In Hanoi we stayed in a sixth floor apartment close to Hoan Kiem lake (see photos). We had a bit of down-time and most days our activity was a gentle walk to the Old Quarter for lunch, visiting the supermarket and little patisserie round the corner. As we had cooking facilities it was nice to prepare some of our own meals.
Hanoi has changed, of course, in the twenty plus years since our last visit. It is noticeably more affluent; the roads which were almost exclusively used by small motorcycles, are now shared with an increased number of cars. The Old Quarter, which used to be dominated by silk shops, is now catering for mass tourism; there are many more restaurants and coffee shops serving Western style food alongside traditional Vietnamese fare.
The Old Quarter with its colonial French architecture still has charm but is increasingly dominated by the expanding modern city. Despite this, we enjoyed our time in Hanoi and the modernisation has come with increased amenities which are welcome.
When we were in Thailand there were many street dogs; in Japan there were no street dogs, instead they rode in prams; in Vietnam there were noticeably no street dogs - they're on the menu!
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Your hotel room looks quite comfortable and reasonably spacious. You definitely deserve a bit of a relaxing time. Beautiful photos once again.
I guess that is one way to keep the dog population in check. I bet you are glad you don’t eat meat! 😱
Love and hugs from both of us. xxxx
It must have been good to have some calmer downtime, and in an apartment too. We recognise a lot of the places in your photos.
Gill and Brian xx