Just a quick note today from Hanoi. This was our first full day in the bustle of this vibrant city. Today we met several Dutch, including a studiegenootje of Judica and we scammed by a taxi driver. The first is what concerns me more wonderful than the case with the taxi drivers really are crooks. The man made us pay 14 euros for a ride that really should have cost no more than 5 euros. Nothing to be done, the meter is the boss.
This morning we (by taxi) to the Ethnological Museum (or similar) to the edge of the town. Beautiful building, still very recent, and a very interesting collection. The museum was plenty to see and read about the daily lives of the various minderheisgroepen life in Vietnam, including Thai, Khmer and the Cham. Outside was a decorated open-air museum containing examples of houses. Very fun to watch and well done too.
The rest of the afternoon we hung around in the city, the smells and sounds in our picking. I can not get used to the hustle and bustle here. The constant honking roar and disappears on the street has not often enough in my mind and makes me a little tired. It will get used.
For the next three days we have a tour booked to Halong Bay. That's a world that seems very worthwhile to have. A bay containing thousands of very wonderful islands. We take the boat through it, caving, hiking and more. Promises to be a nice trip.
Most of our stuff stays behind in the hotel here. A little exciting, though the hoteneigenaren decided to trust. With a minimal luggage we disappear early in the morning for three hours in a bus, and then with a group of let's say 16 men (including 2 more Dutch from our hotel) to the tourist hang. To be continued ...
