Kei and Andrew in Vietnam ~ Hanoi

Kei and Andrew’s photo collection
Photos taken in Hanoi - September 13 to 14, 2002 (and briefly back on the 16^th)

Link to glamour shots taken in Hanoi on September 16

Train trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi

To get to Hanoi we embarked on a 36 hour train hour journey. The best scenery was on the stretch from Danang up to Hue. Photos shot through the window of the train cannot do justice to this, so I only attempted one shot. Kei’s main memory of the trip was the constant flow of Vietnamese popular music.

Scenery near Danang

Arrival in Hanoi

After our 5am arrival and our first cyclo ride to the hotel we went for a walk around Hanoi. The café where we had breakfast had a piano!


Andrew playing the piano	Entrance to Ngoc Son Temple	Hoan Kiem Lake as our backdrop	Hanoi street scene near GPO	Hanoi Opera House	Hanoi Opera House

School’s Out!

When we saw 1B leaving we had to take a photo, because our most enthusiastic school girl Tamara is is 1B at The Gap State School.


Traffic Chaos as parents pick up their children	Grade 1B leaving school for the day	1B finding their way onto the street

Hanoi street scenes

We were very impressed with the number of trees in the old town. A pleasant change from Ho Chi Minh City!


Old city wall and gate	Street markets	Tree cannopy on Hanoi street	More Hanoi greenery

Hanoi restaurants

We went to the oddly named 69 café which Kei judged to have the best Mango Shake in Vietnam. In case you were wondering it was named ‘69’ after the street number in Ma May street!
Thuy and her friend Van took Kei and Andrew on motorcycles to a good waterfront restaurant on the West Lake. We tried snails and the local Hanoi Beer (both were good!).


Kei in the ’69 café’	Thuy and Van with Kie and Andrew

"Joke Post Office" and St Joseph Cathedral

Kei thought it was a joke when she saw a post office still open late at night. As it happens the business hours for Post offices in Vietnam are 6am to 10pm.


Post Office on Hoan Kiem Lake	St Joseph Cathedral	Schoolchildren at St Joseph Cathedral

Thuy takes us to the Temple of Literature

The photo of Thuy on her motorcycle was taken from the cyclo that Kei and Andrew travelled on to the Temple of Literature. Having Thuy show us around Hanoi was one of the highlights of our trip. We thank her so much for this.


Thuy	Kei at entrance	In the temple	Symbol of Hanoi	Andrew and Kei	Kei and Thuy

Visit Thuy and her family at her home

Kei and Andrew were fortunate enough to be able to visit Thuy and her family (her mother and 2 brothers were there) at her family home. The meal that Thuy cooked was fantastic, absolutely the best meal we had in Vietnam!


Front yard	Kei with the puppy	View from the front door	Thuy and Andrew	Thuy, her family, Kei and Andrew

Water Puppets

Kei and Andrew saw Hanoi’s famous water puppets with Thuy (who was going for the first time herself). One of the best parts was seeing Thuy giggling over the funny parts (it was in Vietnamese). Kei and Andrew both tried to deny they fell asleep during the performance!

The puppets

Return to Hanoi

Andrew and Kei returned briefly to Hanoi on the evening of the 16^th following their return from Halong Bay. Thuy had booked a makeover and photo shoot for Kei (Kei was caught unawares!). All went well at the shoot, before we had a final coffee with Thuy, then onto the 11pm train for Hue.


Thap Rua (Tortoise Tower) at sunset	Front entrance to Photo Salon	Kei being made-up	More make-up	Kei with make-up for photo shoot	Kei with make-up

Link to glamour shots taken in Hanoi on September 16

Thuy’s visit to Sandgate

On October 20, 2001 Thuy came to Sandgate (Brisbane suburban beach) with Andrew, Thomas and Tamara.


Thuy and Tamara	Thuy and Tamara	Thomas, Tamara and Thuy

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