We booked three nights in Hanoi and arrived before we could check in, so after leaving our big packs in reception we went to find some lunch. The soup with bits of meat floating in it tasted a bit odd to me and it turned out to be the worst meal I have had in Vietnam so far. It didn’t make me ill though, so it must have been a local taste that I wasn’t used to.

After a shower and a nap we decided to fight the jet lag by going for a walk around Hoan Kiem lake. It is named after the giant turtles that live in it. Sadly there are now only four of them left. The lakeside is a hive of manic activity, with street vendors, domestic and international tourists and locals all enjoying the action. The lake links the old town, where we are staying, to the French quarter. We managed a circuit and made our way towards St Joseph’s cathedral, a magnificent old construction. It isn’t possible to enter unless you are attending mass so we admired it from the outside. Then we found a pavement cafe and drank juice while we watched the never ceasing Hanoi traffic passing by.

The next morning I woke up very early, so I left Tim sleeping and went for another wander round the lake. At this hour (around 6am) it was already getting hot. The Vietnamese seem to enjoy doing things in groups and as I meandered around the lake I spotted people doing Cuban dancing, Tai Chi, stretching and aerobics. There were also several people, Vietnamese and foreign out for a morning run or walk. Sadly I also saw one foreigner who looked the worse for drink or drugs sleeping it off on the pavement. The exercise groups seemed mainly to consist of elderly Vietnamese and to often involve a patriotic element. Maybe this was because of the reunifcation day coming up (25 years since north and south Vietnam were reunified) or maybe being brought up in a strict communist state they had always enjoyed these sorts of activities.

Tim finally joined me and we visited the main attraction on Hoan Kiem lake, the Ngoc Son temple. This is a peaceful building across a cute bridge. Within the temple buildings are the mummified remains of two of the turtles that used to live in the lake and they are enormous. There are also pictures of what the temple used to look like in the past and of one of the turtles when it was still alive. The temple is popular with groups of birds that we sat and watched diving for fish in the lake.

After that we went to get breakfast in a local cafe where we ate the popular dish of pho – noodle soup. This one was much nicer that the one I ate the previous day. We got chatting to a Malaysian businessman who was also eating in the cafe. He was visiting Vietnam to source alternative people to produce goods that his company were manufacturing – they had been employing people in China, but due to the tariff situation they now needed to make changes. He thought he’s managed his task, but we could see that the whole world situation was very stressful for him.

We went for the famous Hanoi ‘egg coffee’ at Hanoi coffee shop ‘The Note’. All the available wall spaces in here are papered with notes from customers, most of them fairly innane, sending love to Hanoi, boyfriends, that sort of thing. Reading them makes entertainment while drinking a coffee though. There are also great views of the lake from the windows as it is a long tall building with a winding staircase. I put a clip on insta/ Facebook of Tim trying his first mouthful. It is coffee topped with creamy egg white that ends up partially cooked in the heat. This sounds horrible, but it is actually delicious and tastes a bit like egg custard.

The old town of Hanoi is somewhere that you can wander for hours. We probably only saw a fraction of the interesting sights. We started by looking around the ‘Ancient House’. This is an old building which has been set up to look like it would have done many years ago. Hanoi seems to retain quite a few of these older buildings, which are very atmospheric, although only one of the old city gates still remains. The lovely thing about the ‘Ancient House’ is how it is cleverly designed to allow the outside in, with little courtyards, numerous large plants and trees and tanks filled with water and water weeds. A poster on the wall tells the tale of the three deities, the ‘Tao Quan’ who are responsible for the management of the household. The story is that a husband and wife cannot have children so they fall out. The wife ends up finding a different husband. The original husband is regretful about the end of his relationship and becomes a beggar, eventually accidentally approaching the home of his old wife and her new husband. Her new husband is out of the house and the original couple regretfully reminisce about their relationship. However while hiding in straw from the new husband the old husband gets burned to death and the wife jumps into the fire after him. The new husband also follows his wife into the fire so all three die. God therefore makes all three ‘Tao Quan’ due to their loyalty to each other. Possibly the original threesome, long before the seventies and pampas grass?

After looking round a temple which was also atmospheric with two beautiful wooden horses and further wandering the heat began to get to us and we withdrew for a rest. Our room in Hanoi is a bit small with no windows, but is very clean with good air conditioning. An advantage of the lack of windows is that it is very well insulated from the noise outside so we are sleeping well. We had a good rest and planned further adventures for the final day of our first trip to Hanoi together….