12th April 2010
We were due to catch the train to the mountain town of Sapa tonight, so this morning we checked out of our hotel. The staff were excellent, letting us leave our bags in storage while we explored Hanoi and offering us the use of a room late afternoon so we could shower and freshen up before heading off to the station.
Hanoi Station was our first port of call this morning. A dry run to see how far it was from the hotel and to check where we needed to collect our tickets this evening. We quickly ascertained that we would need a taxi tonight with our bags.
Our next job for the morning was to try and obtain some dollars. Although Vietnamese Dong is the legal currency here a lot of people prefer to be paid in dollars and our contact in Sapa had asked for just this. Unfortunately, the government is wise to this and you cannot get dollars without proof that you are leaving the country imminently. We also checked with our hotel and were told we should be fine with dong in Sapa. At the end of the day, it’s the only currency we have, so they can take it or leave it!
While we were walking back around the lake from the bank, we passed a Fanny’s Ice Cream parlour. We had tried this delicious ice cream with Karen in Saigon and couldn’t resist popping in for a sundae.
Suitable refreshed, we began making our way through the busy streets, mostly walking along the roadside, avoiding the motorbikes whizzing past from all directions. Pavements in Vietnam are for parking and eating, not walking on, which can make it an adventure activity in itself trying to walk anywhere.
We were going to one of the local markets, where, as is normal in Vietnam, you have to squeeze down narrow aisles, past stalls selling exactly the same thing huddled next to one another. It really is surprising they manage to survive.
This was quite a large market over three floors, but we still couldn’t manage to find the crayons and colouring books we wanted to take up to the children in the hill tribe villages.
It was extremely busy and crowded and became overwhelmingly hot, so we left. Shortly afterwards we found a small stationers where we were able to get plenty of crayons and books for not very much money.
Mission accomplished, we headed to the Ngoc Son Temple, situated on the islet in Hoan Kiem Lake. This oasis of calm in the heart of the city centre is connected to the mainland by a bright red bridge. 
It is not a very big temple, consisting of just a small main worship area and another room with a glass case featuring a large soft-shell turtle.
These animals have been sighted in the lake, but the species is critically endangered and the number of individuals in the lake is unclear. It is supposed to be lucky if you do spot one.
It was time to head back to the hotel to take advantage of the offered shower - a welcome and refreshing break from the hot streets. We then went out for some food before going off to the station to catch our train.
When we arrived at the station, we were supposed to collect our tickets which had been organised by our hotel in Sapa. Not long after we arrived, it became apparent that there may be some problem. They didn’t seem to have any tickets to give us.
After waiting for about an hour and a half, and about half an hour before the train was due to depart we received a phone call from our hotel in Sapa. There had been a mistake and their agent had not made the booking. They were trying to rectify this and get us on one of the three trains leaving for Sapa tonight.
We could only watch on as other people arrived to collect their tickets, then made their way to their cabins on the train. As we sat in the waiting area we saw some massive rats running back and forth, obviously used to all the commotion. Not too nice though!
Eventually, we received another call from Sapa saying that all the trains were full and they couldn’t get us on one tonight. They offered us a night in the hotel by the station (which we had passed through to get to the waiting area) and then we would catch the train tomorrow, but we preferred to go back to our original hotel (especially after seeing the rats hanging around!).
We made the decision to abandon Sapa for this week and instead to explore Hanoi and extend our visa, then to visit Sapa next week. I just couldn’t face another day of having no room and wandering around the city, then waiting for another train tomorrow night.
We called our hotel, but unfortunately they were fully booked. However they have a sister hotel two doors down called Splendid Star 1 which did have a room. We caught a taxi to the hotel where Peter from our hotel came out to meet us and take us across to Splendid Star 1.
There we were given a room on the 6th floor complete with balcony and a view of St Joseph’s Cathedral. The room was nowhere near as nice as our first room and while the balcony was nice, and gave us some great views of the street, it wasn’t something that would keep us at Splendid Star 1. Tomorrow morning we would move back to Splendid Star 2.
