Above: Typical Hanoi street in the old area near our hotel.
We arrived in Hanoi around 0430 and taxied to the hotel where we camped in the lobby briefly. I did a lot of errands on the internet so time flew and soon breakfast was served. As we have an early departure tomorrow, I asked to eat our breakfast today.
Our room came available at 0930 and we rested briefly before heading out. The day was spent shopping in the rain for some gifts as well as a bag to take back our great bargains (cold weather gear) from Sapa. We had set our hearts on Crumpler daypacks (beautiful) and a small wheelie soft pack.
The former turned out to be overpriced; it seems the brand commands a premium even in the world of counterfeits. As for the latter, we didn’t see a tasteful one. Checking the price of various items, it turned out the best decision was to buy a Deuter backpack for USD18 so we could stuff all our shopping in (and then sell off the pack cheaply as we have no use for it).