The morning dew was fastened on the train windows as we arrived at Vietnam’s capital city of Ha Noi. There was a mutual feeling of sleep deprivation like a plague throughout the Vietnam red cohort. This was not helped with the jam packed day which faced us. We visited the temple of literature first. This enlightened us about the schooling in Vietnam in feudal times and contained Vietnam’s first university. During our visit, we witnessed some graduates, celebrating their last day, spending it at the temple.
We took the big bikes with four wheels to the old quarter: The heart of Ha Noi, where we were driven around and shown the different kinds of streets and buildings all around. Each street is dedicated to a particular craft or product – such as coffee street or stainless steel street. We grabbed lunch in the old quarter and then ventured back to the hotel where much needed rest was provided for nearly 4 hours. After a great siesta, we were ready to go off to explore the city.
We visited the Christian church Nha Tho built in 1886 out of materials shipped from France. We saw the stark contrast of the attendance in the church to Australian churches as it was packed on a Sunday night with people spilling out the doors. We headed straight to the water puppet show which was an art form none of us had experienced before. The puppet show took place in water with about 100 people in the theatre. To finish the day off, we had dinner at a local restaurant on a very busy side street, which had a various amount of dishes.
We are still slightly sleep deprived and ready to go to bed.
P.s happy teachers day (Note from Vietnam Red Staff- the students presented us with some gorgeous keepsakes today to celebrate the occasion)
From Cris, Cole and Lucas O.
Goodnight!
Photos: at the Temple of Literature; the trip staff with their gifts; outside the Nha Tho; waiting for the water puppet show to begin.
