5.20am alarm call! Anh, our walking tour guide was waiting for us in reception at 5.45. What a very different place Hanoi city is at that time in the morning! No cars, no motorbikes, just people setting up their hawker stalls for the day. It was sooo lovely to walk freely without fear of getting beeped at or risk of being run over!

Anh took us down alleys, talked us through a typical routine of the daily life of a "normal" Vietnamese person. He explained how each street had a name for things sold. The street name generally begins with the word "hang" meaning merchandise, while the second word describes the type of product. "Hang gai" (silk street), "Hang bac" (Silver street)What struck us most was how hardworking these people are. Most are up by 6am setting up ready for a full day's work be it selling fruit, coffee or running a pho noodle stall. We saw women peeling prawns that were still wriggling!!

We also walked around the well known Hoan Kiem Lake , where men and women young and old were exercising. No expensive gym membership needed here! Very simple tai chi moves, men using a park bench to lie on and then just raising their legs and doing the cycling action, mums and daughters playing badminton, groups of women learning to salsa, old couples learning to ballroom dance, some just swaying their hips from side to side. It was all very refreshing and the kids found it fascinating and amusing at times to watch. Puts us all to shame, with the obesity numbers in UK. Some of these people have nothing, but they take pride in their well being.

What surprised us on our tour was seeing a catholic cathedral, St. Joseph's in the middle of the town!

The tour included breakfast. Anh gave us a choice. We all agreed on chicken pho..delicious! No posh cutlery, just table and chairs but clean and very cheap...$8 for 5 of us!

It was a very good start to the morning.

Huge respect for Anh too..an example of a true entrepreneur. He set his own company 5 years ago. We found his city tour on Trip advisor...no other advertising necessary.

8.45am . Back to the Hotel to freshen up and yes we did indulge in the breakfast buffet having just had a pho (we did a lot of walking!)

Next stop, the Vietman Women's museum. A lovely place to visit. An
Exhibition of Vietnamese women through the ages and how they have been recognised for some of their work.

Lunch back at our hotel, then some wind down time...walked around our local streets.

Early dinner at Highway 4..NOT a good choice! We should have known better, the comments in trip advisor are not recent and the comments very hit and miss. We will be adding our own entry telling people not to go there!

6.30pm . We take our seats at the Thang Long Water puppet theatre..a performance of the traditional art of water puppetry. It was a mesmerising 1 hour. Very quaint and sweet.

We still have lots of sights we want to see in Hanoi. We will do these on our return trip before heading up to Sapa.

Back at the Hotel now to pack. Off to Halong Bay tomorrow at 8am. Will be offline for a day... No wifi on the bay!

Good night

Px