Third day on Hanoi

We took an optional tour to Tho Ha countryside, a remote rural village an hour and a half from Hanoi.  There were two other couples with us and our guide, a nice sub group.  On the way there Our guide talked about the differences in culture between the north and the south before, during and after the war.  He talked about communist politics and Vietnams relationships with china and the Soviet Union after the war.  Occasionally he put down his microphone so the bus driver could not near his comments.

Here are a few photos from our visit to the town.  We visited a local market along the way and our guide purchased various foods for us to try.  The village is famous for  along rice paper and rice wine and is only accessible by ferry.

We leave Hanoi early tomorrow morning for a four hour ride to Halong Bay where we will board a junk and cruise the bay ans sleep overnight on the junk.  When we depart the junk on Friday we will drive to the Hanoi airport and fly to Hue.

There will not be internet access on the junk and we will arrive in Hue after 9 pm, so I will not updating this blog for a few days.

Here are a few photos from today's adventure.

A typical street scene in Hanoi: rows of motorbikes parked on the sidewalk