated but instead has been embalmed, stuffed in a class sarcophagus and gawped at by millions, nice to get what you want. I must confess to not going in as there was a queue and I wasn't that arsed about seeing a bone fide corpse; all a bit spooky.

Funnily enough, I failed to notice the street was closed off only to be shooed away by men in uniform packing pistols. Sooo unlike me, I'm usually very observant, not! The place is thought provokingly quiet and red army music is subtly piped from camouflaged speakers hidden in the shrubbery.

Below is the Royal Palace...

And nice lady weeding by a sculpture of a giant poo caught my attention for some unknown reason lol.

This is the Long Bien Bridge, designed by the famous Mr Eiffel.

It took me 40, sweaty minutes to walk here.

Being constantly propositioned by countless motos who couldn't understand why the crazy lady wanted to walk in such heat.

Unlike folk in Phnom Penh, the Hanoians do not respond to my charming smile with warmth, they're like 'well fook you lady!' Moving quickly on to the next money making opportunity.

So Hanoi is as feisty and fearless as Phnom Penh is humble and laid back. The people here are fiercely proud and defiant and I am warming to them tremendously. It is no wonder they were too much for the yanks to handle, shame the US haven't learnt from history...

Last stop was Ngoc Son Temple, housed on the island in the lake. Not much to see apart from this embalmed giant turtle. There is a living 200kg turtle in the lake called Cu Rua, which means great grandfather. 

He is rarely seen but I managed to get this picture lol.

It's a tranquil location and old boys come here to play draughts.

Anyway, what made Adilady happy today? After a 10 hour, overnight train trip to Sappa, this is the view from my balcony...

Stunning mountains...

Close enough to touch...

They take my breath away.

Today I will spend chilling, admiring the view. Bloggingtons to write and maybe a spot of bookage. I am still reading 'Eat, Pray, Love' and consider these stories as my own bastardised version. I'd like to think I'm not as needy as Elizabeth Gilbert but guess every one of us is on a permanent voyage of discovery and self realisation, or should be in my humblest of opinions. I'm blessed to be able to do this trip, I'm thinking when I get home I should take up yoga again and join a local scrambling group. What says you?

Tomorrow is the start of my two day hike to the summit of Mt Fansipan, Vietnam's highest peak.

I can't wait!

Adilady over and out xxxx