More Hanoi

It is Monday evening and I'm just back from an excellent street food meal with Ayumi and Masako - another lady fom Osaka who A. met the other day at Halong Bay. The three of us have been today to the Chua Huong "Perfume Pagoda" on a day trip - complete with a long river-boat journey in the hot-hot sun. It is a very special place and I hope to file some photos another time. I loaned my camera to Masako for the day - because hers disappeared on the Halong Bay outing.

It was good to see Hien again here, and she helped us get a great value deal on this outing.

Yesterday Ayumi and I visited the Van Mieu temple of literature (an ancient Confucian centre of learning) - with Trang and Chien as guides. They are a very pleasant and helpful young Vientamese couple I met a few days ago and who wanted to be our hosts in return for the chance to practise their English. They even provided the transport - in the form of fairly exhilarating motorbike rides through the city!

I have now decided on my next move, and will fly to Bangkok on Tuesday. My BA return flight to the UK is booked from there (on the 17th July) and I will be investigating the possibility of cutting my trip short by going home a lot sooner. BA's website doesn't want to allow me to make a change online; so I will have to leave my investigations till I'm at BKK. They don't have representation in Hanoi. As it happens, and for entirly different reasons, Ayumi has decided to make the same journey. We are turning into quite a travel partnership, and I remain very grateful for her good company.

I attach some photos from the Van Mieu visit, including an impresive old statue of Confucius.