March 9

We went down for breakfast. It was so unnerving. The folks here are so anxious to please and want their guests to be happy so we had 3 staff standing watching us eat and jumping to get us anything every time we moved. The food was great and the staff were trying so hard. It was drizzly and a little cold but we decided to head out and just wander. After many attempts to find the area again, we finally got to the "shoe street". Ron and I both bought a pair of Nikes. It is difficult to negotiate when the sellers are not interested and mostly spend all their time on the phone. When we were walking the streets we found and bought a wood carved buddha with a happy face. And Ron got a North Face down vest. We came back to the hotel to warm up. Then out again to take a picture of the Long Bien Bridge. It used to be a train bridge but now is exclusively for motor scooters and brave pedestrians. The bridge was built in 1899-1902 by the same people who built the Eiffel Tower.  It's 1.68 kilometres in length, and it was, at that time, one of the longest bridges in Asia. The bridge was heavily bombarded during Vietnam War due to its critical position, as the only bridge at that time across the Red River connecting Hanoi to the main port of Haiphong.  We had a quick drink on a deck that looked over a busy road. Great observation of the chaos of traffic and pedestrians.  Dinner was at a place that had Vietnamese and Western food. I had a great chicken and mango salad. Yeah !!! Finally some greens that were hot cooked 😊