Hà Nội 17/10/2019

The day before I’d had a pretty uneventful flight from Luang Prabang, once in Hà Nội and through Immigration I was thankful I’d decided to use Vietnam Immigration Services, a private company that facilitates visas for visitors with different levels of service on offer; I choose to get the visa on arrival approval letter and airport fast track (when you arrive they handle all the paperwork and wait for the visa to be processed), the only other thing I had to pay for was the actual visa fee in USD. In total I was still ahead than if I’d gone through the hassle of getting the Visa at the Sydney Vietnamese Consulate.

From my hotel window, Hà Nội Old Quarter Hotel (great hotel, but no website), I saw an unusual light tiled roof surrounded and crowned by bamboo shoot ceramic sculptures, I should have asked, but forgot, if the building was significant. Later while walking to Thăng Long Imperial Citadel (see Official site) I crossed the famous selficide Hà Nội Train Street, the narrow street on each side of the crossing is now closed to all but residents and guards are posted to prevent interlopers.

Half an hour later I arrived at Thăng Long and went through Cổng Đoan Môn (Doan Mon Gate) into the complex proper. I was lucky to come across a photo shoot of women in áo dàis, so snuck in a few shots, before going up the Gate’s stairway and onto the rest of the complex which dates from at least the 11th century, on what was most likely a previously fortified area.