Walking Tour

I was able to get Fred mobile by 6:00 am, using the excuse that it gets too hot to do much walking in the afternoon. We ate breakfast at the hotel and it was surprisinly good. Much different type of breakfast from Canada, but very tasty.

Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup, was the best part of the meal. Pho and spring rolls were the biggest hit, but if you wanted to go a different direction, they would create an omelet for you.

We started a walking tour of the Old Quarter that would take us through the backpacker's district and on to Hoan Kiem Lake. The backpacker's area is filled with budget hotels and restaurants geared to the young budget travellers, very much like Europe was open to the boomers who travelled there in the late 70s and early 80s.




The streets of the area around the lake were easier to walk as there were fewer outdoor restaurants and people sitting on the street. We found the highly recommended restaurant across from the lake and finally had our relaxing beer while watching the traffic below. It wasn't cheap, but sitting on an outdoor balcony with a light breeze was well worth the money.




We were back in the room by 12:30 trying to cool off with a cold shower and the AC. Alice was right when she said Vietnam was a three shower a day country.




After a little quiet time, we headed back out in the heat to eat at one of the restaurants we spotted early today. Finding the restaurant was easy as my tour guide's internal radar finally started working again. As for me, I know that I could not walk around the block and find my way back. The street names change suddenly and everything looks the same so I can't find any reconizable landmarks to guide me home.




Supper consisted of Vietnamese fresh spring rolls and fried rice, along with a trying of the local beer called Tiger. All was good and very cheap. The meal for two cost us a little over $6 Canadian. Another piece of advice from Alice was that we take our own chopsticks and now I can see why. The restaurants and street vendors just grab a set of chopsticks for you and they look very much like they have been used multiple times. We listened and now have hidden away in our backpack eight disposable sets that we "borrowed" from the Business Lounge in Hong Kong!




It was a great day of walking and visiting pagodas and traditional Vietnamese housing. So much to see and only four days in which to do it.