We left London yesterday morning and started on our journey halfway around the world for our holiday in Vietnam and Cambodia. We arrived in Singapore early this morning, at a time I rarely see! Here we had a three hour window between arriving and continuing our journey to Hanoi.
Singapore Changhi airport is lovely – clean, open areas, lots of plants - in some places whole gardens! And the toilets were wonderful – better than I have in my own home. We had hoped to see the Jewel Waterfall. This is an artificial indoor waterfall that has water falling 130 feet surrounded by a jungle atmosphere. However, although I did find out how to see it, the water wasn’t waterfalling! It’s a real shame as we both wanted to see it after reading all about it.
Picture 1 - Changhi Airport Floral Displays
Once we had explored the airport we were ready to find the departure gate for our flight to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Vietnam is located in the stretch of land between China and Laos, along the coast of the South China Sea. Neither mum nor I know much about the history or culture so this is going to be grand adventure! There has been some to and fro-ing with ruling Vietnam, the Chinese ruled for over 1000 years from 2BC before the Vietnamese staged a revolt and kicked them out! They were back in the early 15th century for another go. Then, in the second half of the 19th century, France attacked the south of the country and the Mekong Delta provinces were ceded to them. Later that century France captured the rest of the country. As WWII started in 1945, the League for the Independence of Vietnam, known as Viet Minh, started an uprising, later known as the August Revolution to take its opportunity to strike whilst France was contending with the war in Europe. This led to the Franco-Viet Minh war starting the next year. This would last 8 years. At the end of the Franco-Viet War the country would be split into two - a communist North and a strong anti-communist catholic South. In 1956 the North-South war started. In 1950 America, concerned with the expansion of communism worldwide, deployed troops in South Vietnam, ostensibly to train the South Vietnamese troops. This lasted until the 70’s when increasingly violent anti-war protests in the United States drove them to pull out of Vietnam, 2 years later the South surrendered and Vietnam was, once more, one whole country.
We arrived in Hanoi just before lunch and were transferred to our hotel – The Grand Mercure, a 5 star. We are going up in the world! Hanoi was proclaimed the capital of Vietnam after the August Revolution in 1945, although the Viet Minh were not able to return until 1954 having been driven out by the French in 1946.
Once Mum and I had got settled in our room we ventured out into Hanoi, aiming to get to the Old Quarter where we had directions for a walk. We didn’t quite get that far as the hotel was slightly further out than we had originally thought. However, we walked around the walls of the Temple of Literature (which we are visiting tomorrow) before walking along Pho Trang Thi.

Picture 2 - The Temple of Literature
We then turned right down a side street and returned along the Pho Hai Ba Trung past the 2-yr old Supreme People’s Court to the hotel. It was a nice little outing but our legs were tired when we got back!

Picture 3 - Hanoi Court House
We were also getting a bit sticky – despite the tour organiser assuring us that this was a cooler day than they usually have in September!
As part of the walk we had to cross several roads or, as I like to call them, bike lanes with cars in them! There are hundreds and hundreds of scooters, all going each way with a cacophony of horns. At one point I thought we were surrounded by road runners all going “meep-meep”! However, we followed the guidebooks advice – to follow the Vietnamese method of crossing the street “slowly – very slowly” – giving the motorcyclists time to alter their route. We managed it, and with all our toes intact! One particularly busy road was the junction in front of The Supreme Peoples Court. We were really proud when we made it to the other side.
Arriving back at the hotel we both had showers to wash away the sweat and travel dirt and grime before relaxing prior to going to the welcome briefing at 6:30pm.
At the briefing we decided what we would do tomorrow before being transported to KOTO for dinner. This enterprise teaches hospitality and cooking skills to local youth to enable them to get better job opportunities. This was our first fully Vietnamese meal and, apart from mistaking coriander for parsley, was really nice. I especially enjoyed the pudding which was seasonal fruits with sweet coconut milk.
From the meal it was back to the hotel and bed prior to the adventures that awaited us tomorrow.
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