October 22,

We of course started with our Javas. Breakfast was the last of our bread, salami, and yogurt. We also had some cheese. When we finished, we readied for a dental appointment! Jeff booked a Grab taxi, and when we showed up at the Dental Clinic, we were escorted right up. Jeff was lead in a three chair room on the second floor and I had went up to the third floor, only two chairs here. We are just having a teeth cleaning and a check-up (no X-rays). They made sure I knew the price before they started! We were both deemed “no cavities” upon examination and had the cleaning done. It cost us 200K Dong each (only 8 bucks each)!!!

Jeff hired another grab to take us to the Tran Quoc Pagoda. This driver was not very good – he's to interested in his phone and not paying attention to traffic. Also he dropped us off quite a way from our destination. Frustrating, anyway, we were at the pagoda.

As we came up to it we were underwhelmed. It's not climbable and very short. It is the oldest Buddhist temple in Hanoi (a pagoda has been here since the sixth century, according to their placard) and it's on a small Island. So that was interesting. We explored a bit, but not much there-there. So we hired a grab to go to the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh… because I am wearing pants, not shorts! Again, our driver dropped us off a ways off. (Our drivers were not doing well!🤨) We arrived and entered, walking up the promenade or mall in front of the mausoleum. But this is as close as we could get, no one was allowed in. Huh?? So another kind of failure. Supposedly, Ho Chi Minh's body is on display inside – that would have been interesting. Instead we did a look at the building, reversed, and walked back down the mall to exit the site. thankfully it was free, except for the Grab fare. We flagged a metered taxi that was already here and had him take us back to our place (since the Grab drivers were bad, why not). He went out of his way – the “scenic route” – and ended up having to stop at the end of the block due to the fact he could not drive the wrong way on the one way. We got out and Jeff paid him what a Grab would have cost – because he did not have the meter going. He started to protest but we exited, the vehicle. Bad day for transport!

Back in our place we unloaded and had some water, then went to Banh Mi Duc Long Kebab place. We actually got the Banh Mi Kebab and also the Doner Kebab Salad. Finished we walked back to our place again. Now we relaxed and had a siesta. I blogged and Jeff read.

At 1740, we went out for supper — to Don Duck! So excited!! We had an 1800 reservation. We were remembered and greeted, being lead to a table up on the second floor. We had the Duck Spring Rolls with some mint leaves and dipping sauce. Then we had the Grill Duck on the Table – “sliced duck marinated in a Don Duck style, including galangal, coconut milk, chilli sauce, and the Restaurants own recipe served on a pan grill in front of customer sliced noodles and herbs served with.” We did the two person option. We also have the Chilean Merlot as before. We enjoyed the meal as much as before!!

Now we walked down by Ho Hoan Kiem Lake, the lake in the old quarter. We were closer to it the first time we stayed in Hanoi. We decided to check on a Hop on-Hop off Bus through Hanoi City Tour. It cost 280K Dong ($11.02) each for an one hour drive of the sites in Hanoi. It was dark and we had only walked around the lake at night, so we did it. The bus pulled up right there, of course everyone went up on the second level – to get open air views. We were given earbuds for the commentary. The tour went by much of what we have toured in the day, but it it was good to see them all at night. The Flag Tower and Mausoleum were aglow. But the Opera House was not lit up. That surprised me. There was a very cute little boy two seats in front us. He was very interested in the sights and was even better to see it through the eyes of a child so to speak. 

The bus tour ended and we went back to our place. We like Hanoi's “vibe”!