Day 1 & 2 have just merged into each other, mostly spent in planes or airport lounges, something like 24 hours since I left the house. I must say Etihad have been excellent, literally from the time I left the house until I reached Bangkok any way! Quick checkin, nice lounges, very relaxing flights they literally flew, pun intended! Bangkok airport is not great and unfortunately had to spend the most time there. Finally make it to Hanoi after a little sleep on the plane, and I'm prepared for the long wait for bureaucracy to take its course and issue us with our visas. But I'm pleasantly surprised at how quickly we got them, another advantage of getting off the plane first and getting to the top of the queue. Pick up the cases, thank god it makes it here, but half my case is full of toys for the kids in the hospital, Brian forgot to take them so I get volunteered to give up half my case. I wouldn't mind but there is a street called toy street (in Hanoi there are streets named for different guilds or products, like silk street, tailor street, shoe street, bag street etc) where we could have got these toys cheaper. Like taking coal to Newcastle. In arrivals we are met by two sets of people to take us to the hotel. Two staff from the hospital and a taxi arranged by the hotel! I'm knackered when we arrive at our hotel and when I get to my room it's 27 hours since I left the house. The hotel is in the old town of Hanoi, it's very comfortable with a laptop in every room, free wifi and friendly staff. A sister hotel to the one we stayed in last March 2012, called the Essence hotel chain, and this one is called Happy. Glad we didn't get any of the other 7 dwarfs!
But no rest for the wicked, unpack, the 4 s's and out again for a short walk to the Metropole hotel where we meet with the Irish Ambassador. We spent a little while having a chat with the ambassador to bring him up to date with the twinning programme. We headed out for a walk around the lake and I took a few photos. I have to admit I missed my Nikon D800 while handles the dark nights in the city, focuses faster and captures sharper. I hope it's just a matter of adapting to the X-E1 and changing style a bit. then off for a bite to eat a nice light Vietnamese meal in a restaurant down the road from our hotel and then off to bed an early rise at 5.45 am as Prof. Tri is meeting us for breakfast before we head out for the day.
I attach a few photos I took as you can see a few are soft.
