Day 6 - Hanoi
Having arrived in Hanoi very late at night / early in the morning, I was extremely pleased to meet my bed. I was even more pleased when I lay down on the bed - it has to rate as one of the most comfortable hotel beds I have slept in. Of course I woke up at 5:30 tat morning - I suppose it's my body's way of getting back at me for subjecting it to 17 hours of coach travel.
I managed to wait around until 7 when I could go and have some breakfast which was fortunately not too exotic. I then needed to hit the streets. I needed to get some local currency and also try to find a sim card for the iPad and iPhone. I asked at the front desk, and as told that I could find both a bank and a shop with Viettel sim cards. The kind lady offered me a map which I took just to keep her happy and proceeded out into the bustling metropolis of Hanoi.
I like to think I have a fairly good sense of direction, so I was confident that I could find my way around without a problem. That was absolutely true ... for the first 63 seconds that is. After two turns I was pretty disorientated to the point where I was battling to tell up from down. These streets in the old quarter are narrow and twist and turn. Then if that's not enough, they make sure that the sidewalks are crammed full of people selling their wares (and other people buying said wares). Any traveler who is able to survive this is then subjected to the coups de grâce - two million motorcycles - all of them on the same street, all of them riding abreast and all of them hooting at something or other. It is said that had these tactics been inflicted on Columbus, the New World would have been somewhere near North Africa .... but I digress.
For the first hour, I managed to keep to the sidewalks somehow, and managed not to cross a road (with my eyes open that is). I eventually had to resort to the map. I managed to find where I was, which was 180 degrees in the opposite direction to where the kind lady at the desk had said I should go. Being the brave adventurer that I am, I sallied forth. I was getting the hang of crossing the read - the trick to this is to ignore the fact that there is anything else on the road, and to simply walk in a straight line at a constant speed towards your chosen destination.
I finally found a bank - they were kind enough to give me 2 million Dong (yes, that is correct - DONG) and provide directions to the nearest Viettel store. Now that I was a millionaire, I was only one small step away from world domination. I found the phone store, and again a really kind lady helped me out with 2 sim cards which were placed into all of i devices (yes, the grammar is correct). I was now invincible - I had my iPad maps and a working GPS - Hanoi was my oyster.
Read MoreI managed to wait around until 7 when I could go and have some breakfast which was fortunately not too exotic. I then needed to hit the streets. I needed to get some local currency and also try to find a sim card for the iPad and iPhone. I asked at the front desk, and as told that I could find both a bank and a shop with Viettel sim cards. The kind lady offered me a map which I took just to keep her happy and proceeded out into the bustling metropolis of Hanoi.
I like to think I have a fairly good sense of direction, so I was confident that I could find my way around without a problem. That was absolutely true ... for the first 63 seconds that is. After two turns I was pretty disorientated to the point where I was battling to tell up from down. These streets in the old quarter are narrow and twist and turn. Then if that's not enough, they make sure that the sidewalks are crammed full of people selling their wares (and other people buying said wares). Any traveler who is able to survive this is then subjected to the coups de grâce - two million motorcycles - all of them on the same street, all of them riding abreast and all of them hooting at something or other. It is said that had these tactics been inflicted on Columbus, the New World would have been somewhere near North Africa .... but I digress.
For the first hour, I managed to keep to the sidewalks somehow, and managed not to cross a road (with my eyes open that is). I eventually had to resort to the map. I managed to find where I was, which was 180 degrees in the opposite direction to where the kind lady at the desk had said I should go. Being the brave adventurer that I am, I sallied forth. I was getting the hang of crossing the read - the trick to this is to ignore the fact that there is anything else on the road, and to simply walk in a straight line at a constant speed towards your chosen destination.
I finally found a bank - they were kind enough to give me 2 million Dong (yes, that is correct - DONG) and provide directions to the nearest Viettel store. Now that I was a millionaire, I was only one small step away from world domination. I found the phone store, and again a really kind lady helped me out with 2 sim cards which were placed into all of i devices (yes, the grammar is correct). I was now invincible - I had my iPad maps and a working GPS - Hanoi was my oyster.
