By Liam and Austin
Today we woke up packed our bags and were ready for our last day in Hanoi and we were ready for a big one. We met in the lobby waiting for the bus. When the bus arrived we all got on and were ready to go. When we arrived at the lake we got into the golf carts and went on a tour through all the different types of streets in the old quarter. The shops of Hanoi are split into sections based on the products they sell, for example we saw a metal street, paper street and a bamboo street.
After the golf cart ride we were ready for lunch. We had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in a shopping complex. On the menu there were Vietnamese baguettes which were recommended by our tour guide. These baguettes were a bit different to home and some included vegetables, bbq pork and a fried egg.
Once we finished lunch, we were on our way to the history of Hanoi museum. It displayed all of the important milestones that have happened over time such as: the American war, Ho Chi Minh’s speech in 1945, the numerous attacks that the Vietnamese people had to fight off to keep their land, and information about the different kings and emperors of Vietnam. After the museum, we were on our way to an early dinner.
Desperate for a taste of home, we all went for a bite at the Asian-Western restaurant: Koto. Even though our spaghetti and burgers were good, the history of the restaurant was better. Koto had been founded by a Vietnamese-Australian man, who wanted to give opportunities to the homeless youth of Hanoi. The restaurant trains and provides jobs and accommodation to the homeless children, and many of them succeed and work in restaurants and hotels across Vietnam. However, they still feel great loyalty to the place that trained them, and they find time to come back and teach another street kid. This is how the restaurant got its name “know one, teach one”.
From Koto we took our bus to the train station. After unloading our bags and a short wait, we all piled into our carriage. We have settled into our cabins, and are now moving. We have 7 cabins for our group which gives us our own carriage. For the first hour we have played music, card games and shared stories. Will be interesting to see how we all sleep tonight.
Hope you’re all doing well. We’re looking forward to seeing you all.
Liam and Aussie