Hanoi

Hanoi, Vietnam

In which I:

• Realise this really is a party hostel.
• Find that Zane, though one of last night’s talkers, is not a total dick, with him opining, wisely, as I wonder at the sacrilege of missing out Halong Bay, that ‘places are places’.
• Remember my hotel stay in Cambodia, and tuk tuk journeys the day after.
• Spot people hacky sacking in the street.
• See the Hanoi Hilton, Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and Presidential palace, plus sit in, and mooch round, the botanic gardens.
• Am perplexed by Hanoi, and cities in general.
• Entirely expect to have just lied to the nice young man outside a restaurant, when I said I’d be back in 20 minutes, but remember the warmth of his smile, translate the prices as entirely reasonable, and return. Well inside 20 minutes.
• Book onward travel to Ninh Binh (Ning Bing). And am pleased.
• Run round Hoan Kiem lake. 3 times. It’s just under a mile. Strava record is 6 mins. Given a clear run, I could take it. If. If I wake up early, I’ll have a go. But it may be that that is a record set under conditions of ‘people causing deviation’, and not within my compass.