Day 14

Our last day in Vietnam. Well kind of. Tomorrow we're here in the morning.
The hotel we're staying at, La Siesta, as given us a map to follow which will take us to some of the interesting places. First we have breakfast there which is alright except for the coffee. The lack of good coffee here is killing us. But the pancakes were very tasty and the pastries were fresh.
Equip ourselves for a bit of a walk in what looks like sunshine. Not that we've seen too much of that over here. It's a blast of hot air as we hit the streets. Even at 9:30am.
We are basically walking the streets.Mainly because there is no room on the sidewalks because of the motorbikes. Crossing the road is a bit easier in Hanoi. You just keep walking and the bikes go round. Cars are a different story. Liz still looks a little nervous crossing the road.
We make our way to the big indoor market. 3 floors of almost the same stuff repeated. I see some shoes I like but as I approach the seller says my feet are too big and don't bother looking. The next door doesn't even give us an excuse but doesn't want to serve us. Nothing here for us really and it looks like I'm too big for any shoes so we leave and keep following the trail. Shops seem to be clustered as we pass a bunch of stationary shops then a bunch of toy shops. Interspersed with antique shops.
We come across a large church which looks very similar to the Notre Dame in Saigon. This seems to be the main shopping area and things look a lot better here. Streets are a little wider and quieter and french architecture is more prominent. We continue back to the lake then cross a bridge to the temple in the centre of the lake. The legend of the lake as got something to do with a large turtle and a sword. Remi thought he saw it in the water. The temple as a large statue of the turtle on display. It's a quiet retreat from the bustle of the city. We pick up some tickets to the water puppet show later this afternoon and pop back to the hotel to freshen up. And change clothes.

The water puppet show is a full house and very popular. It's not a puppet show we used to. It's more a combination of movement and music. The accompanying orchestra have an interesting sound that reminds me of some of Damon Alban's later efforts. The puppet dragons shooting fire after being under water was cool. As was a fox that ran up a tree. It was all in Vietnamese so I'm not if the stories were related.
Despite protestations from the kids we went back to New Day for more street food. Again great food. And very cheap. And a lot more atsmosphere than the non descript western places.
Tonight is the Night Market. The street we're on is closed and theirs traditional entertainment. The market is round the corner. and the place is buzzing. No motorbikes because of street closure so it's safe to walk. Stalls are pretty much the same thing again. But the city is alive and everyone is eating and drinking on the pavements.
Back at the hotel we find that a Vietnamese pop star is filming a music video out the front. The kids love and we stay to watch. Spiderman, Iron man and a Stormtrooper are in the video. Then a couple of girls down the street pull out a beat box and start dancing and twerking. Meanwhile the traditional singing is still going on down the end. The kids are having a great time watching all this so we let them stay out there while we grab a gin and tonic at the hotel. When we come back out the girls have been joined by a boy who then goes solo. The music video as moved down the street. We're leaving tomorrow and it's late so we call it a day.