Ba vi to Hanoi - Hoan Kiem District, Vietnam
Hoan Kiem District, Vietnam
Today we got the arranged transfer from the hotel in ba vi to the buffalo tours office in Hanoi, arriving about 1 to meet with tung our agent at the tour company. After explaining our issues with him and discussing the options he agreed to have a meeting with us on Monday at 2pm when he would have talked to his supervisors and sta to let us know if we can get a refund. After about an hour we left the tour office to find the hotel that beckis dad had booked us into for tonight and tomorrow. Upon arrival we felt ridiculously lucky as the hotel was beautiful! We got mango juice as a free welcome drink and had a lovely man explain to us everything about the hotel/city etc. (he could speak much better English than the English teachers at the centre).We then went up to the room, a double as there were no twin rooms but we arranged to change tomorrow. After settling in we went and found some lunch, after craving any western food that wasn't rice we found gecko AGAIN for a chicken mayo baguette and chips, was beautiful! Then we went for a little walk making a booking for something to do tomorrow, a day trip to hua lo and tam coc before going to a spa. Found a little spa by st Joseph's cathedral, a copy of notre dame from French colonial times. I had a 30 minute full body massage for $6!! Was really nice and relaxing, just what I needed after the stress of trying to sort out the volunteering. Becki had a head, neck and shoulder massage, as her back was aching, for $5, bargain. Then we went for a bit of a wonder around the shops again, everyone's so friendly and inviting. Hanoi has a really nice feel to it as a city, much nicer than Ho Chi Minh. Then we headed back to the hotel to get showered and changed before getting some dinner at a little bistro calls Marilyn's. it was located above a boutique clothes shop and opposite the cathedral. We sat on the balcony which was covered in fairy lights and was so pretty especially with the view of the cathedral. It had a nice mix of western and Asian food but we were still on a no-rice diet so I got a spaghetti bolognese (bad I know) and Becki got a carbonara. Then we headed back to the hotel for an early night as were both knackered and settled in to watch pirates of the Caribbean.