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At 9am we eventually got to our hostel, ''The little Hanoi hotell'' which we'd been recommended, after being drove around the block a couple of times by the taxi driver who clearly knew what he was doing, but having just got off the bus after 12 hours we were none the wiser and pointed in the right direction. On arrival at ''The little Hanoi hotel'' the owner met us and he took for breakfast at another of his hostel's just round the corner which was included. As usual eggs and bread was on the menu and was just what we need for the protein. We'd already decided that we were going to take a trip to Halong bay and also found an itinerary on the Internet which was exactly what we planned on doing so inquired about booking it through the hostel that we were staying at which was no problem, we showed him which itinerary we wanted to do and he booked us on to leave on the next day at 7.30am. The room was ready and we chucked our bags in, freshened up an waited for the rain to stop, which was the first heavy rain we'd witnessed since being in Vietnam. With a map in hand we ventured out into the city, which was about as big as Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) and I would say it seemed more busy. For lunch we stopped at a small corner cafe with a huge ''coca cola" slogan above it, here ordered "Bun Chá"... Noodles with sliced BBQ pork (30,000d), it was irresistible. We took a stroll to the ''House of Literature'', which was the first university of Vietnam and by coincidence there were a lot of students also here getting pictures taken on the graduation day so the was a good buzz about the place. After we visited the ''One pillar Pagoda'' which represents a lotus flower blossoming, a symbol of purity, rising out of the pond (sea of purity). After stopping for an ice cream and a coffee we decided to venture back to hotel to shower and get ready for the 8.15pm showing of "Water puppetry" show which is very famous in Vietnam and originated in the north. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen a puppet show and couldn't really imagine what this was one going to produce so was strangely exited about it. We got there at 8.10pm so all the cheap tickets for the back seats had been taken so we were left with the more expensive tickets (100,000d) so meant that we was on the front row so had a perfect view, you even had to pay 15,000d if you wanted to take pictures, which was strange but we paid anyway, there was a big area filled with water on the stage where the puppets would perform, a traditional Vietnamese band with authentic instruments and two singers beside the stage. The story was about farmers and tribesman that lived many years ago and showed how they were completely self efficient from the land and how they have adapted to life in the rural area. I'd never seen anything like it before, and was really impressed with the dedication that goes into it, apparently it's a well travelled show and tours around many different country's around the world. Upon exiting the theatre we were directly face to face with three huge letters in red "KFC" and by this time was extremely hungry for dinner so decided it was time for a change from rice noodles and headed straight in to join the rest of the westerner's only to get our much needed hit of greasy fast food... and it definitely didn't disappoint!
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